‘Wow! Meron tayong sariling atin!’
That was my reaction during that most eventful 1985-86 with the explosion of the local punk and new wave scene.
What I read and heard about in the pioneering music scenes in New York, Los Angeles, and London had found its way to Manila. Personally, that fired up all my synapses. I felt so alive.
While I was weaned on 70s hard rock and metal, psychedelic and pop rock, punk and new wave came to the fore during my teen years in the 1980s, thus me gravitating towards the scene with Twisted Red Cross bands Urban Bandits and Betrayed, and new wavers Ethnic Faces, the Dawn, and Identity Crisis, among others.
As a young boy who frequented Musikland (like almost every day from 1979-82) at the basement of Ali Mall, the biggest record store in Manila until Tower Records in Glorietta opened in the late 1990s, they had this long rack dedicated solely to Filipino artists. That rack? It must have had at least 36-40 records on display on either side.
While I purchased foreign artists, I was always drawn and intrigued by the records on display at the local rack. The one record that first drew the attention of my friends and I was Maria Cafra’s debut album with that burning guitar.
‘Like Jimi Hendrix,’ we told each other. And honestly? I didn’t think that was bad. After all, we had the Tony Bennet of the Philippines (Arthur Manuntag). Our Elvis Presley (Eddie Mesa). The Filipino Bee Gees (VST and Company and the Boyfriends). The answer to the Beatles (Dynasouls). And so on.
The Juan dela Cruz Band’s Kahit Anong Mangyari opened the floodgates for me to local music, especially the 1970s Pinoy Rock and its guitar heroes. That was the first Pinoy music record I ever purchased, and I never stopped since.
There was a lot of hype when the Juan dela Cruz Band put out Kahit Anong Mangyari in 1981, where there were print ads, TV and radio appearances, and during launch day, lines of fans eagerly looking to get their mitts on a copy. Me included.
I watched their album launch at the Big Dome and at the Loyola Center.
I did buy that record of Maria Cafra and later tore off a mini poster from Songhits that I taped to my bedroom wall.
The other album cover that snared my attention was Wally Gonzalez’ Tunog Pinoy that is a totally underrated album. And to this day, I enjoy listening to Wally’s two solo albums.
However, what got me to really listen more to local artists was Twisted Red Cross, that legendary underground punk rock label where all their bands had to create their own songs. And honestly, I think the songs where they railed against government corruption and ineptitude, as well as social ills, were something I learned more from music than school. Furthermore, their titles were my first-ever cassettes.
And boy – those early underground cassettes – are very much a part of my teen years aside from Philippine music history. They are keepsakes and treasures. And to this day, I love them as much as my teen self did back in the day.
It massively helped that my schoolmate, friend, and neighbor, Dominic Gamboa, was the vocalist for Betrayed. That put a name and a friendly face to the scene for me.
A few years before Twisted Red Cross detonated like Daisy Cutter (the most destructive conventional non-nuclear bomb in the 1980s) on us unsuspecting music fans, there were the Jerks who whose original songs were played only on DZRJ after which Ocean Zoo and Ethnic Faces put out independently released 7-inch extended play singles.
Then OctoArts released the Dawn’s ‘Enveloped Ideas’ on a 12-inch single, making the band the first local new wave artist signed to a local major label. There was a lot of noise and hype about the Dawn and that 12-inch single (that came out ahead of the full-length album).
I can remember that almost all radio stations gravitated towards ‘Enveloped Ideas’.
billboards do the job socmed
That was the first 12-inch single ever released in the country, and soon the major labels began to put out even foreign 12-inch singles and remixes that were popular at that time because of the rise of the new wave dance parties.
And then came – Identity Crisis, Dean’s December, the Khumb Mela Band, and that 10 of Another Kind compilation.
I fell in love with the scene, and kind of lapped up all the Pinoy Rock, punk, and new wave releases that were issued. I guess that is where I became a true collector in every sense of the word. And to this day, I still do try to get as much local music as I can.
I have been blessed to have put out on vinyl a lot of local artists including the early Jerks music that was never released and only played on DZRJ.
With my own underground label, Eikon Records, the pioneers of the indie scene – (thanks to Insect Dance, DMZ, and Twisted Red Cross – gave me the inspiration to follow in their footsteps.
Who thought I would work with Betrayed, Maria Cafra, Sugar Hiccup, Neighbors, Joey Ayala at ang Bagong Lumad, Apo Hiking Society, Greyhoundz, Kapatid, Wolfgang, among many others?
Pinch me, man. I am still dreaming.
And it only further whets my love for local music – rock, pop, jazz, classical, and all. After all, sariling atin ito.
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