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Mikee Colet performing for Devon Again

Leah C. Salterio

Penetrating the US music scene is a daunting task for any artist to do. Uprooting to the US may just be a dream for many Filipino artists. For drummer Mikee Colet, being in the American music scene happened slowly, more like little steps rather than one big decision. She already finished college and graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University, where she took up Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies major in Psychology and Communications and minor in English Literature.“It started with going to Boston for a few weeks in 2016 for a summer program at Berklee College of Music,” Colet told ABS-CBN News. “I was halfway through my Ateneo undergraduate at that time. I eventually auditioned for Berklee and returned to Boston to start another degree in 2018.“I wasn’t completely sure where I would end up going after my program, but I did end up getting asked to play drums on a few different tours as I was graduating, which was kind of a dream scenario at the time.”<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786669258731MIKEE_Devon Again Deep still 1.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/> Mikee Colet performing for Devon Again </div>She played in a few gigs and recording sessions in the Philippines while studying at Ateneo and was in the Ateneo Musician’s pool starting from her freshman year. “At that time, I didn’t know if I felt like I was starting a career, but was just really excited to learn and have fun with it,” Colet said. “I would definitely say I started trying to find a musical community before I moved to the US.“I spent a lot of time practicing by myself, so I was always so excited to get to play music with friends even in the most casual non-professional ways — which I think is still part of the foundation of how I approach music and makes it a lot of fun.”Colet chose to spend her first year out of school focusing on touring and playing live shows. “It’s such a physical and in-person job to have, so I’ve found it best to stay in LA, where so many shows and recording sessions happen and there’s a great community of the some of the most skilled and driven people I’ve met,” she said.“I find that tours often tend to start and rehearse here, as well. I’ve since started working as an audio engineer too, combining that with playing drums. So the more people I meet and work with, the more it makes sense to continue to be based here at this point in my life.”Colet didn’t come from a musically-inclined family, but her parents have good taste in music. “I used to sit by their CD player all day when I was so young and would listen to their collections,” she recalled. “They both love ‘80s pop. My mom loves dance, rock music and drums. My dad loves good bands with great production, singers with special voices, bossa nova and Latin jazz. I’ve always loved playing drums and guitar.“I think I officially started both when I was around eight. I definitely wanted to play drums from when I was even younger, but we couldn’t get a drum kit and so I yearned for drums and took guitar lessons. Funny because the only available guitar lessons to us were in Spanish and classical styles, so I fully went in that direction, completely unrelated to drums. I remember not really wanting to sing and I just enjoyed tinkering away at the instruments, and so I did that with all my time.”<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786669310857MIKEE_Grace Ives NYC (Photo by Bettina Colet)_DSF7279.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Mikee on drums (behind) with Grace Ives in New York tour </div>Colet graduated magna cum laude from the prestigious Berklee College of Music as a dual major and scholarship recipient in Music Production and Engineering and Film Scoring.Berklee opened Colet’s world in a really big way. “I feel really inspired by so many people in my immediate community and the amazing things they’re able to do,” she said. “I will always look back on my time at Berklee as one of the most formative periods in my life.“I met so many musicians, professors and mentors who really helped affirm the direction I wanted to go in before I moved out to LA and helped me see how the things I loved in music mattered in a bigger way.”In her last year at Berklee, Colet fortunately snatched her first professional experience as an intern with producer and composer Will Wells. “He had me as an assistant engineer on his projects with Cynthia Erivo (live performances from her debut album, ‘Ch. 1 Vs. 1’), Jasmine Cephas Jones (her album, ‘Phoenix,’ came out in 2024) and ESPN, where he composed and recorded music for the Sports Humanitarian Awards.“That whole experience gave me insight into the immense professionalism and skill that goes into these really big and polished projects. He went to Berklee before I did and we had both chosen the exact same dual major in Music Production and Engineering and Film Scoring. It was so cool to see the big things he was creating in his career after having that foundation.”Her first tour was with “amazing” artist Genevieve Stokes in 2022. “As for door-opening experience in a different direction, Genevieve’s producer and manager, Brian (Kierulf), found me as I was in the process of moving to LA, right after graduating from school,” Colet granted. “At the time, I really wanted to try touring as a drummer and I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to give it a chance.“It happened at the perfect moment and turned out to be a beautiful experience with great people. It has since led to being able to play more tours, so that first experience will forever be so memorable and special to me.”<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786669375857MIKEE_Grace Ives Tour_Primavera 2.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Mikee at the Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain that featured Grace Ives </div>After finishing her graduate school degree, Colet opted to spend her first year out of school focusing on touring and playing live shows. “It’s such a physical and in-person job to have,” Colet said. “So I found it best to stay in LA (Los Angeles), where so many shows and recording sessions happen. There’s a great community of the some of the most skilled and driven people I’ve met.“I find that tours often tend to start and rehearse in LA, as well. I’ve since started working as an audio engineer too, combining that with playing drums. So, the more people I meet and work with, the more it makes sense to continue to be based here at this point in my life.”Today, Colet spends her time touring and recording as a drummer. Since 2022, she has played and toured internationally with artists in the US indie pop scene such as Grace Ives, Dev Lemons, Sophie Truax, Devon Again and Genevieve Stokes, performing in prestigious rooms such as Hammerstein Ballroom, House of Blues, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Village Underground and major music festivals like the Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain.“I feel extremely grateful for all the good things that have happened in the past few years,” Colet maintained. “I’ve been able to go on really cool US tours with Dev Lemons and Sophie Truax, and I just went on my first international tour with Grace Ives – we went across the US and Canada, to Europe and the UK. While on tour with Grace I was so grateful we got to play Primavera in Barcelona, record a live session at BBC Radio 1 in London, and a live video with the film company A24.“Outside of touring, I’ve been so honored to play in music videos with such adventurous artists like Devon Again. We’ve done some really ambitious things like record the whole band live in an empty swimming pool, with skateboarders going in circles and up the walls around us. Or playing drums on a moving pickup truck, which we did for the ‘Cherry Cola’ video.“I find such meaning in playing a part in different artists’ musical and visual worlds, and I love all of their music. Whether we’re playing live shows or recording on songs or being in videos, I’m so grateful to feel like I’m just hanging with friends, but somehow be part of creating an experience to share with the world, I love it so much.”The last time Colet was in Manila was last December 2025 to January early this year. “I stayed as long as I could – over a month,” she shared. “I really missed my family and my friends. I also missed the food all the time.“I’m really lucky to have the community that I do at home and I think it’s really special. I also find it so cool that Manila is so alive. It changes a bit every time I come back and there’s always something new to see and try while I hang out with people I haven’t seen in a long time.”When not playing drums or on tour, Colet, who’s now officially based in Los Angeles, is the in-house audio engineer and production manager for Handmade Live, a monthly showcase by the label Handmade Recordings in West Hollywood and a staple for the local music community in California.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1786669430840MIKEE_Grace Ives Tour_toronto-15 (Photo by Sam Metzger) (1).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/> Mikee in Toronto, Canada </div>Last February, Colet played the drums in the eight-show “Surface Tension,” with singer-songwriter producer Dev Lemons. And from April to June, shet joined the “Girlfriend Tour” of Grace Ives that took the artist performing in a 32-show international tour across the US and even in Europe.This August and September, Colet will join upcoming festivals like the “Outside Lands” with Grace Ives at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, the eighth annual “Shadow of the City,” with Jack Antonoff and Bleachers at the Ashbury Park in New Jersey, “All Things Go” Music Festival at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, Forest Hills Stadium in New York and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.In November, Colet will be at the Corona Capital with Grace Ives, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico.“For the rest of the year, I’ll be playing some really special festivals and shows across North America with Grace Ives,” said Colet. “I’m not sure how much I can say about what’s happening next year, but there’s more coming in 2027 that I’m so excited to share once it’s happening.”

For drummer Mikee Colet, being in the American music scene happened slowly, more like little steps rather than one big decision.

For drummer Mikee Colet, being in the American music scene happened slowly, more like little steps rather than one big decision.

From Ateneo to LA, Mikee Colet drums her way into US indie scene

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From Ateneo to LA, Mikee Colet drums her way into US indie scene

Leah C. Salterio

Published August 22, 2026 10:00 AM PHT

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Filipino drummer

US

indie music

Mikee Colet

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