Girls by Aidx Paredes: Aly Cabral as Herself The Elf

Interview and Photography by Aidx Paredes

Before 2014 ended, I was able to hide in Heima’s backroom for an interview with Aly Cabral. Aly, the front woman of two bands: Ourselves The Elves and The Buildings, kept her answers short and sweet as I asked her about herself, her music, her bands, and most importantly her feeling about being a girl in Manila’s indie music scene.

Hi Aly! Introduce yourself to Purveyr’s readers. 
Hi, I’m Aly Cabral and I play in the bands called Ourselves The Elves and The Buildings.

Let’s keep it simple. How are you right now? How do you feel about everything, considering the following and recognition you and your bands are getting?
I’m good. Actually, I feel like a lot has changed because we are getting better gigs now. To be honest, we’re getting paid more often than not. It’s actually good because it means that what we’re doing means something. Back then, I felt that our music is not getting anywhere and that we were going to jam forever. I did not really expect that we’d release something and people would listen to it.

Is there anything new in your life right now? Is there something that you’ve done for the first time?

For the first time I was able to ride a plane! That was two years ago and it was for Elements Singing Songwriting Camp in Dumaguete. Being mentored by Ryan Cayabyab, the experience was nice and it felt like music heaven! We had a buffet every night and you can talk to all these famous music people. The whole time I felt like I was in a haze.

Are you the same person you were last year?
I’ll say no. People change fast generally.

I can say that I’ve grown musically, especially with guitars. To be honest, since last year, I haven’t been able to write new songs as I have two years ago. But as with guitar playing I’ve stepped up, mostly because I play lead guitar for The Buildings.

If there is something that you would do for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Playing live gigs, definitely. The bands have live gigs regularly and it was really fun. I realized I really want to do this for the rest of my life. I want to keep playing in front of people. I want to keep recording new songs. Whatever happens in my future life, I still want to be able to have space for music in it.

In the industry that you’re in, how does it feel to be a girl?

I’ve been asked the same question before and I still have the same answer: It feels amazing! If you really look at the indie music scene right now, it’s really male dominated. If you have a band full of boys, people look at it like normal band; but if you have a band full of girls, for instance Flying Ipis or General Luna, people are always pushing the girl power thing. In fact, I’ve actually heard some bad things these girls have experienced . To be a front woman for a band, it feels good because I can actually feel empowered. I want to hopefully encourage more girls to and follow their dreams.