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On one sunny Friday afternoon in March, the members of Novocrane arrive one by one at Monostery Studio — the recording studio and artist hub owned and operated by husband and wife Gani and Mic Palabyab (whom you may remember from the excellent 2010s rock fusion band Farewell Fair Weather). It’s located in a house nestled in a quiet, hilly village in Marikina, just outside the border of Quezon City, where the air is noticeably fresher, despite being not that far from the chaos that is Katipunan Avenue on a school day.
Inside, a sound system, amps, and a drum kit are set up, and Novocrane singer/guitarist Kai Sevillano is plugged in, jamming with Gani and other musicians to soundcheck the equipment. Outside, guests are hanging out in the backyard, eating pizza and pre-gaming before the main event — the first leg of the band’s bar tour to promote their “Moshpit” single, which they’ve aptly promoted as a “House Party.” It made sense to kick it off here, because Kai has made Monostery her home for almost two years now, after relocating to Manila from Cebu. She calls tonight’s show “a full circle celebration of finding a home away from home.”
“(The Palabyabs) let me stay in their house, which has a studio, for a month last April, which turned into a year,” explains Kai. “There were a lot of gig inquiries, so they decided to let me stay in their home and not book me a return flight home. I was inclined to stay the longer time passed, and I’m still here now!”
Before Manila, Kai came from Cebu, where she started her indie rock project. Prior to that she was born and raised in Bacolod, played bass for the worship band at her church, and then discovered Phoebe Bridgers during the pandemic and got inspired to write her own songs.
“I moved to Cebu for college, but ended up spending most of my time there with the local indie music scene,” Kai narrates, continuing her story. It was there that she met kindred spirits and fixtures of the scene — among them being Karl Lucente (Mandaue Nights, Honeydrop, Monopolice) and Luigi Balazo a.k.a. Wiji Kun (The Sundown, Sepia Times). Karl was supposed to be Kai’s first bandmate but couldn’t commit, while Luigi co-produced the first Novocrane single, the melodic yet tastefully lo-fi “Imaginary Party,” which introduced Kai’s project to indie music fans all over the country. Luigi also played lead guitar for Novocrane at gigs, as Novocrane technically just consisted of Kai at this point.
After a few years in Cebu and dropping out of school, Kai briefly moved back to Bacolod to “look for a work-from-home job and save enough money,” but her songs had generated enough buzz that production outfit The Rest Is Noise invited Novocrane to perform at All Of The Noise 2025 in April of last year. She flew to Manila without a return ticket, taking the chance that perhaps Novocrane might flourish in the capital after trying her luck in Cebu.
“I will never take for granted the years that I spent in Cebu — it was where I really started my music journey, which led me to where I am now,” clarifies Kai. “The people around the scene were people whom I looked up to a lot, and still do. I would not be who I am now without them, or without spending my formative years there.”
“The decision to move here honestly felt more of a survival-based move, and I flew [to Manila] with everything to gain [and] nothing to lose,” she continues. “When I moved here, it felt the same as when I moved to Cebu, but now wiser and older.” She admits to having felt overwhelmed and uncertain at the thought of living in a bigger city with a much bigger music scene, but fortunately, her new friends who converged at Monostery as well as her management, Diorama FM, helped her settle in, and more importantly, create new songs.
One of the first musicians she worked with was Luke April, the rapper and producer of the Davao hip-hop collective PLAYERTWO. As it turned out, Luke also loved alternative guitar-driven rock. “I remember the moment we were all in the studio listening to Kai’s stuff on Soundcloud and I was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s go’ in Bisaya,” he recalls. “After knowing Kai a bit more, I realized we had pretty much the same taste in music.”
The fruits of Kai’s collaboration with Luke is evident on Novocrane’s more recent material like “Moshpit” and “FOMF” — tracks that showcase more confident vocals from the singer, as well as electronic beats that provide a radio-ready pop sheen. “[Luke] shared a hyperpop demo that made me think, ‘What if we mix rock with hyperpop and play this live with a band?’” says Kai. It was then that they decided to incorporate electronic elements into Novocrane’s music “to make something exciting and interesting.”
Novocrane: courtesy of Diorama FM.
The only thing left to do was to turn Novocrane into something Kai had always envisioned — an actual band. It so happened that two of her future bandmates were also at All Of The Noise — SOS member Ram Alonzo and Davao musician Zon Lee. Zon recalls “really liking the energy” of Novocrane’s set: “I remember thinking, ‘Damn, it would be fun to play with them.’” He then messaged Kai’s manager and volunteered to play bass for her next gig. “We rehearsed for the first time and it just clicked right away,” he adds.
They didn’t have a drummer yet at that point, so Zon brought in Ram, who did not get to watch Novocrane’s set at All Of The Noise but listened to the recordings and loved them. Finally, Novocrane became a band: Kai on vocals and guitar, Luke on lead guitar, Zon on bass, and Ram on drums. Their first gig was at the Pampanga stage of last year’s Fête de la Musique, “After that, Kai decided this was the final lineup for the band,” says Zon.
Fast forward to almost a year later, Novocrane are still very much a band, and they’ve since successfully completed their bar tour, with more opportunities still coming to them. Kai, in particular, recently contributed guest vocals on fitterkarma’s new single, “Aswang In Manila,” increasing Novocrane’s profile as a result. But more than anything, Kai’s earlier gamble of moving to the metro has greatly paid off for her, personally and creatively.
“I was always excited when I got to watch the bands that I only used to listen to on my phone,” she says. “My sentiment stays the same — I’m always grateful that I get to share the stage with the bands here. It’s definitely a bigger world, and Cebu is different in its own beautiful way.”
Finally – for now, at least — Kai Sevillano is home, if home is the place and the people that are conducive to her creating more music that she describes as “similar to a film soundtrack, defining a life yet to flesh out.”
“In the end,” she concludes, “what matters to me most personally is that I get to write songs and share them with people through live music, no matter where.”