Dea Chincuanco / Edwin Casapao / Donnie Vendivel

Spotify – Phuz / Forgiveness
Spotify – Phuz / Water

Creative Disciplines and Mediums

  • All original works, musical and vocal compositions in acoustic, electric, midi, production collaborative formats.
  • Multidisciplinary genre.
  • New music project development— in session.
  • Previous Tracks (Phuz) can be found in Spotify, YouTube. Albums available via Amazon.

Bio

Dea (lead vox/lyricist/artistic direction) and Edwin (bass/upright/producer) were members of Phuz—a Filipino American musical band based in Houston, Texas who toured with Sade in 2001 (Lover’s Rock Tour) alongside India.arie on a nationwide tour for the Clear Channel Entertainment Levi’s stage.

The band was commissioned for 29 dates, fulfilled 11 nationwide tour dates and were requested to add additional nationwide dates for the tour as it was extended; until the most unfortunate events of the 9/11 September attacks.

The band was currently traveling on tour (for Sade) when the attacks transpired and the tour was cancelled. (Special credits and shout out to the rest of the band’s then line up: Edward, Ken & Jamie).

Donnie V (drums/percussions) began his musical career with other bands and currently plays drums and percussions with Edwin for Jadefly and the Pollinators.

In 2019, through the curation of DJ Flash Gordon Parks, and Houston’s hip hop culture guru The BBC, Phuz was selected and archived by the City of Houston as a historical, cultural contributor of the city’s cultural development. The audio-archive was funded in part by the Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston through Flash Gordon Parks’ 2019 Podcast Interview Archive Series.

The trio— Dea, Edwin and Donnie, have formed a powerhouse trio of new form drum and bass with vox.

Artist Statement

Music course through our blue Filipinx veins. We didn’t deny it— fought to deny it— then failed to deny it.

A phoenix-halcyon, Filipinx American musical trio—in reverence to our bestowed gifts from Above, creating a new form of music, original works with intentions to heal, to coax in the endeavor to live life, through the universal multidisciplinary language of music.

Curriculum Vitae

Dea (lead vox/lyricist/artistic direction) and Edwin (bass/upright/multi-instrumentalist/producer) toured nationwide as the band Phuz, playing opening acts for Sade, Sting, Alicia Keys, Alanis Morrisette, Natalie Merchant, Tony Bennett & KD Lange, the Blue Man Group, Groove Collective and others.

The band was featured and played several times on KPFT 90.1 FM radio station’s eclectic “Soular Grooves” show and interviewed by local legend DJ Sun. The band was also featured on the Houston Press, received two nominations in the newspaper’s 2001 music awards, Best New Act and Best Funk/R&B, eventually won the “Critic’s Pick” for the later category.

In 2003, the Houston Chronicle featured the Battle of the Bands at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion where the band participated and eventually won. In addition, TV features on national debut “Stir TV”(Pepsi Challenge International Channel) where the band’s musical videos and interviews were on rotation for a period of time.

The band was also featured on PBS Channel 8, Houston’s show “The Connection” and “Texas Live Show.” A track from the Water album “Brothers and Sisters” was part of the soundtrack of Filipino- American indie film “Lumpia” by director Patricio Ginelsa, who aptly directed apl.de.ap’s Black Eyed Pea’s video of “Bebot.”

Phuz was active with the development of an active and collaborative local music scene, including the beginnings of the Project Row Houses in the 3rd ward, where the band performed regularly (in coordination with Wasi Townsend) and was essentially the house band for local spoken word artists.

Phuz released two original EP’s “Water” in 2001, and “Forgiveness” in 2007. In 2017, a local Parisian radio station reached out for rights to play the albums for radio play, however; the LLC management had previously been decommissioned to provide approval.

In 2019, Phuz was selected and archived by the City of Houston as a historical, cultural contributor of the city’s cultural development. The audio-archive was funded in part by the Houston Arts Alliance and the City of Houston through DJ Flash Gordon Parks’ 2019 Podcast Interview Archive Series.

In January 2020, Dea and Edwin formed a new trio set up with Donnie, creating a new form of drum, bass and vox.