Wolfgang recently had a very successful show at the historic Metropolitan Theater in Manila and I was lucky enough to have covered the event from up close. Please head over  As Oceans (the unofficial Wolfgang fan blog) to see my review of the event. Over 130 people have shared this link on Facebook. Please share it on your wall as well.

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The band responsible for the album S.C.I.E.N.C.E. - easily one of my favorite albums of all time – is coming back to the Philippines for their third show in seven years.

The show will be on July 28 at the Araneta Coliseum. Tickets go for as cheap as 750 and go all the way up to 6500! Check out Splintr for more Incubus concert details.

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It’s always a daunting task to come up with a list that would encompass a span of time that stretches through a vast expanse of experiences, sensations and sentiments. Memory and recall can be quite selective at times and the things that are at the top of your head may not necessarily be the best picks. This list only reflects my personal preference and I do not wish to impose this standard on anyone. I know my taste can be quite quirky and a bit offensive for some but I just can’t help loving the songs that I put on this compilation.

To ensure more or less equal representation, only one song per band will be mentioned.
With that obligatory disclaimer out of the way, let’s go down to business.

No Falter – Wolfgang

There will definitely be a Wolfgang song in this list so I’m choosing to mention this song right off the bat. “No Falter” is one of my favorite songs of all time and Black Mantra is certainly the most underrated album in Wolfgang’s discography. Hearing it live during last year’s concert was an almost surreal experience. The band didn’t get to play the songs from Black Mantra a lot since they broke up less than two years after the release of the album.

Hallelujah – Bamboo

This song is on the list not just because I was totally over the moon when this song came out (no judgment) but also because I can wail out this song almost effortlessly (again, NO judgment! haha). It sounded really fresh right off the bat and even if the album it came in did sound a bit one-dimensional, ‘Hallelujah’ sure was a welcome addition to the wealth of discography that the past 11 years has seen. No one is saying it but Bamboo single-handedly kept Pinoy rock relevant after the disbandment of the Eraserheads and the quasi-disbandment of Wolfgang.

Blind Conviction - Badburn

This song has got to be the least known of the songs on the list of ten that I’m making so I’m going to put it up here on the top. Philosophically, this song reflected much of my internal debates about the thought processes and logical progressions of people I interact with on a daily basis. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a very catchy track. It’s impossible to not move to this. It’s heavy, but there’s a method to the madness. Adding Marc Abaya in the end was a good touch. I haven’t seen these guys in a while so maybe it’s high time for me to check em out again. After all, this song came out 10 years ago.

Unos – Sandata

I’ve told this band’s vocalist at least a dozen times that this song is one of the best songs that I’ve heard in the last five years. I wouldn’t have heard of Sandata if it weren’t for Couchsurfing so my discovery of this band is certainly a product of the social media revolution! When I still had a band, this was the sound that we were trying to capture. I guess that’s this explains my affinity for their music.

Steve – Cheese/ Queso

This is an extremely tough call – not because I didn’t want to put the band on the list but because I love the two albums that the band released during the last ten years. In terms of layering of different sound influences and philosophical nuances, Cheese/ Queso absolutely executes it the best compared to the other bands that are usually bunched with them (the so-called rap-metal movement that has become some sort of a misnomer). As I’m ending this paragraph, I’m so close to removing Steve from the list and putting ‘Parusa‘ instead. I first heard the song during P.O.D.’s concert for the “Satellite” album and it blew everyone away.

We Give In Sometimes – Up Dharma Down

As far as I’m concerned, the past decade belonged to Up Dharma Down at least for discussions about local music. They splashed down the scene and quite honestly, a lot of people didn’t know what hit them. They were so unique and bold with their choices to the point that their two-albums’ worth of heart-break-therapy is still widely considered to be uplifting and somehow inspiring. Honestly, I could have picked any song by Up Dharma Down – there was no way that they weren’t going to make the list. Do watch the video, it’s stunning!

An Argument – Chicosci

I was absolutely in love with this song when it came out. I remember putting it on repeat for hours (!) on end. Chicosci seems to be an easy target for people who want to make fun of emo kids without really listening to the music first but I think this is were the perceived image of the band hurts the real quality of their musicality and songwriting. They’re able to put into words the nostalgia of growing up and getting into your quarter life crisis through sound

Forever Young – Valley of Chrome

Speaking of capturing youth in a bottle, one of the bands to have done this trick is Valley of Chrome with the last track on their debut album. It’s hard to find a fault in this song, it’s simply a triumph in dashboard-thumping musicality. Just listen to the track, it’s really awesome. It’s a very good call-to-arms song for the young – and soon to be un-young like me (/wrist).

Carino Brutal – Slapshock

Yes, the band responsible for ‘You’re way too cold, like Eskimo’ makes it to the list. Whether you agree with Jamir Garcia’s lassez-fairre approach to the English language or not, there’s no denying that Slapshock makes very catchy music – the type that taps into your viscera and just makes you want to have the sound permeate through your core.

Wakasan – Razorback

This is the final song on the list and I will close it out fittingly with ‘Wakasan’ by Razorback – from yet another underrated album from the middle of the past decade. This apocalyptic whirlwind of sound has a built-in theater atmosphere. It’s definitely among the best Razorback songs of all time and if you ask me, IT IS the best one ever.

—

It was a tough cut. I worked on this for one week, and I actually made two revisions on the supposedly final list as I was making the blog entry!

The last cut for the list was ‘PASILYO‘ by Implement Project.  Yes, that’s a song by my band. I’m humble like that. Haha. If you have time, do check out the track, it’s a decent song (at least in my head).

Here were the last cuts, some of them were last minute omissions and it was really hard to come up with the final ten.

Ipo-ipo – Bright Club

Your Puppet and Clown – Greyhoundz

Motorbykle – Cynthia Alexander

Burnout – Sugarfree

With Me – Ciudad

Ang Ating Araw – Dicta License

Emergence – Diwa de Leon

The Start – Sleepwalk Circus

First of Summer – Urbandub

Again, this list was made with no consideration for other people’s opinions and preferences. It’s all me so don’t be too pissed if my list is totally different from yours.

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Social media has changed the game in many fronts and that includes the way that bands engage their fans. Before, artists would set up exclusive clubs and mailing list to somehow limit the amount of people who would get updates from them. With the explosion of the Facebook and Twitter phenomenon, the game has been more about building larger communities to ensure that the message does get across to as many fans as possible.

I scanned through the local bands who maintain a Facebook page and ranked them according to the number of members of each community. Before, popularity was based on whose songs stay on top of the charts for the longest time. Now, there’s a better and more tangible and comparative metric to really gauge the breadth of influence of artists.

Feel free to tell me if I missed anyone. The stats are as of April 5, 2011.

Here are the top ten artists in the Philippines according to Facebook:

10. Slapshock - over 39K fans

9. Kamikazee - over 72K fans

8. Greyhoundz – over 76K fans

7. Up Dharma Down -  over 103k fans

6.  Bamboo - over 120K fans

5. Wolfgang – over 125K fans

4. Chicosci - over 189K fans

3. Urbandub – over 306K fans

2. Eraserheads - over 702K fans

1. Parokya ni Edgar - over 1.1M fans

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We were invited by Cebu Trivia Night for a Manila versus Cebu special last weekend (this will be tackled on a later entry) and for some reason, two of my friends and I decided to fly the day before of the event to give us a chance to see what the city had to offer. It’s been almost four years since my last trip to Cebu so I was pretty sure that there would have been a lot of changes already.

We stayed at Hotel Pier Cuatro – a hotel that’s near, well, Pier Cuatro. The accommodations were quite basic but the price was a good deal – 1380 pesos for three people with free breakfast sure sounds like a steal, yes? The staff was very friendly and helpful and the guard even helped me retrieve a bag that I accidentally left inside the cab that we took from the airport (I know…). This hotel is NOT in a posh area of the city but it is close to Park Mall and SM Cebu. Pier 4 is also the same pier that one would go to to catch the SuperCat ferry to Tagbilaran, Bohol.

There were two highlights of that fateful Thursday. The first one would be the exceptional food that they serve in a lot of unassuming food joints in Cebu. I will be posting photos as soon as I get them but if you’ve been to Cebu, you definitely know that the lechon (especially the one from CnT) is to die for. Well, you can literally die due to eating too much of it to tell you the truth. We scarfed down 3/4 kilo of lechon with six cups of rice and ended up paying a little over 130 pesos each. Getting lechon can be quite a chore though; I was in line for around 20 minutes before somebody took my order.

After sleeping the afternoon away, we went to AA’s Barbeque as suggested by the helpful lady in Hotel Pier Cuatro’s front desk. We sampled a good assortment of liver barbecue, clam soup, gizzard, giant squid (!) and other things that I can’t remember right now. The bill was once again ridiculously inexpensive – around 160 for each person for a feast of a dinner.

I was traveling with Verge and Stephen so the next step was quite obvious – we had to drink somewhere. I think I can squarely blame credit these two for getting me to drink again; or at least getting me to drink in amounts that I have never really managed to down in a long time. Verge has been to Cebu the most number of times (I’ve only been there thrice and Stephen was on his first time) so he made the call that we should check out Loft near the IT Park. When we got to IT Park, we find out that the place was closed and that we had to go to Plan B.

Well, well, well… good thing the Plan B was to go to VuDu. This was clearly the best break we’ve caught for the day! I really thought that VuDu was more of a dance club but apparently, it morphs into a rock venue during week days. We settled in as the band Next Stage was about to start their set. Obviously, we had no idea who they were but they seemed like an ordinary run-of-the-mill cover band who would probably play hits by Freestyle, Side A and just about every crowd-pleasing sappy band out there. The fact that their main vocalist was a girl didn’t help in breaking the stereotype.

Boy, were we wrong.

The band started out on a  more mainstream slant when they went with an Alicia Keys song. They also covered a Carrie Underwood song (Before He Cheats)before going all out with the videoke staple Alone by Heart. Then, it started getting weird.

Next Stage then segued to Love Song by 311. Now this song was pretty popular back in the day but I’m sure this wasn’t a big number on most show band’s play lists. Sensing that the band had some edge to them, I decided to request the song Plush by the Stone Temple Pilots. True to form, I also requested that I sing with the band. They were more than generous to let me do that and yes, as usual, I nailed the song without even needing the lyrics sheet. This song has always been my go-to-song and anyone with a good grunge growl can sing this hit and come out on the other end sounding like a seasoned pro. I think Verge has a video somewhere so I’ll be posting that once he uploads it. The band ended the first set with Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing.

We were already happy with how the band was choosing their songs. There was nothing cliche with what they were playing – they weren’t covering Before I Let You Go or Forevermore. They were really doing songs that we actually liked for reasons other than kitsch.

And then came the second set. It was so weird that what transpired could be written into an episode of The Twilight Zone. Next Stage played a recent hit by Three Doors Down (Here Without You) and from that point forward, it was sheer madness.

They played Black Dog. Yes, BLACK DOG by Led Zeppelin.

Just as we were reeling from the shock of that song choice, they started playing the opening riffs to Deep Purple‘s Smoke In The Water. It was a very good surprise that a lot of people were also into the music and were singing back the lyrics to the band.

And then came the iconic song of Pink Floyd – The Wall that comes from a highly conceptual album and concert series of the same title. It blew my mind – but I’m guessing the impact on Stephen was at least three times more of what I was experiencing.

The band then played two songs by the same artist. Would you believe it if I told you that they played two songs by AC/DC?! Well, they did. They covered the living hell out of It’s A Long Way To The Top and Highway To Hell. WHAT.THE.FUCK. The three of us had a lot of drinks already and we were already on our feet. By this time, we were convinced that we’ve stumbled on an alternate universe! I told Stephen that nothing can surprise me now. I won’t even be surprised if they started playing Metallica.

…and right on cue, the guitarist played the opening riffs to Enter Sandman. It was absolutely surreal. This song being the most recognizable tune from Metallica absolutely whipped the crowd of around 40 that Thursday night into a total frenzy. The space was to big to mosh in but everybody was certainly singing and jumping around.

The band closed out the night with the Guns ‘N Roses hit Paradise City. It was a very fitting end to a night that seemed like it was going to be a downer but ended up being an amazing and unforgettable experience.

From our searches on Google, we’ve found out that Next Stage has been playing on cruise ships before! There’s no surprise there. They definitely know how to work a crowd and their individual technical abilities are simply exemplary. Hopefully they’ll be in Cebu the next time I’m in town. They’re really awesome. I hope they get to read this.

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I guess this makes it official – Wolfgang will definitely be part of the Tanduay First Five Tour for 2011. The press conference was done at Century Plaza Park Hotel in Malate and all five bands (Wolfgang, Parokya ni Edgar, Kamikazee, Chicosci and Sandwich) were all in attendance to answer the questions of the press. Finally, after almost three weeks of trying to keep the big secret to myself, I can safely say that Basti Artadi will be staying for good in the Philippines and Wolfgang (at least in its current incarnation with three original members and a very able drummer in Francis Aquino) will be raising hell all over the country once again as they try to resurrect and represent the proud lineage of 90s Pinoy Rock. Basti made the announcement in a taped message that was played during the press conference. It was a short message but it definitely related everything that a Wolfgang fans wanted to hear.

The Tanduay First Five tour schedule is definitely a list of very predictable venues (you do see Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Dumaguete, Baguio and Bacolod) as well as the down-right exotic (Nabunturan and Panabo definitely jump out – I had to Google these two places!). I really wanted to ask the bands on how they felt about playing for an audience that didn’t necessarily have the some rock upbringing that most of their Manila and Luzon-based fans have had – one that was rich with radio airplay and relatively good access to records and albums. Don’t you wonder how a band like Chicosci would be received in a place like Ormoc, Marbel or Nabunturan? These places may be urban in their own right, but it’s certainly going to be a different experience – both for the fans AND the bands performing.

Chicosci‘s frontman Miguel Chavez expressed his excitement for playing for an audience who would probably see his band as unknowns and to a certain extent, the bands would also be playing in a venue that is way outside their comfort zone. He promises however that the bands would try their best to deliver the best show possible – and if you’ve seen all these five bands play live before, you definitely know that they will try to give the crowd a rocking good time. apologies for using last year’s Chicosci poster - the new one is not yet available as of press time!

Mong Alcaraz of both Chicosci and Sandwich also echoed Miggy’s sentiments and later added that playing in new places and knowing about the people’s reactions were one of the things that made him feel excited about being in a band – especially in the very beginning.

Jay Contreras of Kamikazee also related that being on tour gives the band a chance to connect with fans and more recognizable nationwide. He also mentioned one of the sad realities of being a musician – people no longer buy albums nowadays and artists are more dependent on alternative avenues to get their music out and generate revenue.

The idea of going to Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya (I’ve passed this town several times on my way up to Sagada), Marinduque, Masbate and some of the other relatively nearby tour venues is definitely tempting and quite intriguing. I have friends who are also considering it so with enough time and money on our hands, I might just see a handful of these shows outside of Manila.

This is easily the best lineup this tour has ever seen – and a lot of it has something to do with Wolfgang being part of the roster. The variety of songs and musical stylings among the five bands who have signed up for the 2011 tour is also quite remarkable.

Wolfgang will certainly be the hardest hitting band on this tour. They can whip up a storm with their tried-and-tested heavy rock anthems and get the crowd singing with their modern classic rock ballads.

Chicosci will be bringing forward a punk-oriented sound that does NOT sound like anything else that is on the tour. The Chicosci sound is very polarizing but I’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid for 10 years now and yes, I think their music definitely allows one to escape to one’s teenage years.

Sandwich brings the quirk. It’s hard to put a finger on what Sandwich is really trying to do – even when Marc Abaya was still the vocalist of the band, Sandwich has always been exploring a whole range of rock disciplines.

Kamikazee was one of the biggest bands of the last decade and they could possibly be the second biggest crowd draw after Parokya ni Edgar. Their song Narda was the national anthem for almost a year and I could already imagine that song being a HUGE hit in the provinces.

Parokya ni Edgar for better or for worse is probably the second biggest band in Pinoy Rock History after the Eraserheads as far as sheer popularity is concerned. People know their songs and the audience will definitely erupt in unison when they hear the openings strains of Harana, Halaga and Buloy. Those songs were meant for big concerts and those songs will be sang many times during the tour for sure.

I’m already excited! Let’s go!

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Unless Tool decides to visit the Philippines any time soon, I am convinced that the Deftones concert that I attended last Saturday is bound to be the best concert that I’ll see in the foreseeable future. Deftones simply pulled out the stops and delivered a set list that was next to extraordinary.

The band has been traveling across the world since late last year to promote their new album Diamond Eyes and their tour schedule have been really tight and they’ve been playing marathon sets of 24 or 25 songs per city that they play in. The fact that Deftones manages to get themselves ready in between shows to deliver a killer performance is absolutely bewildering – there’s almost something superhuman with how they do what they do.

I went to the concert with my good buddy Risto and we were determined to get really smashed in the mosh pit. We felt that our tickets put us in position to be in the wildest mosh pit of our lives so the thought of getting hurt was somehow in our alcohol-drenched brains. Despite these fears, the excitement of seeing Deftones for the first time was more than enough to throw just about throw caution out the window and go an almost reckless effort to dislocate my neck and disengage the rest of my vertebral column.

After Slapshock and Urbandub finished their sets to warm up the crowd, Deftones stepped up to the plate and the crowd (at least those who were real fans) was electrified as the first strains of the familiar music began feeding out of the speakers. The first song was Birthmark from the album Adrenaline – a song that was released way before I started listening to the band but was a track that I loved after trying to know more about the band’s discography.

The band played arguably two of their best known songs early in the set when they decided to do Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away) and My Own Summer  (Shove It) in succession. These two songs from the Around The Fur album are definitely the band’s go-to songs – almost all Deftones fans I know from my generation heard one of these two songs first. These two songs were like the entry level drugs to the stronger chemicals and toxins in the Deftones discography.

Come to think of it, the next songs on the play list were songs that I love from the late 90s to the middle part of the last decade. In my opinion, the three albums released during those years – Around The Fur, White Pony and Deftones – are the three strongest albums by the band to date. The songs Lhabia, Around The Fur, Hexagram, Digital Bath, Minerva and Knife Prty certainly molded my appreciation for Deftones. These songs also show the breadth of the Deftones sound – from the hauntingly ambient to the really aggressive.

The band then played songs from their Diamond Eyes album and I must admit this album has grown on me tremendously. Both the title track and the radio single Sex Tape can be considered to be among some of the best songs of the band.

Deftones pretty much played all the songs that would’ve been very familiar even to the most casual of fans. It was thrilling to hear Change (In The House Of Flies) along with Passenger from the White Pony album even if Maynard James Keenan wasn’t there to sing his lines. Chino Moreno was more than capable of covering for the two vocal parts that almost overlap at certain parts.

By the time it was all over, I was pretty drunk already – not just with alcohol but with the buzz that comes from watching a band that I listened to as a teenager. Deftones played 25 songs that night – one more than what they did in Jakarta and Tokyo. I will remember this for the rest of my life.

Photos by the awesome NoiseNinja Erick Dantoc!

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For some reason, there has to be bands that would seem to be exist to get the collective vitriol of everyone. These very same bands are often well-loved as much as they are hated and the disdain often spills over just the music – it even turns into a faux discrimination against those who like the band. For a rock band, Slapshock sure looks different compared to the bands that are relevant nowadays. They were the top dogs back in the stretch of time in between 2000 to 2004 but that genre (that has been called pinoy rap metal, for better or worse),  has become a smaller part of the market in recent years thanks to the emergence of pogi rock and the revitalization of the “cover” tradition through the songs of  the Eraserheads and APO that have been redone to nauseating proportions as of late.

Admitting that one likes Slapshock is almost tantamount to telling people that you hate taking a shower everyday. Chances are, there are a lot more people who would consider Slapshock as their so-called “guilty music pleasure” but would stop short of saying that they like/ love them.

There’s another breed of hater that would claim that they were once big fans during the first/ second albums (4th Degree Burn and Head Trip) but would quickly criticize the choices that the band has taken afterwards. While the first two albums are clearly what introduced a new generation of college and high school kids on a sound that was highly reminiscent of the Korn and Limp Bizkit scene overseas, the latter albums sure showed the bands ability to do something else other than be local facsimiles. Those who would claim otherwise clearly didn’t bother to listen and instead rushed to judgment.

Everyone has their preferences when it comes to music and yes, Slapshock has also made some missteps in their latter years (a song that has something to do with the Inuit comes to mind), but that single mistake should not detract the great work that the band has done for over 14 years. The band’s music has been consistently catchy and solid in making a live experience very physically-demanding. There are some songs in their discography that just screams “mosh pit music” like the chorus for “Get Away”, “Agent Orange” and even “Wake Up”. Once you get past the lyrics and just focus on how rhythm of the words play with the very catchy beats, you would have to just let go and move with the music.

During the Deftones concert in Manila, Slapshock received a really lukewarm response. The difference between the crowd’s appreciation for Urbandub and Slapshock were similar to night and day.  Everyone has the right to not like something but to not applaud after a set out of respect is just taking it a bit too far. I’m pretty sure there were people who were sort of into Slapshock but were just too embarrassed to be seen singing along to Carino Brutal.

At the risk of almost sounding politically-incorrect, I think there’s a perception that most people who listen to Slapshock will not be able to find themselves in a concert hosted by Splintr for Deftones. The reason being simple economics and stratification that makes it impossible for the perceived bulk of the Slapshock army to attend concerts with tickets worth at least 10 times more the door charge at Saguijo and Sazi’s. This even extends to the whole “jologs”/ “kurimaw” name-calling game that just furthers the discrimination. I must admit that I don’t relate to them that much and yes, it is SCARY to be in the mosh pit with them sometimes.

But just the same, Slapshock deserves to be in the pantheon as far as the great bands of the last fifteen years is concerned. They have made music that catered to a great amount of people and for a band to remain commercially relevant after 14 years and 6 albums is no small feat anywhere in the world.

Aside from this, the members of Slapshock have got to be among the most down-to-earth rockstars I’ve met. You’ll often hear people from bands who are so full of themselves but these guys are really approachable. They’re probably one of the few rock artists in the Philippines that don’t intimidate me with how big they are in the industry. They act as if they’re just ordinary guys who are really appreciative that people bother to spend time and money to see them live.

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Deftones played 25 songs last night! That’s one song more compared to the set in Jakarta and Tokyo!

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With the dissolution of NU107 into thin air, there is now no entity in the Philippines aside from UR 105.9 that actively pushes for rock in the country. The rock scene is definitely considerable – there are dozens of gigs every night in just about every corner of Manila and for sure, there also other shows in other major cities. There is a market and it was weird that NU107 was willing to relinquish their grapple hold on the top spot of the pecking order.

I first heard of Splintr during the Alive 2007 concert that featured the return of Wolfgang to the local concert scene. I can still remember those two concerts like they happened yesterday and Splintr was there to capture the magic moment of a band who went in abrupt hiatus but is now back to take their rightful place on the Pinoy Rock pantheon. The company definitely wanted to carve a new niche for themselves – they wanted to bring rock artists closer to their fans who use the internet a lot. The business model was unheard of during those days and it almost felt like it was charity work. Fans such as myself sure loved to have a team like Splintr around. They were more than willing to churn out quality content and videos without really expecting much tangible renumeration from people who listen or watch their productions. You don’t have to pay for anything – all the interviews, practice sessions and even live performances are for free!

Splintr showed major bravado when they dared to bring Nine Inch Nails to Manila back in 2009. NIN is certainly a great band with awesome live performance potential but their marketability to a Filipino audience was highly suspect. Splintr shot for the moon and tried to fill Araneta Coliseum but in between the Cory Aquino burial (held the same day as the concert), inclement weather and it being a Wednesday, the attendance was slightly under ideal. It didn’t stop the whole shebang from being the best show ever though. It was an awesome show and Splintr made it happen. Whether it was a financial success was up for the auditors and accountants to figure out – the fans who got tickets to see Trent Reznor and company home happy and that’s all that matters.

The company would then proceed to organize interesting gigs and concert tours. They were a huge part of the Splintr Unplugged series that featured the likes of Slapshock, Greyhoundz and Taken By Cars. They have worked with just about every band that matters in the country. In a lot of ways, they’ve stamped their mark all over the local rock scene but they’ve done so in an almost thankless manner. The way by which the company makes money is absolutely a mystery to an outsider like me but I wouldn’t necessarily want to rack my brain on how they do it – I love that they do what they do and I’m more than willing to show my appreciation by watching the videos they post and attending the shows they organize.

I’m writing this one day ahead of the Deftones concert. I just know that it will be the most amazing thing ever. I know that I will rave about it for many months after it happens February 12, 2011. I heard rumors about it mid to late last year when my friends who were also in the rock scene sort of raised the possibility that Deftones would be coming. Deftones is a band I grew up with – there is a Deftones poster on my wall. My friend from med school gave me a keychain with the same poster image by sheer coincidence! I have the original copies of all the albums – okay, I admit it, except the new one. This is a defining night for my appreciation not only for Deftones’ music but for music in general.

As cheesy as this sounds, I am truly grateful that Splintr dared to go where no one else did. Over four thousand people will be jumping and head banging tomorrow at the World Trade Center and it’s going to be one of the most awesome concerts ever in Manila. I just know that Splintr would carve its name as one of the biggest entities in Pinoy Rock and more people would acknowledge the courage, conviction and dedication that this company has for bringing the best out of local talents as well as bringing world-class bands – bands that we dream about watching live – to our local shores.

I’m really lost for words right now. Thank you, Splintr.

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The 90s produced a wealth of bands in the local rock scene and few if any could claim to have had bigger success and influence than Wolfgang – arguably, the best representative of the hard rock/ metal genre in the mainstream. The band was simply prolific in releasing amazing album after amazing album in the mid to late 90s and were always one of the best live acts in town due to their punishing sets and tremendous technical abilities with their respective instruments. Life among other things got into way of good music during the past decade so the band had to stop playing for a bit to concentrate on other worthwhile endeavors.

And then they came back, sort of…

I’m proud to have had a very good relationship with the people who have steered the band into a good direction since they decided to put together a show in 2007. I was there when they released their first album in seven years during the Black Christmas project of December 2008. It was certainly a good way to re-discover something that you’ve grown up with. To a certain extent, Wolfgang was probably going through the same process of familiarization – they’re now playing with a new drummer and their collective life experiences from the time they recorded their albums from the 1990s are certainly a lot richer and more replete with material that they can draw inspiration from.

With albums hopelessly out of print, it is hard to be a new Wolfgang fan nowadays. Due to this, I would like to contribute to the younger generation *cough* by starting As Oceans – an unofficial Wolfgang blog with great connections to the people behind the band. As Oceans of course is a very emotionally-driven ditty from the eponymous album released in 1995. It was not released as a radio single but a lot of people definitely connect with the lyrics due to its theme of pushing on and moving forward regardless of what life throws at you. Put in a good mix of allusions to tides and the seas and you’ve got a rock anthem that true-blue fans of Wolfgang would know by heart. The song is not just a song that could easily be the theme song to any fan’s life; it’s also a great song to narrate the great challenges that Wolfgang had to go through to exist as they do as a musical unit now.

There’s a new Wolfgang album in the works – yes, Lizza Nakpil just confirmed it to me! And trust me, news there is something brewing in the horizon and you’ll just have to wait til March to hear about it. It’s going to be an awesome year to be a Wolfgang fan, I could just feel it.

quiet but never afraid

silent but always awake

-As Oceans, Wolfgang (1995)

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Basti Artadi, Mon Legaspi, Manuel Legarda and Francis Aquino are *allegedly* now in the songwriting phase for the seventh Wolfgang studio album. It’s been over two years since the release of Villains that featured tracks like R.P. Death Squad, Ibrahim and Soap so it’s definitely a much anticipated effort from the band. Wolfgang has been in a weird state since Basti Artadi decided to leave the band indefinitely to pursue a life abroad but thanks to a concert in 2007, the band’s fans were given a glimmer of hope that yes, maybe the band could move on despite the geographical limitations.Over half a dozen concerts later here and abroad, it seems like the band was functioning as strong as any other band sans the weekly gigs at places like Sazi’s or Saguijo. The band now has over 112,000 fans on their Facebook page – and the number has meteorically risen during the past year. The band left when music was still a different commodity – MP3 players weren’t that popular yet and the world was still retreating from the shockwaves of the Napster fiasco. After being gone for so long and with albums being hopelessly out of stock, it was very interesting to see whether or not Wolfgang’s legacy would be passed on to the new generation of rock aficionados. If the numbers are any indication, it sure seems like Wolfgang’s fanbase has grown to include the young guns.

Honestly though, I’m relatively young relative to most Wolfgang fans. The album Serve in Silence came out when I was a sophomore in high school and the first three albums were all released when I was in grade school. The band was pretty big then and it was impossible to miss “Arise” and “Halik Ni Hudas” since they were phenomenal hits but I did have to do a lot of research. The options that are available now for present-day fans to get to know about an artist’s discography is dime a dozen nowadays. It’s so easy to search videos on Youtube and there are websites like iMeem that hosts many music files in its database.  Back then, a fan needed to look for albums in different record stores or borrow CDS (or tapes!) from friends who had them. It was a lot like a scavenger hunt and to a certain extent, there was more pride derived from being a fan (and having a physical copy of an album!) during those times.

Hopefully this seventh album would trigger for potential Wolfgang fans the same thing that listening to Serve in Silence did for me. While it is true that the chances of one finding a non-Villains CD in record stores is slim, the internet allows for greater possibilities in terms of getting know just how rich Wolfgang’s discography is.

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It’s now on the official Stone Temple Pilots (STP) website and it seems like it’s going to be all systems go for the March 9 concert of the band that’s responsible for the smash hits “Vasoline”, “Plush” and “Interstate Love Song”. STP was certainly one of the best bands of the 90s and they did try to progress and grow as they moved forward as a band.

Please call Ticketnet at 9115555. The good seats are selling really well so if you want to want to have good tickets, try securing your tickets now.

VIP(103&101 ROWS A-J) (Reserved Seating) – PHP 5810
PATRON (Reserved Seating) - PHP 4760
LOWER BOX (Reserved Seating) - PHP 3700
UPPER BOX A (Reserved Seating) - PHP 2640
UPPER BOX B - PHP 1590
GENERAL ADMISSION - PHP 530

Ticket reservation could be done online.

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If you’ve been to this blog before, you would probably know by now that I;m really into music. Over the past decade I’ve tried to diversify my musical knowledge by listening to different kinds of music from all over the world and as much as possible, from different genres. While my last.fm account sure gives away what I like to listen to the most, I do try to keep an open mind when it comes to music. I’m now into a lot of kinds of tunes – from rock to metal to even dance and even a bit of *gasp* jazz.

I started writing a new *hopefully* recurring feature post on Filipino Freethinkers called Freethinker Music Weekly – a column wherein I’ll share bands who have written songs relevant to the freethinker experience (just in case somebody cares). The featured genre for the first installment is metal and hard rock.

If you’re interested to see what I came up, please head on to the site by clicking the link. Feel free to add me on last.fm if you have an account. It’s also great to learn new stuff from the musical quirks of other people.

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Finland is probably one of the best countries in the world. Aside from having a big non-religious sector of the population (currently at around 20%), Finland is also home to the most interesting music artists I’ve heard. I do try to scour through the metal madness that Europe has to offer so I’m very familiar with some Finnish bands. Try looking for videos of Apocalyptica, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and Lordi and you’ll see how rich their metal culture is.

Over a regular Couchsurfing gathering, I met a Finnish guy who was working on finishing his post-graduate studies here in the Philippines.  What was interesting was that we listened to the same bands – Tool, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Disturbed, Incubus, Lordi and even Korn.

Me: Hey dude, have you heard of Disasterpiece by Slipknot? The song that goes like “I want to slit your throat…”

Finn: *interrupts* “and fuck the wound!”

This prompts him to say that our musical tastes were not really similar  - it was ALMOST the same. Since I was already more or less familiar with some of the best bands in Finland, I offered to give him a crash course in Filipino Hard Rock and Metal. I lined up my favorite Wolfgang, Razorback, Urbandub, Cheese, Greyhoundz, Slapshock and Badburn songs and even threw in tunes from Up Dharma Down and Cynthia Alexander for good measure.

Of course, listening to music needs to be heightened with copious amounts of alcohol. I’m not a big beer drinker so I shopped for so-called “girly” drinks (Tanduay Ice and Gilbey’s Premium Strength). My new friend decided that he’ll bring another Finnish tradition – Salmiakki Koskenkorva.

Yes, if it sounds scary to you; it’s probably because it IS scary. Let’s dissect the words – Koskenkorva is a place in Finland that produces vodka. Most of the alcohol in the country is made by firms controlled by the government. Salmiakki is a salt licorice candy that has relatively high amounts of ammonium chloride – a substance used to treat metal surfaces prior to coating. It is also used in fireworks… yes, fireworks.

So he brought some of the candy here and melted them in a pan with water. The result is a thick dark brown glop that was mixed with a bottle of vodka. As you can see in the photo, the resulting “drink” looks like motor oil. Quite frankly, it sounds like something that an assassin would use to poison the emperor.

After checking on Google and seeing that the drink was in fact real and I was not about to be one of the first Filipino victims to a Finnish practical joke, we toasted on a shot of Salmiakki Koskenkorva (wow, it does roll off the tongue quite easily, yes?).  The licorice flavor definitely comes through giving it a very earthy and herby flavor – almost reminiscent of a much stronger Jagermeister (easily my favorite hard drink). What throws me off is the consistency of the melted salmiakki. It’s very similar to drinking syrup suspended in a very strong vodka – which is essentially what it was really.

The syrup’s consistency makes the taste of the salmiakki linger and it’s definitely an acquired taste. My friend even concedes that the salty licorice flavor isn’t for everyone and that he doesn’t really know a lot of people (other than the Finnish) who are into eating it.

There’s a half a bottle of salmiakki koskenkorva in my refrigerator and I don’t know what I’ll do with it. We headed out to meet up with the seventy-strong Couchsurfing Manila contingent and called the first Filipino-Finnish Metal Convention (attendance: 2) a massive success.

Thanks Risto!

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