Pinoy classic rockers keep the fire burning

MANILA, Philippines - In these days of retro, when bands are constantly rediscovering the ‘70s and ‘80s music spurring a hot following in the Baby Boomers, it is significant to note that members of rock bands as far back as the ‘50s have found each other.

Through the instigation of Ben Yanto who started an on-line association of Pinoy Rock musicians seven years ago, Pinoy Classic Rock is alive and well all over the world.

By sheer accident, mainly because we wanted to watch Boy Camara perform with his old band The Chosen Few (circa ‘70s), we found ourselves at the Mall of Asia Music Hall one Saturday recently. The program was to feature 20 bands from two in the afternoon to two in the morning. It reminded us of those years when we used to frequent the Arts Venue on Taft Ave. which had various bands doing sets from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Boy Camara said he would be on stage by 11 p.m. but we arrived at 9 p.m. to watch the other bands perform. We got more than that. We got our fill of what it was during the heady days when rock bands (they were called combos then) reigned supreme.

Jing Warren, chairman of the PCR 2009 filled us up on the organization. Jing was vocalist and guitar player of the GGBB (Green Gang Boogie Band) circa ’66 from La Salle High School, who reunited eight years ago to play for a La Salle Batch reunion. They have been playing since then. One other member of the GGBB is drummer Atek Jacinto, who made his name later as band leader of the Circus Band of the ‘70s, and creator of the Rage Band of the ‘80s. But tonight, he was the show’s director, and he looked like he had missed several nights’ sleep.

According to Jing, as this year’s chairman he looked for sponsors for the reunion concert and came up with Mall of Asia which offered the venue free, and others like MTV, Smart, Parks & Wildlife, Big Boss, Patio Pacific, IISA, IMDS, YAMAHA, Chowking, Hooters, Mang Tomas, Bico Australia. Other than this and providing the food for the musicians and the sound system, everything else was voluntary. The musicians played for free. Those who came in from abroad, paid their own fare. He acknowledges the help of Mel Orosa, Jun Lopez, Babes Tolentino, Butch Sabater all from various other bands.

The PCR, Jing explains, is not an organization per se. It is simply an on-line community brought together by a website created by Ben Yanto, a Pinoy boomer from Indianapolis who played with several bands back in the mid-‘60s in Guam. The flavor of the reunion concert, Jing continues, is a combination of styles. There were retro bands who came from different bands in the past but are now very active in the music scene. These are the Rockin Revival, the Atenean group MOBB, Bedroom Boys with Snaffu Rigor with young members but whose core musicians date back to the past. There were also reunion bands like the B-Bops, the Sundowners, and the Chosen Few. There are the happy bands who just play for fun like his own GGBB. And then there are the young bands that play old rock music, like the Bloomfields introduced three years ago, and this year’s Bembol Rockers.

When we arrived the Bembol Rockers had just played and everyone was talking about how good they were. We found Boy Camara and his group of original band members lead guitarist Mon Laqui, bass guitarist Willie Señoran, drummer vocalist Dodi Tan busy catching up with one another. They just had one rehearsal after 30 years and felt good about it. Their original manager Epoy Pangilinan was even there. They were waiting for bass guitarist and vocalist Cash Manalang who is now with the Area 1 and would be coming from a gig.

Some bands didn’t even have time to rehearse like the Halo-Halo band, so named because they were simply formed on the spot from musicians who flew in from all over the world. But as their motto Forever a Rocker says, they can just pick up their rusty instruments like it was yesterday.

One member of the Halo-Halo is Ben Yanto whose great idea it was to come up with this e-group. Apparently, while playing in Guam, Ben and his colleagues started wondering about whatever happened to this and that band? On Jan. 22, Ben launched the PCR e-group to attract and gather together all the rakistas of yesteryear and use the technology of cyberspace to reminisce about the old days. Within days, rockers from all over North America started responding, and soon there were photos, trading of mp3s, it seemed like the Pinoy Boomer’s dream come true. In July the same year, Ben registered the website and in October the first reunion was held in L.A., and the first in Manila in January 2003. Today, says Ben, there are 170 member musicians of the PCR registered in the e-group. Three hundred more in Multiply and the Pinoy Music Network who may not be musicians but who love rock music continue on keeping the fire burning.

It was way past 11 p.m. We had already watched the revived Electromaniacs with its moving spirit Lenny de Jesus, erstwhile Dragon Lady in Malacañang during the Ramos and Estrada eras; greeted Dero Pedero who performed a solo on stage (Dero with Boy Camara, Anthony Castelo and Rody Picar formed the Gentle Rain harmony group in the late ‘60s); watched the CGE band of Fr. Rene Oliveros, SJ who apparently used rock for evangelization; listened to guest group the UP Singing Ambassadors and it was almost 1 a.m.

Finally, the Area 1 band arrived with lead vocalist Cash Manalang, music director John Lesaca, and multi-talented TV director musician Bert de Leon. Cash joined his former band of the ‘60s the Chosen Few, and finishing the night was the Area 1 with everyone else who was left joining onstage. It was truly a night of nostalgia and reminiscence. As Ben puts it, “When you’re into music, it never dies. Rock and Roll especially will never die. It will always be there. Reminding you that you were young once.”

(E-mail me at [email protected].)