How I Got To Sing With "Coach" Bamboo

A cover collaboration that almost didn't happen. Almost 2 years in the making to get this guy to record with me but just like they say, good things come to those who wait, and yup, it was worth it. 

A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) by Denise

A Thousand Years (Christina Perri) by Denise

guitar and vocals by me

How I Got To Sing with Another Music Icon

I don't remember the second time I met Eraserheads' drummer Raimund Marasigan. The reason why I said second time was because I remember exactly my first encounter with the entire band but that's a totally different blog post. Anyway, I guess it would probably be during those times that I was still working for Pulp Magazine that I've met him again and eventually worked with him in some gigs and photo shoots. Raimund is like Ely and the rest of the Eraserheads, to me, they're like demigods of music. I'm good at keeping my cool when I'm around them but truth is I always make sure that my inner fan girl is asleep just to avoid any shameful scenes and/or circumstances that could possibly arise.

So, how did I ask Raimund to do this cover collaboration with me? I didn't send him a tweet just like what I did with Ely (for my post regarding my jam with Ely, click THIS!), I asked him personally when I watched his band Sandwich in Saguijo and surprisingly enough he said YES! Like Ely, I was ready to be turned down due to the fact that Raimund and his bandmates are probably the busiest local musicians around but he said YES, so jjjoooyyy! It did took a while though before this jam materialized but I had no complains whatsoever. One day while I was doing mundane work at the office, I got a text from Raimund, he said "Pano and kailan mo gusto gawin itong project mo?" So I gave him a call and explained everything and good thing there was that long weekend last August so the date was set.

It was a long travel from Laguna to where Raims lives but I was ready. I wore comfy shoes. Look.

Nice no? Hehe. Anyhu, I was there early, around 10:30am I think. Raims showed me his basement studio first which was being renovated because it got flooded recently. Since the basement studio wasn't ready at that time, we opted to set up in his garage.

Me: Ay sa garahe tayo? Hindi ba nakakahiya? Hehehe
Raimund: OK lang yan. Sanay na sila sa akin na nagiingay dito tsaka ginusto mo yan e haha!

He was right, I really wanted this cover collaboration to happen with him. So what if people can see us thru the gate, the jam was going to be on video anyway and will be uploaded on Youtube. So game! 

That's Lipstick the dog, she'll have a very special participation in one of the videos that you will see later.

 

Raimund made me use this really good looking black Fender acoustic guitar. Ang gwapo gwapo ng gitara na'to. 

 

So we did a quick jam of what we planned to play.

Another dream collaboration that came true! Thank you, Raimund for the jam and lunch hehe. Here are the videos of my project. We decided to play "Hysteric" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and "Gold Guns Girls" by Metric. I hope you'll like them. Thank you for watching!

 

Rainy Evening with the Padillas

Last week, Chris Padilla (vocalist of the band Hilera) and I have been communicating regarding our cover collab session. We were supposed to do it last week but it got cancelled because they had a gig so we rescheduled it yesterday (Feb 13). Great because today is Valentine's day and what we covered were love songs so I can dedicated it to all of youuuuuuhhhooooo!

Chris' pad wasn't really that difficult to find but I ended up getting lost anyway. Sorry naman! Plus it was raining but it was a good thing that the cab driver was nice enough not to charge me extra because of the traffic (hindi naman talaga dapat e). I got there around 5pm and he looked like he just woke up. Well, Chris always looks like he just woke up anyway then add the Padilla swagger?...ang galing!

Although he also looked a bit under the weather and he was. He was complaining that his chest was hurting a bit and he's having a hard time swallowing and he was losing his voice. Yesterday, I also found out that they have a gig at 70s Bistro. So I told him that we should have cancelled the jam and rescheduled it again, I wouldn't have mind but he said that it was OK, and he also wanted to do it. What a trooper! Originally, I would have wanted to play "Turn Your Lights Down Low" by Bob Marley but realized that it might not be suitable for his voice so we did a last minute change. We talked a little, watched TV, then we practiced our songs. He used an acoustic bass guitar and I used his acoustic guitar with a missing 6th string. This is going to be one interesting jam, I thought. Then Bobby, his brother and the drummer of their band Hilera (and also the band that I'm managing, The Butchercons) arrived and hung out with us. Here are pic-chassss!

 Bobby nagtutulog tulugan.

 with Bob

 with Chris

 my Creative Rec, one of my favorite shoes

 new Hilera line-up haha!

Bobby didn't do squat! Hahaha! Kidding! Chris and I made him check my flip cam if we were in the frame and he clapped after we played the songs. He was there for moral support. Would have been nice if they called their Uncle Robin to jam with us though.....someday...someday. But in the meantime, enjoy these videos of me and Chris singing Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love" and The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU!

An Afternoon Jam with Ira Cruz

Guitarist Ira Cruz is like the kuya that I never had but I guess unlike the usual kuyas with issues that you guys have, Ira and I never fail to always get a laugh out of something. Mali na nga at wala sa lugar na ata kung minsan e he he.

 

Excuse my brace faced phase

We go a long way back. I think I first met him when I was still working for Pulp Magazine. I've arranged numerous photo shoots with bands, and also gigs, that included a shoot with the original members of the band Kapatid.

Hay, memoriiiieeeessss! He has been one of the few people that I've become friends with in the industry. At one time I actually convinced him to do a fashion editorial, yes, I asked him to be one of my models! If that is not true friendship right there, I don't know what is! Hahaha! Too bad I don't have a picture here with me that I can post, tsk. With all biases aside though, Ira is one of my favorite local guitar players because of his versatility. Tugtog lang ng tugtog, that's the vibe that I get from him. Aside from his present band Hijo, he still sessions for other artists (he played guitar for Anne Curtis' concert recently). That's why it's a no brainer that I asked him to be part of this so-called "project" that I'm working on.

So OK, for those of you who are first time visitors of my blog HELLO! I'm working on this cover collab sessions where in I will be tapping my favorite local musicians and ask them if they can do two covers with me and we'll record it on video to be posted on my youtube account. What's the purpose of this you might ask? Nothing really. I just want it to be one of a few sources of my happiness, a happy thought generator if you will. One of these days it would be fun to look back at these videos and say that HA! I did that!(?)

Back to my afternoon with Mr. Cruz. I went to his house somewhere in Cubao and I brought him his favorite pancit which we dubbed Pancit Highblood.

 

This is the glorious Pancit Highblood that can only be found here in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. First of all, I love it because it has no onions! Second it is to die for because it has lechon kawali mixed in there somewhere. So before we recorded the covers, merienda muna! 

F na F sa unang subo

So after our cholesterol filled merienda, we practiced the songs and worked on our harmony for 311's "I'll Be Here Awhile." We made it a pitch higher so my voice won't disappear in the low parts of the song. 

 

 

At first he told me not to ask him to sing but I said that he has to because the harmony is the best part of that 311 tune plus the ten ten nen ten ten tenenen (that's my best rendition of the lead part at the beginning of the song). 

Enough of the text, here are the two covers that my friend Ira and I recorded, 311's acoustic version of "I'll Be Here Awhile" and Corinne Bailey Rae's "Like A Star." I hope you'll like them. 

 

How I Got to Sing with a Music Icon

I've been a fan of the Eraserheads ever since they released their first album and even though it's been years since they've gone their separate ways and continued to create music with their equally talented bands, there's still that fan girl in me that every time I get to see or talk to an Eraserhead, my soul gets into this high school vibe and I'd be all giddy. It takes a lot of my self worth to control it from coming out but I think I've mastered it...I think. Anyway, one day while I was on my way to Quezon City, I just thought of sending a tweet to Ely Buendia. I don't really know what came over me. Maybe it was because of the traffic that I got bored or maybe it was because I really would like to sing with him at least before I die. So I sent him this message:

 

Then he replied: 

 

I answered:

And finally he said:

After that I sent him via direct message two songs that I wanted him to chose from. They were "Two of Us" by the Beatles and "Tonight You Belong to Me." I can tell that he instantly liked the latter because he replied by tweeting me a few lines from the song but he said that we can also do "Two of Us" if I wanted to. OF COURSE! It's a good thing that nobody knew me inside the van because I looked like a lunatic smiling while looking at my phone. So that was it, I'm singing with an Eraserhead. Although just a quick note, this wasn't the first time that I sung with an Eraserhead. Technically the first Eraserhead that I was able to jam with would be Raimund Marasigan with Sandwich. There was a gig in Saguijo and I sang "Butterfly Carnival" but I don't think anyone got that on video but I have my friends and my god-daughter to prove that it happened! 

So now the next move would be thinking when will this ever going to happen? Or is it ever going to happen? I wasn't sure how busy Ely was but I know he is. And then I found out that he has a gig with his other band The Oktaves at 70's Bistro, which was perfect because I was staying at EDSA Shangri-la at that time which was quite near compared to Laguna so I went to the show and had a really good time watching them. Ely and I spoke briefly and I was surprised that he was the first one who mentioned that cover collab. He asked when do I want to do it, and I said that it's up to him. He then said that since it's a holiday on Monday (Jan 23...Chinese New Year!) might as well do it on that day and with not much thinking, I said yes! Oh, before I go on with the story, here's a video of The Oktaves performing "La Paloma"

The days before Monday I've been practicing those two songs that we will be playing and at first I thought of bringing my ukulele for "Tonight You Belong to Me" but changed my mind the last minute. Monday came and I was off to Ely's place. I suggested that we meet at 1pm but he said that it was too early and that we meet at 5pm (the Golden Hour he says) instead. I've never been to Ely's place but I already saw it in a magazine once and it looked great but it's better looking once you're there (ang pogi pogi ng bahay nya! O_O). We hung out first on his roof deck. He brought his two acoustic guitars and we "practiced" and jammed a few songs (e.i. "More than Words," "Under the Bridge," "Elesi" etc.). We talked about a lot of things, interesting things, but most of them are not blog worthy for reasons that I might get into a bit of a pickle.

 

 

 

He asked me why I asked him to sing with me and what brought this idea. I don't actually remember exactly what I said but I think that I told him that I just wanted to do it, that I'm a bit bored and why not? All my reasons were stupid since I really don't have a more valid one but basically I just took a chance, there's no harm in taking chances (unless you attempt to jump off a cliff and see if you'd still live or something to that effect). Even though we've known each other for years, he could have still said "no." I'd feel sad but only for a little bit but I'd definitely would understand but the thing is, he didn't so it was a WIN for me. I got curious and asked him why he said "yes" to me immediately, I guess other than the fact that we're no strangers to each other. He replied by saying "I'm bored too" and laughed and he said that he loved the tunes that I picked to cover and they were two of his favorite songs and went on by saying "kaya sino ang makakahindi dun di ba?"

So here are the two songs that we covered. That day was epic and extremely unforgettable. The kind of thing that you would want to (humbly) brag about. I sang with an Eraserhead! I sang with a music icon! I FUCKING SANG WITH ELY BUENDIA! And it was awesome! :) 

Read or Write?

What shall I do this Sunday?

I really, really want to read today. I have a few books in my Galaxy tab that I want to start reading but I couldn't find the time. Now that I have today, maybe I should try and read something. Although there's a few articles that are due really soon that I must start on. Jesus Christ, what a dilemma I'm making this out to be...

Baaahhh, I'll decide late. Anyway, here's a new cover that I did yesterday.

Got This Money (Childish Gambino original) by denise