Shiela And The Insects

Flowerfish

Side A

Maybe Only Maybe

Maude

Violet

Quick To Panic

Luna Grace

Side B

Happenstance

Lemerson

The Disco Machine

Just In Case

Clever As You

“Flowerfish”, the 4th album of Cebu-based alternative band Sheila and the Insects, is out once more in vinyl.

Although their second album “Plastic Eyes Static Minds” saw them introduced to a Metro Manila audience on the strength of the song “Everyday Drive,” it was “Flowerfish”, originally released on compact disc in 2005, that cemented Sheila and the Insects as one of the top bands in the country and not just in Cebu.

“It was a good choice and personally it is my favorite from our discography,” shared vocalist and guitarist Orven Enoveso. “This album that saw us expand our fanbase. And besides, when The Grey Market Records approached us with the offer to put an album out on vinyl, it was this specific album.”

The Grey Market Records, which used to be an independent shop that sells mostly vinyl, has of late become an indie record label. While it has re-issued album’s such as Rico Blanco’s “Your Universe” and the 7-inch record from Sandwich, “Timelapse” to name a few, The Grey Market Records formally began marking its releases with its logo starting with the release of “Other People” that featured many indie acts such as Soft Pillow Kisses, Megumi Acorda, Cinema Lumiere, and Outerhope among others. 

“Flowerfish” is the 2nd release from the White Plains, Quezon City-based label. 

Chimed in guitarist Ian Zafra, who founded the band: “I always welcome any opportunity that is good for our music and the band. And reintroducing ‘Flowerfish’ on vinyl does exactly that. This means so much to me because the collaboration process was far different from the other albums.

“For example, most of my riffs were ideas proposed by then bassist Simon Nunez and former drummer Jerros Dolino. Their ideas were such that I could not have thought of doing. So it was challenging for me to play and record their suggestions. We fight a lot in the studio but only because we want to come up with good songs. And I hope we’ve achieved that and our fans can validate that.”

Despite “Flowerfish” being their most critically acclaimed album, Sheila and the Insects took somewhat of a sabbatical, although they gigged and released some singles and a video in between their return for their 5th album, “Love or Limbo” in 2018.

It was during the album launch where they were reintroduced to a younger audience at the Summer Noise Festival in Pasig City.

While Sheila and the Insects are ecstatic about the step backwards with the vinyl release of “Flowerfish”, they also realize it pushes them 2 steps forward.

“To be able to share that album in our band’s history and this time for a vinyl audience is a significant achievement for us,” added Zafra. 

“Yeah, we realize that the vinyl community is different from those who go for streaming or those who previously bought compact discs,” piggybacked Enoveso. “So we’re hoping a different set of music fans discover us.”

“We now have a new lineup with only Ian and me from the previous iteration of Sheila and the Insects,” pointed out Enoveso. “We’ve added Czedric Fernandez on bass and David de la Rosa on drums. Plus, we have a new single dropping this summer titled, ‘The Only Way to Dance’ and we hope music fans will like it.”

-Rick Olivares