MANILA, Philippines - Viva Communications
introduces its first boy group. This is XLR8, pronounced accelerate, which means
to increase the speed. And that is just what is expected to happen once fans get
their first sight of these talented boys. XLR8 will make its debut in Party
Pilipinas on March 28 and they will perform the first single You??re So Hot from
their self-titled album.
It took Viva one year of auditions, dance and voice training and to find the
right songs for the boys from producers Christian de Walden and Marcus
Davis.
Hideaki Higashi (Aki). Born and raised in Japan of a Japanese father and
Filipino mother, Aki opted to make his home in the Philippines because he wants
to be in show business. His career experience includes regular stints in Walang
Tulugan and the defunct S.O.P. as a singer and dancer. He likes halo-halo, taho,
noodles and adobo. He speaks Japanese and Tagalog.
John Carlo B. Lazerna (Carlo). Carlo is the video game addict of XLR8. He is
seldom without a game going on no matter where he is. His other passion is
dancing which he began as a form of exercise but has now become a big part of
his career. He also likes pretty girls and treats his fellow members like his
brothers. He likes watching anim?? and shows like Phineas and Ferb, The Simpsons
and Spongebob.
Meljohn Magno (MJ) and Melmar Magno (MM). MJ and MM are XLR8??s R&B twins.
They had voice lessons as kids but everything else like dancing and playing the
drums, keyboards and guitar came naturally. The boys have appeared on
television. They also paint and to the delight of XLR8 are also budding
songwriters. MJ is in fact making his songwriting debut in the group??s album
with the songs Dance With Me, I Love You Girl and Ms. Beautiful. They dream of
becoming Kings Of Pop and conquering Asia like Rain.
Featured 
The kings of Philippine metal, Wolfgang, return to Asia ? and are set to rock Singapore with a one-night only performance at Esplanade ? Theatres on the Bay, at the much-awaited annual Mosaic Music Festival, on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 7.30 pm at the Mosaic Studio (Recital Studio.)
There?s something suspicious about a band with a French word thrown into its name (they could have named themselves Oplan Vicente Itim) and vocals with a British accent, even when mentioning local geography like ?Beula-khan? (That?s Bulacan in Filipino, girl. How many years do you have to spend living here to say it right?) in the song ?Wha? a Git? currently receiving airplay. The Vince Noir Project, like most trip-hop bands, exudes an aura of theatricality?film noir to be exact?hence the name. But as with any similar effort, such devices risk verging on artifice and pretense.
