This Century takes over Manila the 2nd time

MANILA, Philippines - In every decade, there will always be a band with superb talent, passion and raw energy fueling its drive to create honest and meaningful music. It’s not only the songs it makes that should be taken note of, but also its stage presence and passion shown in every performance. One of them is Arizona-based pop rock band, This Century.

Presented by Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and Pulp Live World, This Century took over Manila for the second time last Dec. 9 at the Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill and on Dec. 10 at the Eastwood Mall Open Grounds. As early as 4 p.m., fans of the band were already seen spotted around the area, waiting for the free shows to start. Towards the end of the afternoon, both venues were already packed with over a thousand fans. Fans in official This Century shirts were given access beyond the barricade for a closer encounter with vocalist Joel Kanitz, drummer Ryan Gose, guitarist Sean Silverman and his keyboard-playing brother, Alex.

As the fans couldn’t contain themselves any longer, This Century hit the stage and opened its performance with Hopeful Romantic, a song from its debut album Sound of Fire. Fans in front raised their hands as they sang every single song back to them, while the ones at the back  danced together. Excited and grateful, Joel tells the audience how thrilled they were to be back in Manila for the second time. It wasn’t long before fans began to scream again as the band played the timely, Kiss Me Like It’s Christmas. Further into the set, the band performed Indigo Girl which Joel had the fans sing along to. This Century played an hour long set of 11 songs and closed the evening with Bleach Blonde, a single the band released earlier this year. After the performance, 600 fans who bought goods from the PULP booth that night were given a chance to meet and greet the members of the band. At the end of the night, fans went home thrilled with a brand-new memory they will savor.

This Century started back in 2005 when the band was still in high school. After several name changes, it came up with This Century when Sean said, “We’re lucky if we come up with a band name sometime this century.” It just clicked.

Currently with nine releases, the band shared the first recording effort with the world titled 2007 in the year it was named after. With a promising start, This Century was instantly marked as one of the most exciting pop/rock bands to step into the scene. It released its first full studio record with Action Theory Records titled Sound of Fire last year and quickly ran up the ladder and earned a sweet spot among the top pop/rock bands from 2011. This Century became a house favorite by fans of The Maine, Good Charlotte, Hey Monday and The Summer Set, to name a few.

Sound of Fire and Everywhere, Everything have both reached the top of radio charts in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines where Sound of Fire hit No. 1 on RX 93.1, while Everywhere, Everything and Skeletons made it to the charts. Earlier this year, Sound of Fire was released in the Philippines by PULP Live Records and the band released Acoustics, an EP of songs from its debut performed acoustically.

This Century is back in the US for a few more shows in Scottsdale, AZ and Anaheim, CA. Thereafter, it will get back to the studio to continue working on its second album. The next one definitely won’t be its last as the band has clearly touched the hearts of many. Expect to hear more from This Century as it has obviously made its mark in this century.