ALL HAIL!

THE ZOMBETTES

STORY BY Angela Jed Silvestre

PHOTOS BY Edouard Canlas

Zombies and parties don’t mix. At least not in the conventional sense.

Parties are supposed to be fun and loud, clubs packed with the populace’s raving nightlife-natives busting out into their craziest dance moves, no doubt fueled by a sh*tload of alcohol. In shorter words, full of life. Something zombies are known to have none of. Zero.

So how ironic is it that The Zombettes, the DJ tandem whose name was inspired by the undead (and the female singing group of the 60s) are, in fact, the very definition of “life of the party”.

Equipped with glow sticks, their trademark Z! stickers and ZOMG! pins, Ornusa Cadness and Sanya Smith give you a reason to party on a Monday night (at Imperial Ice Bar no less), and risk waking up the next morning with a hangover that’ll definitely be one for the books.

It’s not surprising that these girls know how to pump some life into a party as these models-by-day-DJs-by-night have always been fixtures around the metro’s hottest parties and clubs. Whether they were invited to party or invited to play, a night out with The Zombettes is never dull and definitely never dead.

We caught up with these fun femme fatales literally a day before they had to zoom off to the second leg of their Bleh!! Tour, which kicked off at Imperial Ice Bar in BGC and concludes at Famous in Phuket, Thailand. We asked for a little and they gave us a lot—these girls aren’t keeping quiet so you’d better pay attention. Coz we ain’t asking twice.

Tell us about the beginning; when and how did The Zombettes happen?

Ornusa: We were backstage at a fashion show and decided that we wanted to form a singing trio somewhere along the lines of a 1960s group like The Chordettes or The Ronettes. We were all deejaying individually at that point. It was then when Anna [our manager] and another friend saw potential to just start a DJ trio and thus the birth of The Zombettes.

Sanya: We started playing at parties like Fluxxe and Happy Mondays every now and then for fun when our friends would invite us. After a while we found ourselves playing more gigs, more events…it just sort of took a life of its own.

There were initially three of you in the group, including fellow model Mia Ayesa.

O: “Truth is, we hate each other." This is what we always say jokingly because everyone thinks there was some sort of weird falling out but it was a peaceful parting.

S: Mia wanted different things so she decided to go solo. She's now touring with Those Damn Nerds, a DJ duo she has with Ais Nicaution! We bump into each other once in a while, which is cool.

O: We're happy for them.

Speaking of, has being 'models first, DJs second' helped or hindered The Zombettes?

S: I think the answer is quite obvious, we don't even have to say it. (laughs) But we are well aware that we’re not technically as skilled as other DJs out there. But we do bring something else to the table. We've been told several times that we "come with fun" (laughs)—that’s good enough for us! We want people to have fun. That’s the whole point of The Zombettes. We play music, we interact with the crowd…armed with glow sticks, giveaways, silly string—whatever we see fits the occasion, we want the audience to have an awesome time and bring a piece of their night back home with them.

O: It’s a bonus coz people know you as a model. It’s a con because people know you as a model. Comme çi, comme ça. You make the most of it. Number one rule, just have fun. 

How easy or difficult is it being a duo?

S: It’s not difficult, we’re best friends to begin with so that already makes it a hell of a lot of fun. Sure we've had our arguments and disagreements here and there but we always pull through it and agree on something eventually. (laughs) It’s not really a question of easy or difficulty really...we get along just fine. Except for when it’s the time of the month. That’s when shit gets ugly. (laughs) Just kidding.

O: It’s so easy to have your good friend by your side at every job. It’s never a difficulty. We always do whatever we can to help or better each other. 

Tell us about your musical stylings.

S: Ever seen Get Him To The Greek? We’re a Jeffrey. A bit of this, a bit of that. It’s very chop suey. Our musical taste ranges from a whole list of genres it’s so hard to pick just one or two because there's so much music out there. Right now were loving trap, EDM, a bit of hip-hop, techno, electro house, the list goes on. We also like to make sure there’s a flavor of rock into our sound. We like it heavy and dirty. (laughs) Dog Blood would be the perfect example of what we like. Influences? Wow this is hard to answer because there are so many. Uhhh where to start?

Let's go to your fashion; how would you describe each other's style and in what ways can you say that you've influenced each other's style?

O: We've become a little more in sync with our fashion lately. I’ve gone with sticking to neutral colors. We try to coordinate as much as possible when it comes to dressing up.

S: Ornusa is always well put together. I've always admired the way she dresses which is why I ask her to style me from time to time! (laughs) We borrow stuff from each other all the time.

Tell us: sneakers or heels?

O: Sneakers!!!

S: Sneakers, please.

What are your favorite pairs of sneakers? We’ve recently seen Ornusa in white Comme des Garçons Play Chuck Taylors, and Sanya in ALIFE.

O: You answered my question already. (laughs) I’ve been wearing the same pair of shoes for 6 months now. Day and night.

S: I borrowed the pair of black ALIFE sneakers from our 4th Zombette (Hi, Kim!) and haven't been able to take them off since. They seem to go with anything and they are extremely comfortable. I also love my white adidas Jeremy Scott sneaks that Ornusa gave me for my birthday this year...the wings are just too awesome I can’t get over them.

Out of all the places The Zombettes have played at, name some of your favorite places.

O: Dumaguete! The kids out there were WILD. They had a mosh pit going. I almost crowd surfed! (laughs)

S: Dumaguete also knows how to rock the party...we call them the Dumaguettas. (laughs) At the end of the night, everyone was covered in beer, tequila, and Red Bull. Solid. We love playing out of town. Especially Bacolod, too. Our very first out-of-town show was in Bacolod and the crowd was absolutely nuts. Grabe, as in wilder than Manila almost! It was our first time over there so we didn’t know what to expect. We figured people out there don't stay out after 2 AM...we played until 5:30 AM! Wild. San Carlos in Negros Occidental was also pretty crazy. That was one of the biggest crowds we ever played for. We couldn't see where the audience ended. It was a sea of sweaty, sticky, dancing people. (laughs) One guy tried to climb over the fence at one point.

Which clubs would you say can guarantee you the best time, every time?

S: Depends on what you’re looking for but there's this new spot that just opened. It’s called Black Market. There's no way to describe it you just have to see it for yourself.

O: I don’t think it’s so much the club, but more on the people you're with.

 THIS STORY WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN CLAVEL MAGAZINE “PARTY HARD ISSUE” (2013).