article - pulp issue # 53

Article: A Stab In The Back

Magazine: Pulp

Year: January-February 2005

Volume: No. 53

Catalog: 

Writer: 

article - pulp issue # 28

Article: Quo Vadis, Eraserheads?

Magazine: Pulp

Year: October 2002

Volume: No. 28

Catalog: 

Writer: Claire Agbayani

article - pulp issue # 23

Article: The E-heads Are Dead

Magazine: Pulp

Year: May 2002

Volume: No. 23

Catalog: 

Writer: Banana

Updated: 22-June-2020

THE E-HEADS ARE DEAD

We were expecting glittering marching band outfits and long languid seafaring trips on yellow submarines, smashed, as it were, with a little help from Lucy. But sadly, after a decade of Beatlemania Pinoy-style, one of the most enduring and hardworking pop acts of our time has dissolved, fizzled out, and, indeed, been swallowed by time.

Having slowly fallen deeper into sonic obscurity after the release of Sticker Happy, PULP learned of the band's dissolution when our organizers began the arduous task of putting together the PULP SUMMER SLAM II. The band's management informed us that their singer would be in the United States, presumably for a vacation, failing to mention that it was in fact a permanent one.

Buendia's departure and the reasons surrounding his decision to leave the band have, of course, been shrouded in rumors and by the reticence of others involved. But text spreads information like a forest fire: ELY QUITS EHEADS. Sad, unfortunate news really, if, like many of the band's followers, you first discovered wood with a girl named Toyang or the joys of barkada beer-bonding with "Pare Ko." "Everyone in the music industry knows," manager Sammy Samaniego says. "But Ely left the band for reasons only known to him."

Industry pundits wonder if the 'Heads can go on without the voice and, more importantly, its chief lyricist, the one generally acknowledged as the "soul" of the band. Insiders compare Buendia's departure to Lennon's decision to leave The Beatles, citing a scuffle with management and a scheming girlfriend. If 2000's Wanted: Bedspacer was a portent of things to come, then this new development shouldn't even be a surprise. Ely supposedly had a fight with Samaniego and threw in the proverbial towel. A shady Yoko Ono subplot also began spinning to reveal that his girlfriend had supposedly "goaded" the frontman into the decision, giving the green light to the prospects of a permanent solo career or even the choice of putting up his own band. "Someone should remind him what of happened to John Lennon," came another text message. Or Wency Cornejo, for that matter.

As the gods of rock n' roll would have it, Wanted: Bedspacer only received a jittery fraction of success of his works with the Eraserheads, which prompts the question of how far he can torpedo his way to a spin-off success. In the same breath, can the remaining three 'Heads hold the fort even as outsiders suspect a looming custody battle for the name? Buddy, Marcus and Raimund are now left to El Bimbo their way out of the band's last few engagements, which, according to an industry insider, were well-received regardless. But the 'Heads are moving on. "We already have a new singer," Samaniego confirmed in early April. They later launch Kris Gorra (the female singer of the now-disbanded Fatal Posporos) at an April 19 show to mixed reactions, a move that surprised even the most seasoned industry insiders. So, is the Eraserheads really dead? For now it seems they have bought themselves some time.

Banana

article - pulp issue # 1

Article: The Eraserheads

Magazine: Pulp

Year: December 1999

Volume: No. 1

Catalog: 

Writer: Jennifer E. Adriano (photographs by dulzzi gutierrez)

Updated 14-Jan-2020

The Eraserheads

They started out as flukes who bucked the trend of the Philippine recording industry's sanitized stereotypes and ended up the biggest band of the decade - and perhaps, of their generation. Originality, tongue-in-cheek songwriting wit, and a zest for the unpredictable have made the Eraserheads the definitive breakthrough Pinoy alternative act, shattering the mellow mode that formerly reigned as the undisputed route to record sales and paving the way for latter-day successes like Parokya ni Edgar.

It all began in 1989 at a University of the Philippines dormitory with four college blokes - Ely Buendia, Buddy Zabala, Raymund Marasigan, and Marcus Adoro - and a bunch of secondhand instruments. They became a band and took their name from a David Lynch movie they wouldn't see until years later.

The Eraserheads initially did the rounds of alternative joints doing covers of bands like REM and The Cure. Realizing that they didn't do too well singing other people's songs, they tried their hand at writing. "After all, if we committed a mistake [performing], at least no one would recognize it because they wouldn't know the song," says Ely. Live performances featuring their punchy, original lyrics gained them a cult following in school, and news of their talent spread beyond campus. Next were the requisite rounds of radio stations and record companies, but the Eraserheads' "novelty" songs were rejected at every turn.

They released an independently produced cassette called Pop-U in 1991, in reaction to the "not pop enough" comment of recording gurus who had dissed their demos. Soon afterwards, BMG Records got hold of Pop-U and signed the band on for a three-year contract. By 1993, the Eraserheads released ultraelectromagneticpop!, titled in homage to the mighty Voltes V weapon.

Their multi-platinum debut album included now legendary hits like "Ligaya," "Toyang," and the beer-bottle ballad "Pare Ko" with its notorious sprinkling of cuss words.

Before the Heads could be labeled a flash-in-the-pan-one album-wonder, they released an equally successful follow-up, Circus, a year later. Several other hit-producing albums came in succession, along with numerous NU Rock, Awit and Katha music awards, and the 1997 International Viewer's Choice Award for MTV Asia for the video of "Ang Huling EL Bimbo," off the group's third album, Cutterpillow.

The eclectic Heads have dabbled in other creative ventures, from penning a commercial jingle for a hamburger chain ("Halika Tikman Ang Langit," included in their EP Bananatype) to Fruitcake the book, edited by one-time Heads manager Jessica Zafra, containing the "one thousand and one adventures" behind the songs contained in their 1996 Christmas album of the same title. "Right now we're working on a movie. It'll be a comedic effort," says Buddy. Before one can bring up their what-were-they-thinking? cameo in the forgettable Joey de Leon-starrer of yore, Run, Barbi Run, Ely interjects, "We can’t act, so our movie will focus on our music."

Another thing on the Heads' agenda is the logical bid for international stardom. The first step was Aloha Milkyway, released last year in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, including nine remastered and re-recorded chart-topping songs from previous albums, plus new releases "Julie Tearjerky" and "Tamagotchi Baby." The group is currently promoting Natin99, their latest and first all-Tagalog album, released last May with the carrier single "Maselang Bahaghari.”

Perhaps one of the Eraserheads' most sterling achievements is the fact that all original members remain intact after 10 years as a band and seven years in the sink-or-swim mainstream music industry. "Other bands that came out around the same time as we did, like The Youth, are gone now, probably because they didn't really enjoy playing together in the first place," reflects Raymund. "Some just got bored, others hit a brick wall." Buddy continues, "We've been through the worst periods when there was no money, no shows, no fans. Everything else is relatively easy." Doesn't it ever become, well, like work? "It is a job," Ely pipes in. "Why not make it fun?"

"We still trip out when we hear that younger kids start bands, because of us. Even if their sound is different from ours, it's great knowing we inspire that kind of thing," says Raymond. Meanwhile, as teens in garages over the archipelago continue to work their amps in the hopes of becoming the next Eraserheads, the group that started it all still hasn't quite come to term with fame. "It remains a double-edged sword," Raymond accedes. But there's more from where that came from in store for the Heads, whose musical evolution is still, after all, a work in progress. In the words of Buddy, with a smile: "I guess it still isn't as good as it gets-not yet." - Jennifer E. Adriano

Photographs by Dulzzi Gutierrez

print - eraserheads pulp magazine issue # 10

Article: The Eraserheads Ten Years After

Magazine: Pulp

Year: November 2000

Volume: No. 10

Catalog: 

Writer: