Silver City surfers
The Red Horse beer ran out early, so we settled for a variety of wicked brews and that aural beverage called rock ‘n’ roll.
This year’s NU Rock Awards night was held at Silver City in Pasig, and predicably there was a blinding display of talent (all four members of the Eraserheads performed that night in four different bands — all stellar). There were expensive guitars and gear, as well as equally expensive cleavage (wink, wink).
Lourd De Veyra and the rest of Radioactive Sago Project were resplendent in Polyphonic-Spree white. They did a reading of Alak, Sugal, Kape, Babae, Kabaong with generous quotes from that Hagibis song. “Ingatan ang inyong katawan,” the lead Sago sang (tongue neatly poised in cheek), an apt rejoinder to that existential track that is thematically reminiscent of The Godfathers’ Birth, School, Work, Death.
Song of the Year is Sandwich’s Betamax, Raimund Marasigan’s own version of a) Subterranean Homesick Blues; b) It’s the End of the World As We Know It; or c) We Didn’t Start the Fire. Depends on whom you ask. What’s clear is that the track is Sandwich’s tribute to the many Promethean characters and institutions that have made Pinoy music what it is today — Juan dela Cruz, Jingle magazine, Maria Cafra, Dead Ends, Jack Sikat, and Club Dredd, among others. NU, of course, is on the list. Living in the archipelago would be unthinkable without NU 107. I guess its airspace would be occupied by yet another station blasting out bossa-nova covers of ’70s and ’80s songs that should’ve stayed in their own damn decades.
Drummer of the Year honors went deservingly enough to Pupil’s Wendell Garcia, who also plays drums for Wally Gonzales in that supergroup that also features bassist Dondi Ledesma. And Garcia can more than hold his own against the grizzled veterans of Pinoy Rock.
The Hall of Fame award — which in the past was given to the likes of Pepe, Wally and Hanopol, as well as The Jerks, the Eraserheads, etc. — was conferred to San Miguel Beer for its staunch sponsorship of Pinoy rock events. And rightfully so. Nothing like an ice-cold can of Pale, Light or Red Horse beer while listening to apocalyptic guitars and drums slathered with gospels delivered by tongues of fire. — Igan D’bayan
