MANILA, Philippines - Jim Beam finally has its Frontman. The hunt had a rocking conclusion at the Hard Rock Café with special VIP guests Atom Henares of NU 107, Vernon Go of Pulp magazine, and Kathy Alejar of Channel V serving as judges, together with Art Hyndman of Beam Global, the distributor of Jim Beam. Five finalists representing the five elimination legs and a wild card from Davao competed at the Hard Rock Café, Glorietta with hopes of winning the P120,000 cash prize and a chance to rule the rock world with a Jim Beam bar tour in 2010.
Since the finals night was a much-awaited event by many, a lot of major sponsors, media partners (such as Channel V, NU107, UR105.9, Jam 88.3, Philippine STAR, Inquirer.net, Bandera, Libre, Killer Bee, RJ Guitars, and Pulp) and rockers showed up to enjoy good head-banging music, together with a glass (or pitcher) of the world’s finest bourbon, served by gorgeous Jim Beam girls who also ushered in the crowd.
Epic, the house band, opened the night by performing an anthem from AC/DC. The finalists started rolling by singing a hard rock song of their choice. Out of the five, four finalists made it to the second round and sang their second piece, which was a surprise song that was randomly picked from a fishbowl. After a group performance of rock anthem Separate Ways, the final two battled against each other by singing another set of their choice.
There was one Frontman-hopeful who stood out: Jeyvi Castillo. Castillo outperformed the other five contenders with his passionate renditions of the songs Counting Blue Cars by Dishwalla, Hard to Handle by Black Crowes, Pride by U2, and Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz. After being proclaimed Jim Beam’s Frontman for 2009, he sang Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin with the house band.
Jim Beam Frontman is a new innovative talent search by Jim Beam where Jim Beam hunts for the ultimate rock lead singer in different locations nationwide. Jim Beam planned and executed the event with the help of their marketing communications agency, Crush Communications Inc.