ANNIEWHEREWEGO
By Annie S. Alejo
Going to clubs and bars isn’t always the glamorous escape people think it is. There are places in between those fancy bars with show bands playing music for yuppies and those that have obscure cover bands in their lineup that would sometimes yield musical gems despite looking very much like hole-in-the-wall, I-wouldn’t-go-there-alone venues. Not exactly mainstream but a little above underground, it seems some of these places have managed to form a niche of their own, and every so often you get lucky to be part of it.
Years ago, I would end up in Club Dredd on Friday nights with some friends. I remember seeing this then-unknown band whose lead singer sang from inside the broom closet during their set. At times I saw them dressed in women’s pambahay. The band’s name is Parokya ni Edgar—you might have heard of them. In the now defunct Freedom Bar, I got to see the late Karl Roy rip the night to shreds long before he cajoled listeners with, “Sige na, people, just get on down…” Hell, it was in one of those long-gone venues that I also even finally caught up with this band my friends and I would hear on the radio singing “Ang tatay mong kalbo!” years after the good ol’ XB 105 bowed out for good.
These types of places hardly exist anymore. The ones that are left, I learned from a musician friend Joey Dizon, are having their own problems to deal with. Handlebar, where a band I hung out with used to play to a mix of locals and foreigners, is facing complaints from people living in the residential area within its vicinity. These complaints have brought about warnings of cancellation of permits. Joey said bars in the Poblacion area are saddled with this issue, with some even cancelling their shows. Over to the other side of Makati, B-Side Collective is no more, which is just sad because that was where just a year ago I saw a sea of “punks” destroy a metal barrier because they were so thrilled to witness a rare resurfacing of the Urban Bandits, The Wuds and others in the gig billed “Eighties Enough.”
Still, music knows how to survive. Not just on YouTube. You’ve got places like food parks that have converted to live music venue, like Arkipelago in Makati, which has opened its doors to local productions, so you get music and some nice chow; Mow’s in Quezon City, where other local prods stage benefit pay-what-you-can gigs, sometimes even for fellow musicians that need financial help; and even a place called 123 Block in Mandaluyong just recently hosted the gig of New Orleans sludge metal band EyeHateGod.
The point is, there’s always good music to be had, or good bands to be seen, if you look hard enough. Leave your Spotify playlist for the time being, and come out and experience it. Live a little, drink moderately (haha!), and soak up a mind-blowing guitar solo or go deep with a bass line or two. And see you in a bar somewhere!