Alloy

Lazy Tuesday for me....

This afternoon I had a chance to jam with my bandmates fpr my side project named Drive Under the Influence. They gave me a visit to try to hone and work on some songs that we have. After engaging ourselves in sisig, soda and a few strings we finished our session at least around late 4 in the afternoon.

I got the chance to blog in The Pit after watching a replay of this TV special from a local music channel here in the Philippines. It is a brief glimpse and exposure about the Filipino metal scene. It was originally aired, if my memory serves me well, around late May.

It was a great outlet to let a great number of viewers and musical enthusiasts to be informed, specially here in the country, that a Filipino underground metal scene does exists. And I must say quite an impressive thing this network did for having the balls to at least break out of the norm. This music channel is very popular for incessantly airing local and foreign pop music, so-called "OPM" music, and a number of shows that cater to the very welcoming idea of profit and rating.

The show basically highlighted interviews of some known and established metal acts and personalities here in the country. Some of which I had a chance to share the stage with or talk to. It features the metal scene in general from the perspective of those interviewed. It is great to know that the metal scene nowadays is amassing a great deal of exposure considering the misconception about the genre.

There were some great thoughts given by some musicians that was interviewed. I was actually delighted to hear this quoted line from a well-known drummer that plays technical death metal: "...dito sa Pilipinas din, di tayo pwede magclaim na purists dahil una sa lahat halos lahat ng klaseng music na tinutugtog natin eh galing Western" ( "...here in the Philippines, we cannot claim that we are purists; to begin with, most of the music that we are playing is western based.") -- makes a lot of sense to me. A number of statements were given; starting from the known origin of the metal scene, how it was back then, and the growing scene itself. I suggest you try to watch it probably on Youtube.

Anyways, there was this one line that got me thinking: " Metal means not being mediocre. Di pwedeng metal ka lang ngayon ... Metal is a lifestyle.".

I play metal and I love the genre and the lifestyle ever since I was first exposed to the whole thing. There is no doubt about it. I even can envision myself 30 years from now still listening to Slayer songs and hopefully playing with my current band (hehehe). But thing is that not the whole part of my musical persona is Metal. I have been playing in this scene for almost 5 years now and I must say that playing in this scene has it's ups and downs but the whole experience is great. But there is a part of me that asks for other things apart from the Black and Red.

I personally love other genres and I can proudly say that I do not only listen to Metal. Jazz, Blues, Alternative, Rock, even Pop. I listen because I embrace music as a whole. So with that being said, my question is this: Am I considered a poseur? Just because I do not attend to gigs in the scene that much, does that mean I am not Metal enough? Just because most of my friends are not metalheads, does that mean I do not belong? Just because I come in to bars and gigs not wearing black and your usual band shirt, does that take me out of the right to play? I guess not. And if you are not down with that, I guess I can say that I am not the one that should start thinking. I play music and I express myself in whatever outlet I have. Same with those that share the same argument. It is not about what is physically seen and what can be counted. It is the passion that shows your love for this music.

Sad to say, I have spoken with a number of guys in this so-called scene and most of them need to grow up.

For the scene I must can say that we, the new blood, are very lucky with the options and sources that we have and I have all out respect to those who paved the way. For whatever differences each of us has, I think it is best that we break the political barriers and stick to let the genre and the scene grow. Let us not dictate who has the right to be "in" the scene and who should be called the real deal. Respect.

No one is born with an iconic Jackson King V strapped around their body while raising a bottle of Black Label in their left hand and a pick in their right hand and wears a leather baby diaper and a King Diamond bib. Absurd.

It is great to know that musically you walk on a broad field and I usually say this everytime someone asks me about music: It is just a buffet table; pick those you like, leave the crappy ones that does not suit your taste.

This is not about me questioning my integrity and my image or whatever. This is about breaking misconception and barriers.


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