article - myx magazine issue no. 32 - Behind the Scenes: Eraserheads North American Tour

Article: Behind the Scenes: Eraserheads North American Tour

Magazine: Myx

Year: 2012

Volume: No. 32

Catalog: 

Writer: Mila Labendia

article - myx magazine issue no. 35, 2014 - eraserheads live in singapore (updated 16-Jan-2020)

Article: Eraserheads Live in Singapore

Magazine: Myx

Year: 2014

Issue: No. 35

Catalog: 

Writer: Anne Dizon

Updated: 22-June-2020

LET ME HEAR YOU SING IT

Former MYX writer-producer Anne Dizon shares her Eraserheads reunion concert experience in Singapore

Text and Photos by Anne Dizon

Confession # 1: I didn’t have money to buy tickets so I tried asking former bosses at MYX for a way to get in. I didn’t think it would work but they were able to secure passes to the show for me. In exchange, I had to cover the concert for them. This would be one of my few “nagbunga na sa wakas ang pagpunta ko sa Singapore” moments.

Confession # 2: I’ve been wearing my Eraserheads reunion concert shirt for years although I’ve never actually been to one. I got it on sale a year after their reunion in Manila and it has served as a kababayan magnet here in Singapore – sometimes scoring bigger food portions and free drinks from Pinoy service crew members.

So with my shirt and finally making our way to an actual E-heads concert, I wasn’t a poser anymore! I arrived 2 hours early at the Max Pavillion, and twice-looped line of people suggested that I wasn’t the only one waiting to finally hear my favorite songs live. Overheard in this long queue: “11 years na yung naghiwalay-hiwalay sila, diba?”, “Yung last reunion concert nung 2009 pa?”, “Di ba sinunog nila yung piano sa Sticker Happy?”, “Ganito ba talaga kadami ang mga Pilipino sa Singapore?”

While waiting for the concert to start, I was a bit disappointed that the stage looked too big for the band and too distant from the crowd. Plus, the strict bouncers wouldn’t allow taking photos and videos (although no one really complied) But all that was forgotten once the Eraserheads started playing. The seemingly endless 10-minute countdown turned into the most exciting 10 seconds, the band filled the stage with energy and presence, and the fans were in the moment as we shared this extraordinary event.

Since I was also there as a special correspondent for MYX, I was running from one end of the hall to the other to take videos of the crowd as they sang along. It brought back memories of personal encounters with the individual band members; watching Buddy perform with The Dawn in college, squeezing Raimund for a photo the first time I saw him at a MYX shoot, and Marcus talking to me backstage during MYX Mo! “Markus Highway. Next na ba kami?” Then, there’s Ely. Well, I’ve never actually met Ely.

Seriously though, it was amazing to watch Raimund beating the drums in playful intensity, Buddy swaying along as he worked the bass, Marcus with his silvery guitar riffs, and Ely being Ely. They were all here in front of me. Reunited and playing my favorites song.

The song that I grew up with, the song of reckless youth; the song you sing when you drink, the song you sing when you’re drunk; the song that you slow danced to; the song for the former love; the song for the forever love; the song that made you curse aloud; the song you sang in the car; the song that kept you up all night; the song of first love, of first heartbreak; the song that reminded you of distance; the song that reminded you of friends here and away; the song that took you back to moments lived and longed for.

I’ve listened to Eraserheads songs many times before but never like this. I raised my arms, I jumped around, and for a moment, I felt at home in a sea of strangers.

article - cosmopolitan, the eraserheads get all dressed up (updated 8-Jan-2020)

Article: The Eraserheads Get All Dressed Up

Magazine: Cosmopolitan Philippines

Year: September 1997

Volume: No. 1

Issue: No. 5

Catalog: ISSN 0118-5853

Writer: Noelle Chua

article - free press magazine - Last El Bimbo in Pasay (final set concert)

Article: Last El Bimbo in Pasay

Magazine: Philippines Free Press

Year: March 21, 2009

Volume: No. 

Catalog: 

Writer: Bert B. Sulat Jr

 Updated 12-Jan-2020

Last El Bimbo in Pasay

Their valedictory concert reaffirms the pervasive influence of the Eraserheads on their generation and beyond By Bert B. Sulat Jr.

THE Eraserheads' second, purportedly last gig together, generically billed as "The Final Set," finally unfolded on March 7 at the sprawling "concert grounds" of the SM Mall of Asia. Unlike the earlier, meant-to-be final "Reunion Concert" at The Fort on August 30 last year, which was cut short after the 15^th song when lead singer-guitarist Ely Buendia was rushed to the hospital as he struggled with chest pains, this latest last get-together reached its anticipated conclusion without a hitch. Also, unlike the August gig, teeming though it was with some 20,000 attendees, "The Final Set" saw a mammoth crowd that must have amounted to at least 50,000.

This final reunion was mounted largely to please the collective craving of the Eraserheads' fan base-which spans practically the whole archipelago and age groups ranging from emerging teens to 30- to 40-somethings. Yet, for a reunion concert that follows the quartet's now seven-year breakup (and varying successes with their newer, separate bands), besides serving as a solid closure to the prematurely concluded show in August, "The Final Set" did not necessarily find the band of Buendia, lead guitarist Marcus Adoro, bassist Buddy Zabala and drummer Raimund Marasigan (multi-instrumentalist Jazz Nicolas of Itchyworms was also again onboard) mindlessly giving in to the greatest-hits predilection of the general public. Sure, the band played a good amount of its classics, from "Pare Ko" to "Alapaap," "Ligaya," "Kailan" and the immortal “Ang Huling El Bimbo." The group, however, likewise indulged itself in some of its other, fairly lesser known tunes, such as "Slo Mo," "Wishing Wells," "Back2Me," "Poorman's Grave" and "Trip to Jerusalem" - tracks that do have their admirers if they are not as massively embraced as the hits. Heck, by the evening's literal end, the band-and the fans who stayed put-still had its own way, reemerging for an unplanned second encore just as thousands had already exited the grounds.

In all, the Eraserheads played 28 songs that night without any obvious pattern (chronological or such) other than the usual upbeat-to-downbeat-to-lively pacing typical of any concert. Neither did the band succumb to any show-off gimmicks that other, more pandering acts would have been prone to. But there were close-to-exceptions to the E-heads norm: Marasigan moved about like a giddy rocker when he assumed the lead-vox duties (as Nicolas took over the drum set) midway through the first main set. Then the normally reticent Adoro gamely sang lead for a "reggaefied" take on "Huwag Mo Nang Itanong," and Buendia invited the enthusiastic audience to sing-in-the-blanks on some tunes, torched his old piano during the instrumental conclusion of “El Bimbo" and went down to the front-row crowd to let ecstatic viewers sing lines of "Toyang" straight to the mike.

(There was also a brief tribute to the pioneering musician Francis Magalona, 44, who lost the "happy battle" with leukemia the day before “The Final Set.” The E-heads sang and played the chorus to FrancisM’s “Kaleidoscope World,” while the overhead big screens presented a montage of The Man's music videos. This would serve as a prelude to that night's performance of the E-heads' "Superproxy," the recording of which featured Magalona doing an extensive, closing rap. What a night! Buendia did the rap verses on FrancisM's behalf.)

In many ways, "The Final Set" was a historic event-encapsulating the band's milieu and its eclectic spirit. Essentially a pop act, the Eraserheads incorporated a variety of music styles, anyway, even a variety of pop-culture and real-life references. This was evidenced early on by its major-label debut Ultraelectromagneticpop! (the title itself a play on the hallucination-inspired weapon unleashed by Japan's Voltes V) and its tracks that cribbed melodies and words from The Four Tops' "I can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)," Nat King Cole's "Too Young" and Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs.” In "The Final Set," interjections that quoted a remake of Eric Clapton’s "I Shot the Sheriff" and lyrics to Van Halen’s “Jump” were cases in point. But the band members complemented this "reflective" reflex with their ability to channel universal- or at least national-sentiments and experiences, which everybody in their college phase has undergone or are still reeling from. All this wrapped in ultracatchymelodiouspop. One can therefore conclude, as the fans probably surmised, that the Eraserheads were a natural consequence of the cut-and-paste, knowledge-overloaded, technology-saturated realm of Generation Why Bother.

That innumerable E-heads followers stuck with the band throughout its Nineties heyday down to the early 2000s, and have pretty much kept an ear on each band member via their respective post-Heads preoccupations, also points to the fact that the Eraserheads had managed to supply, rather consistently, its ardent following with a unique, high-inducing kind of E: emotional emancipation. Not only did the band inspire countless others to form their own sonic outfits and spill out their own juvenile hearts and minds via simple chord patterns and I-can-do-what they-do chutzpah (with varying, often dismaying results), the E-beads likewise affirmed what was going on in our lives as well. To wit: Even if the heartbreaking narrative of “Ang Huling El Bimbo" may never have happened to the rest of us, we could certainly identify with the life's-like-that bitter sweetness of its lyrical sprawl. Even if we may have never ended up behind bars, the poignant longing and black humor evoked by "Kailan" is something we must have experienced ourselves at some point. And whether or not we can drive, or have been all around the Philippines, anyone of us must have had some sort of frustrated aspiration that "Overdrive" wittily encapsulated. More often than not, practically every E-heads tune-or at least its every album had such an affecting ring that made the loyal listener feel genuinely alive.

It was great while it lasted and, as in school, graduation day had come to the College of Eraserheads soon enough, relatively abrupt as it might have been in the case of the Most Successful Foursome in Pinoy Pop. I suppose that, even without the unfavorable circumstances that had led to its disbandment- whatever they were-the band still would have wanted out; just as any of us can be students only for so long before wanting to conquer the proverbial real world, Buendia, Adoro, Zabala and Marasigan must have felt that they had taken their enterprise to its proper outcome and wanted to get out of the E-heads box to harness their respective potential in other directions.

While the band members have affirmed that they will never record again (their last album was 2001's double-disc Carbon Stereoxide) nor even play together as the Eraserheads again, it is probably still premature to bid the band farewell. For one thing, their songs are perpetually our songs, as evidenced by both tangible ownership of their various albums and, moreover, by the way their recordings have been embraced- from the karaoke level all the way to anthemic status, as "The Final Set" got to underscore. For another, these four men-boys are still playing, albeit in disparate bands that, while not necessarily capturing the E-heads magic, are worth rooting for nonetheless. And, let's face it: a decade or so from now, when they will have been in their fifties, the band members-and most of us-just might want to assess the ensuing years and wonder if, say, the national condition remains in such a pathetic state that we could not help but heartily, verbally unearth that best-loved line of “Pare ko”: “Di ba…Tang ina”*

article - FHM - reunion concert - The Eraserheads! (updated 16-Jan-2020)

Article: The Eraserheads!

Magazine: FHM Philippines

Year: November 2008

Volume: Special 100th Issue Blowout!

Catalog: ISSN 8513-8517

Writer: Erwin Romulo

article - Fudge magazine, final set concert

Article: The Last Dance

Magazine: Fudge

Year: April / May 2009

Volume: No. 

Catalog: 

Writer: Annie S. Alejo

article - S magazine, eraserheads reunion concert

Article: Eraserheads Reunited

Magazine: S magazine

Year: 2008

Volume: No. 

Catalog: 

Writer: Shirley Matias Pizarro

article - YES! Magazine October 2008

Article: Eraserheads A New Chapter (Reunion Concert)

Magazine: Yes!

Year: October 2008

Volume: 

Catalog: ISSN 0119-7991

Writer: Irene Curtis

article - people asia magazine

Article: Where are they now? After Heads

Magazine: People Asia

Year: October 2006

Volume: No. 

Catalog: ISSN 0119-657X

Writer: Jim Ayson

Updated: 22-June-2020

After HEADS by Jim Ayson

Photography by Jorem Catilo of Spoonmarks

Where are they now?

Five years after the band breakup, the four members of the Eraserheads are still rocking the nation – as individuals.

It's a cloudy Sunday afternoon in the U.P. Diliman campus. On Sundays, the wide, tree-lined avenues are closed to car traffic. A lazy calm pervades, and the roads are filled with joggers, bikers, leaves falling, families strolling, and lovers walking hand in hand, soaking it all up.

On the steps of one of the campus buildings a magazine photo shoot is in progress. The subjects are Raimund Marasigan and Buddy Zabala, one-half of the legendary band known as the Eraserheads. The band is probably as closely associated with the campus as the Oblation. And on this day, the two men - both now in their mid 30s, partners and kids in tow - look right at home, revisiting the place where it all began. Old memories are stirred up, re-served hot and fresh.

"Raimund and I were always roommates," Buddy tells us. "Over at Molave Hall. That's where we met. Man, that was back in 1988."

Even today the two remain close. They still collaborate on album production work, they remain bandmates in a group called Cambio, and their young families share out-of-town family vacations on weekends off.

Raimund looks up at the facade of the Engineering building and reminisces about a memorable gig the Eraserheads played here in 1990 with The Dawn, then the biggest band in the land. The concert was called "Maskipops" and he remembers it was an especially wet and stormy evening.

"It was really The Dawn's gig. But we got to play. We borrowed some equipment from a band rehearsal studio at the alumni center, and we rushed it to the gig in the middle of this really strong rainstorm. And we were all wearing matching red sweatshirts. That was our costume!”

Recalling their gawky beginnings. Raimund still sounded starstruck. "I always wanted to join The Dawn," he says wistfully.

But in 2005, it was Buddy who got the invitation to join The Dawn as their current bassist. He gloats, and kids Raimund about it. "See, I told you that you should have learned how to play bass.”

Glory Days: 1993-2001

OPM historians today will tell you that three influential bands helped define what we refer to as "Pinoy Rock" In the ‘70s the band was Juan de la Cruz. During the '80s, it was The Dawn. And you'll find little disagreement that the '90s were shaped by the rise of the Eraserheads.

Vocalist/songwriter Ely Buendia, drummer Raimund Marasigan, bassist Buddy Zabala, and lead guitarist Marcus Adoro met as students at UP and eventually formed a band named after a film none of them had seen - Eraserhead by quirky film director David Lynch. Though a cassette demo called "Pop-U" surfaced as far back as 1989, the band hit its stride after signing up with BMG Records. Their debut album UltraElectroMagneticPop, released in 1993, hit Philippine radio with a bang, with hits like "Pare Ko" and "Toyang." From then on it was a rollercoaster ride, and the band released eight albums and two EPs before the ride ground to a screeching halt in 2001 with the sudden departure of frontman Ely Buendia.

The remaining members tried to soldier on and honor contractual commitments, recruiting female vocalist Kris Gorra (from the femme trio Fatal Posporos) to front the band. Occasionally Ebe Dancel (of Sugar Free) would guest on gigs. But even this edition wasn't fated to last. The band continued its slow fade out until it finally called it quits in 2002 when guitarist Marcus Adoro left the band to concentrate on the more fulfilling pasttime of surfing on the waves of La Union.

Fast forward to 2006, and it's clear that five years after the big break-up. The Eraserheads are as popular - if not more so - than they ever were during their heyday. The band is credited for ushering the Pinoy band explosion of the early '90s. Now that bands are once again white hot, the “E-Heads" are being re-discovered and practically revered as deities.

A tribute album by various artists (Ultraelectromagneticjam) was flung into the market last year and dominated the sales charts for months. The band's songs remain the soundtrack of the lives of the '90s generation as they grow up and creep towards their late twenties and early thirties. And even a new generation, too young to remember seeing the band in their prime, is tuning in to their music.

With all the reverence heaped on them, you'd think the Eraserheads had gone down in a blaze of glory, Ely Buendia has been quoted that it was too soon for an E-heads tribute album as they were far from being dead.

And he'd be right. Because since 2001, each of the four ex-Eraserheads has continued to make music, and are hard at work helping to define the music of the first decade of the 21th century. The story is far from over.

HOW ARE EACH OF THEM DOING?

RAYMUND MARASIGAN

As the drummer of the band, Raimund was the guy at the back of the stage, not often seen or noticed. But in the past five years, he’s probably been the most visible, as he's stepped out from behind the drum kit to act as a renaissance man of sorts, acting as guitarist, keyboard player, producer and frontman for a number of musical projects.

The most successful of this is Sandwich, a hard rocking quintet formed back in 1999, now riding a new wave of popularity in the wake of their hit album Five on the Floor and their infectious hit single "Sugod." Seven years later, Raimund now acts as band frontman, a role he had to assume with the departure of Marc Abaya (who now spends most of his time as an MTV VJ) a couple of years ago.

Raimund commands the stage with all the flamboyant authority and swagger of legendary rock frontmen like Mick Jagger and Freddie Mercury. Raimund credits watching local rock singers like Binky Lampano (Dean's December), Jack Sikat (Ethnic Faces) and Pepe Smith (Juan de la Cruz) as inspirations for his frontman persona.

And then there are his other bands. In Cambio, he plays drums in a rhythm section that includes Buddy Zabala on bass. With Pedicab, he plays synthesizer. And as his electronica persona Squid 9, he's a deft remixer, a veritable Fat Boy Slim for the Pinoy rock set.

Apart from his bands, Raimund is highly respected as an award winning record producer, often working with Buddy as his production partner. If that wasn't enough, he also creates jingles in his home studio, e-mailing the finished works to his clients.

It sounds like a remarkably full plate for any mere mortal, but Raimund claims that he's actually cut back on activities this year, to devote more quality time for his family.

“I’ve got more free time now. I just bought this BMX bike." he says with all the enthusiasm of a teenager. "And I just got into skimboarding while in Boracay for a gig. And every other week we go off to the beach for family vacations."

Family in this case consists of his partner Myrene Academia (a musician herself who plays bass for two bands, Sandwich and Imago) and their precocious six-year old daughter Atari, now a first grader. And yes, she was named after that pioneering video game company. Raimund’s little clan bonds with other "rock families" on their outings. There's Buddy's family, and the wives and kids of his band mates and other peers in the rock scene.

After years of juggling musical projects with aplomb, Raimund considers Atari as his "most important project ever.” And as we see father and daughter having fun riding their bikes down the UP campus roads, we agree that while it's not the typical rock star image his fans might cultivate in their heads, it's time well spent.

Fast forward to 2006, and it’s clear that five years after the big break-up, the Eraserheads are as popular - if not more so - than they ever were during their heyday. The band is credited for ushering the Pinoy band explosion of the early ‘90s. Now that bands are once again white hot, the "E-Heads" are being re-discovered and practically revered as deities.

BUDDY ZABALA

While Raimund tries to cut down on his workload, Buddy Zabala has ratcheted his up this year. Apart for working by day for busy production house Roadrunner Network, Buddy has been polishing his producer hat by working on back-to-back album production work for a number of hot band albums. This year alone he has produced the albums of Sandwich, Moonstar 88, Imago, Itchyworms, Cambio and co-produced the new Dawn album, where he also plays bass as the newest member of the band.

It's a feather on his cap that after playing bass for one of the most influential bands of the ‘90s, Buddy ended up playing for the present version of the hottest band of the '80s. The Dawn's previous bass player Mon Legaspi suddenly quit, leaving for greener pastures in Hong Kong. Guitarist Francis lost no time in tapping Buddy as replacement, and a few text messages later. Buddy got the gig. In December 2005, he became the band’s latest member.

It's a good fit. People say Buddy’s melodic approach to bass playing is closer to Carlos Balcells, the original bassist, than Mon's busy style. As for preparing for the gig. Buddy theorizes he's been practicing for the slot for years. During sound check even while with the Eraserheads, he and Raimund would warm up with The Dawn riffs as a break from playing same E-Heads songs every night.

Buddy's involvement with The Dawn has also led to a film role. As with all of members of the band, Buddy did a bit of acting (playing himself) in the indie film Tulad Ng Dati, a fictional film about a real life band. The film emerged with multiple awards in the Cinemalaya film festival, including Best Picture.

Apart from the Dawn, Buddy still finds time to play bass for Cambio, his band with Raimund Marasigan, Kris Gorra, Ebe Dancel and Diego Mapa. And quite recently, he played bass and Raimund played drums for the debut solo album of the legendary Dong Abay (of Yano fame). It was produced by Robin Rivera, who produced all the Eraserheads albums. Buddy considers him as his mentor.

Like Raimund, family plays an important role in Buddy's life. Some years back he finally married his long-time girlfriend Earnest (who spent some time herself as one of the Eraserheads' managers). They have a five-year old daughter named Veda, who Buddy says is “my biggest fan. She goes off screaming ‘Papa! Papa! whenever she sees me play."

MARCUS ADORO

It always seemed that Marcus Adoro followed his own muse. When the Eraserheads wound down, "his first instinct was to go surfing,” Buddy reveals. And so Marcus went off to La Union to find the perfect wave, and never looked back.

"He just comes down to Manila when there are no waves," continues Buddy. "While over here, it's gig, gig, gig. Then he gets word that the waves are back, and back he goes.”

“He just shows up suddenly,” cracks Raimund. "We see him more often during our kids' birthday parties and baptisms."

Tracking down the man through e-mail, we find him oddly peaceful and content with his choices. "Surfing isn't my profession,” he writes. "I just enjoy being out there and the lifestyle.”

He's even good enough to teach the sport, though his choice of students has been rather selective.

"I teach girls with nice asses, but then again who wouldn't," he lets on. "I only do it once in a while though. Nakakapagod pala (It's tiring)."

All that surfing has turned out to be a motherlode of musical inspiration for Marcus. While in La Union, he cooked up KamonKamon, a combination of a comic book and soundtrack album about the adventures of a surf-happy canine. Marcus claims that BMG records bought the idea back in 2002, but creative differences has meant the project remained in limbo for the time being. Marcus reveals the project will see the light or day as an online work, and will be made available over a web blog he's setting up.

A second project was a "Pinoy surfing album" involving a different character by the name of Surfernando. Three years of sun and surf led to a stockpile of songs about life on the waves. A Surfernando sampler was released independently, titled "Belma en Luis.” Eventually, Marcus hopes to get these songs recorded on a major label, and he's currently sniffing around for a record deal, "and a manager who can dig me.”

In the meantime, club goers who are lucky enough to encounter Marcus on stage are treated to a bewildering variety of band names he's cooked up through the years. Apart from Surfernando, there are The Flaming Katols, The Gumamela Band, The Mamones, and Markus Regime. Sometimes. It’s just Marcus on stage with an acoustic guitar. On other occasions, he's backed up by a full band.

When PEOPLE Asia encountered him at a solo gig at the legendary rock dive Mayrics, he was billed under the intriguing name Markus Highway.

“I’m good with wordplay.  I like changing names because it's an old rock n roll tradition," Marcus explains, "All the old traveling bluesmen used different aliases, and my favorite cool bands do it."

ELY BUENDIA

The last piece of the Eraserheads puzzle remains to be the enigmatic Ely Buendia. While Raimund, Buddy, and Marcus still get together for projects and good times, the band's old frontman and principal songwriter remains curiously estranged from his former bandmates. They don't talk to him. He doesn't talk to them.

Ely has also been known to draw a curtain around his former life as an E-head. Interviewers are routinely advised certain rules of the game, which is not to bring up questions about the Eraserheads, their life and the breakup.

The self-imposed isolation hasn't affected his musical creativity one bit. Right after leaving the Eraserheads, Ely put up a band aptly named The Mongols, a rock quartet that produced the indie album Buddha's Pest. While critically acclaimed, the album received poor distribution under Viva Records. The lackluster support was a far cry from the major label push he received with the Eraserheads.

Better fortune lay ahead by reuniting with his old label BMG, and regrouping his band under a new name, Pupil. Their debut album, Beautiful Machines was accompanied by a major marketing push and videos with better budgets. It also included contributions from his omnipresent girlfriend (and band manager) Diane Ventura, who writes and sings on a track of the album.

Coincidentally, the band’s album was released roughly around the same time as BMG's Eraserheads tribute project, UltraElectroMagneticJam, a top selling album, with most of the songs written by Buendia. In past interviews, Ely was pretty vocal that he felt it was premature to be given a "tribute" as his career was far from over.

While he prefers to keep the past at bay, the tribute album does guarantee him a share of the publishing royalties. And based on the scuttlebutt, BMG is planning a second volume of Eraserhead tributes.

As with his former bandmates, the theme of family and children appears to have lent a greater sense of maturity to his art. He has a young son named Eon with Diane Ventura, and a teenage daughter named Una from his first marriage.

"AS FAR AS REUNIONS GO, IT'S A RELATIONSHIP THING. IT NEEDS TIME FOR THINGS TO BOIL OVER. IT NEEDS TIME FOR WORK THINGS OUT. IT'S NOTHING TO BE RUSHED."

Reunion?

No article about the past and the present lives of the Eraserheads can be complete without some speculation of the future. Fans continue to worship their music. Can they ever hope that the guys let bygones be bygones, and that a reunion will take place sometime? So that fans can see the band together for even one last time?

"Not anytime soon,” muses Buddy. "As far as reunions go, it's a relationship thing. It needs time for things to boil over. It needs time for work things out. It's nothing to be rushed."

But they all acknowledge the music will never die. After all, all the bands associated with the former E-heads do play Eraserhead covers. Pupil, Sandwich, Cambio, and even The Dawn, have been known to spring an old chestnut on an unsuspecting crowd. Like "Magasin,” “Alapaap,” or "Ang Huling El Bimbo."

"As long as we can remember the chords, we can still play the old songs,” says Buddy.

On that level at least, the fans can be thankful, even as they continue to hope. •

article - myx magazine april - may 2009

Article: BRAVO, ERASERHEADS!

Magazine: Myx

Year: April-May 2009

Volume: No. 

Catalog: 

Writer: Klara Iskra Añonuevo

 Updated 16-Jan-2020

BRAVO, ERASERHEADS!

Pinoy rock’s fab four shares the stage one more time to mount one of the greatest shows this side of earth, Klara Iskra Añonuevo reports

This time, without the drama that plagued their last concert, the Eraserheads' Final Set pushed through on March 7 at the Mall of Asia grounds and was finished without a hitch.

Cheering ensued when they started their first song, Magasin, and already, everyone was put in high spirits, especially after Ely Buendia, the band's vocalist, sang a revised lyric: "Eh medyo pangit ka pa no'n...HANGGANG NGAYON!”

After five songs, the band surprised everyone when Marcus Adoro, the band's guitarist, after introducing the next song as, “gawa ni Ely," started to sing Huwag Mo Nang Itanong, with a reggae twist and punctuating each chorus with his own lyric: “Di ko sasabihin sa 'yo!"

Right after that, it was Raymund's turn, as he sang, very enthusiastically, Slo Mo, Alkohol (he asked the rest of the band to start all over again, telling the audience, "Hindi kasi kayo gumagalaw, eh!''), and Insomya. Noticing that only Buddy Zabala, the band's bassist, was the only one who had not sang lead yet, the crowd started cheering, "BUDDY! BUDDY! BUDDY!" and at some point in the concert, he replied by singing, "They come to me for donuts," the first line of The Fabulous Baker Boy, a song from the album Fruitcake, which Buddy sang.

The second set was opened with Julie Tearjerky, and this time, the audience is given a different audio-visual treat with the band playing acoustic and in a more laid-back manner as they sat close to each other. And of course, the whole audience sang along to one of their biggest hits, Pare Ko, with everyone singing extra loud to, yes, you guessed it, "T*NG INA!" They ended the second set with Overdrive.

The band opened the third set with Superproxy, a song that was supposed to be performed with Francis Magalona, who contributed the rap portion of the song, which Ely rapped that night. The band even got the crowd to cheer for the Master Rapper: "Francis! Francis! Francis!" After two more songs, the band even played the chorus of one of Francis M's biggest hits, Kaleidoscope World, while the crowd sang along.

Next, they performed Ang Huling El Bimbo, which was supposed to be the last song of the night. During the song, Ely put on fire the piano seen on the cover of Sticker Happy, which had spent most of its life in a corner of 70's Bistro in Quezon City. Towards the end of the song, as fireworks were being shot just behind the Bronze section, the people from the VIP section were showered with lots and lots of confetti.

Throughout the whole concert, at random intervals, the audience again kept cheering for a "GROUP HUG!" (or, if you ask Marcus, ''BRUHA!"). And while Ely asked for a condition that was never fulfilled ("Kayo muna!"), the audience got to witness the closest they could get to see a group hug: Ely, Raymund, Marcus and Buddy (along with Jazz), with arms over each others’ shoulders, taking a bow.

But then, minutes after the five left the stage, the band performed an unplanned encore, with Ely asking the audience, "Kaya niyo pa ba? Okay, three for the road!" and the band proceeded to play Ligaya, Sembreak (where Ely messed up the lyrics, still singing even though the rest of the band was done, asking, "Ah, tapos na ba?") and finally really ending the night with Toyang, where Ely went down to the front of the VIP audience and let some of the people sing.

Ely's last words for the concert was, "We are the Eraserheads!" even though undoubtedly nobody that night needed to be reminded of who they were. Seven years after the foursome played their last gig, the night of March 7, 2009 provided the closure that neither the break-up nor the first reunion concert failed to bring.

"We are the Eraserheads."

And with that, the band whose songs became the soundtrack of a generation of Filipinos bid farewell.

THE FINAL SET LIST

FIRST SET:

MAGASIN

WALANG NAGBAGO

MALING AKALA

MASKARA

POORMAN'S GRAVE

WAITING FOR THE BUS

HUWAG MO NANG ITANONG

SLOW MO

ALKOHOL

INSOMYA

TORPEDO

SECOND SET:

JULIE TEARJERKY

TIKMAN

WISHING WELLS

FINE TIME

PARE KO

KAILAN

BACK2ME

TRIP TO JERUSALEM

SPOLIARIUM

OVERDRIVE

THIRD SET:

SUPERPROXY

MINSAN

ALAPAAP

KALEIDOSCOPE WORLD (CHORUS)

ANG HULING EL BIMBO

ENCORE:

LIGAYA

SEMBREAK

TOYANG