“The Story of the Inverted E” part 1

An article by Redel Ramos from PILLBOX: The Official Eraserheads Magazine vol. 1 no. 1

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The gruesome foursome wanted me to tell the story of their olden days. A sort of history, one might say. As a self-appointed “chronicler” of the band when we were in college, I could say that I knew some things that other writers don’t. Although some facts here are not new to your ears, it can somehow establish the veracity of previously written stuff. Perhaps, my purpose is to tell the fans that the band’s story is not at all romanticized for public mileage. As their college barkada, I’m here to confirm and relate how their ordinariness have catapulted them to stardom. In a sense, this story is an eyewitness account to the phenomenon which is the ERASERHEADS.

SUBTERRANEAN CAMPUS BLUES

Contrary to popular belief, Eraserheads was not the first combo of Ely. Or Raymund, Marcus and Buddy, for that matter. In 1987, Ely’s fist college band made a stunning debut in the campus gig circuit. The nameless and hastily formed quartet from a freshman dormitory called Kalayaan played before a hundred or so students gathered in the lobby of AS building for what was dubbed as a “protest concert”. Ely, who played bass, and the Morrisey-influnced Raymund dela Peña, a friend whom we fondly called Luci, were the backbone of this band. They opened their set with “Boys Don’t Cry” and the crowd went wild. It was followed by “Rock Around The Clock”, which Ely crazily introduced as an “ode to socialism”, and the crowd went wilder. “yung keyboardist naming, haping-happy. Akala n’ya pinagkakaguluhan kami,” Ely reminisced with a chuckle. However, the enthusiastic and responsive crowd sent the four hapless freshmen pissing in their pants long before they fished EBTG’s “Angel”. The crowd wad deliriously chanting “Imperyalismo, ibagsak!”, obviously attacking their repertoire that was terribly hostile to their ideology. The band was a sorry miscast in that protest concert suited for the likes of Joey Ayala and Patatag. But the caper they inadvertently pulled made it in the Phil. Collegian, the university organ. Ely would later clip the article that gave them instant and fleeting popularity in the freshmen circle. He scribbled, “Look Ma, we’re famous!”

Raymund, Marcus and Buddy became UP students the following year. I can still remember them when Ely and I watched Identity Crisis’ concert in Abelardo Hall. We saw Marc and Raymund wearing eyeliners and hairsprayed ‘dos ala Robert Smith. At times, we would see them passing by our dorm carrying guitars on the way to practice. Luci chided them because of their sartorial sense and punkish attitude that was seemingly overflowing. Ely and Luci did not have a hint that raymund would be their session player later on.

In 1988, Ely and Luci wanted to form a new band and they posted audition ads in the Kalayaan dorm. Raymund was the first to respond and his audition piece was “Hot, Hot, Hot”. I asked Ely how he fared and he said, “Okay naman s’ya. Kaya lang mali ‘yung chord pattern na ginawan n’ya.” Raymund later brought Buddy and Marcus. They had a jam at “Abelardo’s”, a studio behind Nepa-Q Market in QC.. Marcus didn’t actually play but was an onlooker. “Mukha pang walang alam si Marcus, nanonood lang,” Ely said. Buddy didn’t make the grade because his bass playing actually went unnoticed. On second thought, it could also have been “because he was wearing slacks” as Ely confided.

Nothing really happened with the audition. So Raymund, Marcus and Buddy went on to form a new band of their own called Curfew. Their repertoire consisted of the Primitive’s “Crash”, Bolshoi’s “Away”, and Gene Loves Jezebel’s “Gorgeous” and songs by Soupdragons and Housemartins. They had a vocalist Candy Pelayo and had their own set of groupies.

On the other hand, Ely and Luci formed a band named Sunday School where Ely handled the bass. There were only session drummers usually brought by Luci from the Conservatory. Raymund, who was still with Curfew, would join Ely’s band in campus gigs once in a while. In his first gig with Sunday School, he played the keyboards for their cover of Aztec Camera’s “Walk Out to Winter”. Raymunds presence in Sunday School was a constant source of annoyance to his namesake, Raymund aka Luci. There was some sort of personality clash because both guys had to deal with each other’s “attitude”. Definitely, there were also artistic differences because Luci, a guitar major in the Conservatory of Music, was a very technical and meticulous musician. He was very critical of Raymund’s “uneducated” style of playing. However, Luci had always been impressed by Ely’s natural talent despite his lack of knowledge in complicated techniques. In fact, Sunday School had two original songs, “Unsung Heroes” (a song that will be included in Francis M’s album Happy Battle) and “It’s Monday Out There” – both composed by Ely.

Eventually, Luci left Sunday School. He said he was already sick and tired of New Wave and that he wanted to concentrate on jazz (which according to him was higher learning where he can hone his skills). “He must have regrettedit,” Ely said, his voiced tinged with both pride and mockery. So Raymund brought in his bandmates from Curfew – Marcus and Buddy. Hence, the birth of Eraserheads. They made their performance in a sorority-sponsored variety show in the AS steps..

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