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Author Topic: Eraserheads  (Read 1506 times)

Rockford

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Eraserheads
« on: December 24, 2007, 05:42:10 pm »
Eraserheads




Eraserheads, or E-Heads was a prominent Pinoy rock band of the 1990s, formed by Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and Marcus Adoro. The band is one of the most popular and important bands in the history of Original Pinoy Music, giving them the title "The Beatles of the Philippines." The Eraserheads was also said to open the second wave of band invasion, paving the way for other alternative rock bands such as Rivermaya, The Youth, Teeth, Siakol, Grin Department, Parokya ni Edgar and Yano.

Their music is very diverse, working both in the underground and mainstream scenes of the Philippine music industry. By fusing different musical styles, such as alternative, pop, rock, reggae, and synth rock, the Eraserheads helped change the sound of Pinoy rock.


History
In 1989, two college bands from the University of the Philippines, Diliman were both in search of new members for a new group. Curfew, which consisted of Buddy Zabala on bass and Marcus Adoro on guitars, met up with Sunday School, which consisted of Ely Buendia on vocals and Raimund Marasigan on drums, in December of the same year. The four decided to form a new group, calling themselves The Eraserheads. The band took their name from the movie "Eraserhead" by surrealist director David Lynch, which they picked up while reading a magazine. They did mostly covers, playing at every gig in their school that they've managed to get into. Eventually, they did the rounds of Manila's rock club circuit, achieving little success.

The band found that they weren't good at covering other people's hits, so they concentrated on writing their own materials instead. "After all, if we committed a mistake, no one would recognize it since they don't know the song, right?" Buendia explained.

Their original songs live soon earned them a cult following in their school, which gradually spread outside the campus. One of the songs, a pop song entitled, "Pare Ko," became very popular, partly because of its lyrics that included a few obscenities.

The band recorded a cheap, nine-song demo tape in Marasigan's garage on January 6, 1991. They then shopped the demo around record labels, clubs and radio stations, hoping to have their songs reach the public. However, they were rejected at every turn, with a recording studio deeming that their demo was "not pop enough." In May 1991, a friend professor from their school, Humanities professor Robin Rivera, helped them record and mix a better version of the demo on a four-track recorder. The demo was named Pop-U!, in response to those who turned them down.

Meanwhile, Buendia was employed as a student copywriter by BMG Records Pilipinas (now part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment). He worked with BMG during the day and wrote songs with the band during the night. Eventually, the songs of Buendia and the band caught the attention of BMG A&R Director Vic Valenciano. Valenciano listened to the songs and then commented that they were very raw technically, but that there was something promising in them. Subsequently, BMG gave the Eraserheads' songs a try. In 1992, BMG signed up the Eraserheads for a three-year record deal.

Mainstream Success
In July 1992, the Eraserheads started recording their debut album called Ultraelectromagneticpop!. The album featured "Pare Ko", "Toyang" and "Tindahan Ni Aling Nena", all of which were also present in Pop-U!. The album also featured a sanitized version of "Pare Ko" called "Walang Hiyang Pare Ko". Later in the same year, BMG initially released 5,000 copies of the album. The album became a smash, with the songs "Ligaya", "Pare Ko" and "Toyang" topping the charts, that, by the end of the year, BMG sold 300,000 copies, and Ultraelectromagneticpop! turned sextuple platinum.

The album met some opposition as the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI) attempted to censor "Pare Ko" but without success. The public was said to have found its OPM Fab Four in the Eraserheads, opening the second wave of band invasion. The Eraserheadsmania was born.

In October 1994, the Eraserheads came up with a follow-up album entitled Circus. The band said that the album aptly described their life since their smashing debut. The album was unpredictable and unconventional compared to the OPM ballads at that time, and established the band members as good songwriters and musicians. The songs varied in style and mood, ranging from euphoric and hilarious to tender and somber.

Five of the songs became successive hits: "Kailan", "Magasin", "Alapaap", "With A Smile" and "Sembreak". Circus turned gold in just 30 days with 20,000 copies sold. Eventually, it turned quintuple platinum with 200,000 copies sold. But like Ultraelectromagneticpop!, it too had its share of controversy. In August 1995, Senator Tito Sotto, who was involved in an anti-drug campaign at that time, called for a ban on the airplay and sales of "Alapaap" over an alleged promotion of drug abuse in the lyrics of the song.In response, the Eraserheads denied the allegation, saying that the it was just a misinterpretation, and that the song was the band's "ode to freedom", not an "ode to drug abuse".

Their much-awaited third album, Cutterpillow, was launched via an open-air concert attended by fans and followers in colossal proportions. With Christmas barely a month over, the Eraserheads opened 1996 by making history in the Philippine music scene once more. Cutterpillow turned gold, even before it hit the record stores, as a result of the pre-selling promo campaign. Soon, the band shot the music video for the song "Ang Huling El Bimbo" (The Last El Bimbo) from the album.

Later that year, the Eraserheads came up with a conceptual Christmas album called Fruitcake. This was shortly followed by a release of a companion storybook of the same title.

Also in 1996 the Eraserheads starred with Comedian/TV Host Joey De Leon of Eat Bulaga in a comedy film produced By GMA Network's Cinemax Studios (now GMA Films), Run Barbi Run.

Break-up
After weeks of speculation, it was confirmed that the main songwriter and lead singer, Ely Buendia, had left the band in mid-March 2002 for "reasons unknown". However, in subsequent interviews, Buendia pointed to business matters as the cause of the band's break-up.

In a PULP Magazine interview, Buendia's wife and manager, Diane Ventura, claimed that the breakup started with a miscommunication between Buendia and the band's roadie. The result was that Buendia and Ventura turned up late at a mall gig. This angered the roadie and called them "unprofessional". Everybody else on the gig gave Buendia "a cold shoulder", said Ventura, thinking that he deliberately came late. The next day, Buendia brought up the incident to the attention of the band's then manager Butch Dans. Buendia allegedly blamed the incident to the management's "unprofessionalism". Dans, however, allegedly chose to believe the roadie's account over Buendia's, without delving further into the matter. Dans even allegedly insinuated that Buendia and Ventura were "probably too high on drugs" the other night to remember the gig's schedule. Ventura vehemently denied the allegation and denied further that she and Buendia were even told of the schedule. She added that the three other band members also believed the roadie's account, which deeply disgusted Buendia because he felt they betrayed their longstanding friendship. Buendia later announced to his bandmates through SMS that he was quitting the band.

In another interview, Marasigan said he was eating in SM Megamall, a local shopping mall, when he heard of the news (how he heard of it, was not clear). He said he was "semi-surprised" and wondered if Zabala already knew about it. Adoro told of the story now famous among Eraserheads fans about Buendia's cryptic text message. He said Buendia stated in the text message that he had already "graduated." Adoro quipped in the same interview that it was natural for Buendia to graduate first, since he was in batch '87 of their college (UP Diliman), while the rest were in batch '88.

Zabala confessed in an interview that disbanding had not been that far away from the members' minds. He said that there were so many occasions wherein they could have disbanded but did not.

Adoro expressed the belief of some people that the band was getting too old, and that it was "selfish" for the band to continue, likely referring to comments about how it's time for other bands, besides the Eraserheads, to shine. The band made it clear, though, that Buendia's departure from the band wasn't in any way violent and that there was no shouting (sigawan) or any confrontation involved.

Without giving up, the three remaining original Eraserheads decided to continue. Within just a few weeks, the "new" Eraserheads debuted at Hard Rock Cafe in Makati City on April 19 featuring a female lead singer, Kris Gorra-Dancel from the band, Fatal Posporos. However after a few months, Adoro finally quit the band. The remaining members of the Eraserheads added Diego Mapa and Ebe Dancel to their lineup and renamed

Members
Ely Buendia (vocals/guitars)
Buddy Zabala(vocals/bass)
Marcus Adoro *(guitars)
Raimund Marasigan (vocals/drums)
Kris Gorra-Dancel (vocals/guitars)

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-heads

« Last Edit: December 25, 2007, 12:36:58 am by Rockford »

yakk

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Re: Eraserheads
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2008, 12:48:20 am »
Sana matuloy ng maayos yung reunion concert nila.