Of Bands and Prejudice

*One of the articles that I submitted for PULP Magazine. Thanks Glad for the title;)
[February 2008]



Being in the music scene for quite a while makes me realize one thing: having a band and "selling" yourself and your music is no joke. Forming a group is not like forming an elementary club, brag it to everyone and manipulate their minds that your club is for real - even glorious (just like mock elections and politics). Yeah, fun and pleasure are part of it, but it is still hard work. You need to formulate compos, play with words after some shots of your favorite booze, make musical arrangements, rent a studio for rehearsals, sell tickets... and, of course, have public relation skills to have line-ups (note: you have to have this skill, and lots of it).

But let's face it. No matter how down-to-earth you are, no matter how hard your effort is, you just can't get rid of the reality that there will be this what I called "Clash of the Genuses" You know, the undying rivalries between two sorts. But just when you thought that the only genres banging each other in the music scene were the shiznits and the metalloids, there's this one incident that changed my certainty about the "brotherhood" of the latter.

I was invited by one of my brother bands in Bulacan to watch their gig somewhere in Ortigas. This friend of mine (who was the lead vox of the band) told me that the bands that will perform are mostly from the family of Tower of Doom. Since I haven't been on a gig for quite some time, and since I was having some issues and need to have a time-out, I decided to leave it all behind in suburbia and have some fun in the city.



It was all good at first - booze everywhere, smoke's in the air, and of course, loud and heart-thumping music. I was having the time of my life, saying repeatedly to myself,"my hundred and fifty bucks were all worth it."

It was almost four in the morning when one of the main acts of the event took the stage. Everyone was already drunk and kinda worn-out but still, they waited for the for the band to execute their stuff.

And as I said awhile ago, everybody was drunk, especially the bands that performed first and had some compliments from the production plus the liquors they ordered. And eventually, when the "spirit" is in you, controlling every bit of you, things could get a little dirty and annoying.

Even before the the main act took the stage, I've noticed this guy screaming his lungs out and cursing the band. I didn't actually hear the exact words clearly, but I'm quite sure he's blabbing about the band's genre. He cursed every song that the band feats, he yelled every bad word to each of the band members, and I think he even pointed out that it was all boloks. He really want to let us and the band knows that he really hated EMO. It kinda pissed me off - especially the band.

They were already at the climax of their performance when suddenly they stopped. I thought the reason was some technical problems, but unexpectedly the lead vocals spoke through the mic and said, "'tol, isa na lang. Pasensiya na talaga pero isa na lang (referring to the organizer)," "Kung ayaw mo samin lumabas ka, 'tangina ka," said the guy in rhythms. Everybody was shut and shocked on what they've heard. All eyes were on one subject - the guy who consciously (or subconsciously) cursed the main act. Surprisingly, the guy who courageously stabbed the band in front was now a wimp who walked out of the bar. And just when we thought that the heat was over, the frontman removed the jock from his electric guitar, removed the guitar from his body and aimed it to the sissy bastard. Everyone was aghast on the spectacle that they've witnessed, good thing some of the bands who performed earlier were still there to ease the tension. Then all of a sudden, the frontman and the members returned to the stage and said,"dito pumapasok ang respect... kung hindi niyo trip ang tugtugan namin lumabas na lang kayo. Nandito tayo para mag-enjoy, hindi para i-discriminate ang ibang banda."

Oo nga naman, may point siya dun, hearing it from a man who write songs with assertion and infatuation. If you don't like the music you're hearing, just get out. As simple as that. It's so ironic and sad to find out that even people who're sharing the same kind of music still discriminate each other. Yes, we can't dig everybody's flavor from their plate, but at least we tried to taste it. All we need is a little appreciation. But if you can't appreciate it, just shut up. It's alright to comment on something you don't like, but criticizing is somewhat different from discriminating. It's all about the big R. We're called to do one thing, and that's to create music. We might as well regard their exertion and passion for their chosen genre as they respect ours.

Silence surrounded the place, then clapping and cheering followed showing appreciation to the band. They closed their performance with angst and heart-pounding finish, returning their gratitude to the audience.




*Feel free to criticize it... I beg you, hehehe. Thankies