Eskapo Tour Updates

Some updates about the ongoing Eskapo Pilipinas Tour:

1. There has been a venue change in the Laguna leg for Monday. Instead of Binan, the show will be held somewhere in the Pacita Complex. Check out the updated flyer above. Just go to Pacita Complex and hook up with some hardcore kids you see walking by. The venue will not be hard to find.

2. Rumors about the Lucena leg being cancelled because of the equipment is over. Mr. Z and O managed to dip into their magic bag and pulled off the seemingly impossible. Same venue. Same line-up. Make sure to go to this show and give your support. Plus, Eskapo will definitely blow your brains out along with some locals.

3. Party at the Farewell Show of Eskapo @ Black 8 Bar in Cainta next Tuesday. This is their last show, so don't miss out.

ESKAPO kick-off show @ cuerdas bar review...

Last night was the kick-off party for Eskapo's Pilipinas Tour. Everyone was psyched especially Rupert of Eskapo who was getting sweaty palms all over while we were on the way to the venue. A nice thick crowd was already forming in front of the venue when we arrived. No parking slots available near the venue so we had to parking somewhere else.

A little problem was facing the organizers that night because the bass drum had a hole in it so they had to look for a quick replacement to start the show. Fortunately, eveyrthing worked out and at around 9:45, the show started with the debut of SDK. They are a three-piece band playing melodic punk rock. The crowd was elated when they did a cover of 'Bikeage' from Descendents.

To really kick off the show, HALF THE BATTLE went on stage and proceeded to start the hostilities. The crowd was a bit stagnant at first but a stage-dive from the amps provided the catalyst for the crowd to finally sweat it out. People kept hitting the ceiling fan that afterwards they had to stop the fan from getting utterly destroyed. Great set once again from HTB. S who's on our guest list? EVERYBODY!

Up next was The Beauty of Doubt minus Ronald. Crowd went nuts singing along. Ray from Feud sang 'Ampanonarchist' to the delight of the crowd. The crowd helped the band do vocal chores that night and it was great having the entire room singing along to TBOD songs.

After TBOD, ESKAPO began setting up their equipment. You could say this is the culmination of all their hard work in Vallejo, California. What delight it is to have them playing in front of their 'hometown' crowd. I had goosebumps before they started their set and a busted lip and bruised thigh afterwards. Holy mother. These guys absolutely destroyed that night. They played songs from their two-full lengths. The crowd was flying around, singing-along. Highlight material: Tagalog, Manila Sunrise with Rupert and Loi charging to the crowd. Shit.

THROW was next and were their usual selves. The crowd enjoyed all the Dead Ends songs. Al D never fails to deliver. BETRAYED was up next and after more than 25 years, they still got it. They played some anthems from the 80's and some new songs i believe.

Last, but definitely not the least to play was TAME THE TIKBALANG. I swear, these guys get better as they age. They played songs off their 'Forever Shall Be' CD. We egged them on playing one last song and holy shit, did they ever did. 'Sailin On' by Bad Brains was the definitive closer of the night and the crowd just went ape-shit. Fuck yeah.

Definitely another night to remember. Great job from the MAIM guys. I hope to see more shows from these guys.

Catch Eskapo tonight @ Freedom Bar and then @ Green Papaya tomorrow night. Bystorm will be playing with them on Thursday @ Ten02 Bar, Quezon City. Make sure you're there and wear your dancingshoes. Should make a hell of a night.

Currently listening: Eskapo 'Wind of Hell', Ignite 'Live at Winnipeg bootleg', Gehenna 'Upon the Gravehill'

ps. sorry for not posting any pics. will do later when i get home.

Food Not Bombs Tomorrow, January 6, 2009 @ Lawton Grounds

FNB's first salvo for the New Year. thought it will be held this Sunday but it was moved tomorrow. so if you're not doing anything tomorrow, help out. this post was done by ray (feud):



ORAS: BRUNCH 10:00 AM

LOCATION: PAIKOT-IKOT SA LAWTON, MANILA

MENU: MAINIT NA SINABAWANG GULAY (WALANG KNORR PRAMIS!) IMBITADO ANG LAHAT!BRING ANYTHING YOU WISH TO SHARE! PAGKAIN, DAMIT, LARUAN, AT IBA PANG PWEDENG PAKINABANGAN! KITA-KITS!



P.S.: Check out this video clip taken with a mobile camera immediately after a terrorist Israeli air strike hit a busy market where kids with their mothers and fathers were searching for food to eat from one of the local markets early on Saturday 03, Jan 2009, Gaza. http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/01/04/what-israel-dont-want-you-to-see/

hangin out is what we do best...

these pics were taken while we here hangin out in led's (major malfunction) place some time ago but never put it here. so here it is, a near-perfect dinner with friends. marble potatoes and spaghetti laced in tomato, garlic, mushroom and basil. awesome shit. good friends. good food. hardcore. what's not to love, eh?

some shirts unposted last year...

golden harvest varsity jacket?? spazz mixed youth crew?? haha. i took this one during the lakefest and ws surprised that jep peligro did the same and posted it in http://www.diypinoyhcpunk.com/, check it out if you haven't already.

verse 'aggression' pre-order shirt

ignite 'saturday bloody sunday' malaysia tour shirt. i got this newhen we went to see ignite last year in KL. definitely one of the best and surreal shows i've been. ignite rules if you still don't know dipshit.

judge 'bringin it down' shirt. best part of this shirt is the backprint where a "haired" porcell rocks out. too bad no one took the back pic though.

good stuff: restarting this blog to start 2009, eskapo's kick-off show tomorrow @ cuerdas bar, be there!, vegie tocino from country vege (san juan) - i actually bought this one in malvar's supermarket along molino road in bacoor, cavite, near my parent's house. tastes awesome if you put a little more sugar and spice to seal the deal, so cavite kids, check out and support that store for it might not be there for long.

currently listening to: thrash talk 'walking disease', ceremony 'violence, violence' (check out their set at gilman st. on youtube, will f'n blow you away!) , extortion 'sick'

bad stuff: going back to work tomorrow...fck...

lakefest show review...

verse 'triple logo' shirt

ruiner 'letting down japan' 2008 tour shirt

we got to the venue around 3:30 pm and the cold breeze was definitely rearing its ugly head. the lake was f'n dark and everyone was getting just a bit too chilly. got to see some old faces and managed to talk to some. set up the merch table beside the a better hope foundation guys. after hanging out and talking to some peeps at the venue, we headed out to get some food. we found this makeshift store after climbing a loonnngggg flight of stairs and luckily they have some fried tofu and they had this awesome home-made chili 'salsa' with some ginger in it. tastes awesome and took the cold outta us for a while. check it out:

Before going back to the venue we managed to drink some kapeng barako at a tree house. How cool is that? We heard someone starting out the show and later on i heard it was IMPLORE THE DARKEN SKy, sounding a bit like H8000 bands with a more modern touch. I never got to see them though cause we were too busy hanging out with our coffee at the time.

When we came back, we were surprised to find out that we were about to play next since we were changed slots with HALF THE BATTLE. No problem. BYSTORM playing with the sun setting in the background and the crowd starting to heat up. we had a blast playing. Great sound system, nice venue and crowd. HTB followed suit and were their usual crazy selves that drove the crowd into a circle pitting frenzy. They also palyed Good Clean Fun's 'No Sacrifice Too Great'. Awesome set as always. At this time the crowd was really getting it on and of course there will always be morons at the pit but its all part of the show, right?

WALK ME HOME followed HTB and calmed the crowd for a while with their college rock inspired songs. I may be wrong but Chamberlain comes to mind. Nice set. After WMH, I think San Pablo locals STANDOUT was next. Were these the same guys from AURORA? They play fast hardcore with some moshy parts and even did a Shutdown cover for good measure. Crowd sing-along in full effect. MIHARA followed them and these guys are one of the most hardworking bands in the Laguna Hardcore scene today. You can see them at almost all the shows and they're getting tighter at every turn. They played I think about 6 songs including a cover of 'No Spiritual Surrender' by Inside Out. Cool.

A BETTER HOPE FOUNDATION was up next and destroyed the crowd again with their own blend of fast hardcore and really well thought out lyrics. They even had a contest wherein they were egging some guys to stage-dive butt naked or dive from the twelve feet speakers for free shirts. Some guys stripped down to their boxers and another one dove from the speakers. Awesome set once again for these guys. Thanks for visiting the Philippines.

After ABHF, came PILEDRIVER, TAME THE TIKBALANG, SAUNA and LEGARDA in succession. I heard all FOUR bands played great which unfortunately I did not catch because I went out with some friends to grab dinner. It was at this juncture that I heard that Pao's phone got lost and was never returned. Fucked up. Thanks to Odessa for the marble potatoes. Yum.

Up next was TYPECAST, but who gives a fuck? haha. GROUND ZERO played next and like MIHARA, these guys get better every gig. I got a GZ and the new ISVARAH 'Cleansing' shirt before going. I failed to do some trades for some more stuff though. Too busy hanging out with friends. hehe. TOWARDS THE END played next and if I'm right they were the ones who played 'Sick People' while we were heading out.

All in all, a great fest to start out the year. Congratulations to the San Pablo crew for making this happen and wqe hope to be back next year. Thanks a lot and see you soon at the Eskapo tour!

Good stuff: Killing Time 'Brightside', Cro-Mags 'Age of the Quarrel', Blacklisted 'Heavier than Heaven...', Double Cross Webzine, DW best of 2008 list, the return of HTB and Beng, upcoming Eskapo tour, get stoked...

ESKAPO PILIPINAS TOUR

january 13 @ Black 8 Bar, Pasig c/o Flowergrave Collective, Eskapo's Farewell Show

january 12 @ binan, laguna

january 11 @ lucena

ESKAPO: PILIPINAS TOUR

january 9 @ san fernando, pampanga

january 5: tour kickoff c/o maim collective

january 10 @ pulilan, bulacan



january 8 @ ten02 bar: can you spell M-E-T-AL?

january 6 @ freedom bar c/o sampcore collective

so, unless you're living in a cave, you've probably heard of ESKAPO coming to tour the Philippines next week. Everyone's pretty excited about the homecoming of one of the greatest Filipino hardcore punk bands of all time. two (2) full lengths, a bunch of compilations and an upcoming 4-way split with Kill Ratio, Istukas Over Disnyeland and La Grita and finally they're coming back to their native land. holy shit. don't miss out. this may be the first and last time you'll see eskapo (hopefully, not). so lace an em up and go to all of these shows. pick up their tour shirt and help food not bombs...

the first lakefest 2009

we're going to san pablo city today to play the first lakefest: some sort of hardcore fest put up by the san pablo city crew. it's been a while since we played in spc and hopefully the show will turn out great. i'm still sick but hopefully advil will pull through to combat the recurring headaches. gonna travel by bus with HTB and BYSTORM so for sure it's gonna be a blast. watch out for a show review tomorrow...

it's the end of a fucked up year...and another one coming..

hey there. sorry if the title's a little depressing. i guess it's just that line from the almighty embrace that keeps popping up every time the new year comes along.

but seriously, 2008 has been a very good year for me and i think the hardcore community as well. here are some good things that happened last year:

1. passing the bar (worth al the blood, sweat and tears and i hate everone calling me 'attorney!' at every turn..haha)

2. bystorm - malaysia/singapore tour

3. bystorm/pulling teeth split cd (thanks mike, dom and the rest!)

4. conquest for death show @ cainta

5. magrudergrind tour

6. verse 'aggression'

7. richard collier 'for the love of death'

8. sauna 'deeper it goes'

9. half the battle reunion show!!!

10. matt skiba singing on 'what happened' by h20

11. all non-compliant shows (thanks to led, z, arje, denver and everyone else who helped out in putting up all the shows last year..tis great having you guys on board)..

12. audiobooks, ebooks and 'regular' books...

as for the downside, well, nothing really, just keepin it positive..i just want to apologize for not updating this site regularly. i got a bunch of excuses and i don't really want to get into that. part of my new year's resolution is to update this shit regularly. like a newsletter with show reviews and hopefully get in the interviews i promised earlier..

cheers to 2009!!!

stuff to watch out for in early 2009: ESKAPO PILIPINAS TOUR - Jan. 5-13, 2009, PUNISHABLE ACT from Germany show at Sta. Rosa City, SECOND COMBAT/MOTIVATION tour on February, DEADLY RHYTHMS FROM THE PRODUCTION LINE - 4 way split with ESKAPO, KILL RATIO, LA GRITA and ISTUKAS OVER DISNEYLAND