Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Jack Daniel's JD Set Philippines: Jack Versus the Crab Video Interview

I came across a video by At The Womb of Jack Versus the Crab's video interview being part of the Jack Daniel's JD Set Chosen 7 in the Philippines.  The taping of this interview actually happened almost a year ago. So there are past members of the band that are in the video. We had a photo shoot prior to the interview where they made me wear make-up. The photo shoot was a horrid experience that will never happen again, mind you. But the video interview (I washed off the make-up by then) came out surprisingly nice.



Yes, I know they spelled my name wrong in the video. Waxie and Fritz spoke mostly during the portion of the interview that they used as material to edit. However, I was surprised that they snuck in a few words from me. I ended up having the last say. Sweet!

For those of you who would like to support us during this long JD Set band competitions, please go to the link below and Facebook "like", Twitter "tweet", and Google "+1" the page itself.  All that count as votes for my band.

http://atthewomb.com/jdsetphils/video/jack_versus_the_crab

END OF LINE...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Death Cab for Cutie Live in Manila



After a month of blog laziness, I finally get around to blogging about this particular concert. In all honesty, I was severely disappointed around that time because the Foo Fighters cancelled on their Singapore concert. I was supposed to go with SunDownMuse bandmates Briggs and Gigo, as well as Briggs' girlfriend Carol to Singapore to watch Foo. We had our plane tickets and hotel accommodations booked aside from securing the concert tickets online. But alas the rock gods felt that it wasn't meant to be. So I ended up wasting a truck load of money.

The original plan was to fly to Singapore, watch the Foo Fighters, and then fly back. Then we go watch Death Cab for Cutie the next day. Instead, the plan ended up being just the Death Cab concert. Not much for a Foo Fighters consolation prize. But hey, you can't really compare Foo with Death Cab.

Gigo passed on getting Death Cab tickets because of all the expenses meant for the Foo Fighters concert. So it was just Briggs and I that went to watch the concert. Briggs and I thought we got to the venue fairly early. But by the time we got to the venue, the line was extremely long. The supposed "VIP" ticket line spanned two blocks long, and a lot of people queue behind us at that.

I saw a number of acquaintances that were watching the concert as well; people from my hometown Alabang, some ex-officemates from PeopleSupport, former SunDownMuse bandmates, and other musician friends in the music scene.

It was nice to know that a lot of those acquaintances knew about Death Cab. I discovered the band way back in 2004/2005 when the band released an album called Transatlanticism. But I'm pretty sure most of the crowd know the band because they're on a few movie soundtracks. I liked them before they got really popular.

The concert was entirely standing only with two ticket types just dictating which half of the venue you get to stand in. It was pretty packed. Below is one of the videos I took from the concert. Apparently the song in the video is in the soundtrack for one of the Twilight movies. /Queue in anti-Twilight defense mechanism disclaimer. I actually liked the song when it was released. But I had no idea it was in a Twilight movie soundtrack. /End anti-Twilight defense mechanism disclaimer.

"Meet Me on the Equinox"


Ben Gibbard, the vocalist/guitarist, was surprisingly lean in person. I always had this mental image of a chubby guy from his early music videos. I guess rockstardom either requires you to slim down, or the rockstar lifestyle just makes you scrawny after some time. It was amusing to watch practically every band member switch between guitar, bass, and keyboards. It just shows the cumulative skill of the band and its members.

My all-time favorite Death Cab songs are "Soul Meets Body" and "I Will Possess Your Heart". And they played both of them that night. I wasn't able to take videos of those songs because I was busy jumping where I stood and enjoying the music. The melody line of the chorus in "Soul Meets Body" was instantly recognizable by the crowd. The band's performance of "I Will Possess Your Heart" has an ethereal feel that makes you sway so easily to the music especially when they spent about 5+ minutes just on the riff/groove without lyrics.

Briggs and I ended up going to the Keg at Fort Strip after the concert to knock down a few beers. Gigo decided to join us then. It was a Nomad Massive event at the Keg that night. So I was able to see some more Alabang friends who were DJ-ing that night.

Not bad at all for a Foo Fighters cancellation consolation prize. Days after the concert, I decided to learn play "Soul Meets Body" on guitar and sing. It's an easy song to learn if you have a capo. Looking forward to more music that band will come out in the future.


END OF LINE...