Seventh High lives up to its name

HONG KONG — In the past year or so, there has been a multiplication of the number of establishments that offer people a good night out. Good music, excellent performances and relaxing, cozy ambience are common selling points of top clubs and bars in the metro. But there’s one venue that indubitably has more than that. Seventh High has something unique and way above the Manila standard.

Formally launched in March, the five-month old boutique nightspot located at The Fort in Taguig creates a new standard, making night owls opt to go there more often for a different kind of experience each time they set foot in the venue.

“There’s something for everyone,” Seventh High top honcho Jose Haresco said in a recent interview with The STAR and other select members of Philippine entertainment press who flew in with him in the former crown colony. “My love for music and entertainment got me into this business. I really like the option of going to many places in one night so when we opened Seventh High, I said, ‘We need to have many experiences under one roof.’ So we combined three different experiences in one venue.”

Inside the bar’s The Lounge, young people between the ages of 25 and 30 can spend the night away watching live bands perform. The Dance Club allows everyone to groove to lively beats while The Club Room at the third floor can be converted into a private function room or an ideal spot for stage plays. Just recently, a theater group from Singapore had performed its collection of love plays called It’s Almost Maine.

“Now, we’re trying to get another group to perform. We really utilize the venue to its maximum capacity to bring in something new and infuse different aspects of what we enjoy about leisure into one place,” explained Jose.

When it comes to music, Seventh High has various selections of sound — regular house, hip-hop, rock like metal and indie, classical, acoustic, jazz and country music.

“On a regular basis, we have two local in-house DJs but international DJs also fly in to perform to give variety to the show. Two weeks ago, DJ Craze did remixes live. Kanye West’s DJ Ross also came to spin for us. Punk band Mayday Parade played its stuff, too.”

Bruno Mars, apl.de.ap, Michael Copon, Kenny Hamilton and Legaci were among the foreign artists who delighted the boutique nightspot’s guests with their talent.

That’s me (second from right) with Jose and select members of the entertainment press (from left) Manila Bulletin’s Nestor Cuartero, PDI’s Dolly Ann Carvajal, Liza Carreon, Business Mirror’s Gerard Ramos, Manila Standard Today’s Isah Red and Malaya’s Gie Trillana

People, Jose added, became more experienced and eventually learned new things after watching a performance from international acts especially after playing something that is never heard of in the Philippines.

Local celebrities also came not to perform but to relax. Some of them were Jake Cuenca, Jericho Rosales, James Yap and Solenn Heussaff.

Is Jose familiar with the local celebrities?

“Yeah, I know some. I like Nora Aunor whom I first saw on TV when I was four years old. She’s really beautiful. She’s an amazing actress. She’s at par with Helen Mirren.”

Does he plan to invite Nora to perform at Seventh High while the Superstar is in town?

“Oh, I might collapse.”

Aside from excellent performances, Seventh High is further developing its menu list. Chef Gene Gonzales and son Gino are giving a sensational dining and cocktail experience to the guests every night as they create a modern twist to Filipino and Asian cuisine to titillate one’s palate.

Asked if Seventh High is in competition with the other bars, Jose replied, “Competition is healthy for me as it makes you innovate, it wants you to become better because if there’s no such thing as competition everything would be boring. But I’d like to think that we’re developing our own niche and I don’t think we’re directly competing. I think what we’re competing for is just market share.”

As Seventh High continues to operate with much success, it never fails to tie up with the different organizations every month to raise funds for charity institutions through its fundraising events.

Seventh High recently had benefit parties for ICanServe, an advocacy network for spreading awareness for breast cancer, and CRIBS, an institution that takes care of abused and homeless kids.

“It’s our way of giving back. It’s such a small way but it’s still something. Our goal is one charity per month.”