Recently in Gigs Category

FILIPINO rock band Hale holds a recent a gig meant to raise funds for some charitable organizations. Watch this video report by INQUIRER.net production specialist Janie Octia.

IT was all rock music in the Marikina Sports Complex last Saturday as the annual rock fest and tournament Red Horse Muziklaban celebrated its 10th year anniversary. The event is also the biggest so far as it played host to over a dozen of the country's best rock bands. Budding rock bands also competed for a million pesos in cash prize and a chance to become the next product endorser for Red Horse. Ten finalists from different parts of the country smashed their way to prove who among them will become the up and coming "rakista". This year’s winner is the band EVEN from Baguio City. They will get one million pesos and a recording contract. Muziklaban 2008 also presented for the first time the world's most popular death metal and thrash metal band, Sepultura from Brazil. Growling and churning out face-melting riffs, shreds and bass for two hours amid a flood of screaming fans, Sepultura gave local Filipinos a taste of Brazilian metal amid a threatening downpour that night. Being the last band to play, Sepultura never disappointed their fans as they sang over a dozen songs. Among those songs they played included "Warriors of Death," "Troops of Doom," "Ostia," "Territory," among others. The new Sepultura is composed of Derrick Green (vocals), Andreas Kisser (lead guitar), Paulo Jr (bass) and Jean Dolabella (drums). Green who hails from Cleveland, Ohio was the one who requested to remove the huge mosquito net protecting the bands from rowdy fans. "Now I can see you better. Are you still with us?!" and fans screamed even louder. The ear-popping screams, the chainsaw-like shreds, and the loud, thumping bass drums can be heard from over a kilometer away from the stage. Even those who were not able to get in were screaming. It'll be a huge challenge for the organizers of Muziklaban to make an even grander Muziklaban 2009. Who's next? Metallica?

IN a heartfelt letter to fans posted on the Subsandwich mailing list, Raimund Marasigan assured fans that Ely Buendia was okay and thanked the fans for their concern. He also hinted that he was ready to do another Eraserheads show.

Before anything. I just spoke to Day Cabuhat and she informed me that Ely's condition is now stable and they're very thankful for all your concern. Thank you very much for coming t the show. We really felt the cheering and the singing and the love you all gave. Thank you for understanding that the show had to be cut short. Ely was in no condition (emotionally, physically) to play but he did. And he gave it his all which is more than we could ask from him. Given the circumstances he was in. We all wish him well. We are all confident that he will recover soon. I promise to give you another Eraserheads show as soon as possible. Again thank you very much Rayms

For those who missed the show, here are three of the songs they've played. Eraserheads perform 'Ligaya' Eraserheads perform 'Alapaap' Eraserheads perform 'Sembreak' More words from Raimund and his new motto, which he posted on Subsandwich list:

After the first set i was so hyped. i went looking for buddy to check up on him cos his bass effects was malfunctioning. I found him coming out of Ely's tent and said Ely was rushed to the hospital.We were all stunned and after a quick production meeting and meeting with his family we had to announce that the concert had to be cut short. We prepared 3 sets. The first was just a warm up. The remaining two was going to be the fun part. There were more videos and light shows and pyro in store for everyone. After getting fans family and friends safely out of the venue maps I headed over to Saguijo bar to meet Sandwich, Pedicab, Cmbio and some friends to hang. After a few beers Buddy arrives so we decided to play the second set on borrowed equipment. Thanx to Mark Maya for the stix. We had a little help from ebe, kris, vin, aia and tani. by the time we were playing el bimbo Marcus shows up so he got to play also. I guess we just did not want to go home to our posh hotel rooms all down and defeated. I'm thankful we have great friends to support us, cheer us up when we're sad, pick us up when we're down. here's my new motto: drum now ask questions later.

By Erika Tapalla INQUIRER.net QUEZON CITY, Philippines -- In a world where the concept of community has transcended barrios and has grown to include social networks, viral campaigns have worked to extend its reach by using the Internet. KL Sol Cruz organized Project Savannah, a viral fund raising campaign aimed to raise some money to save “Savannah,” an unborn child who has been diagnosed with congenital diaphragmatic hernia. This is a condition in which the baby's diaphragm, the organ that separates the chest cavity (containing the heart and lungs) from the abdominal cavity (containing the stomach, liver and intestines), fails to develop completely. It also involves an underdeveloped diaphragm that leaves a hole where the intestines and the stomach can enter the chest cavity, thereby affecting the development of the lungs. After birth, the lungs may collapse and the child may not be able to breathe. Savannah must undergo a $100,000 operation, called intrauterine fetal surgery, which can only be performed in the United States. Parents Vida and Brian Samson have approached several foundations to shoulder the cost of the procedure and are awaiting a positive response. The Philippine Airlines has already given the couple roundtrip tickets to San Francisco. Meanwhile, Sol Cruz and a team of 13 other people have resorted to more creative ways to reach people. Through social networks Multiply and Facebook, they are gathering participants to attend "Rock the Cradle" and "Ultrasound," to raise more funds to help cover for travel, tax and other expenses of the couple. The advantages of Internet fund raising are many. It is quick, cheap and unobtrusive -- but will it be enough to save Savannah?

ARE you ready for a "soporific, alphatropic, REM-tropic, quadrophonic post-music event"? Then head on over (it's free admission) to the second floor of Mogwai Cafe at Cubao X (you know, the old Marikina Shoe Expo), Gen Romulo Avenue, Araneta Center, Cubao. Dubbed as Minus Ten Decibels, this event is from New Media Arts Manila in cooperation with Mogwai Film Club. Here's more info from the press statement:

Featuring the soft murmurings of Manila's most innovative composers. Snuggle up with your friends on the dimly-lit, pillow-strewn deck of Mogwai's screening room while low-level noise/ambient/post-music seeps into your auditory canals from our quasi-surround quadrophonic sound system and corrodes your superior cervical ganglion. Video projections by Lyle Sacris, Jason Tan, and Blums Borres to provide illumination for those who seek both light and enlightenment. Blums Borres - Caliph8 - Tad Ermitano - Jing Garcia (autoceremony) Malek Lopez - Pow Martinez (Nun Radar)- Lyle Sacris - Jason Tan - Tengal Mogwai Film Club located on the 2nd floor of Mogwai Cafe is dedicated to showing all sorts of films from Hollywood classics to underground cinema, art-house fare to Pinoy grindhouse flicks. They are open for membership and will be accepting donations during the show. Minus Ten Decibels is bought to you by Globe, Intel, and Sony Ericsson.

TOMORROW, Oct. 10, at 9: 30 p.m., New Media Arts Manila (NMAM) will hold its first project, a sound art conference at Club Dredd, second floor of Gweilos Eastwood. The event is open to the public for free, and NMAM's event partners include Globe, Sony Ericsson and Asus. Here's more info from our friend and fellow tech journalist Jing Garcia:

New Media Arts Manila (NMAM) was formed to curate, stage, and promote New Media Art -- art made with electronic, audiovisual, and information technologies. It includes sound art, video art, interactive electronics, algorithmic art, computer music, and whatever art forms new technologies may yet spawn. As NMAM's first project, ELECTROSTATIC SOUND CONFERENCE will showcase the full range of performative sound art pieces through the performances of the following artists: Malek Lopez, Berklee-trained virtuoso who is the principal composer for the band Drip, and half of the abrasive electronica duo Rubber Inc.;

Mu Arae Transmission, (aka Moon Fear Moon aka John Sobrepena), who composes haunting and eerie instances of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music); Blums Borres, 3D animator, performative video artist, and sound artist who dedicates himself to expanding the sonic territory of the electric guitar; Jing Garcia, tech editor of The Manila Times who founded the seminal sound art group Children of Cathode Ray in 1989 and composes industrial/ambient pieces as autoceremony; Tengal, frenetic composer, a tireless sound artist, the founder of S.A.B.A.W . sound art collective, and a one-man record label; Lirio Salvador, sculptor and luthier whose ornate, chrome-plated instruments are featured on television, displayed in galleries, and played by his group Elemento; Tad Ermitano, filmmaker and video artist who creates custom programs and hardware for his art installations. His work has appeared in Time magazine.

I understand from Jing that they're also raffling off a brand new Sony Ericsson Walkman phone :)

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net A GROUP of sound artists, collectively known as New Media Arts Manila (NMAM), is set to stage a gig featuring sound art made with electronic, audiovisual, and information technology. "It includes sound art, video art, interactive electronics, algorithmic art, computer music, and whatever art forms new technologies may yet spawn," the group said in an e-mail announcement. Calling their music "New Media Art," NMAM was formed to curate, stage, and promote their art. The gig, dubbed Electrostatic Sound Conference, will feature a range of "performative sound art pieces" done by several artists. The group is composed of:

• Malek Lopez, Berklee-trained virtuoso who is the principal composer for the band Drip, and half of the abrasive electronica duo Rubber Inc.;

• Mu Arae Transmission, (a.k.a. Moon Fear Moon a.k.a. John Sobrepena), who composes haunting and eerie instances of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music);

• Blums Borres, 3D animator, performative video artist, and sound artist who dedicates himself to expanding the sonic territory of the electric guitar;

• Jing Garcia, tech editor of The Manila Times who founded the seminal sound art group Children of Cathode Ray back in 1989 and composes industrial/ambient pieces as autoceremony;

• Tengal, frenetic composer, a tireless sound artist, the founder of S.A.B.A.W. sound art collective, and a one-man record label;

• Lirio Salvador, sculptor and luthier whose ornate, chrome-plated instruments are featured on television, displayed in galleries, and played by his group Elemento;

• Tad Ermitano, filmmaker and video artist who creates custom programs and hardware for his art installations. His work has appeared in Time magazine.

The gig will happen on October 10, 8:30 p.m. at Club Dredd, 2nd floor, Gweilos Eastwood. This gig is also a showcase of technology, as it is supported by Globe and ASUS, the group said. Of course, admission is free.

REMEMBER Binky Lampano? Well, he has a new band called Lampano Alley. He was "caught" playing at 19East in Parañaque with other Filipino blues bands. Thanks to Gerry, I was able to catch the gigs online. The wonders of YouTube, heh. The following video clip features Lampano Alley performing "Losing You." It is a snappy song with Binky Lampano on vocals, Tom Colvin on harmonica (blues harp), Edwin Vergara on guitar, Simon Tan on bass and Rey (uh, no last name indicated in the video description) on drums. You can catch the other bands here.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net "I NOW have a better appreciation of silence," I jokingly told Filipino video artist Tad Ermitano after 90 minutes of an "assault" on my senses. I was at Mag.net Cafe in Bonifacio High Street one quiet evening on July 24. My friend and fellow tech journalist Jing Garcia sent me a text message inviting me to a gig. He did not give any details. He just told me to come over. I agreed. On our way to the place, he revealed that Tad and eight other sound artists have gathered to play in public. Sound art is not your everyday music. To help you understand it, let's get back to my story. But here's a video clip I took for iVDO of one of the sound artists, Lirio "Elemento" Salvador, plays his "turnplate," an instrument he created. Tad smiled back. I remember referring to John Cage's famous composition called 4'33" which involved three movements of silence. Tad then gave this explanation, but please bear with me since I don't remember his words exactly. But here it goes: 4'33" was nothing but silence. As the silence became "deafening," people who were listening started hearing other things, say, the coughing of a person in the audience, the sigh of a bored spectator, the creaking of chairs moving, and the mumbling of some people. Cage and other sound art performers later wanted people to hear "unexpected sounds" that came out of a concert hall, for instance, when people started listening. While the performer of this piece did not play a single note, there was "music" or unpredictable or unintentional sounds produced. Thus Cage has somehow challenged the very definition of music. Sound art is that -- sound but meant to convey certain feelings or meanings by an artist. That night, there were nine of them organized by young sound artist Tengal. They played his piece called the "Rotation of Nine," according to Tad's blog. In an interview after the performance, Tengal said that he loved the number nine because it would always "refer back to itself." He said the number nine is also the most "egotistical number." Prior to the actual performance, Tad and Tengal agreed to name their group Motzkin Gangan Ensemble. Asked what it meant, Tad said Motzkin refers to the number of possible combinations in a maze, while Gangan is a Japanese onomatopeia of a ringing in the ear, a headache or a climbing noise (I hope I got that right amid all the chatter and noise, heh). So I figured Motzkin Gangan Ensemble is Tad and Tengal's very own definition of sound art. It is a combination of different sounds organized like a jazz ensemble, where everyone is free to improvise under a certain form. In this case, an algorithm of nine artists, playing for 90 minutes at certain intervals. Tad further writes in his notes about the performance in his blog Cavemanifesto: "[B]asically [it involves] a scheme to schedule the overlapping performances of 9 improvisors. As Tengal has a thing for the number 9, he wanted to set as many parameters as possible to 9. Thus: nine players, each playing for 9 minutes then resting for another nine; players' entrances staggered 3 minutes apart, repeating as necessary to play a piece exactly 90 minutes long." Jing Garcia, Tad, and the rest of the sound artists are a relatively new breed of artists. Lirio "Elemento" Salvador, who was the only one wearing dark shades that night, played an instrument he created. He called it a "turnplate," which is pun on a turntable. Using some electronic devices and everyday objects he found, this silver contraption (which looks like a little weapon from a Transformers movie) is an example of what Garcia calls "found instrument." He also brought with him a bass guitar made out of found objects. I also saw an "air synth," a Kaoss pad, lots of synthesizers, a circuit-bended instrument (which is a modified electronic instrument), and other home-made electronic instruments that could literally shatter your eardrums when volumes swell. The beginnings of experimental sound art or experimental music using electronic and ethnic or found instruments in the country is hazy. But Jing Garcia remembers that he and his group called The Children of the Cathode Ray were formed in 1989. At the time, they were playing what people called, "multimedia art/music." This description would send Blums Borres, Tad, and Jing laughing. In the liner notes of the Children of the Cathode Ray, Jing writes:

The original 1989 lineup of The Children of Cathode Ray consisted of Blums Borres, Tad Ermitaño, Jing Garcia, Regiben Romana, and Magyar Tuason, with Peter Marquez pitching in as tech and gaffer. The band is a closed but metastable collective, with a 15-year history sporadic dormancy interleaved with sudden bursts of activity.

To people, sound art might be considered noise, albeit a structured one. But sound art is about challenging the conventions of traditional music. As Tad puts it:

With noise as their palette, augmented with feedback, delay and amplification, it's as if every one of them owned an atom bomb: each one has the power to blow up the soundscape in pure white noise and most of them don't have much experience jamming with others as a sound artist.

Honestly, they sound punk to me. Finally, I borrowed the list of sound artists from Tad's Cavemanifesto entry. Here they are in no particular order:

• Lirio Salvador on a self-made touch-modulated synthesizer
• Inconnu ictu on Alesis Airsynth
• Ria Munoz on Kaoss Pad and contact mic
• Chris Garcimo on Roland SH-101 keyboard
• Caliph8 on MPC Sampler
• Erick Calilan on self-made circuit-bent devices
• Jonjie Ayson on a scrapmetal bass made by Lirio
• Blums Borres on electric guitar
• Tengal on drums, panart, kulintang, interactive computer

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net "...WALA pa yung MTV... wala pa yung Internet.. wala pa yung iPod or MP3. Wala pa yung cable. Wala pa yung cell phone, wala pa yung CD or DVD. Meron lang Betamax!" With those words, Raimund Marasigan of Filipino rock band Sandwich set the tone for what was going to be the night's anthem. It was a new song Marasigan and his band had composed (it is not yet recorded) for this special night when a younger crowd witnessed the debut of Club Dredd in Eastwood in Libis, Quezon City. For upcoming Filipino rock bands, Club Dredd was the place to launch a music career or something close to that. The names are now all too familiar: Eraserheads, Razorback, Rivermaya, Teeth, Wolfgang, among others. "Sa Jingle magazine, natuto ka mag-gitara..." Patrick Reidenbach, owner of Club Dredd, said it was nine years since this joint closed its doors. It was June 12, 1998, he recalls, adding that he was forced to shut down the place to take care of a family business. "I had to concentrate on my dad's business," he said, as he took a puff of his cigarette in the Playroom, another new joint just above Club Dredd. Reidenbach said he finally decided to partner with the Gweilos Group who agreed to take care of the F&D (food and drinks), while he took care of the "entertainment," which meant lining up mostly original Pinoy bands that have already earned a name in the local rock music pantheon. The new Club Dredd, however, is still sticking to its original philosophy of discovering new bands in the country. "'Di pwede cover bands dito (We don't want cover bands)," he says, adding that he also does not want the new Club Dredd to end up as a "nostalgia club." But Marasigan and Sandwich were probably feeling nostalgic when they played "Sembreak" composed by none other than Marasigan's old band the Eraserheads. Reidenbach says that he official set up Club Dredd on June 1. It is located on the second floor of Gweilos Eastwood, which he says is a much-improved gig house compared to the old Club Dredd in Timog and later in Cubao. Club Dredd's website explains:

What's great about the place? Well we have improved the sound system, with the help of Stephen Lu of Loudhouse. Also, no more worries about the aircon and banyo that plagued the old venues. We have an excellent, high quality kitchen and bar provided by the Gweilos Group, which is headed by old Dredd habitues Raul De Castro and Marlo Benitez, plus 24-hr security and parking. We have yet to put up the signage and dress up the place, but since we took over, already many of our favorite acts new and old have played there, and many, many more are scheduled to perform in the coming weeks and months.

The "oldtimers" of Club Dredd like Papa Dom, Jing Garcia and Marasigan all agreed that the new Club Dredd was way, way better looking than its predecessors. "We were so excited when Patrick called us. There was no joint in the Quezon City Area. In Makati, you had Saguijo, and in España Mayric's," Marasigan said. "It is quite nostalgic but this is a chance to do it better this time. Dati kasi parang naging Divisoria ng banda yung dati sa Edsa. Wala ng quality control," Marasigan added with a laugh. "As long as the bands are playing what they like, Club Dredd will always be different," said technology journalist and former Jingle magazine writer Garcia, who started out as a sound technician when the joint was still in Timog. Reidenbach said some people have said that Club Dredd has become sosyal. He stressed, however, that wherever you put this joint, it will always be Club Dredd. He said the official launch of the joint might happen sometime in September. But he said he and his partners are still discussing this. He plans to revive the old Club Dredd Jazz nights and poetry reading, dubbed Dredd Poets Society. Other bands who performed at Club Dredd that night include Duster (a new all-female band), Manibela, and Pedicab. Here's a photo of Duster.