“Hoy Adik” Live @ Black Kings Bar

About a day after the UE campus gig, I got an invite from Bong Cervantes (bass player extraordinaire and DJ at Pinas FM 95.5 MHz) to attend the first anniversary celebration of Bongskie Prods, the local live indie band production outfit he runs. Since Clubhouse was on the billing for the gig, I expected that the Clubhouse guys were going to ask me to play as well. Since my synth and keyboard amp are always in the trunk of my car, I’m always up for a performance.

After performing Clubhouse songs, something that I didn’t expect happened. I was up on stage and Clubhouse was about to perform the song “Hoy Adik” by Bong Cervantes. And so it happened that I was about to perform the song cold, without any rehearsal whatsoever. I didn’t know the song at all! Fortunately, I was able to listen to it, figure out the patterns and the song structure, as well as listened for cues where I could play. Thankfully, I was able to play through the song without any incident, hence the video you see here courtesy of Bong Cervantes/Bongskie Prods. Enjoy!

Multitasking Onstage with Clubhouse

Hello, folks (a.k.a. the 20 or so more or less readers of this blog)! It’s been some time since I’ve written a proper post so here goes:

About a week ago, Choy Marasigan (singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist) of the local indie band “Clubhouse” asked me to play with them at the University of the East – Caloocan for a campus show. He said he didn’t have a lead guitar player so he asked me if I was willing to play for that show. I said yes and then also offered to play guitar as well since I did know how to play a number of their songs in that capacity. I’ve always wanted to try doing that sort of Kerry Livgren, Robert Henshall, Tony Banks, or Geddy Lee-styled multitasking so I asked him if I can play guitar as well. Choy was probably hesitant to say yes to yours truly playing lead guitar as well but he did.

I am not so sure if I’m ever gonna do multitasking onstage again. I might do it again if I can get a band together to play my solo artist stuff (something I am having a lot of trouble with). I would say the experience of doing that was very fulfilling. However, it was a pain carrying a lot of gear myself. I probably need to train to strengthen myself to keep on doing such on a regular basis. Maybe if I start earning enough to afford a roadie to help me in such times, it would literally take a load off of me.

Anyway, I enjoyed playing that day with Clubhouse for a bunch of college kids. See for yourself in the videos below:

The first song was “Mundo”:

Second song was “Nais”:

Many thanks to Choy Marasigan of Clubhouse for inviting me, and thank you Nathan Avante (drums) and fellow session player Bong Cervantes (bass) for playing onstage with me.