I have been a fan of The Dawn since I was in grade school. The first The Dawn album I had was Puno’t Dulo but I knew that their older songs such as “Enveloped Ideas”, “Love Will Set Us Free”, “Iisang Bangka” and “Salamat” were already hits before my adolescence years. Those songs also became my favorites until now. The Dawn was like The Eraserheads of my generation. If I was born earlier, probably I would be one of the fans who would frequent the bars where they have gigs. When I had the opportunity during my grade school life to watch gigs in bars, they weren’t as active like they were before. Read the rest of this entry »

from nu107fm.com

It’s the Rock Awards season once again so it’s time to vote for your favorite local bands. I’ve just casted my vote. Most of my votes for each category were for Up Dharma Down because I feel that this is their year. There were some from Peryodiko, Pupil, The Dawn and Sugarfree. Although I haven’t really watched the NU 107 Rock Awards live, I vote every year and try to catch it on TV or through the live streaming at NU 107. So if you haven’t casted your vote, please visit www.nu107fm.com and register. Read the rest of this entry »

Ebe Dancel of Sugarfree

It’s not common seeing Sugarfree in an intimate set up, most especially with the Manila Symphony Orchestra. I got the chance to experience watching them up close during the Dekada concert held at the Music Museum last August 28th. It was nice seeing familiar friends in the audience area. Karla and I were seated front middle row. We didn’t expect to be seated there. Thanks to Jay DJ of Titik Pilipino for giving us super nice front row seats.

This was actually my first time to see them perform with the Manila Symphony Orchestra. I wasn’t able to watch them 2 years ago. I was working in the night shift then and my gig life was so corny. Read the rest of this entry »

Several bands will be uncovering differnt rock archives on September 18 (Friday, 9 pm)  at the Mag:Net High Street. The line up is really cool. Bands that will be performing are Pupil, Imago, Up Dharma Down, Drip, Taken by Cars, Camerawalls and Sleepwalk Circus. Hear them perform their own versions of songs from the past. See you all there!

Event brought to you by Puma.

I would not forget how Sugarfree’s melodramatic lyrics have become the music of my wounding heart when I was young. Yeah, yeah, it’s emo right? But everybody undergoes through that phase. I did not even realize that it’s been a decade since Sugarfree existed. Does this mean I’m aging? Shux.

Anyway, Sugarfree is back with fresh new sounds and a 10th year anniversary concert. Isn’t that interesting? They have just recently released an album entitled “Mornings and Airports”. Another interesting thing about this album is that Chino David and Anjo Inacay of Silent Sanctuary (strings) and Richie Gonzaga of Corporate Lo Fi (Trumpet) guested in some tracks in the album.

The current single is “Hay Buhay”. I first heard that song performed live last January (during the Rock Bosch gig) and now I believe it’s being played in major radio stations (the only thing I’m sure of is that it’s being played at NU 107). The album will be launched on August 19 at Saguijo. Read the rest of this entry »

Trent Reznor is a rock god.

Even though it’s been long time since the height of their rock and roll stardom, Nine Inch Nails is still worth listening to. Nothing has changed, they just looked older but the music is still the same. Industrial rock at its finest.

Weeks before the concert, I prepped up by listening to some NIN songs. If you’re following me in Twitter, you’ll notice I blip NIN songs .

I was there with my girlfriend Karla at the patron area of the Araneta Coliseum waiting for the show to start. The whole Araneta Coliseum was like a convention of Pinoy rock artists and enthusiasts. It’s like Saguijo but it’s much bigger. Lots of familiar faces from the band scene were there. I can’t help but see them because we’re at the patron area and they’re just right in front of us (VIP area). Read the rest of this entry »

(Photo from Perf de Castro’s website)

For the kids these days, you might have not know Perf de Castro so now is the best time to get to know him in a different way. Perf de Castro used to be with mainstream rock bands such as Backdraft, Tri-Axis, Rivermaya (for their first album) and Wolfgang. He also sessioned for Francis M in his album, ”Freeman”, Nonoy Zuniga, Gary V, Orient Pearl and many others. This guy really has a one hell of a talent and now he’s into classical guitar performances. I remembered him while he was with Rivermaya and also performing with Francis M.

My grade school friend Chili told me that he’s back and will be doing series of shows here in Manila and Cebu to show Filipinos of his classical guitar talent. He’s one of the Philippines’ guitar geniuses and must be appreciated. Read the rest of this entry »

Pupil re-launched their 2nd album Wildlife last Friday, July 10th at the SM Sky Dome. What’s special about this album is that they have remastered all the tracks (meaning, it has better quality) and in addition, they have a separate CD of the tracks they performed during the Pupil Lister’s Night held in Big Sky Mind. It also contains a DVD of Pupil’s music videos and digital wallpapers of Pupil there so that fans can place it as wallpapers on their desktop computers or laptops.

So, it was a Friday, the last day of my work week. I left work at 5:20 pm and immediately rushed to SM North just to make sure that Karla and I would avoid the Friday rush hour heavy traffic. The rain was pouring hard but that did not stop us from going to SM Sky Dome. I bought Hero hotdogs for dinner and decided to eat it while we’re inside the venue. There isn’t that much people yet at 7:00 pm. According to the announcements, the show was supposed to start at 7:00 pm but because of the rain, the band was stuck in heavy traffic in EDSA. So, we went inside the Sky Dome and sat at the middle aisle because it would be difficult to see if we’re on the side. A lot of familiar faces were there, the Pupil and Circus listers, a former colleague of mine from Eperformax and my grade school friend Chili. It was nice to see Chili again whom I have never spoke for more than 10 years and also Gerard, a fellow Circus lister I met during the Eheads Final Set (also one of the individuals who got a portion of Ely’s Levi’s jacket). Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the time to celebrate how wonderful the music of the world is with Fete dela Musique 2009. This time it will be held at different areas in Metrowalk on June 20, 2009. The line up per genre is listed below. I’ll probably be at Metro Phi to listen to the electronica/goth/new wave sounds. Maybe I’ll pass by the center plaza to some of my favorites there such as Corporate Lo-Fi, Itchyworms, Chilitees and many more. Read the rest of this entry »

(from Splintr.com)

Nine Inch Nails will be performing here in Manila on August 5, 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum. The organizer, Splintr.com, announced that Pupil will be the local opening act for the band. Pupil was personally chosen by Nine Inch Nails. Wow, isn’t this awesome? I hope that I can watch the gig (crossing fingers). Read the rest of this entry »