“Rocking the Roots” Music Museum / Jan. 27, 2012
MANILA, Philippines — It’s a rare happening these days, this assembly of local rock giants on one stage. It was a not-so-quiet, if a little under-promoted gathering not meant to hawk some alcohol brand with “feeling rock star” posturing. “Rocking the Roots” was a small gathering of selected musicians—some say the list isn’t even nearly as complete—who refuse to fade into oblivion. And why should they.
Compared to what you hear on the radio and even on TV these days, one night sitting in the audience to watch these musicians play is more "school of rock" than you’ll ever get. Rock radio may be gone, but on this night, the local rock demigods offered up their fiery guitar riffs and played their fingers numb as if their very souls depended on it. It’s a pity then that younger music disciples had not taken the time to attend this Master Class, save for Hilera’s lead vocalist and guitarist Chris Padilla, whom we saw hanging around the venue after the show, and Blue Jean Junkies’ Niño Mendoza, who was hanging out backstage.
Conceptualized by Rene Garcia of Hotdog (the band that popularized songs like “Manila,” “Annie Batungbakal” and “Bongga Ka Day,” among others), “Rocking the Roots” was a one-night only concert he cooked up “to try a different formula,” as he explained in an exclusive interview with Bulletin Entertainment after the show. About a year back, he had put together several “Manila sound” projects with his own band and members of VST & Co. With this opportunity, Garcia said, “I wanted to get back to my roots.”
His rock roots run deep, it seems. Patterned loosely after Eric Clapton’s brainchild, the Crossroads Guitar Festival, “Rocking the Roots” gathered several local greats in the same vein. Sharing the stage with Garcia (also the show’s musical director) at various points in the show were Joey “Pepe” Smith (Juan Dela Cruz), Lolita Carbon (Asin), Resty Fabunan (Maria Cafra), Gary Perez (Anak Bayan, Sampaguita) and noted bassman Eggpie De Castro—whom Garcia noted to be the common thread within the stellar line-up, having played bass for most of them at some point in his career.
Music Museum filled slowly due to Friday traffic—not to full capacity, but a good turnout nonetheless—and the show went underway soon after. Front acts Definitely Not and Bandwidth warmed the audience up, but it wasn’t until the last opener, Betrayed, came onstage that things really got truly interesting.
Steering clear off covers, Betrayed brought a slight punk to the proceedings with their originals, “Never Again” and “Never Meant to Be This Way.” Singer/guitarist Buddy Trinidad ripped through the short set—too short, actually, for a band that could have easily whipped out their Ramones and The Clash as with a few more originals like they do in their own gigs—along with lead guitarist Boyet Miguel (Tame the Tikbalang) and newest recruit Ed Ramos on bass (a former Ethnic Faces original member, along with Miguel), as well as session drummer John Carpio.
With the crowd properly prepped, Garcia took the stage with the night’s band comprised of the current Hotdog members and some special guests. And as if to keep up with the illustrious names that would take the stage, there were two drummers, two keyboard players, two other guitar players aside from Garcia, two back-up singers, and two bass players—one of whom was the quirky Eggpie De Castro, a name any local rock musician worth his salt would know. As first singer of the night, Jett Pangan (The Dawn), declared, “I’m in the presence of gods”—good, he knows it—before singing “Message in a Bottle,” and much later, “Every Breath You Take.”
Thereafter, the spotlight shone on Perez, then Carbon; Fabunan, in his cowboy hat and leather boots, would follow, greeting the audience with, “Magandang gabi po, lahi ng kayumanggi—na na-addict sa glutathione,” and henceforth rocking the stage with Maria Cafra’s “Kumusta Mga Kaibigan.” Also appearing on stage for this first segment was Caren Mangaran (General Luna), who sang one of the only two slightly pop-ish songs of the night, Heart’s “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You” [the other being the first opener’s rather dull version of a dull Green Day hit, “Basket Case”].
Garcia then took the reins with their version of Jeff Beck’s cover of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” followed by a spotlight on guitarist Mike Moore, as well as blistering bass solos by De Castro and then Al Medrano. Smith then came out onstage with a “Howdy! Rock and roll!” greeting before launching his take on the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
Easily one of the night’s highlights was Perez leading the band in his new, groove-filled but still rocked-out version of a 30-year-old Sampaguita hit, “Tao;” Fabunan leading on Jimi Hendrix’ “Little Wings;” and Smith taking over on “Beep Beep,” “Balong Malalim,” and the Stones’ “(I Can Get No) Satisfaction.”
The jam-fest went on. Carbon returned—with Mike Mendoza, son of The Jerks’ Flor Mendoza—to sing her ‘70s hit, “Himig ng Pag-Ibig.” Garcia also busted out “Bayani,” which segued to Jeff Beck’s “Freeway Jam,” paving the way for more guitar and bass solos like a rockin’ buffet that kept on giving.
Then the mother of all jams happened at the very end, when the energy on stage could have roused the guitar gods from the dead with the monster riffage that only five guitarists—on stage all at the same time—could muster. The stunned audience watched in all seriousness as Garcia, Fabunan, Perez and Smith, not to mention De Castro and the rest of the huge band just let it rip on stage. At this point it got a little too wild, with Garcia even trying to organize everyone amid the seeming chaos. After a while, with chords exploding and notes wailing, piercing the ears that it almost felt like they would soon start to bleed, the aural assault by the mad legends mercifully ended!
“Magsisisi ang mga hindi nagpunta ngayong gabi,” Fabunan said when the noise died down. He took the words right out of our mouths. They don’t make them like they used to, and certainly, shows like this don’t happen often enough these days. Which is sad because if there’s one thing this concert has really shown, it’s that you can pop-rock your way to fleeting stardom but you certainly can’t fake soul.
source: mb.com.ph
