YOU know how a picture is said to convey a thousand words? Then, how about “shoegaze” music, with its sparse words, and the vocals used are like another layer of highly-textured music that takes the listener to all these new sonic landscapes?
When Monochrome took the stage at around 4:30 p.m., the small area at Wok by 4900 (along Durban Street in in Barangay Poblacion, Makati City—the site of the 2018 Fête dela Musique) was packed with 30-plus people, with more outside.
Monochrome’s music straddles the lines of metal, hardcore, and shoegaze in a brilliant concoction that is at once dangerous, ominous and breathtaking. And on that Saturday night at the Shoegazer/Dream Pop stage, it was equal parts-headbangers ball, a recital, and a seeming “neo-religious experience (as one lady swayed to the music with her eyes closed). “
Cut to a few hours earlier.
Time to ‘shoegaze’
IT’S past 2:30 in the afternoon and Romel Chua Amoncio, the guiding force behind Furiosa, the organizer of shows around the metropolis which showcases the shoegaze genre, was a little nervous. He stood outside like an anxious maître d’ who waited to welcome a steady stream of folks in brightly-colored garbs, with the occasional ones swathed in black. Wok by 4900 was slowly getting packed, and yet there was no music that emanated from the stage.
The first band to perform, Space Onigiri, arrived and was done on time The second act, the psychedelic post-rock quartet The Insektlife Cycle, ran late. There were more than 15 people who were on-standby inside and literally shoegazing as there was nothing much to do, with no band on the stage. “We’re having someone on stage soon. Just a little patience, please,” cooed Amoncio. About 30 minutes after they were scheduled to take the stage, Insektlife Cycle launched into Schizodelia with all its odd time signatures. And the Saturday afternoon crowd, placated, nodded in satisfaction and their minds that wandered into the ether. “I love the genre,” bared the organizer who also has his own shoegaze outfit, The Rave Tapes. “I know it’s a niche genre, but we still want to grow this. We need to expose the music, the bands, and well, the scene to more people.”
Furiosa has been organizing shows for a while now. There are usually anywhere from 50 to 80 people who attend the shows. Amoncio would like to have some more. And he is working hard not only in promoting the music, but also organizing shows, and paying the bands who give their time to perform. “I usually don’t make money, but [these are] the things you do for what you love.”
And in the same breath, he added, “That is the reason I have a day job. The music though, keeps me sane.”
Wall-of-sound
NOT to mention, excited. At first Amoncio conceded that he thought the scene was small. But as Furiosa’s shows grew by word-of-mouth, so did the band start coming out of the woodwork. Thus, the distant cousins of the Cocteau Twins: My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Swervedriver, Lush, and Slowdive, among others—18 bands in all, including close relatives who weren’t strictly in the genre—all braved the inclement weather atop the Shoegaze/Dream Pop stage. And Wok by 4900, the small Mongolian resto in the bar area of Makati’s red-light district, rocked like a hurricane as the rains pounced outside. Inside, Monochrome was battering the starry-eyed with a wall-of-sound.
And when the quintet was done with their early Smashing Pumpkins leanings, it was the turn of The Strange Creatures, who provided a saccharine chaser to Monochrome’s intense set. “Our love for the dreamy, atmospheric wall-of-sound and its infectious melodies inspired us to form The Strange Creatures,” said the band’s Jon Tamayo. “And performing at the Shoegazer/Dream Pop stage was an eclectic experience. We enjoyed our set, discovered new favorite bands, and had a great time hanging out with our friends from the Furiosa community.” And it was a sentiment echoed by many. Including the promoter.
“Wait ‘til we get the other bands like Megumi Acorda and Narcloudia on stage,” murmured Amoncio as a group of foreigners entered and swayed to the music. “Now, we need to grow this,” he declared. And the night continued to burst out into brilliant hues.
(The bands at the Shoegaze/Dream Pop stage at Wok by 4900: Space Onigiri, Insektlife Cycle, GYHT, July XIV, Monochrome, Sanchez, The Strange Creatures, The Last Great Auks, The Rave Tapes, Soft Pillow Kisses, Unmute, PNZR, Narcloudia, Megumi Acorda, Pastilan Dong, We Are Imaginary, Yurei, and Identikit.)