Bullet Dumas
Influence is a funny thing. Generally, it is what defines you as a musician and forms part of your DNA. You listen to the blues, for example, and you end up either a blues musician or there will be blues licks in your playing, singing or writing.
So what happens when you count Broadway and Disney musicals, classical, jazz, world, rock, and everything else you fancy as qualifiers for your creativity and decide to just use your voice and an acoustic guitar?
You become Bullet Dumas, and you distill all that information into something that is absolutely unique: propulsive strummed open tunings, odd metered rhythms, and catchy melodies delivered with a soaring vocal timbre. You are different, and the audience always knows it’s you. “Once I like a particular song/sound, regardless of the genre, then that’s it I would love the song/artist. Although I pretty much diverted from the trend all the time.”
Bullet started out at age 12 learning Rivermaya’s “Elesi” and the Eraserheads’ “Pare Ko” through a friend KC Tan who would eventually become his high school bandmate. “Music was a pastime, “ he says, “The usual thing: you steal a time of your day playing the guitar and learning music. I started writing songs when i was in 3rd year HS. In 4th year college, KC invited me to be a vocalist for a band called Pruweba; i started writing decent songs from thereon.”
He found himself in Dumaguete for the first ever 7101 Music NAtion Elements Singer/Songwriter Camp in 2009. “They let me perform at the camp and it was my first time to sing alone on stage. It was also my first time to perform before a silent listening crowd. What do you expect if you have songwriters as your audience? They would want to listen to every word you say and every note you sing. It was like my audition to the music industry. And I got the sweetest applause I have ever heard. Simply put, without Elements, I am nobody.”
Not bad for someone who, away from the stage, is referred to as “sir” in the classroom: Bullet is a math teacher. He finds a way to marry the two. “Music is my way of life. Usually, in my head, I like to think about soundtracks for everyday stuff (i.e. how would the musical score of a man walking his dog sound like, etc.). I even integrate music when I teach math (e.g. I rap in class just to introduce divisibility).” He also participates in frisbee competitions.
The combination of athlete, mathlete and musician shows up in his choice of odd meters, albeit in a non (pun intended) calculated manner, and he explains, “I write about love, or more the lack of it! My surroundings, a few social issues. Really, these things, you don’t really have to think about them too much. Music is so spontaneous you can almost write about anything.” He adds however, “These songs usually take long to finish and oftentimes result in numerous versions before it is good to go. I tend to let the songs ‘ripen’ by themselves. I critique my work a lot that’s why my music writing takes a lot of time.”
It is his magnetic live performances that gave Bullet a growing reputation; he plays as if possessed by the music itself. No he doesn’t do anything fancy; he is simply focused and intense and it is not unusual to find audiences drawn to his presence. He says, “I respect artists who play better live so I always keep that in mind when performing onstage. And there is also the challenge of changing the show every time.The worst is when no one really listens to you that even their loudness competes with your voice. Although I usually gauge my performance through this --- if I can silence a crowd then I am doing a hell of a job.”
Bullet has finished his first EP with the legendary Robin Rivera (Eraserheads) in the producer’s chair. This is of course just the beginning as far as Bullet is concerned. “I want to release a few albums, and i want to focus on the live scene. i want to be better as a live musical act… i even want to write my own musical, maybe it’ll become a movie. I have lots of dreams as a musician.”
“But in the long run, I simply want every listener to say, ’This dude is something else.’”
And this early in his career, people are already acknowledging it. You could say his targets are already in sight.
- Francis "Brew" S. Reyes Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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