When I was in high school back in the early 1980s, one of my favorite magazines was this British one titled, Flexipop. To be honest, I thought the writing wasn’t great as it had an irreverent nature like the American Creem magazine. But Creem was much more intellectual in spite of their zany sense of humor.
What I mostly liked about Flexipop was they put out flexi discs – plastic seven-inch singles that featured unreleased or demo tracks of the top British artists from 1980-83 in every one of their issues. That’s 39 flexi discs of which I had about half of them – Pretenders, Motorhead, Madness, the Cure, Bauhaus, and Haircut 100 were some of my favorites.
I thought then, how cool, these writers are putting out music they liked. They were able to do so because they cultivated relationships with these bands.
It was like that when I signed Parokya ni Edgar and Datu’s Tribe to their first professional recording contracts with Universal Records. The band’s first managers were my classmates at the Ateneo. At that point, I thought that even as a small footnote, I contributed to Original Pilipino Music history.
That would change dramatically in the intervening decades.
In 2017, I put out my own independent label, Eikon Records with the mini-albums of indie rock band Esremborak (that I manage) and shoegaze duo Scott on compact disc as the first releases. I sold all 500 copies of the Esremborak cd and all 20 copies of Scott.
“I could do more of these,” I thought.
During that year, I also found myself in a deep conversation with some young people about Philippine rock music when someone who was around the age of 18 remarked that he liked Rivermaya’s song “Romantic Kill.”
That friend was surprised when I informed him that it was a cover song and the original version was sung by the Jerks. He was incredulous when I said that the song was aired only on the old DZRJ and never released in any physical format. The Jerks he knew were during their “Reklamo ng Reklamo” and “Rage” days.
I used to bug famed DZRJ disc jockey Howlin’ Dave no end on the telephone to play “Romantic Kill” again and again much to his chagrin. I thought it was simply a pleasant memory from my early teenage years that is until that fateful conversation.
While I am happy that Rivermaya paid tribute to many of their favorite local rock bands in their 2006 album “Isang Ugat, Isang Dugo,” I wondered how I could rectify if not inform people that “Romantic Kill” was a staple of DZRJ airplay back in the early 1980s.
While interviewing Chickoy Pura, frontman for the Jerks, I broached to him the idea of putting out those unreleased tracks on vinyl. He readily agreed and I put in motion the steps of turning this unrealized dream into reality – remastering the tracks for vinyl, creating the cover art, and coordinating with the pressing plant (we did this with underground label Mutilated Noise Records).
After a false start, and a delay due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the 7-inch extended play single of the Jerks, featuring their old songs “Romantic Kill,” “Big Deal,” and “I Need Something Inside Me” was released. And within a few weeks, it was sold out.
A lot of people – even those from Generation X – were surprised about the release. They didn’t know of the music (ha! Johnny-come-latelys!). Mission accomplished.
At the same time the Jerks came out, we also released on wax “Alert Level The Album.” This was independently released in late 1992 on cassette; one I purchased for a hundred bucks at that time. The compilation album featured three songs each from then unsigned bands the Breed, Color It Red, Tropical Depression, and Rizal Underground.
Prior to the album’s 25th Anniversary in 2017, I also bugged no-end album producer and Rizal Underground frontman Stephen Lu about putting it out on compact disc. I think when I bug people about these things, they happen.
We were in the process of doing so but for a variety of reasons, it didn’t materialize.
In early 2021, I resurrected the project but this time on vinyl. We collaborated on this project with Plaka Express Records and it moved a lot faster than when we first intended to come out on compact disc. The 12-inch vinyl treatment sported a new cover, a bonus but never before released Tropical Depression track (featuring the band’s original line-up) on a bonus seven-inch single, liner notes, and pressed on yellow vinyl.
As of this writing, four-fifths of the 500 print run have been sold.
And there’s Betrayed’s “Then & Now.” When I bought the cassette in late 1986, who knew it was going to be an instant Pinoy punk classic?
While interviewing Betrayed for a story back in 2018, I intimated to vocalist and guitarist Buddy Trinidad about putting out the album on vinyl. They were planning to do so themselves, he related.
Early this 2022, while in conversation with guitarist Boyet Miguel about another band, he asked me if I would be interested in putting out Betrayed’s second album, “Why Must Everything Involve Politics?” I said I like it, but why not “Then & Now” for starters?
Within three days, I was given the green light by Buddy and five months later, it is out on 12-inch clear vinyl (in another collab with Mutilated Noise Records) with two bonus live tracks lifted from the Live at Katrina’s cassette album and sold out.
As soon as the record arrived, Buddy and I spoke on the phone and we couldn’t believe that 36 years after the albums’ release, it is once more available to fans old and new. And we have a special edition version of that record out next year.
And there’s one more before the year ends – Love In the Land of Rubber Shoes and Dirty Ice Cream; the debut album that was re-recorded years ago by Orange & Lemons.
I have to pinch myself sometimes and look at the three releases. It has been made possible because of relationships I have cultivated through the decades as the son of the former president of the Philippine Association of the Record Industry, as a fan, as an artist and repertoire manager, as a show producer, as a band manager, and as a journalist.
That’s a lot of hats I have worn in these decades that has allowed me to do all these. And I should really thank Flexipop for giving me the inspiration to do this.
Having said all that, I am not simply putting out re-releases. Next year will see a cocktail mix of old and classic albums plus new music from an assortment of artists.
The goal has changed from correcting flaws in OPM history and making old music available to a new generation of listeners to helping deserving artists reach new audiences (for vinyl has a different community altogether). I am working with some other friends in their indie labels while some will be out on my resurrected Eikon Records label.
As ever, I am excited. You should be too.