A Tight-Knit Community of Musicians and Music Lovers

 

GABES TORRES

 

JUNIPER FACE THE CORNER

 

LIME

 HYENA HARMONIES INC.

Los Banos has always been known for its buko pie and UPLB. But our small "university town" has yet to establish itself as a place to find good music. As a musician and writer from Elbi, I am very pleased to report that there is a growing music scene in our community.

Indie Band News has helped us promote five major gigs last July involving Elbi-based artists. Wrecked! organized by The Elbi Wrecking Crew (July 7), The Incubus Tribute Party organized by The Incubus Street Team, Philippines (July 14), Gabes Torres' Fairfarren Concert (July 16), Switchfoot Tribute Night organized by Cafe Antonio Sessions (July 23), and the Azkals Game Night organized by IC's Bar and Coffee Shop (July 28).

Elbi music is very diverse. We have a lot to offer people when you visit Elbi to listen to good music. Bands like The Sunday Brew will sweep you off your feet with their brand of soul, funk, and blues; and prominent local funk group, Hyena Harmonies Inc. will make you dance and headbang with their Funky Eating Eagle. Newer groups like LIME and Pathway will impress you with their Incubus and Switchfoot covers, respectively, and their honest and well-written original songs. As for the more indie-side of things, Gabes Torres will serve you fresh and heartfelt songwriting with her album, Quintessence; while Gelo Arboleda and his band, Juniper Face the Corner, will give you a dose of whimsical and perfectly-strewn lyrics with their conFUSION of musical genres. Going further, those on a musical quest will also encounter the party-core quintet of electro-rock band Segatron.

Although I get a lot of messages and e-mails from people asking about the metal scene in Los Banos (which I know but really not familiar with), I still believe that there is more to Elbi than one prominent music genre. All we have to do is find them and enjoy the wealth of music that we keep here in our small town of Los Banos, Laguna.

Humble Beginnings of the Incubus Street Team, Philippines

  

    I was supposed to write this article several weeks ago but a very busy schedule did not permit me to do so. And now that the Incubus Tribute Party is this evening, I will try to cram and share this piece of Incubus Street Team Philippines history to you guys in the indie music community.

    My friend from the Street Team, Butch Maligalig, shared with me in an interview how the group all began.

Indie Band News (IBN): When did the Street Team first meet?

Butch: Back in 2004, Sony Music held a contest for Incubus fans. I was one of the fans who joined along with the other Street Team members. Sony told us that we should promote the concert creatively. But during that time, we didn’t work as a team yet. We each had our own individual gimmicks to promote the event. Members promoted the concert with placards; others baked Incubus-themed cookies; while others went poster-happy on different places. Eventually, only one of us won and the rest got Incubus T-shirts.

IBN: So when did you start working together to promote Incubus as a group?

Butch: In 2008, it was MTV’s turn to hold a contest. That’s when we, the fans, decided to team-up and pool our creative juices. I made a flash video and did a mobile promotion of the 2008 Incubus concert (Pacific Rim Tour) around Los Banos, Laguna. We also promoted at Araneta Coliseum. Finally, we won. MTV gave us passes to the press conference and we personally met the band at Crowne Plaza. Brandon Boyd introduced himself to us, “I’m Brandon. Hi.”

IBN: What projects do you have now that you’re more formally organized?

Butch: Now that we all have jobs, the team decided to up the ante by organizing our own activities. This year, we had a tree planting project at the La Mesa EcoPark. The trees were named after us and we put there, “From the Make Yourself Foundation”. We informed Steve Rennie (the band’s manager) and Jake Versluis (head of the Make Yourself Foundation) about our activity and they said that it was good.

                Having won Steve and Jake’s trust, we decided to organize our own Incubus Tribute Party for the promotion of this year’s Incubus concert. We chose Kjwan as one of the bands to perform because I was standing beside Marc Abaya during the 2004 concert and he was wearing a “Chuck” mask. So I figured out that he must be an Incubus super fan. Malay was also invited because the band’s drummer, Alden, is a friend of one of the Street Team’s members.

IBN: Where will all the ticket sales from the party go?

Butch: The ticket sales will all go to charity. We’re doing this to promote Incubus, their new album “If Not Now, When?” and their concert on July 28 at Araneta Coliseum. Hopefully, the Street Team will be known for its efforts here in the Philippines to promote all things Incubus.

The Incubus Tribute Party is on Thursday, July 14, 9 PM at B-Side, Makati. With performances from Kjwan, Malay, Letter Day Story, LIME, Soil & Green, an Dash Between Dates. The event is organized by The Incubus Street Team Philippines in cooperation with Jack TV and Universal Channel Sponsored by Ovation Productions, Store and Stack, Sony Music, At the Womb, Indie Band News, Odyssey, Full Circle, and UR Face Radio. Official music channel is Myx. Proceeds will benefit RockEd Philippines, Bantay Bata 163, and the Make Yourself Foundation (MYF).

Tickets at Php 150 each.

DAMN Ways To Kill The INDIE Scene

Hinati ko sa apat na parte ang DAMN na paraan upang sirain ang INDIE scene sa Pilipinas.

Discrimination

-Music Discrimination – Pagiging “Purist” ay hindi dahilan para magdiskrimina ng musika. Kung wala ka namang sasabihin maganda, tumahimik nalang at gamitin yun pagiging “Purist” sa pagpapalago ng scene na pabor sa iyo. As long na hindi kayo naaapektuhan, wag nalang magdiskrimina.

-Band Discrimination – Para sa mga production, kung hindi rin naman kayo pabor sa tugtugan ng iba, wag niyong iset na Open Genre ang event nyo hanggat maaari. “Open Genre” nga bawal naman Metal o Punk. Anong open don? (Genre night ay hindi isang pamamaraan ng diskriminasyon ngunit isa itong paraan upang mapalakas ang isang eksena.) Eh kung puro sikat, matunog, madami magdala ng guest, kamaganak, kaibigan, maraming likes sa facebook at chicks na banda ang laging kinukuha ng production, wag nalang tawagin na production yan kung hindi “group event maker”, “featured artist event maker”, “for guests only event”, “family reunion”, “facebook contest event maker” at “Pimp event maker”.

Attitude

-Rockstar – Hindi pa nga sikat “Rockstar” na. Late na nga nagdedemand pa ng slot pang “exposure” daw. Tsaka “rockstar” ka nga di ba? Edi hindi mo na kailangan gawin yan, papanoorin ka nila hanggang sa huli “sikat” ka eh di ba? May mga“Rockstar” din na prod, sa sobrang pagka “Rockstar”, mga hindi na sila ma reach ng iba kaya sa huli, nalulugi din. Sa mga “Rockstar” mainstream bands, dyan nalang kayo sa taas, nakakahawa ang sakit niyo eh. Walang rockstar sa INDIE scene lahat tayo pantay pantay marami man likes mo, napunta ka man sa mainstream at nalaos, may kapit ka man sa taas at super over ka man sa galing, mabaho pa rin ang TAE mo.

-Boredom – Sa pagbabanda, hindi ka lang taong may hawak ng instrumento o music lover kung hindi combination of both. May “responsibilidad” kang dapat hawakan sa pamamagitan ng pagdagdag ng kaalaman mo sa eksena at sa musikang tinutugtog mo. Ganyan kaversatile sa art in terms of music ang mga nagbabanda. Nakakatamad noh? Nakakabagot? Huwag nalang tayo magbanda ganyan pala yun nakakatamad akala natin “tugtog alis lang”. Maraming Production at Nagbabanda ang nawawala dahil sa pagkabagot na resulta ng kawalan ng Passion (pagkasawa), Wala talagang Passion (goal lang pera o maging sikat) at pagkalulong sa luho at bisyo (paglipat ng kinahihiligan). Katamad talaga noh? “Tugtog alis” nalang noh, at least masaya! kabagot sumuporta eh.

-Selfishness – “pasuporta po kami”, “palineup kami”, “pasabit kami sa mga gig niyo”. Nakakarindi di ba? Ayos lang yan. KUNG! Sumusuporta din sila. Minsan maitatawag natin silang “Suportang Plastic” kung hindi naman taos an gag suportang pinapakita. Kapag magbabackout, sige lang, wala na silang pakeelam sa production. Kapag nakatugtog na, aalis agad, uuwi na conyo friends ko kailangan nila ihatid sa bahay nila ng naka-car. Hindi na nga nagdadala ng guest, hindi pa oorder sa bar at makikita mo pa nagiinuman pa sa labas. Umaapaw na nga ang banda sa event, pangit din ang gamit, magbabayad ka pa para tumugtog. Sinuportahan mo na pangit pa ang ibabalik sa iyo (wala man lang effort?). Pakelam mo sa kanila noh? Gusto mo “lang” ipamahagi ang musika mo. (Plastic!).

-Kapit System – Pati ba naman sa Indie Scene naapektuhan na nito akala ko sa gobyerno lang. “First come first serve”. Kayo unang bandang dumating sa bar tapos taken na mga gitnang slot? Una ka nagpalineup, tapos ikaw pa ang mawawalan? Una kang nagpareserve, tapos ikaw pa mawawalan ng event? Una ka sa lahat ngunit huli ka pa rin kasi wala kang kilala.

Monkey Business

-Scam – Scam na production, bar, bands, individuals at recording studios. Huwag suportahan!. Ipakalat ang mga artikulo ng IBN upang makatulong. Maging aware tayo at ipaalam sa marami ang mga issue ukol sa mga ganyang bagay upang hindi na sila makaapekto.

-Fame – Huwag ka nalang dito sa INDIE scene. May Showtime, Talentadong Pinoy, at meron ding Face to face, Maalaala mo kaya o Manghold-up ka nalang ng bangko at mabalita kaysa gumagamit ka ng ibang paraan dito sa Indie Scene upang sumikat at iangat ang sarili mo. Katulad ng pagiging sipsip, panloloko at pangaangkin ng bagay, materyales, komposisyon o banda na hindi sa iyo. Goal mo maging sikat? Halika gawa tayo dance crew o carnival manage ko kayo. (Kung sakali man sumikat, hindi masama yun basta hindi ka magiging “sellout” at pa”rockstar”).

-Money – Kung pera lang habol mo, huwag ka na magbanda at magproduction. Tapos, hindi na kailangan ng explanation para diyan.

Non-Support

-Foreign – Gumagastos ka ng libo libo sa mga foreign act na pumupunta dito (kahit siguro Justin Bieber pinanood mo, aminin!), ngunit manood ng 100 pesos ang tiket na may libreng serbesa ay hindi ka makanood nood. Dahilan numero uno, minsan lang sila pumunta dito. Ang tanong, minsan ka rin ba nanonood ng mga bandang local (maliban sa mga farewell party o last gig ng sikat na banda)? Tapos hihingi ka ng suporta? Tapos sinusuportahan mo musikang pinoy? Daig ka pa ng mga guests mo sa pagsuporta sa INDIE scene. Halika mag ibang bansa nalang tayo, labo mo eh.

-Mainstream – Hindi masamang sumikat at suportahan sila. Pero sana suportahan din natin mga INDIE bands at productions (lalo na kayong mga sponsors). HI-TECH na po ngayon, nasa internet na rin mga INDIE bands at productions. (Kaya mga bands wag kayo mahiya magpromote sa internet, hindi kayo magiging sellout at libre yan.) Mga naririnig niyo sa sikat na sikat na telebisyon at radyo? Sa INDIE scene maririnig niyo rin kung hahanapin niyo lang sila. At pag sumikat ka wag mong kalimutan lumingon sa pinanggalingan, sige ikaw rin pag umatras ka baka wala ka ng babalikan.

-Articles – Blogspot, Online Radios, Facebook Pages, Zines at kahit na anong naglalarawan at sumusuporta sa Scene. Libre ang maglike, Libre ang magbasa, Libre makinig, Mura lang ang Zines, Sila na gumagastos sa iyo ng panahon, pagod, pera at kung ano pa man para ipaalam sa iyo ang gusto at dapat mong malaman. May kilala akong isang creator ng Page na sumusuporta sa mga banda ngunit banda niya hindi sinusuportahan ng karamihan. Mahiya naman kayo para sa kanya o sa kanila na nagbibigay suporta at kaalaman kahit walang tinatanggap na kapalit. Tapos ang ibang may Attitude puro Pa”support!”, ano kayo Call Center Agent?

Hindi aangat ang eksena kung lahat tayo magiging mangmang at magiging makasarili. Sabi nga sa kanta ng Streetlight Manifesto, “And when we will fall, we will fall together”. Huwag nalang natin suportahan ang mga indibidwal na gustong sumira sa eksena, kung isa ka man sa mga ito, alam mo naman siguro gagawin mo.

Sama sama tayo Magtulungan, Makialam at Sumuporta sa musikang pinoy at sa INDIE scene. This is a wake up call!

Salamat sa nagbasa, medyo mahaba, ayoko man habaan ngunit hindi maiwasan eh. Any Violent Reactions? Visit our page TRIPLEHORNS. Please support INDIE BAND NEWS, productions and bands who keep the INDIE scene alive.