Whether they’re performing together as one tight-knit unit or taking the stage individually, collaboration and camaraderie are at the forefront of WRIZZARDS’ budding musical journey.
More formally known as Washington Rizzards, WRIZZARDS is a small group out to achieve big dreams. Based in the United States, the 4-piece Filipino music collective’s members explore a multi-faceted combination of sounds in their craft. The group hails from the states of Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia.
The music collective is composed of artists Bema Tadey, Leif, J Matty, and Tina Carzon. Aside from coming together as a team for performances, they are also known for performing as solo acts as well as often collaborating with each other as duos. For WRIZZARDS, teamwork does make the dream work as the members often shows up to each other’s individual gigs in order to help out their co-members in any way they can. This includes anything from offering all sorts of aid behind the scenes to helping elevate each other’s live sound.
If we’re going to talk about a stacked live performance portfolio, WRIZZARDS has quite something to show for. While the group only had their debut show on July 1, 2023 at Songbyrd DC, they have already opened for noteworthy Filipino acts such as Billboard Philippines Studios artists Ben&Ben and Jay R as well as Moira Dela Torre and Silent Sanctuary.
A few months after their debut show, WRIZZARDS’ released their first and latest single as a whole entitled “Ms. Barista”, released last December 8, 2023. The upbeat R&B, coffee wordplay-ridden track hits likes your favorite cup of espresso in the morning. It sees the music collective trading lines about being in love with a certain “barista girl”, fluidly alternating between singing and rapping in both English and Filipino.
Keep an eye out for them and get to know the members of WRIZZARDS further through their individual songs below.
Leif
Fusing together alternative pop and alternative rock is Leif, a singer-songwriter most known for his track “Lucid”, a collaboration with fellow WRIZZARDS member, J Matty and also serving as the name of their duo project. While vocals may be his forte, the Philippine-born artist is also known for being a producer and all-around instrumentalist as well as being one of the individuals at the helm of Up2NoGood Music Group, an independent music label he co-founded with J Matty. Aside from “Lucid”, Leif is also known for his tracks such as “Jealous” and “Love You Enough”. His latest effort as a standalone artist is “Enough”, released last 2023.
Bema Tadey
Taking up the piano at a young age, singer-songwriter and producer Bema Tadey started writing and producing songs as well as playing guitar at the age of 12. Quite the musical connoisseur, she is known for utilizing various influences in her music, ranging from OPM, R&B, and Western Pop. She is known for her tracks such as “Show You Off”, “Walang Kasama” (With No One), and her hearthache-filled debut “Off My Mind”. Her latest release outside of WRIZZARDS is her song “Tayong Dalawa” (Us Two), which came out last 2023.
J Matty
Skillfully weaving different influences into his craft such as R&B and hip-hop is WRIZZARDS member J Matty. The Up2NoGood Music Group co-founder is most known for his viral hit “You Changed Me” which gained traction on Tiktok and, at the time of writing, has amassed nearly 230,000 streams on Spotify alone. Aside from being a member of WRIZZARDS and LUCID, alongside Leif once again, J Matty is also part of GLDN TCHRS, a music collective based in Virginia. He is known his other tracks such as “Dim the Lights”, “Options”, as well as “Right Now”, his latest solo release which came out in 2023.
Tina Carzon
Known for their penchant of genre-hopping and fusing together different influences such as bossanova and R&B, singer-songwriter Tina Carzon grew up musically inclined and was self-taught in playing the guitar and the piano by their parents. Much like many modern aspiring musicians, they had their beginnings on the platforms Bandcamp and Soundcloud; accumulating a fanbase and releasing their first EP entitled “As I Reminisce” in 2018. This would later on be followed by their first album “To Be Continued”, released in 2019 and of which WRIZZARDS co-member Leif was one of the personnel who helped bring it to life. With the goal to masterfully craft outputs that brings about healing, they are also known for their songs such as their debut effort “Healing”, “15 minutes”, as well their latest single as a standalone artist “delulu”, released in 2023.
Feel a shot of espresso and fall in love by listening to WRIZZARDS’ “Ms. Barista” below.