Batang M

Prelude to HYP (Hungry Young Poets).  We were invited to do a frontact to a new band. This was composed of Barbie Almabis on Vox and guitar, Ricci Gurango on bass, Im not sure if the drummer was Franklin Benitez or someone else and a lead guitarist that I didn't catch his name, really sorry because during the setup it was only Barbie and Ricci who came near us and help us.  Ricci even offered his Bass effects and Bass amp but not his Bass guitar with fretless fretboard, too precious hehehe.  Nevertheless, it was a Fiesta in Culasi Roxas City and as Frozbyte we played cover songs like, Sama-sama by Alamid, I need you here and Na Naman by Color It Red, Im not sure if we sang Line to Heaven and Will I Survive by Introvoys.

Blue Barbies, a freshmen, newbie all female band of Roxas did their first gig and they played Bizarre Love Triangle by Frente and Cranberries' Ode To My Family and Free To Decide.

Barbie's band doesn't have a name that time and they said they call themselves temporarily as Batang M and during that time there's a movie I think, which was Batang X.  I can remember they covered Who Will Save Your Soul and If It Makes You Happy, Supermodel by Jill Sobule and a lot more by Alanis and Cranberries.

Bodega Concert

To the Roxas City Musicians and Rockers, does the word Bodega Concert ring a bell?  Well, to me it's a YES.  Although, I can't remember all the details but I would think this was what happened.

Barbie Almalbis and other Musicians/relatives of hers organized an event which was held in a Bodega or Warehouse and this was like an indoor woodstock concert. A lot of the bands played, which again I couldn't remember each one of them but we played there as Frozbyte and then I think Barbie's band was called Chaotic Silverfish if Im not mistaken that time.

The venue was all right, however, the sound system wasn't that good or impressive maybe because it was indoor or maybe it's just that we were the first band to play and the sound tech/operator was still getting a grip of the equipments i.e. mixers, amps, etc.... Anyways, the gig was successful though because the bands played all well in their own right.

The highlight was Barbie's band and as usual spot on, they nailed it.  Barbie even played conga in one of their songs, her trademark was playing the harmonica while playing the guitar and then their bassist that time was Ryan Tiu and one of the greatest drummer Roxas City has, Jet Lozada.... who did a 20-minute drum solo, Im kidding but around that time frame coz it feels like it was quite a long long time.

The event was covered by a local cable network, ALTO cable, which normally when there's concerts and events they're the ones who covers the show.  Hope, ALTO still got a copy of those good old memories.

The Youth Concert

We (Frozbyte) were invited again to be part of the Front Act for the band called The Youth by our good mate Christian Blanco, lead singer of Gremlinz.  We're listed as the first act, there was a typhoon that time so the weather wasn't that good.  We thought there's only few people coming for the gig and when we started playing nobody's around coz apart from we were the first act, it was already getting late and the crowd outside the Civic Center was still hesitant to come in.  So, we setup our stuff and started playing our first song, Shine by Collective Soul, and I was the one singing that time hehehe, and the crowd just suddenly started running towards the stage out of nowhere.  We were very pleased coz we thought, mmmmmmmmm we're famous.  I also sang Lightning Crashes by Live and then few more songs by Louie Bargas, which as far as I can remember Louie sang Lakas Tama by Siakol and then Dolores Bayot apart from doing the backing vocals sang Na Naman by Color It Red and I would guess Zombie by Cranberries, Im really sure.  

Then Gremlinz played some songs as well, if I'm not mistaken... Lenny Kravitz' Are You Gonna Go My Way, Metallica's Enter Sandman and Laklak by Teeth.  The crowd starts to buildup and suddenly from backstage..... Barbie Almalbis arrived and asked me if she can borrow a drummer and a bassist.  Then, I immediately answered, I do play drums and Barbie said, yeah you do so we just need a bassist and I answered Jingle Hoo, our lead guitarist can do the bass and she replied cool.  So, we sort of had a meeting backstage about the song she wanted to play.  Barbie said to us, "Im sure you know this song and this is quite simple, you'll know it when I start playing... let's just jam this one."  Barbie was pertaining to Alanis Morissette's song, Hand in my pocket.  The lyrics were written on her left arm so that while playing the guitar she can sort of glance at it.  We made it, we played trio and impromptu. Now, coming back to the crowd where my other bandmates were, they said "you two are a cheat and crook" Barbie asked for a drummer and bassist but we both grabbed the chance. Anyways, that was sort of our second encounter with the Famous Barbie Almalbis.

Here goes The Youth.  They started playing and Mosh Pit's ready.  The crowd went wild.  From slam dancing to stage diving.  My neck really hurts the following morning due to headbangin and my whole body aches as well because of slam dance and what we call Push-Push.  You just push your mate or anyone and then before you know it even yourself is being pushed by somebody and ended up bumping to anybody that's being pushed.  The Youth sang there famous hits like Multo sa paningin (Multong Bakla), Mukha Ng Pera and Basura and a lot more.  Also there was an incident happened backstage before they start playing.  Dodong Cruz's long hair was nearly caught in a big fan because the airconditioning backstage couldn't cope with the heat and their bassist Robert Javier tried to stop the fan and sort of injured his hand but then the show must go on.  That was the coolest gig I've ever attended.  The Youth was known for creating riotous concerts and indeed that concert in Roxas City Civic Center can be considered as riot, it was good though.



By:  Vincent Ryan Borres

Guitar Central Experience

We went to Southampton a couple of days ago just to unwind and spend time with the family.  We come across a new music store and it's called Guitar Central.  This is located just next to Maplin when you're headed towards Bargate on your left hand side.  We went inside the shop look around and check out the place, the ambience is quite nice and has a friendly atmosphere. It was also a good timing because I am planning to buy a guitar amp and this is the right place to go.

I have checked some of the amps there and saw Kirk Hammett's signature series Randall KH-15 and it caught my attention.  It looks cool but I haven't tried it or heard the sound of it, although I find the price affordable.  Also the guy there recommended to me a Hiwatt amp which looks decent and affordable as well.  Me and my brother wanted to have a Cajon (wooden percussion box) so I was trying my luck if they got one.  At the moment they don't have but they've attended to us very well.  They even took our contact info as well as giving us their card to get in touch once they got the item.

I have seen some good stuff there like Dean Dimebag's guitar.  It is rather huge, really massive for me, quite a big guitar for my height and size but Im drooling because it is really beautiful.  Also I have seen effects pedals, stompboxes and multieffects.  I am a fan of Digitech.  I own an RP55, which I am currently using and back home my mate lend me his RP300.  I have used Boss Distortion, Super Overdrive, Chorus, Hyper Metal and Metal Zone. There are stompboxes there which are the real deal, however, you need to collect at least 3 of them or more to get and balance your tone i.e. Chorus or Flanger for modulation, Distortion or Overdrive for Crunch then Reverb or Delay for ambience and then compressor, wah, etc. if need be which will accumulate prices.  I find that the prices of the instruments and other items are quite all right.

The last stop was a Yamaha electronic drumkit that was on a mini stage.  While we were stuck in front of this drumkit, a member of the staff approach us and said do you want to try? Well, my nephew, who's turning 6 this month was really keen on drums and I let him play the drums.  They were amazed to see my nephew playing the drums.  Although, Marco has not had any formal lessons, he knows how to play drums because I used to own a Music Studio back home in the Philippines called Sepra Music Studio and Marco used to come and watch myself or some bands practising.  It was a lovely experience for us to visit Guitar Central.  I hope we can come back there pretty soon and explore more of what's in store.