first of all, i would like to thank all the bands who played in this month's buzz night (despite it being on a sunday), and to all those present, thanks for giving us your ears, precious time and hard earned money... this is one buzz night that i will truly remember and cherish because of the fact that my old band "aspirin" (original members--- me, kerwin, kelvin and allan chua--- intact) did play... after 4 years of waiting...
here's an account of what transpired last night...
9:15pm, me and selena arrived at mayrics. already there were roel and ralph... played "the meeting places" cd then followed by a malory (not here...) cd. omnie from 5 leaves asked me if he could have the malory cd, i said "ok". gilbert (former SPK drummer, now a member of a very popular mainstream band) paid us a surprise visit followed by Lara (SPK bassist)which gave me an idea to include Soft Pillow Kisses in the line-up. soon after, members of other bands arrived...
10:15pm, only candyaudioline was complete but ayn didn't want candy to play first so selena and i decided to let SPK play first... gilbert was so surprised when he learned that he would be playing drums for us. he begged me not to but, knowing gilbert very well, i insisted and threatened him. soft pillow kisses played only three songs but was enough to kick off a somewhat lazy sunday buzz night... candyaudioline followed soon after. i think we did very well (as usual) inspite of a very limited volume level brought about by the venue's failing PA system...
carnival park followed (i went outside to see if Allan Chua - aspirin drummer had already arrived, fuck wala pa 11pm na! pasok ako ulit...). i was a bit excited to see them once more but last night's performance was a bit of a let down. aside from the vocalist being a bit under the weather, a few things were missing especially in the guitar and keyboard department of carnival park. i hope they can do something about this soon. sunsetdrive came next. they played a very inspired set in spite of having an absent member...
my science project followed. (i went out again to check if some of my aspirin bandmates arrived already. Ayos, allan chua was there so with much excitement, i texted kerwin - bassist, and kelvin rosete - guitarist- that allan was aready there... alam nyo ba sagot nila? "hindi daw sila pwede" ayos parang nagunaw bigla ang mundo ko, pero d ako sumuko. i texted them repeatedly... still no answer. so i decided to go in again...) honestly i don't like this band. trying hard yung pagka - indiepop nila. some of my bandmates say that they sound like a raw version of superminty (one member being a former minty dummer and wannabe vocalist). actually 2 of the songs sounded like very lame variations of soft pillow kisses' "it will never last (forever)". there was even one song in which 3 of my soft pillow songs could be sung with it... although the last two songs they played that night was pretty decent. maybe i'll find some time to give this band some guidance, saying din kasi. konti na nga lang kami tapos tatablahin ko pa. five leaves left followed... i went out during their set but was able to hear them from outside... (i received a messge from kerwin na gagawa raw sya ng paraan which somewhat helped me lighten up a bit pero walang text from kelvin... i told allan na mukhang malabo but i still kept my fingers crossed...) this is a three piece band that produces a very thick guitar oriented sound, the first 2 songs they played caught my attention but the following songs were a bit __________. i hope that the malory cd that omnie got from me could influence him a bit... poopoovox came in next and played a very tight set. the first few songs were quite good and very fresh in a geek rock sense. (i texted kerwin and kelvin for the last time telling them that there was only one band remaining and begged them to come... after a few minutes, kelvin replied saying that they were on their way... grabe, di ko ma describe yung saya ko that moment so i informed allan chua and selena, natuwa rin sila...)
tether came in next. what can i say? the band is really very good and the songs are really top quality live!!! walang stir... one of the very few local female fronted bands that don't sound like they're from the philippines... (kerwin and kelvin arrived at last and it was tether's 4th song already... syempre batian at kulitan muna... we had enough time to reminisce the past and after tether's last song came the moment that i was waiting for...)
aspirin followed and i was very excited to show the people present what this band was truly capable of both in skills and in the materials that we play, ignoring the fact that 4 years have already passed since the last time we played together and that we were only human... as soon as we were able to set up our equiptment, kerwin went for the mic saying that it's been a very long time since we've been together and that they could expect really funny things to happen during our set. i followed him up saying that "if ever we're not able to finish a song, pagpasensyahan nalang nila hehehe..." then we looked at one another not really sure of ourselves but since it's been a very long while, we all decided to fuck the rest and give it a go!
aspirin fucking the rest and giving it a go
the first song was a tough one because we didn't know what to play first (actually, we never even talked about what songs to play prior to going up the stage) i decided on "hello everyone" but to my surprise, it seemed that they had already forgotten the song. i was in panic for a while there but being the band leader, i had to put things into order. kelvin was trying to recall the song with success and so did kerwin. so we decided to play it but in the middle i sort of went blank i forgot the song. good thing that aspirin is so used to doing on the spot improvisations that we got thru it in no time. I decided to do “love my stereo” for the second song but to my surprise and amusement we forgot the song except for Kelvin. after that song, by this time I began to realize that we did these songs in dropped tunings and that I’ll be having rough time singing these songs in standard tuning… I told the audience that we got the song all wrong that I forgot a whole stanza. They were very understanding hehehe… the third song was “effects of b” this one was ok at least a 70% accuracy as to how we originally do it back in the old days. The 4th song “moving up” was another disaster. We got the intro and the 1st two stanzas right then I forgot the lyrics and the pattern so I had to end it at once. Again I apologized to the crowd saying that I forgot some of the parts… sorry… I thought of doing two more songs, songs that I think we’ll be able to execute properly so that we’d end our set on a positive note. “don’t know why” was properly executed save for it’s being slower than usual making it really hard for me to sing it and some missed lyrics… the last song was “count to four”, if the stone roses have “I am the resurrection” and the charlatans end their set with “sprongston green”, then aspirin has “count to four”… one of our best truly unique songs. This really closed the night for us I think most of the people present was blown away by that song… it was like the old days again except for the volume and a few doubts as to whether we can do that song justice… It was like that scene in shaolin soccer wherein they all got their powers back… oh well. Another part of my own personal musical history… for now…
the bands who weren’t able to make it were Sonnet 58 (roniel was not available) and scarlet tears (roel’s other band can’t make it due to some member’s holiday commitments)…
popular days was sorely missed…
it’s been another great year for buzz night despite some unfortunate events which led to a split between the more discriminating part of the crowd and yours truly… hope that next year would just be as great if not better… expect releases from populardays and tether
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