"IT'S better imagined," says Gabe Mercado describing his so-called rock-star lifestyle as lead singer of the high-profile rock band Da Pulis. Though being part of the band has its perks, it's not all that Gabe wants out of life.

Gabe is an actor-singer-voice talent. He can be seen every Wednesday night on the weekly ABS-CBN comedy "Pwedeng-Pwede" with Robin Padilla and Redford White.

Gabe pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Ateneo de Manila. It was in Ateneo that he discovered his love for theater through Tanghalang Ateneo (TA).

He has appeared in numerous plays since joining TA in his sophomore year, but his biggest frustration is that he has not been given a lead role to date.

Although his father was one of the founding members Repertory Philippines, Gabe has worked exclusively for TA and has yet to appear in a Rep play. "If you compare Rep to a band, Rep is a showband," Gabe muses. "It does nothing to help the development of Philippine theater on the artistic side. They're very Broadway."

While Gabe says he loves acting more, it was his musical career that took flight first. The seeds of Da Pulis were sown when Gabe formed The Singing Nunos with Jay and a few other friends during his high school days.

It was only two years after they graduated that they decided to record a demo tape. As fate would have it, the demo tape landed in the hands of Sony Music Philippines and they were promptly offered a record deal.

At the time, the still unnamed band's only members were Gabe and Jay. Realizing they needed a full line-up, Gabe began scouting for potential band mates. "I had a friend Bob (Guerrero) who was a good composer and guitarist. Sabi ko, 'Join us, join us,' even if we never played together." It was the union of the three that gave Da Pulis its name.

"Bob asked, 'O, ano ang pangalan natin?' 'Bahala na,' I said, 'A, o sige, Da Pulis, matataba tayo, e.' It was as stupid as that," Gabe laughs. As time passed, two more members were added to their roster. Renzo Villalon became their bassist after the first album of Da Pulis was released, and current drummer Rusky Isip was signed on a few months after that.

One might wonder where Gabe spend the money he earns from show biz. While many of his peers would put their hard-earned cash in mutual funds or stocks, Gabe's last paycheck was invested in a "bad-ass computer," as he aptly puts it. Network gaming is his only vice, and this shows what a child at heart he still is. "Kabarkada ko sa bahay is my little sister, my niece and nephew. They treat me as a playmate, not as a kuya or a tito."

But Gabe has also given thought to his future and plans on settling down one day and starting a family of his own.

While Gabe's present smorgasbord of occupations might strike many as rather odd and a little too diverse, Gabe sees perfect logic in his chosen career path. "In the corporate world, you're like 9 to 5, 9 to 6. In show biz, you tape once, twice a week. And what you make in show biz is equivalent to what you make in corporate, sometimes more."