IBU: Interview and detailed about the new asian R&B boys band

I.B.U

THE IBU STORY::

IBU, short for Inspired By U, the name they chose as they claim to be inspired by the people they sing to. IBU’s uniquely rich harmonies and outstanding dance skills quickly earned them the distinction as Chicago’s most sought after Asian-American performing group. Now on it’s 5^th year, IBU continues to make headlines, thrusting itself more and more to the forefront of the mainstream music scene. WGN/WB Channel 9 Chicago called them Chicago’s hottest boy group, and 102.3FM introduced them as “Asians with Soul.”

In November 2004, IBU competed with 300 artists from around the world at the New York International Music Festival in Manhattan and was voted as the best R&B Group, becoming the first ever and the only Asian- American group to ever win at the festival. In 2005, the festival named them R&B Group of the year. The year before, IBU won the state-sponsored, the Chicago Music Opportunity Project, with Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child as one of the judges. Since then, IBU performed at the biggest African-American festival in the country, the Bud Billiken Parade, the prestigious Chicago Music Awards in 2004, and at Chicago’s biggest festival, the Taste of Chicago, at the Illinois Lottery Stage in 2004 and at the FOX TV Bandstand in 2005. The group has become a favorite by the world series champion Chicago White Sox, performing the National Anthem at eight games in the 2005. This year they returned to the US Cellular field for two more games. Their songs were ranked #6 by Hot 97.7FM in the bay area and has been played in many radio stations in the US, Asia and Europe. The group has performed from the bay area to the big apple and is one of the busiest Asian American performing groups in the country today. IBU is a featured artist on MTV2 On The Rise to air on MTV2 affiliates in October.

The group has been seen internationally, on various shows ABS-CBN/The Filipino Channel, as well as the International Channel. They have appeared on Fox TV, WGN, Cable Access TV and various TV stations in Honolulu, San Francisco and Seattle. Their songs were ranked #6 by Hot 97.7FM in the bay area and has been played in several radio stations in the US, Asia and Europe. They made their Manila radio debut on Wave 89.1FM in July of 2004 and continue to be on regular rotation till this day. The group has performed from the bay area to the big apple and is one of the busiest Asian American performing groups in the country today.

IBU released their first solo album entitled “Redefined,” in August 2005, their fourth recording project. A sophomore album is in the works. The group is featured in several dozen internet music sites including soundclick.com where they have been listed as one of the hottest signed bands for over four years. Chicago Tribune ran a story about the group’s struggle to overcome stereotyping of the Asian-American Artists by the Mainstream Music Industry and media in November 2004.

IBU’s most profound testimonial comes a fan, Robyn, who wrote “When you add handsome men with different unique voices, take them out of the cultural environment and throw them into an industry and genre dominated by the African-American community, you have nothing but ingredients for success. I have been exposed to many cultures who attempt R&B, however, none have quite mastered it like you three! ” This validates the soul of IBU. www.ibumusic.com www.myspace.com/ibu.

Interview::
conducted by
JiZO Jewles

JIZO: Hi and thanks for doing this interview. I believe 2 of you are of Filipino origin and one of lao origin. How did you guys meet each other? Were you high school buddies?

TOMMY: Mike and Jonathan are of Filipino Origin. I am Lao. I met Jonathan at a Karaoke bar, and we decided to do a collaboration. Mike and I went to the same school I did, and Jonathan and Mike we already friends from their b-boy days. All of us break dance before we were IBU.

JIZO: When and how did each one of you begin their journey in the world of music?

JONATHAN: We all come from musically inclined families. My mom is a pastor at our church and I was a member of the church choir. Tommy got his introduction to music from his mom. Everyone in Mike's family sing.

JIZO: Were you possibly inspired by older more established asian american vocal groups like Kai, Interlude... or 1Voice?

MIKE: Through our manager, we met KAI when we first started as a group. When KAI broke up and two of their members teamed up with one member from Interlude, and one from Drop n Harmony, and became 6th day, we did a couple of shows with them. 6th day actually became our friends and were our early mentors.

JIZO: Who is in charge of writing the songs? Where do you draw your inspiration from?

JONATHAN: It started with Tommy being our main songwriter. I did some songwriting of my own too. While we were in the process of making our first album, Mike and I became more involved. Actually it worked better for us. We make better music together.

JIZO: You have been "hailed as Chicago's most sought after Asian American male vocal harmony group"? How did that come about?

TOMMY: We do not know where that came from, but the phrase became very popular after the very first TV show we did. Back then, before we even ventured into the R&B World, and before we had producers to work with, we did mostly acoustic and acapella numbers. People were impressed by our harmonies, and local Filipino newspapers began to write about it. The TV producers probably picked up from these newspapers. When the show aired on TV, that phrase became IBU's most popular tag.

JIZO: Recently, another very talented asian american boy band called At Last received national attention by participating in "America's got talent" show. Have you thought about entering any similar talent show to gain more exposure?

MIKE: Winning awards really open doors for an artist. It gives you the exposure and you get to network with important people. So yeah, we would join such competitions or encourage any aspiring artist to do so. But most of these reality show competitions happen in Los Angeles, and we're in Chicago where we have day jobs. We cannot be in Los Angeles doing competitions. If it were a weekend competition we might try. We have won awards before. We were voted as the Best R&B Group of 2005 by the New York International Film and Music Festival. We also won the state sponsored Chicago Music Opportunity project in 2003 in which Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child was one of the Judges. Competitions are a good experience.

JIZO: What is the band's main goal at this point? Where do you possibly see yourself 5-10 years from now?

TOMMY: Our main goal is to make music that would become our legacy. We hope to be a successful artist in the mainstream. 5 to 10 years from now, if we are no longer performing, we would like to pursue careers in the music industry as songwriters or producers. Perhaps run our own studio to encourage and help other aspiring artists. We have that as a plan B. Last year we established our own company, Inspired Collection, LLC which released our first solo album.

JIZO: You have been featured in a short documentary about asian americans in mainstream america called "That Asian Thing"? How did you get involved in the project?

JONATHAN: We were chosen by the producers of that film because of our considerable mainstream exposure as an artist. Back in 2004, Chicago tribune wrote an article about our struggle to overcome the stereotyping of Asian Americans by the mainstream music industry and media. The documentary follows that thought.

JIZO: Are you possibly going to be touring around the US?

MIKE: We have been doing a lot of shows around the U.S. already and still continue to do so, although we still have to package a real IBU Tour which our management is considering. Maybe next year. Right now we're just busy doing marketing and promotions, recording and rehearsals. Our management has lessened our performance load this year to give us more time to do the creative stuff. We like to make new music to keep our fans happy.

JIZO: Where can we buy your music?

TOMMY: Our music is available worldwide thru the many major online stores and digital download providers. A list of these music outlets are listed on our official website, www.ibumusic.com or our fan page: www.myspace.com/ibu