A Noteworthy Brotherhood

Big Sky Mind, an obscure and cozy art café along E. Rodriguez Avenue was filled to capacity last November 9, a date that should go down in the archives of Pinoy Rock history. This was to be the first gig of Kapatid and the crowd waited patiently through two-and-a-half hours of technical problems before the show began. No one knew what to expect from this band whose members come from a varied range of musical backgrounds, but from their roster, it was in the air that this night was going to be a little more than extraordinary.

"Veterans" like Karl Roy and Nathan Azarcon make up part of the lineup of very respected names in Filipino music. A legend in his own right Karl is already known as an unrivaled vocalist in the Philippines, and if you haven’t heard of him you must have been living under a rock for the past ten years. Among other bands, Karl was the singer and songwriter of P.O.T, a breakthrough group that gave The Filipino music scene a "funkier" twist. Nathan was once the bassist of Rivermaya before leaving to follow other endeavors, and Paul Zialcita still plays percussion for Spy – another well-reputed band in Manila.

Their drummer, Jun Balbuena, is quickly earning a reputation for being one of the best in the metropolis, and he’s only been living here for the past 16 months. He’s won various awards in Hong Kong, including Best Drummer in the 1998 Carlsberg Music Festival.

Rico "Chico" Molina is the fifth member of Kapatid, who has never been part of a band before, but sessioned for P.O.T. Jun describes him as "one of the most motivated learners I have ever met." He’s got so much energy going when he’s behind his instrument, and the fact that he’s sharing the stage with these guys as their lead guitarist is proof enough that he’s got something special. Was it mentioned that Rico has only been playing for slightly a year?

The latest addition is Ira Cruz who left the commercial showband Passage just recently. He will be adding a touch of jazz to the already eclectic repertoire. The members first met about a year ago and started jamming at The Verve, but they only started to seriously think about forming a band and making something concrete four or five months ago. After the glitches were sorted out and Spy finished its set, it was finally time to hear the long-awaited and anticipated debut of Kapatid. When it comes down to it, it is all about the music and nothing else, and the second their set started, everyone jumped to his feet, crowded around the band and went buck wild! You simply have to hear Kapatid and groove to the energy they create. Bob your head to the funky beat, jump around to the hip-hop sound, get freaky and do whatever you want, because the music is guaranteed to make you move.

They almost literally brought the house down. Big Sky Mind felt as though it was about to collapse from all the action at the second floor. It was intense, to say the least.