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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.

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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. Continue Reading »

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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! Continue Reading »

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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. Continue Reading »

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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. Continue Reading »

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