A Night of Mayhem with Slapshock

Last Saturday night, July 23, 2016, Masters of Mayhem brought together Filipino metal acts that set the stage on fire and the crowd crazy, jumping to their feet, and singing along to every song. Come rain or high water, well, traffic actually, metal heads marched to JSpot Resto Bar in Marcos Highway, Antipolo City to watch their favorite bands perform live. I was one of them.


For years, I have been a fan of Slapshock. Though without a specific date, I remember traveling distances just to watch them perform live. This time, they came to me. And since I missed their first appearance on an Antipolo concert stage months ago, this time, I marked the day Red and swore to come--definitely one of the best decisions I've made in my life.


Set to start at 7pm, the event didn't begin until past 9. Blame it on the traffic and the rain but the crowd never once complained--they remained calm and anticipating, drinking their bottles and cans of Red Horse beer, burning their lungs with cigarettes, and enjoying good food.


Finally, the first act claimed the stage and the horns, fists, and peace signs mechanically went up in the air. Lavos Beckon. It was my first time watching the band but I gotta say, they set the mood right for the night.


Second act, Galaw Tao. It was my first time hearing their songs and watching them perform live as well although I've come a bit familiar with their name. Because of this, I waited for their set with some anticipation and boy, did they blew my mind! First song and I was already swaying my body to the music, bopping my head, and listening to the melodious sound with a smile on my face. Soo good.

Valley of Chrome

The next performers are men I've come to love since first year college--ever since I saw how good-natured and dare I say, playful they are behind the scenes. Up until now, I still feel privileged to have seen that side of them and I am definitely glad to see that they haven't changed. Valley of Chrome went on stage next with Rogel Africa, vocalist, smiling from ear to ear and greeting the crowd. I totally missed the guy. The band introduced themselves by playing the anthemic Forever Young. Though they didn't play the whole song, a few notes immediately sent the crowd mad. The drums start banging, guitars start singing, and Rogel starts belting their songs one after another. Not sure if it was originally a 3-song set but when the crowd started chanting "Isa pa! Isa pa!", Rogel, a wide grin on his face, agreed. They ended their set with Love and Devotion and me, smiling silly from ear to ear.


It wasn't long after that Even, the only female-lead band for the night, took the spotlight. And take the spotlight they really did. Well, mostly the vocalist. While fists, horns, and peace signs were raised during the set of the first bands that played, it was cellphones and cameras that dominated the air when the host announced the name of the next performer. Well, couldn't blame them. She's an eye candy who can growl like a beast and sing like a princess. An entertaining set, indeed.


And so, the long awaited time has come. It was almost 1am when finally, Jamir Garcia grabbed the microphone, Chi Evora on the drums, Lee Nadela on bass, and Lean Ansing and Jerry Basco on guitars. Slapshock took the stage = time for mayhem. And it was chaos. I beautiful one. With the crowd going as crazy as they did, falling down and getting trampled on is not impossible. And so, on and on, Jamir reminded the crowd, "Pag may natumba, damputin niyo." And the crazy fun went for over an hour.


Playing in front of their fans, the Slap Army, every song turned into an anthem with everyone singing along. The chorus of voices singing along Jamir's naturally melodious one almost sent chills down my spine. I was bopping and bobbing and swaying and clapping and smiling and screaming and singing along every. single. song. They performed their hit songs Cariño Brutal, Misteryo, We Are One, the not so popular Asal Demonyo, (when I say not so popular, I meant not so popular to non-Slapshock fans), an old song that's definitely an all-time favorite, Wake Up, and what seems to be the official song of the Slap Army, Night Owl. When Jamir sang Langit, I melted. It might just be me but when he sings Tagalog songs, his voice is extra beautiful and it turns my knees into jelly.


Some special scenes that happened during their set:


-One of Lean Ansing's guitar string snapped and so, while a staff change it and he tunes it, Jerry started playing a familiar rhythm. Jamir automatically broke singing to Knocking on Heaven's Door. Of course, the crowd sang along. Beautiful.

-It was during Misteryo that Jamir's younger brother (who he claims to have been playing music with him back in the time when he didn't have Slapshock with him yet) took over the drums while Chi excuse himself for a "cr break". Kid brother is good and Jamir, being the proud big brother that he is, boast; "Jet lag pa 'yan, wala pang practice 'yan." Claps and cheers.

-Not long after, ang "misteryo" (pun intended) behind Chi abandoning the drums was revealed. Jamir then requested the crowd to keep their hands up saying, "may sasaluhin tayo." The crowd went wild obviously. We automatically know that it would be Chi. What happened next, see for yourself on this video.

This was gold for me and maybe for the rest of the Slap Army as well. Chi seems to be the serious one in the group. Jamir, being the face of the band, is expected to be friendly and chatty but for the drummer, that doesn't necessarily come with the job description. And so, seeing Chi go wild like this, it's gold, I tell ya!


It was past 2am when Jamir introduced their last song. They ended the set with Ngayon Na. "Hindi bukas, Ngayon Na!"


I walked out of the venue happier than when I came in--definitely one of the best nights of my life. :)


P.S.

Excuse me but last Saturnight, I went Fan Girl Mode On too!

with Galaw Tao

selfie with the jolly boys of Valley of Chrome:)

and a more visible image of us. :P

with THE Jamir Garcia of Slapshock. Can you tell how happy I am? :)

Jamir was seating on the next table which made me sooo kilig! He's so nice to fans. :)

And here's some photos of Slapshock on stage.

Jamir's classic Red underwear. LOL

Overly Polluted

image from: http://verysmartbrothas.com/

We're familiar with water pollution, earth pollution, and air pollution. But with all the violence that's been happening now, I think there's another type of pollution most of us hasn't realized just yet.


The reported killing of suspected drug dealers, users, and addicts have been flooding the news--screen, airwaves, and print. Of course, it's general belief that this is the work of the newly elected President, Rodrigo Duterte.


I didn't vote for the guy. Would never. Not just because of his misogynistic view and broadcasted words but also because of his lack of regard for human life in general. What's sadder, is that he got elected despite this.


I seldom follow the news but whenever I hear about the killings, it makes me sad. No, not angry. Just sad.


I'm sad that the majority of the population believe that what we need is someone who's willing to kill bad people to save and protect the good ones. I'm sad to realize that most people think the same way. I'm sad to hear that instead of feeling bad, they feel relived, if not glad, that those people are dead. I'm sad that most of us disregard human life like that.


Someone I greatly respect and look up to talked about how just these killings have been. I asked further about the topic and felt deeply sad that those words came from someone who's active at church and has been living life through God's words.


I'm no religious. I'm mostly skeptic about religious people in general although I know few people who, in my view of how religious people should be, truly live to their belief. The person I was talking about is one of them.


This being the case, hearing that person justifying the killings made me lose my appetite. It made me deeply sad.


I feel the same way with Chico, an FM radio DJ, RX 93.1 to be exact, that if I could have the ability to change one thing in this world, I would lessen hate.


You see, since the history of men, hate has been polluting us. It gave birth to war which equates to violence, loss, chaos, fear, grief, and death.


Now, I want you to do something. I want you to close your eyes and imagine a world--truly imagine it, a world without hate. I hope you're smiling because from here, it's truly beautiful.


I hope we can do something about this world that has been overly polluted. Overly polluted by hate.

July 17, 2016