The independent Filipino R&B and Soul band, Franz&Francis is set to release multiple singles this year. After the band’s debut in 2019, duo, John Francis and Jayson Franz Pasicolan added Borgy Paras on drums and sax, Sisley Paras on guitars, and Aaron Antinero on bass (Luke Casanova session bassist) to make their music sonically better and dive into a more genre-fluid sound.
“These guys just inherently make us sound better and enjoy the production part of the music a lot more. We’re just having fun with these guys.”, said John Francis who is the band’s lead vocalist and songwriter.
Though frontman, John Francis, is not a formally trained singer-songwriter but his bandmates, Jayson Franz, Sisley, Borgy, and Luke are being student of De La Salle – College of St. Benilde’s Music Production program.
“Sometimes, they’re talking about terms like II-V-I, Ionian, scales, etc. and I can’t understand a thing. I wish I had the same in-depth skills with music theory, I need to study more.” he adds, referring to how highly-technical his bandmates are when it comes to music.
The band took a year-long hiatus, working on their individual projects given the pandemic. Jayson Franz had his self-titled on-going project as artist-songwriter-producer while John Francis had ‘John’s Project’ under Ditto Music. However, the band has been working on songs, meeting weekly, doing covers, talking about plans, and is set to continue making chill, soulful tracks perfect for your random late-night drives and Sunday morning coffee.
“We would always write songs about our own experiences and combine it with comforting elements like a touch of electric piano, or a soft guitar tone, without too much percussions. I don’t like to think we’re soul, R&B, or tied to a specific genre. We just like to put the right elements to serve the song properly. Genre-fluid as they say”. Jayson Franz adds.
Their influences also take cues from industry bigwigs like Tom Misch, Mac Ayres, John Mayer, and Sam Kim, Craig David to name a few.
The main duo, John Francis & Jayson Franz, have been recognized in national songwriting events, winning 2nd place in Himig Handog’s 11th Edition for “Kahit Na Masungit” by Jeremy G. and Kyle Echarri, and 2nd place in Earth Day Jam 2020 for “Letters From Earth (Cradle)”.
After 2 years, the band is set to release a remix of their first ever single “Flyin’ Over”, collaborating with 2019 Vans Musicians Wanted (PH) winner, Dante&Amigo.
“Collaborating with Jay was a breath of fresh air. Everything went smoothly. Looking forward to the release of this track!” Amigo says about the collaboration process.
Amigo has been talking with John Francis since last year to provide bars for the remix and the exchange of ideas brought forth a hip-hop track combined with Tom Misch inspired guitar-line arrangement, hit the airwaves this February 18.
