Upcoming: Farewell Fair Weather SAKALI Music Video Launch

3/11/2016 11:09:52 AM

Farewell Fair Weather, one of the top bands in the current music scene, is up for a big night as they will formally launch a music video for one of their notable songs Sakali.

The soul-fusion band, now on their fourth year of existence, has made waves through their previously released singles “Rough Skies,” “What Lies Behind” and “Beyond,” with the latter once rocked the charts of Jam 88.3’s Fresh Filter last year.

They also clinched the title distinction of being “The Chosen One” at the recent Jack Daniel’s Philippines On Stage Indie Music Awards held April 2015 at Makati City. From there, they had a chance to perform in front of a worldwide crowd at Music Matters in Singapore.

While Rough Skies signaled their first entering step via their signature, and Beyond told their journey since then, Sakali, once known as their only Filipino-written song, will tell a story of not just being an emotional force, but also a collaborating effort through director Mr. Melvin Dantes and its visual concepts; something that Mic Manalo describes as a fun-filled one.

As for the auditory part, Manalo and her company also got help from Josh Villena on making its new version, as reported by IndieManila.

The music portal also featured the event as the Gig Of The Month for March, with Autotelic, SUD, and Tom’s Story also performing during the evening. Farewell Fair Weather will also see their merchandise there.

Sakali Music Video Launch will be happening on Saturday, 12 March 2016, at 70s Bistro, Anonas Ave., Quezon City. Show starts at 8:00 PM. Entrance is priced Php200 which comes with one free shot of Jack Daniels. This event is made possible by Jack Daniel’s Philippines, eo+, Teamworks Studios,

See the official press release here.

RSVP on their official event page on Facebook.

Author: slickmaster | (c) 2016 september twenty-eight productions

The Scene Around: Racc!oon

2/27/2016 7:39:47 PM

After a successful charity nightout four months ago, Mika Ordonez and her friends is back for another gig; with a bigger venue, heavier lineup, and a legitimate identity.

They are now called Raccoon Productions, and they debuted with formality and emphasis as they called their first gig RACC!OON!: A Charity Gig for Kythe Foundation.

Held on a Friday night (22 January 2016) at Route 196 in Quezon City, Racc!oon drew a typical soldout outing as they were able to raise funds enough to cover the expenses for their sponsored child named Ariana Soriano.

The four-year old beneficiary, whom hailed from Tarlac, is suffering from Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia; but already had been undergoing her main chemotherapy cycles and will be on the verge of having two maintenance cycles which will run for two years.

Eight bands graced the evening: M.I.C., Indigo Sweep, Ang Bandang Shirley, Lions and Acrobats, Odayo, Jensen and The Flips, Tom’s Story and Flying Ipis. 

In all the acts I have heard before, a debuting M.I.C. actually sounded new to me; as well as Odayo and Indigo Sweep. While the rest were instant crowd-drawers, specifically the math rock band whose then-about to launch their album in three years of existence. 

Yes, Tom’s Story literally rocked the house down. Who am I not to remember that after seeing almost all spaces of the indoor Route being occupied? Damn good!

The night turned out so well for the debuting production firm as they had 300 paying customers and collated a total of Php 83,000 on donation, enough to cover the needed expenditures on Ariana’s way to recovery. 

To read more about the Racc!oon Productions, check out the article by Radio Republic. Also the ways to donate will be also seen there.

Indigo Sweep 

M.I.C.

Tom's Story 

Odayo

Lions and Acrobats 

Ang Bandang Shirley 

Flying Ipis 

Jensen and The Flips

Author: slickmaster | (c) 2016 september twenty-eight productions

Weeknights to Remember: SlickMaster’s Memorable Gigs of 2015 (Part 4)

12/31/2015 3:00:36 PM

The post was supposed to be named Fridays and Saturday Nights to Remember only to realized a few things: first, gigs are happening every single weeknight; second, most of them aren’t even planned by yours truly to attend; and third, I have been to almost 70 gigs for 2015.

2015 has been a heck of a good year for me as I discovered Philippine music anew -- and it broods at the place where minority of people knows -- the independent scene. Over the course of time, I attended about 50 events starting from a random night out that happened 24 January 2015 at Route 196. I was then supposed to watch my college friend whose already a musician.

And since then, the Philippine independent music scene became another world conquered by yours truly. I became part of a production group; I was posting anything about gigs for most of the time; and indie music also served as a venue for me to grow as opportunities came from out of nowhere -- be it writing or anything else like photography and videography.

Fast-forward to the year-end, despite attending the last one or two music events of this year from small-time gigs to the big or concert-level ones, I can say I had a lot of memorable evenings. 

Between Archery and Olympics

Between Archery and Olympics Album Launch (24 June 2015 / Route 196 / Project Collab Manila)

My buddy Lih sent me to this gig to cover on his behalf. Yes, for an evening, all I did was taking videos of the event. Specifically, band shots. But moreover, I discovered more artists I shouldhave been listening right now. And BAO was one of them. It’s not surprising that their album launch proved their success at the scene so well.

Franco

Jacktember (5 September 2015 / Buddha Bar / Jack Daniel’s Philippines)

So, it was Jack Daniel’s birthday, and the top three bands from the recent JD On Stage stormed the stage as we joined the entire world in celebrating the success of the popular whiskey brand. Plus Franco also rocked the night away. It was the first I heard them live; and frankly that blew my mind away. 

SUD, on screen and on stage.

Tagaytay Art Beat Hangover (1 October 2015 / Brewery at the Palace / Docdef Productions, Museo Orlina, Brewery at the Palace) 

Fresh from the overwhelming success of Tagaytay Art Beat, Docdef Productions followed it up for everyone who still can’t get over from what has been the indie music’s outside-the-metro show of the year for 2015.

Nico and Vinz

Jack TV Mad Fest 2015 (7 November 2015 / Globe Circuit Events Center / SOLAR Entertainment)

Too bad, I missed the indie music part. But nevertheless, watching MAD FEST was another piece of memorable. Looks like they covered almost all sides from indie to mainstream, plus DJs setting the party vibe for the rest of the evening, especially after the main act Nico and Vinz graced the stage for an hour-long concert,

Paranoid City w/ their manager and Revolver Productions head Cris Ramos

The Last Revolver Gig (29 August 2015 / Saguijo /Revolver Productions)

I once attended a Revolver gig, and it was a tie-up with Docdef Productions last May. And upon researching I found out they are calling it an evening at SaGuijo last 29 August 2015. Never would I thought that after 11 years, Revolver will call it right there. Though I managed to catch few performers during the night, Paranoid City formally gave its curtain call. And for few minutes of my life, I was stunned with musicians from different bands joining the stage one motherfucking last time to make some noise. Perhaps, a farewell one.

The Rest is Noise Year-end (19 December 2015 / Route 196 / Vandals on the Wall)

Ian and MC’s success from Vandals on the Wall proved they are capable of organizing gigs too. They’re not just a media doing lots of reviews and interviews. And true enough, their ninth The Rest is Noise installment left me a mark on the nearend of 2015. Like from 7pm -4am they got 14 artists on the lineup. And despite a not-so-good weather, almost 300 people flocked Route 196. Damn.

| PART 3

Author: slickmaster | ©2015, 2016 september twenty-eight productions

The Scene Around: Kaleidoscope

12/27/2015 11:45:49 PM

Barely three months ago, after watching Heneral Luna at a mall in Manila, I decided to jump to another coast after seeing a poster containing some of my favorite bands in one night: Jensen and the Flips, The Ransom Collective, Cheats and even Anj Florendo. The event was situated at Mow’s bar, just at the basement of the famed Kowloon House branch at Matalino Street, Quezon City.

All for the weekend before Tagaytay Art Beat. But this one isn’t organized by any of the production groups I know. Certainly I have no idea who in the world is organizer. Heck, I wasn’t even aware it’s her then-birthday party, too. So it looked like I’m a heck-of-a-gatecrasher who shied away from the celebration and charity matters; and instead only wanting to listen to these awesome bands.

Man, it was also the first time I heard Anj on a literally soloflight and the band called Kombo Kombo. Not bad. Other musicians followed suit during that crazy night; and making Kaleidoscope the highest grossing gig at the bar.

Author: slickmaster | © 2015 september twenty-eight productions

The Scene Around: Autotelic Birthday Bash

11/1/2015 2:18:59 PM

This is the event I’d like to personally called OCTO-Telic.
And why not: four of the members of this band called Autotelic have celebrated their birthdays on the month of October; while the synth player EJ is on November 1 (ironically as of this writing), and their bassist Pabs is on March.

But as Neil, Kai, Gep and Josh had their huge blowout party; so were the other performers during the evening as Jensen and the Flips, Urbandub (in acoustic), Tom’s Story, Oh, Flamingo!, tide/edit, and Lions and Acrobats also joined the party. At least, that’s another Thursday night to remember with the uprisers and heavyweight shits coming together for a birthday bash.

And before the night is over, JB of Docdef Productions gave the band a cake; signifying that indeed it was a wild, epic night.

Author: slickmaster | ©2015 september twenty-eight productions

The Scene Around: The Last Revolver Gig Part 2

11/7/2015 3:10:21 PM

As of this writing I am about to write new entries. 

Well, not really “new” since I have tons of backlogs on my list as a blogger. Sure, I did numerous commentaries, features, rantings, and even writing about the events I personally attended. Especially when we’re talking about music scene or specifically, gigs.

REVOLVER is not just a word. It carries a lot of definition. It can be a firearm. It could be even a title of anything else.

Though here in the country, aside from being a title of a column in PULP Magazine and a studio business, Revolver is a gig production group. Operated by Cris O. Ramos Jr., REVOLVER was in the scene for eleven years. And too bad for a novice gig-goer like me, I only attended their event once; and that was during their final night at SaGuijo.

As far as my social media ‘stalking’ skills (LOL) are concerned, The Last Revolver Gig was divided into two parts. August 19 and 29. And off I went to the second (err, the very last) one. And it’s almost midnight when I get into the venue after some tough grind and trip along the way (so there are quite few musicians left to perform).

But before everything went into fold by around 2 in the morning, Paranoid City perhaps gave the very final curtain call for REVOLVER. Hearing their last song for their set was more than just a farewell-on-a-high-note as several musicians share the stage for making noise one last time.

Say, eleven years was definitely a great long run. And at least, for one, I managed to be there and witnessed a REVOLVER gig. FAREWELL and CHEERS!

Author: slickmaster | ©2015 september twenty-eight productions