From Crowd to Loud: Get Up and Sing
Pride washes over you as you listen to your cousin serenade the fiesta with their heirloom guitar. Then, as everyone at the gathering sings along with their strumming, you think about the choir at your church, and then maybe the Kolohe Kai concert you attended with your friends.
Music on streaming services like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music pale in comparison to being in the moment, to being present and being a participant in live music.
Live music has been an important part of Guam’s culture long before we marked our calendars for local shows, like the oral tradition of Kantan CHamorrita, in which members would participate in ancient slam poetry battles.
Evidently, we have not left music participation in the past. ‘Open Mic Nights,’ local concerts with local bands, promoters pushing talent onto the stage—we are very much in a thriving era of Guam’s live music scene, set up one day to even reach the height of the events hosted here in the 90s and early 2000s.
But where’s the stage for you? There is undoubtedly a raw and emotional story boiling in your soul, one that you have transcribed onto a page in poetry and is aching to be shared with the entire island.
Local bands would not be able to get the traction they deserve without the help of event hosts and organizers. One such host, Christopher “Spell” Spellen, provides some insight into the ease with which new and upcoming artists can enter the scene.
“It’s all about talent. If you’re good, then everybody is accessible. The businesses are accessible, the people who promote and sponsor are accessible,” said Spell. “You’ll meet them. If you’re in the scene and you’re talented, you’ll get booked.”
“If you’re an artist looking for gigs, you can reach out to different venues that have live music during [certain] days, but most of the time what I hear is that when you build your name, they reach out to you.”
When asked about tips for artists trying to get a foothold in the music scene, Spell Rell gave some insight on where to start.
“First, start going out. You gotta hit the streets, you gotta go to different venues, you gotta see what’s going on, what’s good, and what you like. Once you know what you like, I would suggest following them and supporting them, because it costs nothing to support your favorite artists. A lot of these people out here are super talented, [and] they’re just looking for a way to support themselves and their art. Go out and follow them, and when they’re playing somewhere, go! Go support, repost their [stuff]!”
“It’s easy to be a big fish in a small pond here. There’s a lot of talent here, but it’s not so saturated that you can’t get your shot. People love that you’re from here, they love to see talent from Guam,” he said.
But what’s a show without its artists? Maintaining the sound of the early 2000s through covers of iconic songs like “Still Into You” by Paramore or “Zombie” by The Cranberries is the driving force of the pop punk band O’ Katarina. You would be surprised to learn that their origin story is as relatable as your cousin asking for a favor.
“Honestly, we just got thrown together. Our leader, Amanda, was in another band and they were chosen to play an event, but they couldn’t do it, so she just threw a bunch of people together,” says singer Camarin “Cammy” Pangelinan.
The band officially debuted later that year on Aug. 26, 2023, at Fat Tofu’s release party for “PATIS.”
“[We] ended up loving each other so much that we became O’ Katarina,” Cammy said.
No band is complete without an active following, so with some help from the band Pop Rocks & Soda, O’ Katarina was recommended to perform a few sets during their shows at Porky’s.
“After a while [of that], Livehouse … contacted us and they were like, ‘Hey, want to play a few gigs here?’ And then we ended up coming back here permanently every Friday,” she said.
That the ever-popular O’ Katarina band found their beginning in a ‘thrown together’ gig is nothing short of inspirational. Getting out there and performing is as easy as finding the right people to click with you, who share a common creative vision and a desire to perform.
“Honestly, you can really tell when a band is having fun, when they love each other. Because, of course, there are bands where it’s like ‘oh yeah, you’re just there,’ but we really love what we do,” Cammy said.
There is no experience like sitting through a set performed by people exhausted from their lives, nor is there an experience like being up on the stage and showing off to the world how much your story needs to be told. The live music scene on Guam is set up to support you through your burgeoning career, be it one gig or five hundred.
“People are just waiting for someone from Guam to make it. They’re waiting,” says Spell.