CHIESTER

Alpha Kyew:

Gredge Salvador - Bass
Miguel Calvan - Guitar
Yours Truly - Guitar, Vox
Mark Eugene Natividad - Drums

Well, we were a legend that never was LOL (more like a myth). Band Wars 1992 didn’t happen at Claret School that year (more on that another time). We were planning some songs, but we didn’t push it since it got cancelled.

I eventually jammed with another group, I forgot what they were called. My friend JP Balboa played bass on that band, they played U2 songs. Hmm, let me see, I think Johann Gonzales was there, Michael Tuazon played guitar, Edwin Guillermo played keyboards (not sure about him being there though…), they asked me to play drums because they knew my sister had a drum kit.

Killing time in Mary Wanna Crack I played with The Circumcised Jews.

The lineup was:
Francis Salvador - vox
Ryan San Miguel - drums
Gredge Salvador - bass
Miguel Calvan - guitar
Yours Truly - guitar, vox

That was grunge heaven. Anything Seattle. Although I think I wore Ryan out because I kept playing Pantera songs. I remember Gredge was like ‘ can you go easy on the treble? your sound is Pantera-ish when we play Soundgarden…’. He was right, I used to play a scooped sound: highs and lows and no mids.

Francis is an amazing singer, eventually he would have a Faith No More band later on. Ryan would go on to continue being a great drummer. Gredge is a gifted bassist. Miguel played decent rhythm, even though he didn’t took it seriously, he had fun playing.

We played Would? from Alice in Chains, Aneurysm and Dive from Nirvana, and Outshined from Soundgarden. I broke strings while in practice, and I broke em again during performance. I had to borrow guitars from both Joel and Darius, who played in Agnus Dei right after us. I felt bad tuning BOTH of them down, and they had to tune it up afterwards. I took us longer to finish our set, I knew it pissed off a lotta bands. The punks were like ‘you guys are from Seattle huh? go back to f@..?!n’ Seattle!!!!’.

That was great. I never had played with Gredge after that, only after Lois Slain was done with practice. That’ll be myself, Gredge, Joel and whathisname… we would do Pearl Jam songs (I think it’s Black…)

Lineup:

Stephen “Pompom” Pompeyo - vox
Yours Truly - guitar, vox
Norman Pena - guitar
Aris Soriano - bass
Eric - drums

I met these guys through my classmate Norman. Eric was Norman’s friends way back in high school. We all went to the same P.E. class and we talked music a lot so we decided to form a band. It was fun at first. We did NFB from Anthrax and Lithium from Nirvana (I sang the latter) when we performed that one time, and we played at around 2 in the morning! We were gonna do Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe, but the bands before us were already doing it, in fact, almost every band played that song that evening. I borrowed Francis’s (my friend Gredge’s bro) Yamaha les paul copy, that guitar was killer! It had sg pickups and an Ibanez stop tailpiece and a tune-o-matic bridge. How’d that happen, I dunno. This is the first time I would ever hold an Ibanez guitar too.

Second time around, Pompom quit school. I think he was lagging in class, as far as I know. So I kinda took over. Norman decided to concentrate on classes. So I gave em a new direction and introduced Soundgarden to these guys. The thing was, I taught them, gave them tablature (some I even wrote on a blank tab sheet), and still nothing. It was frustrating, so I introduced Soul Asylum so it’ll be easier. Around this time, a friend of theirs, Jose aka Bam, was joining us, and another guy Jojo. We practiced at Jojo’s house, he had a drum kit, and I used his stereo as an amp.

I couldn’t get mad at them because they’re Norman’s friends. I was more frustrated with Eric cuz he couldn’t play how I wanted him to play. The only guys that were serious was Aris and Bam. And I was borrowing other people’s guitar at the time, so I bit my lip.

I spoke to Aris when I was leaving them, and he kinda knew. I told him the truth, that he and Bam were the only ones that kept me leaving before. But in the end, we all remained friends.

Oh the name: we were originally Marry Juana, but that would have gotten us in trouble. So Eric suggested Mary Wanna Crack. Same thing LOL.

If I had known that Testament used to be called Legacy, I wouldn’t have called my band that. But from where I grew up, nobody cared who Testament was (or at least the school I went to aside from the few metalheads like me).

I named this band Legacy for one thing: the band had members from 1st to 4th year high school, which never (that I’ve known of) happened before.

The band is:
Michael “Muny” Munoz - vox (Junior)
Yours Truly - guitar, background vox (Junior)
William “Will” Llanes - drums (Sophomore)
Carl “Bo” Pangilinan - keyboards (Freshman)
Donald “Dondee” Lim - bass (Sophomore)
Fernando “Andy” Garcia - keyboards (Senior)

Students long who grew up going to Claret School of Quezon City know the ever-famous yearly music competition called Band Wars. Every aspiring musician in that school would want to have a spot. I know I did.

My drummer Will and his bro Elmer were Claretians long before my family moved to Q.C., and Elmer’s band DFX (Den From Exile) were great. They played Van Halen songs. As I remembered them, Elmer was a talented keyboard player and their drummer Jun Nogoy was a monster on drums (and still is playing in the local circuit). I think the guitar player at the time (before Andy was asked to join in) was Dicky, I remembered he had a lotta Boss pedals.

I wanted to enter that event, but won’t be there not till my Junior year. I had started playing guitar already and was ambitious enough to tackle harder songs, but the lineup I assembled couldn’t do it. So we just picked easier songs that was fun to play. There was no chance we’d win, but it was a start. We picked Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, The One I Love by REM and Imagine by John Lennon. We were only able to practice those songs on the night BEFORE the event. Yes that’s right, that was 8 till 1 in the morning, and DFX was still gonna practice (back home where I grew up NOBODY would complain, unlike here in Orange County…).

Another thing: our Claretian council decided to change the name Band Wars to Band Search. The reason: the word War implied a negative towards a Catholic school (stupid). But no one can challenge them, so that was the first year that it all changed.

I remembered we all wore white shirts, because the rest didn’t want me to wear my Slayer shirt (which I will regret forever). And Andy’s white strat (Fernando) was the guitar of the day, almost every band used it! Good thing nobody broke the strings considering he was only using 9’s. I borrowed my friend (and hero) Eric Villadelgado’s Boss Distortion and Flanger. I was not gonna use my Fender knockoff live (it’s called the Vietnam Strat for collectors out there…).

It was fun nonetheless, considering they were only easy songs. I liked that feeling being on stage, it was larger than being a stage actor.

I don’t think that there was anything like Legacy after that. But then again, who’d remember us? LOL.

For those who sent emails, left text and voice messages, personally called or greeted me…. THANK YOU!!!

Being 30 ain’t that bad. Made me think about a lotta things.

I am gonna get me a 7-string guitar this year.

I just found out yesterday that a good friend of mine died last Sunday. His name is Victor Hwee, we call him Vic and he was my sister-in-law Annie’s ex-boyfriend. Though they have broken up, he secretly kept in touch with me (and my co-worker/Annie’s cousin Christine) to see how we’re doin’ and how Annie’s doin’.

He was a very nice guy. I know he’s a doctor and that he has his own office somewhere in the Inland Empire. He was actually learning guitar and was asking me for advice each time he’d see me. The last few times I saw him he asked me what kind of amplifier he’d buy.

Then sometime ago, probably for the last year and a half, he was ill. I didn’t know he had leukemia. Then he got better, next thing you know he’ll be really sick.

They said that they’ve actually gotten rid of the cancer. But he died from pneumonia.

I had this sick feeling inside me. I should’ve been able to see him at least.

But wherever he is, I hope he is at peace.

Bro, I’ll play guitar with you again someday.

Now that I’ve started a separate blog for Friendster, I have this announcement:

For all of the people I’ve asked and denied my request, that’s okay and I’m fine with it because I don’t need you so here’s a big F?!K YOU to you, if you’re reading this.

I’m fine to a point that I’m like ‘wow, this person really is an a**hole’.

Thanks, but no thanks. In the future, or after you read this, it’s too late for apologies.

I have to thank all of the people, old and new, who I asked (and have asked me) to be in Friendster.

That is all… for now