Kate Torralba

For years, every time we’d run into Kate Torralba, we’d pester her with the same question: “When? When is it coming out?”

That day has finally arrived. Today, after five years of working on it in three different cities and four recording studios, Kate will launch her first album, aptly named “Long Overdue.”

The 11-track album is a labor of love for the musician who has had a lifelong passion for music. You may know her as a fashion designer with a penchant for bright pops of color, but music—that’s Kate’s first love. “I grew up in a music-loving family. There was always music in the house. My grandparents always had records,” Kate said, in an interview with Super inside her home in Makati.

Kate started singing at 2 and playing the piano at 4, “by accident,” she said. “My grandparents, mom and uncle decided to take piano lessons on weekends. Their teacher, Ben Casquejo, taught them all the piece ‘Moon River.’ For four hours every Saturday, no fail, I’d hear it playing. I kept saying ‘I want to play the piano,’ but they would say ‘You’re still a baby.’ And then one day daw, I just played the whole thing. I learned it by ear.”
Kate continued to play the piano throughout grade school, performing at school programs and recitals at St. Benedict’s in Cebu. She was only 9 when she was sent to Los Angeles to play in a concert featuring young Filipino prodigies. Kate also sang a lot, buying minus one cassette tapes of Basia, Patti Austin and Anita Baker.

KATE launches her first album today.

In high school at St. Theresa’s College Cebu, her taste in music changed. “You start realizing, parang I’m not that cool. I was 12 and my brother turned me on to New Wave music, mga The Cure. I discovered Nirvana. I didn’t want to play the piano anymore, I didn’t want to be the nerd. I quit to the huge disappointment of my mom. I decided to pick up the electric guitar.”

Band life

That electric guitar kicked off Kate’s band life—first with X, where she was the only girl (“We played Nirvana.”), then with the Outskirts, an all-girl band (“We would play in the mall.”). Then, after spending one summer in the United States listening to Alanis Morissette and No Doubt, she returned and formed her own band, Hard Candy. “I said, this is the kind of music I want to do. I was singing in that band. I played really lousy violin.” Her band joined Channel V’s Battle of the Bands and they won. At the first San Miguel Beer Cebu Music Awards, they won five out of the 12 awards. “I cherish that time. It was all about the music.”

TICKETS to Kate’s show in Paris

Hard Candy was getting ready to record its album but fate intervened. After graduating from college, Kate met Loren Legarda at a youth forum and she was offered a job as a legislative assistant. Kate made the big move to Manila, leaving her band behind. They were only able to finish two songs.

Kate, who had been making her own band costumes in Cebu, started selling clothes to make extra money. “I started making clothes when I was 18 because our couturier, Cary Santiago, decided to pursue greener pastures in the Middle East. My mom and I, we were Cary’s first devotees.”

After work, Kate would go to Sanctum for poetry readings and open mics. “That’s where I met my first creative family. I started getting gigs there. I would borrow a keyboard and I would sing.”

Soon, she met Mike Villegas, formerly of Rizal Underground, and the two started playing together. “I also found other guitar players like Perf de Castro and Ian Umali of POT. I was a virtual nobody, but for some reason these amazing guitar players cared enough to perform with me.”

Then, fashion happened. Kate tagged along with a friend to the Preview Ball in 2002. There she met Tim Yap and Tessa Prieto-Valdes whom she likes to think of as her fairy godparents. She caught their attention because of the dress she was wearing—it was one she had designed herself. “Tim was the first person who ever called me a designer. Tessa started wearing my stuff with Joe Salazar and Rajo Laurel pieces.”

Soon, magazines were clamoring to feature her designs. Realizing there was a demand for her clothes, Kate joined bazaars. Then Gift Gate queen Virgie Ramos asked her to design for Hello Kitty. Soon, Kate had Fashion Week shows and a roster of regular clients. “I had no career plan. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t have time to process it,” she said.

At first, no matter how busy she got, Kate tried to find time for gigs. But fashion took over her life, leaving her with no time for music. “Someone told me I had to focus if I wanted to be really good. So for a few years, I just focused on fashion. But I was miserable. There was a part of me that was unfulfilled.”

In 2010, Kate decided to take a breather. “I said, ‘I can’t handle this anymore.’ I was so burnt out. I couldn’t design anymore, I couldn’t even draw. It just took so much out of me. I think with every creative person, it’s the business side that takes a toll on you.”

She went on sabbatical and finally had time to focus on her music. She and Malek Lopez of Drip and Rubber Inc. continued working on her record, which includes 11 tracks she wrote herself. “I’ve got to hand it to Malek for really pushing me.”

A chance encounter at an airport led Kate to another producer—Todd Hunter, who plays keyboards with Dionne Warwick. “I recorded a couple of tracks with him in LA. It was amazing. ’Yung drummer ko, si Raymond Pounds, drummer pa ni Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.”

Ciudad’s Mikey Amistoso, Itchyworms’ Jazz Nicolas and Tarsius’ and Pedicab’s Diego Mapa also coproduced some of the songs on the album, which features an impressive list of guest musicians including Outerhope’s Mike Benedicto, Freestyle’s and Barbie’s Cradle’s Rommel de la Cruz, Pupil’s Wendell Garcia, award-winning American cellist Dave Eggar, SOUND’s Sach Castillo and Radioactive Sago Project’s Junji Lerma. “Making the credits for the album was insane. So many musicians,” Kate said. Mixing was done in Paris and Manila by renowned engineers like Ken Stringfellow and DJ Brian Cua. The mastering was done in LA by S. Husky Höskulds, the Grammy-winning engineer for Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me.”

Kate said, “It’s been an eye-opening journey. Challenges will really set you back and it’s not gonna be easy. You will get rejected a lot of times, you will run out of money, you will get tired. You have to keep going if you have a dream. This is a dream come true for me.”

Another turning point for Kate was the Elements Music Camp which Joey Ayala convinced her to join. “I met all these amazing mentors. These people I looked up to responded to my music.”

Most memorable for Kate was meeting Ryan Cayabyab. “I was a Smokey Mountain fan. I used break my curfew to watch ‘Ryan Ryan Musikahan.’ He says to me, ‘You’re Kate, I really love your song ‘Pictures.’’ I burst into tears. He was like my songwriting god.” Twinky Lagdameo, another mentor, brought Kate to the house of Ogie Alcasid. Kate played a song for him and Dingdong Avanzado and Ogie said, “What are you doing designing clothes?”

The gigs continued, with Kate also playing in the United States and in Europe. “Those gigs happened by accident. If I’m abroad, at a friend’s wedding, I’d extend my trip and maghahanap ako ng gigs. I’d go to open mics and I would just perform.”

She has also performed at Fête de la Musique both in Paris and in Manila and at the legendary Troubadour club. “Playing where Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Carol King played was amazing. No Doubt had their first big LA gig there, too.”

Fun to watch

Kate’s live shows are fun to watch. “When I play live, it’s very spontaneous. I have no set list. It’s fueled by adrenaline,” she said.
Kate’s first single is “Pictures,” about an old flame. And because her songs are inspired by previous relationships, her spiels sometimes include stories about ex-boyfriends. “The Adeles and Taylor Swifts of the world have done it, but everyone has a story to tell.”

At one gig in LA, she played a song about a guy from LA who broke her heart. “I was talking about him, and when I got off the stage, friends came up to me and said, ‘Kate he’s here.’ Now he knows it’s about him.”

Another guy is proud to have inspired one of Kate’s songs. “It’s not even a story to be proud of but this guy is like, ‘I was the muse of that song,’” she said, laughing.

A few months ago, Kate had her “Long Overdue” Little European Tour with stops in Berlin, Paris, London and Birmingham.

“Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience and Whitest Boy Alive came to watch my Berlin debut.”

Kate still designs clothes but she says music gives her “the best high in the world.” “Fashion is a different kind of fulfillment. It’s visual, you’re happy when people wear your clothes or when you have a fashion show. With music, it’s so personal, I think that’s why it took me so long. That’s your heart out there.”

“Long Overdue” is distributed by MCA Universal. It will be available on iTunes and at music stores nationwide. To get info on Kate’s upcoming national and international tour, check out her Facebook page (www.facebook.com/katetorralba) and www.katetorralba.com. Follow @katetorralba on Twitter and Instagram. - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Fashion designer Kate Torralba launched her debut album last year, aptly titled “Long Overdue.” The album was five years in the making and marks Kate’s formal foray into the music scene, a scene that not many know that she had been part of for over a decade.

“This is my second career and I feel like I’ve had a lifetime of so many other things before my music,” Kate said.

Child prodigy

You could say that Kate’s first love is music.

She was singing and playing the piano even before she thought about becoming a designer—in fact, she could carry a tune even before she could talk. By the age of two, Kate started singing complete songs. At four, she taught herself to play “Moon River” on the piano just by listening to various family members learn the piece. She was studying classical piano at seven, and was chosen to play in a concert for Filipino prodigies in LA at nine, where she was offered a scholarship for further training, but did not take it because her family thought that she was too young to be studying overseas by herself.

Kate discovered different kinds of music beyond her classical training via her family. Growing up in an extended household filled with music lovers meant she would be exposed to everything from the standards to pop to folk, rock, and country.

She later became vocalist of the band Hard Candy, which got a lot of airplay in her native Cebu. But even before she became part of a band, she had already developed an interest in songwriting.

“When I’d buy a cassette tape... I’d go through the lyrics, I’d go through the credits,” she said. “I became a huge fan of Ryan Cayabyab. I remember begging my mom to take me to a Smokey Mountain concert. But I didn’t want to meet the kids. I wanted to meet Ryan Cayabyab. I actually saw him leaving the concert venue. I didn’t get to meet him then.”

Fashion and music

Kate always found time for music, even when fate led her to fashion—a field where she excelled.

“Somehow, I would look for pockets of time to watch gigs and just look for places where I could play,” she said. “Remember Sanctum? That was one of my homes as an artist. I found my first friends there, Manila artists who encouraged me to play my music. It was just magical.”

Next thing she knew, guitarists such as Mike Villegas, formerly of Rizal Underground, POT’s Ian Umali, and Perth de Castro, formerly of Rivermaya and Triaxis were asking her to play with them in little bar shows. She didn’t think about making an album of her own until 2008, when Malek Lopez of Rubber Inc. and Drip approached her and asked if she wanted to work on an album with him.

“I was just like, ‘Wow!’ I had never thought about that. I had been approached about it before, but at that moment, it kind of made sense,” Kate said, admitting that at first, things were easier said than done. “I did struggle because my songwriting chops were rusty. The last time I had properly written a song was in college.”

Band camp

“The turning point was in 2010, when we had already spent two years trying to record things and not really coming up with anything solid,” Kate said. “2010 happened and I was very fatigued and just exhausted from my fashion work and I told myself that I really needed to go on a sabbatical just recharge and jump-start my creativity.”

Serendipitously, she got a text from Joey Ayala telling her to join Elements Songwriting Camp in Dumaguete.

“I was like, 'Wow, Ryan Cayabyab organized it! I just want to meet Ryan Cayabyab. I'll sign up!'” Kate gushed.

“I even asked if he was going to be part of the panel and was told that he would be part of a separate panel. I was bummed,” she added.

“I showed up for the audition and this big guy comes up to me and says, 'You're Kate! I love your song! The arrangement is really good!' I just looked up and it was Ryan Cayabyab. 20 years after that moment that I almost met him. Can you imagine? I was this little girl who idolized this person and he was telling me my song is good. I was so shocked, so happy,” she concluded.

International gigs

Even before the album was in the works, Kate was busy in the music scene here and overseas. What started as an impromptu gig for a friend’s exhibit opening in Paris in 2008 led to playing at the Fete de la Musique in the same city the next year.

She went on to play gigs in the US and Berlin.

“Everything happened organically. I would meet the right people. I would be at the right place at the right time. I ended up having annual shows in France,” Kate says. “I had songs, but it’s weird that even before the album was out, I was already touring. But it also gave me a taste of how foreign audiences would react to my music.”

“It was very encouraging, so I started to actively look for gigs if I had a working trip. Say I’m booked to do a wedding in the US, I’d make sure to extend my trip such that I have time to send my demos out to the venues, go to the open mics. I just wanted to play,” she explained.

Long Overdue

The launch of “Long Overdue” in 2013 heralded a new phase in Kate’s life. The album’s production notes features an all-star cast, including Dionne Warwick’s keyboardist Todd Hunter, Ciudad’s Mikey Amistoso, Itchyworms’ Jazz Nicholas, and Pedicab’s Diego Mapa as co-producers and Rommel dela Cruz of Barbie’s Cradle and Radioactive Sago Project’s Junji Lerma as guests.

The 11-track album has been getting a lot of rave reviews, with “Pictures,” the first single, getting a lot of airplay.

The song is about a guy that Kate used to date. “I wrote this, I was so mad. You realize at the end of the relationship, what do you have left? You just have pictures. Snapshots, souvenirs of what you once had,” she shared.

The languid “Drunk on Your Love” is a crowd favorite, as is the upbeat “Monkey Song (Nokiesque).” But really, every track on “Long Overdue” is a gem; the album has been featured on many ‘Best Of’ lists.

And even though she’s returned to her first love, Kate isn’t about to give up her day job. “Fashion is such a huge part of who I am and whether I like it or not, people will relate to me as a designer,” she said. “I’m very happy that people are giving the album a chance. I’m very grateful.” — VC, GMA News - GMA News Online

Kate Torralba: Long Overdue

(MCA Music, 2013)

Rating: 9/10

There was a time, roughly a decade ago, when Kate Torralba might have wanted to be the local version of Tori Amos. She began making the rounds in the Manila gig circuit as a solo act with an electric piano (although I’ve been told that she had a band back in her native Cebu), doing well-received sets of covers and a steadily growing number of original songs. Her quirky yet appealing voice, eccentric arrangements, and her undoubtedly impressive keyboard skills set her apart from other artists of her ilk, earning her the respect and friendship of peers in the local scene, many of whom had kept on urging her to make a record even as the demands of her more high-profile profession of being a renowned fashion designer got in the way.

At last, though, we now have the aptly-titled Long Overdue, Kate Torralba’s four-years-in-the-making, full-length studio debut, and it does not disappoint, even if many arrangements on the record may come off as surprising to many of her longtime followers. Long Overdue features a hodgepodge of sounds apart from her voice and piano, and encompasses a wide range of genres, from lounge pop to disco. It starts off with a solitary piano line that introduces “Pictures,” and already Torralba’s unique voice and piano skills are brought to the forefront, but when laidback beats courtesy of maverick producer Malek Lopez (Drip, Rubber, Inc.) and an actual cello come in, the listener somehow gets an indication that Long Overdue will be an interesting sonic trip of a record. It’s a far cry from her days of just performing alone with a keyboard, and perhaps a more accurate musical representation of her colorful, idiosyncratic fashion sense. But that’s probably overanalyzing it.

But a trip of an album it is, indeed. “Monkey Song (Nokiesque)” is more of the same, but no less charming, with horns emphasizing the song’s hook this time. “Northfleet” reveals Torralba’s electro side, not straying far from Techy Romantics territory, but imbued with her melodic sense. “Video” is even funkier, with snazzy guitar lines provided by Sach Castillo (of the late, lamented Sound), while the uptempo “Get Me” can easily fill a dance floor. There’s even some tropicalia (“Anywhere with You”), jazz pop (“Drunk on Your Love”), and Hannah+Gabi-esque indie folk (“Kung Mali Ako”) thrown into the mix, resulting in a varied-sounding record that manages to be consistently engaging, if not infectious.

Much credit goes to her all-star cast of producers and musicians, including Lopez, Jazz Nicolas (Itchyworms), Mikey Amistoso (Ciudad, Hannah+Gabi), Diego Mapa (Tarsius, Pedicab), drummer extraordinaire Wendell Garcia, virtuoso bassist Rommel de la Cruz, and others, but Torralba deserves points for bravely making a debut with such assorted sounds and moods, not confining herself to a single textbook genre but still coherently establishing her musical identity. With the sonic scope of this record, it would be nice to see her perform live with an expanded lineup of musicians, if not a full band, from now on. And given her aforementioned quirkiness, her open-mindedness to a wealth of musical styles and sounds, and perhaps the right producer/s, she could become the country’s answer to Björk. But, again, that’s overanalyzing it. Right now, the local music scene should be happy to have its own Kate Torralba. - Pinoytuner.com

Kate Torralba has proven time and again that great albums don’t need to be ambitiously defiant and loud. Sometimes, all it needs is a dose of carefree warmth and simplicity to get by, a day spent digging through the essential realities of love and heartbreak with every wisdom you could muster through the years of growing up. On Long Overdue, the fashion designer-turned-classically trained singer thrives on these feelings that open old wounds and tie up loose ends, creating some of the most affecting singer-songwriter opuses in recent memory. From the whiskey-shooting piano ballad of “Drunk On Your Love” to the quirky jazz-pop of “Pictures”, Kate’s work demands to be taken as a pill you need to swallow, a gem that needs to be taken as a whole. It’s in this album that makes you appreciate life even more. (Ian Urrutia) - Vandals On The Wall

Fashion designer Kate Torralba throws a curveball by shifting gears and reinventing herself as a musician - and she's pretty good. - Manila Bulletin

Fashion darling and self-confessed Preview discovery Kate Torralba waxes lyrical about rekindling an old flame - music - and shares her journey from the style scene to Saguijo to the recording studio and back. - Preview Magazine

Fashion darling and self-confessed Preview discovery Kate Torralba waxes lyrical about rekindling an old flame - music - and shares her journey from the style scene to Saguijo to the recording studio and back. - Preview Magazine

Last time we saw Kate Torralba, she was ruling the runways as a designer with buzz to burn. Two years since going on a self-imposed sabbatical, she’s back with a brand new beat, Raymond Ang finds, as a singer-songwriter with real chops and formidable musicality. - ROGUE Magazine

Kate Torralba has an exciting message for the next batch of aspiring music artists at the 2nd Elements Singing and Songwriting Camp: “Be prepared to have your life changed, because mine certainly did.”

One of the most active participants at the music camp’s debut outing last year, Torralba performed, along with two of her batch mates, hip hop duo Knowa Lazarus and Flavamatikz, and acoustic R&B singer-songwriter JM Quiblat, as guests at the recent press con for this year’s Elements edition to be held November 6-10 at Bahura Beach Resort in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.
A fashion designer by profession, Torralba has likewise nurtured a passion for music.

“On the last night of the camp, I knew that my destiny would change because I was going in another direction,” she told the Inquirer. “It was a very profound experience.”

Asked how she’s been doing after the camp, Torralba said: “I’ve been writing songs and playing the piano everyday. I’m not shifting focus away from fashion but I’ve been doing more music.”

The biggest question that always confronts her, Torralba pointed out, is “what do you do with it? You’re on your own.”

Her indie debut CD, produced by Malek Lopez, is due for release by the end of the year. She described it as “an interesting specimen of my life, before and after the camp.”

At the press launch, Raimund Marasigan, who’s joining the camp as one of the new mentors, quipped: “I’ll make sure nobody will have a good time and everybody will suffer. I’ll be one of the ‘de-mentors!’”

Applications to the 2nd Elements Singing and Songwriting Camp are open till August 31. Log on to www.7101musicnation.com.ph. - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Kate Torralba has an exciting message for the next batch of aspiring music artists at the 2nd Elements Singing and Songwriting Camp: “Be prepared to have your life changed, because mine certainly did.”

One of the most active participants at the music camp’s debut outing last year, Torralba performed, along with two of her batch mates, hip hop duo Knowa Lazarus and Flavamatikz, and acoustic R&B singer-songwriter JM Quiblat, as guests at the recent press con for this year’s Elements edition to be held November 6-10 at Bahura Beach Resort in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.
A fashion designer by profession, Torralba has likewise nurtured a passion for music.

“On the last night of the camp, I knew that my destiny would change because I was going in another direction,” she told the Inquirer. “It was a very profound experience.”

Asked how she’s been doing after the camp, Torralba said: “I’ve been writing songs and playing the piano everyday. I’m not shifting focus away from fashion but I’ve been doing more music.”

The biggest question that always confronts her, Torralba pointed out, is “what do you do with it? You’re on your own.”

Her indie debut CD, produced by Malek Lopez, is due for release by the end of the year. She described it as “an interesting specimen of my life, before and after the camp.”

At the press launch, Raimund Marasigan, who’s joining the camp as one of the new mentors, quipped: “I’ll make sure nobody will have a good time and everybody will suffer. I’ll be one of the ‘de-mentors!’”

Applications to the 2nd Elements Singing and Songwriting Camp are open till August 31. Log on to www.7101musicnation.com.ph. - Philippine Daily Inquirer