Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Jack Daniel's JD Set Philippines: Jack Versus the Crab Live Performance on Dig Radio



One of my bands, Jack Versus the Crab, did a live show on Dig Radio last Saturday, May 26, 2012. We joined the other JD Set 7 bands for the ongoing Jack Daniel's JD Set Philippines band competition.

Dig Radio is actually not a bonafied broadcasting radio station. They're an internet video streaming kind of radio station. We got to Dig Radio really early since our call time was 12:00PM. I was surprised that the Dig Radio office was actually right opposite saGuijo where I play often with my other 2 bands. The office is rather nice and obviously pretty well funded.

The schedule was set where one of the 7 bands would be interviewed while another band would be setting up for their live performance. Then a hand-off would happen to shift the broadcast to the band to air their live set.

We were scheduled to play our set by 2:10PM. Unfortunately, with all the personnel and technical delays between Dig Radio and Jack Daniel's, we only got to start playing around 4:30PM. We were the first band scheduled to play. So I found it annoyingly amusing that they asked us to sound check 2-3 times.

Below is the resulting live broadcast of the entire show.



The cuts between band interviews and live performances had a few hiccups along they way. So it's best if you start at 39:37 in the video to catch my band's set.

This is actually the last Jack Daniel's event until the JD Set Tour Finale at Music Museum this coming June 1, 2012. Dig Radio opened up text voting for the competitions. So if you want to vote for Jack Versus the Crab, text the following:

Text "JD 1" to 2948

"2948" goes for all mobile networks. Make sure that there is an actual space between "JD" and "1". You can check out the real-time results of the text voting at the link below.

http://www.pinoytuner.com/poll/view/1148/18#.T8TYtcXhdIE

After the finale event, Jack Daniel's will narrow the bands from the 7 down to the top 3. It doesn't seem like we'll make it to the Top 3. But here's hoping that we do. If we don't make it to the top 3, then it's all fine and good. It's been an amazing and lengthy tour. And I'm just glad to even be a part of it in the first place.


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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Awesome Hang Player + Drummer Performance

Ever since I got my Bali Steel Pan, I've been increasingly checking out hand pan videos on YouTube. I came across this guy named Rafael Sotomayer. He has a YouTube channel called "TheArtOfFusion". He's been playing the original Hang for years now. You can tell that he has increased the number of Hangs he has over the years. How he's able to acquire 4 or more Hangs from the makers is baffling to me, especially since I had difficulty even just trying to get one for myself. Lucky bastard.

The video below is one of his songs that I particularly like from his solo album called "Rhizonism". The video is a live outdoor performance with a drummer.


The crowd responded very well to their performance, and for good reason. I'll be getting a second Bali Steel Pan soon. I hope to be as good as Rafael some day.


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Monday, May 7, 2012

J.O.E. (The JR Oca Experience) at Checkpoint Louie's



This particular gig was my J.O.E. gig at Checkpoint Louie's last April 13, 2012. The last time I gigged in Checkpoint was years ago when it was still in its old location. The new location is much more accessible now than the previous one. Just drive up Sucat Rd. coming off South Super Highway from Makati and you'll eventually reach the bar once you pass SM Hypermart.

I have to admit, the place is larger and the gear is a whole lot better than my memory of the old Checkpoint bar. The new and improved Checkpoint even had a 2nd floor where the crowd can watch the bands playing from that vantage point. It's one of the few venues for music that I know of down south. The place also carries a healthy community of music enthusiasts.

Another admission I will make is the fact that I can probably be considered a senior citizen amongst the crowd. The people present were probably 10-20 years younger than me. But I didn't mind because I came to gig with my bandmates whose company I enjoy. As always, gigging/hanging out with bandmates was a good departure from dealing with office people.

I saw a Facebook friend of mine Pao David, who is a part of a band called Hallway Five. His band was slated to play right after us. When I spoke to him on Facebook, he somehow assumed I wouldn't even remember his name. He was presently surprised when I waved at him as he passed by me and called him by his name.

Berns was back on bass for that gig, and former J.O.E. member, Kim, agreed to fill in for Coby on saxophone for the night. So I was surrounded by awesome, very veteran musicians.

Below are videos of our set that night. JR's wife, Jojie, was nice enough to take video of us using my Zoom Q3HD. She has some trouble making sure that people didn't get in the way of the camera view. So do pardon the sudden camera movements and shakes every so often in these videos.

The Chicken (Cover)


Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo (Cover)


Rapsadoodle


Englishman in New York (Cover)


Our drummer, Paulo, was also part of another band called Bakeshop who played later that night. I took videos of their entire set. But so far I've only managed to edit and upload one of their songs. It's my favorite song of their album. So I chose to upload that one first.

Abutan


Bakeshop seemed to have a good following that night because they practically took over the second floor of the venue. I went upstairs for a bit before their set to buy their CD. I didn't bother having my CD autographed by the band. I'm after listening to their music and supporting the band anyway. The songs will make their way to my iPod. So for me, it didn't really matter whether they signed my copy of their album anyway.

We surprisingly ended the night earlier than usual. But we obviously had an adequate fill of San Mig Light and Jack Daniel's. Jack Daniel's seems to be a staple alcoholic beverage for myself and JR at gigs these days. Especially since JR and I have had quite a number of Jack Daniel's JD Set gigs with Jack Versus the Crab. It was funny that JR even thanked Jack Daniel's while we were onstage. I found that amusingly funny. The ride home was slow (due to JR ensuring we would get home safely), but absolutely hilarious. We just kept on spouting nonsense from our mouths and laughing our heads off. I forgot half of the jokes we pulled on the way home. But Jojie made sure to remind us of the highlights when she posted on Facebook the next day. LOL!

Friday the 13th and nothing unlucky happened to us fortunately. Another fun night of music with good friends. More to come, I'm sure.


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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Jack Daniel's JD Set Philippines: Jack Versus the Crab Voting Party at Handlebar

It's been some time since this gig.  But I'd better post about it before it just muddles into the blur of countless other gigs. This was Jack Versus the Crab's Voting Party for the Jack Daniel's JD Set Philippines band competitions last March 28, 2012. We were fortunate that Handlebar in Makati was the venue for our voting party.

It was unfortunate that I had to bail out on my SunDownMuse bandmates that night. They had a gig at the Paramita Voting Party at Black Kings' Bar that night. I had to prioritize Jack Versus the Crab given that we were the headliner band that night, as opposed to just being one of the front acts for Paramita at BKB.

There wasn't a lot of people at Handlebar by any stretch. It was a mix of the regular happy hour crowd, friends we invited, and some people walking in to check out who was playing that night. I've seen the place way more packed than that night. But the number of people present at the time felt cozy rather than rowdy.

As always with Jack Daniel's events, we had our complimentary bottles of Jack Daniel's for the band.  In all honesty, I was avoiding having to hit the Jack bottles because I had work early the next day. This annoyed me at the time since I was just a part-time consultant for my company back then. And having me come in that early was a little above and beyond my part-time charter. (I was being a brat, I know). After some time, I succumbed to the calling of my best friend Jack Daniel's, aside from our band leader incessantly bugging me to drink.

We were the only band for the night. So we got to play two long sets. Below are videos that my good friend Joseph took of us using my Zoom Q3HD.

What's Goin' On?"


Come Together (Cover)


Give Me One Reason (Cover)


The two covers I just showed were unique and a joy to play. The beautiful Chase ShelleƩ joined us for these covers. Her sultry vocals actually gave flavor to the band's sound.

Detox


I particularly screwed up on my solo on our last song "The Song I Never Finished". That's not even just an insecure remark on my part. I was totally off at the time for some reason. But somehow, people were distracted with alcohol influenced personalities that kept coming up on stage to bother noticing my screw-ups. That suited me just fine. LOL!

I think Jack Daniel's will have us do one more voting party some time this month. And then they're going to narrow down the Chosen 7 bands down to 3. Whether or not we actually make it to the top 3, it certainly has been a fun and worthwhile ride for me.


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