The right mix for a rockfest

Rico Blanco (Photo by Annie S. Alejo)

Rock n’ roll, a lot of heart, and a little bit of alcohol – taken moderately, of course – may just be what the local music industry needs. As proponents of Pinoy music battle the impression that “OPM is dead,” this upcoming rockfest might just blow that misconception right out of the water.

Already on its seventh year, the Tanduay Rhum Rockfest is a music festival is a celebration of Pinoy music, envisioned to support and further promote OPM. This year’s theme, in fact, is “Panata.”

When asked what their panata is, the musicians all say it is their vow to keep music fans happy and keep making music – the kind of music they and their followers want to hear. Parokya Ni Edgar vocalist Chito Miranda tells Bulletin Entertainment, “What we always try to do consistently is to have fun as much as possible. To always come up with material na well thought-of kahit panay kalokohan lang. When you play, play hard; when you work, work harder. ’Yung dedication namin, it’s our commitment to our fans…”

Chito Miranda (Photo by Annie S. Alejo)

Slumping CD sales or not, it is festivals like this – Tanduay Rhum Rockfest is said to be the biggest in the land! – that keep local music alive and well, with its supporters raring to mosh it up to prove it.

Headlined by Wolfgang, Rico Blanco, Spongecola, Kamikazee and Parokya ni Edgar, the Rhum Rockfest promises 30 bands on the bill in a concert at the Mall of Asia concert grounds on Friday, Oct. 25, to an expected 80,000 people.

Here’s what to expect:

Novel ways to use rhum bottles!

“We are using some of the bottles, we’re doing percussive stuff with them, blowing in the bottles to create tones, all that stuff,” promises Marcus Davis, musical director for the Rockfest. This will be featured during a production number of Tanduay’s theme song, he notes, as a fresh approach to step up what they did last year with traditional indigenous Filipino instruments.

Basti Artadi (Photo by Annie S. Alejo)

“It’s gonna be awesome. The actual instruments, they look great, they sound great. We’ve custom-made stuff out of Tanduay products just for this event,” he enthuses.

A bunch of ‘happy’ rockers

Wolfgang’s lead vocalist Basti Artadi assures the Rockfest “is always a good time. The dynamic is always different… Sometimes guys come up on stage (to jam).” A memorable experience to him was “Manuel (Wolfgang guitarist) in Angeles; I’ll never forget that,” he said laughing. Kamikazee vocalist Jay Contreras also remembers this rarity that apparently happened during their set. “Nagja-jam kami ni Chito tapos tumakbo siya sa stage… pero sobrang masaya! Good times naman lahat.” You, too, might just catch such wacky behavior. If you do, be sure to YouTube it and tag us, okay?

Once in a lifetime awesomeness

Rico Blanco has been doing the Rockfest “from the start.” He says that each band on the bill always tries to put on quite a show that’s different from what they’ve done before. For his part, “Meron akong gagawin this year na malamang hindi ko na maulit uli,” he teases with a smile.

Jay Contreras (Photo by Annie S. Alejo)

“Binigyan ako ng magandang support this year para magawa ko ito… Kahit kami, dun ko na lang din malalaman kung magwo-work ba or hindi kasi medyo malaki siya.” As a clue, he noted, “Isang dream na collaboration din ’yun para sa akin.” As parting shot, he says, “Hopefully magbunga ’yon into some more collaborations with this group sa mas malaking scale pa. Pero hindi ko maipapangako ’yun. Kaya kung makakapunta kayo sa Rockfest, manood na kayo kasi hindi ko alam kung mauulit!”

The right mix for a rockfest

Source: Mb.com.ph (October 23, 2013 at 12:43PM)

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