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History of Rock Bands

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Eraserheads

The Eraserheads, Eraserheads, or E-Heads was a prominent Pinoy rock band of the 1990s, formed by Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and Marcus Adoro. The band is one of the most popular and important bands in the history of Original Pinoy Music, giving them the title "The Beatles of the Philippines." The Eraserheads was also said to open the second wave of band invasion, paving the way for other alternative rock bands such as Rivermaya, The Youth, Teeth, Siakol, Grin Department, Parokya ni Edgar and Yano. Their music is very diverse, working both in the underground and

mainstream scenes of the Philippine music industry. By fusing different musical styles, such as alternative, pop, rock, reggae, and synth rock, the Eraserheads helped change the sound of Pinoy rock.

 

The band found that they weren't good at covering other people's hits, so they concentrated on writing their own materials instead. "After all, if we committed a mistake, no one would recognize it since they don't know the song, right?" Buendia explained.

 

Their original songs live soon earned them a cult following in their school, which gradually spread outside the campus. One of the songs, a pop song entitled, "Pare Ko," became very popular, partly because of its lyrics that included a few obscenities.

 

The band recorded a cheap, nine-song demo tape in Marasigan's garage on January 6, 1991. They then shopped the demo around record labels, clubs and radio stations, hoping to have their songs reach the public. However, they were rejected at every turn, with a recording studio deeming that their demo was "not pop enough." In May 1991, a friend professor from their school, Humanities professor Robin Rivera, helped them record and mix a better version of the demo on a four-track recorder. The demo was named Pop-U!, in response to those who turned them down.

 

Meanwhile, Buendia was employed as a student copywriter by BMG Records Pilipinas (now part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment). He worked with BMG during the day and wrote songs with the band during the night. Eventually, the songs of Buendia and the band caught the attention of BMG A&R Director Vic Valenciano. Valenciano listened to the songs and then commented that they were very raw technically, but that there was something promising in them. Subsequently, BMG gave the Eraserheads' songs a try. In 1992, BMG signed up the Eraserheads for a three-year record deal.

Bamboo

Maņalac serves as the band's frontman. Contrary to popular belief, the band is not named after him. In fact, he had some trouble agreeing upon the name of the band for it is named after him. According to Ira Cruz, the guitarist, the word bamboo relates to strength and durability with an island feel to it. Two of its members, Bamboo Maņalac and Nathan Azarcon, were formerly part of Rivermaya. The other two members, Ira Cruz and Vic Mercado, were former instrumentalists of another band, Passage.

Four years after their departure from Rivermaya,

Maņalac and Azarcon caught up again with each other, during which Azarcon introduced him to Ira Cruz and Vic Mercado who were then members of pop ballad band Passage.

Bamboo released their debut album, As The Music Plays, in February 2004 where it received positive response from fans and critics alike. The album also won numerous awards at the AWIT Awards, NU107 Rock Awards, and MTV Pilipinas 2004.

Their second album, Light Peace Love, which was released in 2005, consists of ten songs with differing moods and subjects, and took only 3 months to record. This album has a softer sound with both its lyrics and delivery. For this album, the band added more strings and a variety of other instruments, including a trumpet. The band admitted that this album had a personal feel to it. They experimented with several new styles that may please new listeners, at the risk of disappointing fans of the more conventional rock of their first album.

Their third album, We Stand Alone Together, was released in 2007. It contains revived local songs such as Buklod's "Tatsulok" and international songs such as Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" from different generations. It also includes bonus tracks like unplugged versions of their hit songs from previous albums such as "Mr. Clay", "These Days", and "Hallelujah". Once again, opting to do away with the conventional rock image that was attached to them , they produced sounds which were more jazzy than expected.

Star Records--backed up by ABS-CBN TV Production and MYX--produced and created the official soundtrack for the tele-epiko "Rounin", wherein the title track "Argos" was performed by Bamboo. A new avenue was opened to the band, as "Argos" is said to be the band's first venture to record a song for a primetime television show. It is also the first time for the multi-awarded band and Star Records to work together.

 

Rivermaya

Rivermaya is one of the most influential alternative rock bands in the Philippines that descended from pop and rock explosion of the 90s, propelling the rise of subsequent mainstream rock acts. The band is known for songs "Ulan," "214," "Himala." "KisapMata," "Hinahanap Hanap Kita", "If", "You'll Be Safe Here" and many others. The band is considered by music critics and historians alike as - second to the iconic The Eraserheads (E-Heads) - one of the rock bands that turned the Philippine music scene of the 90s into angst-filled, retrospective, hippie-influenced era. Founded in 1993, the band

musical direction has evolved from simple rock into hard rock, pop, acoustic, metal, progressive, etc. It has recently released an Asian album in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia and has become of the few acts that garnered Southeast Asians' music attention.

 

The very first line-up consisted of Jessie Gonzales on vocals, Kenneth Ilagan on guitar, Nathan Azarcon on bass, Rome Velayo on drums, and Rico Blanco on keyboards. They have been managed by two virtual unknowns in the music industry, Lizza Nakpil and director Chito Roņo who both discovered Rivermaya and were initially impressed by what they considered as unconventional form or music direction the band was threading on that time.

 

In the process of grueling practice sessions, Ilagan was replaced with Perfecto de Castro; Azarcon recruited former Bazurak bandmate, Mark Escueta, to replace Velayo as well as former classmate Francisco "Bamboo" Maņalac to replace Gonzales. As Bamboo Maņalac as frontman, the band started putting together their original songs like "Ulan" "214" and "Awit ng Kabataan" (mostly composed by Rico Blanco) on a demo for consideration of recording companies. By November 1993, the band had released its first album, the self-titled 'Rivermaya", and its first single, "Ulan"; followed by "214". Critically praised for its fresh, excitingly-new pop/rock music, the album went on to become one of the best sellers in the 90s, following up the success of The Eraserheads. Citing artistic differences, de Castro was adamant in leaving the group and founded his own band.