BOUND BY MUSIC

One Click Straight celebrates a new milestone in their music journey

By Patrick V. Miguel

AFEW hours before their show started at 123 Block, fans of One Click Straight were already forming a line outside. This is a milestone for the band as it is a show dedicated to the band, and at the same time, for the album launch. The audience came to the show to see One Click Straight play and them only.

According to Sam Marquez, this is their biggest One Click Straight show. He compared it to their UP Fair show last year, saying, “This is our biggest OCS show kasi, I think, last year we did UP Fair in terms of size, but in terms of One click Straight show, I think this is the biggest.”

One Click Straight played at 123 Block, Mandala Park, in Mandaluyong on Friday, January 20, to celebrate their self-titled album launch.

Straight is a sibling group. In addition to that, their childhood friend Joel Cartera is also a part of the group— but that does not make him any less of a brother. Sam said so, describing Joel as “A.K.A. brother.”

With that, they feel like One Click Straight is a band that started since birth. “We kinda feel like we’ve been one click straight since birth, we’ve been jamming around high school, grade school,” Sam shared.

Their parents questioned this decision, with their mother asking if they were sure about it. But eventually, they got the support of their parents—but only emotional support.

“We were really working hard to support our craft, we didn’t really get money from our parents,” Sam said. “We did not come from—let’s say— we didn’t come from a rich family or from a music industry family.”

With that, they had to “learn everything the hard way.” They even had to perform gigs where their guitar had only four strings, and unfortunately, in their earlier run, some people mocked them in shows.

According to Joel, they had “zero network, zero socials.”

He narrated, “We really had to go out there and put ourselves out there and meet people who are connected well in the industry. We really started from scratch.”

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Soundstrip got the opportunity to interview the band a few minutes before their show. Asked on how they feel seeing the line of fans coming in, Sam answered, “To be honest, as of this moment, it’s not sinking in (yet).

He added, “Hindi ko pa na-f-feel kasi ang dami ko pang inaasikaso, pero later yan siguro when we get to the top and when I hear the sound of the people, then maybe I’ll get that feeling.”

Before gracing the stage, Sam said he feels “very nervous.” However, he countered, “But at this moment, because of how things are turning out, we’re too tired to be so nervous so we’d rather be just like a vessel.”

Reflecting on why OCS fans spared a few hours of their daily life to see them play, Sam shared, “What is important is how the kids will absorb what we try to say because that’s what we’re trying to do—I think they are here so that they can hear the words that we wanna say.”

Other artists such as Ena Mori, Gabba, Zild, and Sandwich also got to perform on that stage to show their support to One Click Straight.

Bound by music (and blood)

SAM, Tim, and Toffer Marquez are siblings, so technically One Click

The band started as “juvenile,” Sam described. As teenagers, they believed that being in a band was “cool” enough to attract the ladies’ attention since they are not best at sports.

“We just wanted to be cooler,” Tim admitted.

Professionally, according to Sam, it was in 2014 when they decided to take music more seriously. They decided it based on one reason: for the music and music only.

Turning to the positive side, Sam said that being brothers—all of them—helped. It was love and their shared love for music that kept them together.

He said, “One of the blessings that counts is the love that is also real, you know there’s no more walls, there’s no more sugar coating.”

One Click Straight’s self-titled album is available on all musicstreaming platforms.

SoundSampler

by Tony M. Maghirang