femalenetwork.com

They do normal things that students do--worry about homework, argue about basketball players, laze around on weekends. However, there is more to these school boys than meets the eye.
 
Meet the MBoys, a group of the students from the same class, who have yet to earn their high school diploma and already have a good EP album under their belts. They were discovered by no less than music maestro Ryan Cayabyab, who happened to witness their performance in a fund-raising activity at the Ateneo de Manila.

 
We got to meet Pietro Lazatin, Jonathan Babaran, Toma Cayabyab, and Mike Shimamoto, four members of the class of 41 boys when they paid Sony BMG a visit last week, where we also watched a video of their single, "Galak," directed by Toma Cayabyab. We also sampled the boys' feel-good songs, "Galak," "I'll Always Be There For You," "Pakiusap," as well as "Susan" and "Bitaw," which were the class' winning pieces for "Awit Nasyonalista," an annual songwriting competition at the Ateneo that also give birth to popular bands such as Parokya ni Edgar. Each song reflects what every typical boy is going through their age. Strangely, the MBoys music is influenced by the music of their parents, which they fused with a sound of their own.
 
And though these boys are starting to make a name for themselves, they're still a normal bunch who love to joke about their teachers, girls, and each other.
 
FN: How did you make time for recording songs for the EP?
Jonathan: Our recording still revolved around school schedule. We only did it during our free time, on a weekend.
Toma: If it reaches a point where we have to cancel school, the recordings take a backseat.
 
FN: You've yet to graduate from high school. What do you plan to study in college?
Pietro: Music.
Toma: Communication Arts.
Jonathan: Psychology.
Mike: I'd love to go for Law, so I'm taking up Legal Management as my pre-law degree.
 
FN: Who would you say are your musical influences?
Jonathan: Since we're more into acoustic, we listen to a lot of Eraserheads, APO, Jason Mraz, and John Mayer.
 
FN: How does it feel to share your talent?
Jonathan: It's a big blessing, we really never imagined this. We just love music, so it was really just great to reach this point.
Pietro: It feels good. Who doesn't want to have their own CDs and songs on the radio?
Toma: It's a really good opportunity and we're still working on our repertoire, doing covers and laying out songs that we want to do. Although we have to stick to a theme, Sony has been good about letting us choose our songs.
 
FN: And what do you feel about fan girls?
Jonathan: Unfortunately, I don't think we’ll ever get used to the attention.
 
MBoys '09's five-track EP is now out on CDs at record stores nationwide.