Chatted with a friend earlier today and told me that he watched the recent Foam Party with The Pupil in General Santos City, for him and it was a "30-minute nirvana".
But before my friend told about the fun and enjoyment that night, he started how Pupil performance was. According to him, when Pupil performed their own tracks, the crowd didn't jam as what we normally see from a rock band coming from Manila.
I'm a fan of Ely and the rest of Eraserheads (E-heads), no doubt, growing up with their music has been part of any Pinoy of my age. And I presume they have their own favorite album or songs of E-heads. Mine is Cutterpillow because it was the first album we bought back then before we owning their previous albums.
According to my friend who was there, since the crowd were not jamming with what the Pupil has been playing, Ely and fellow bandmates decided to play some E-heads songs, Magasin and Superproxy in particular and The Teeth's song entitled Prinsesa. Well, that's because Jerome Velasco, original founder of the OPM Rock band The Teeth, is a guest guitarist of Pupil during their live performances (according to Wikipedia here.) They don't really have a choice but to make the crowd groove and jam or else the Pupil will fail the audience have a good Saturday night.
When my friend heard E-heads classic live, that's the time he said it was "nirvana", (ultimate happiness). He was like brought to the past, back in high school. When I asked was the version of Prinsesa was of 6 Cycle Mind, he immediately answered me with a "no", the crowd might go wild if they'll play "bosa-bosa". He actually mean bossa nova. At first he actually let me guess what Teeth's song they played, I first guessed "Laklak", forgetting Ely was the lead vocals. I immediately typed Prinsesa to correct my guess. But I was late, he just laughed and told, "I can't imagine Ely singing Laklak". I just replied, if it's Vice Ganda, of course it would be okay since he can sing in any tone. I actually remember, Vice Ganda sings Laklak for Anne Curtis.
Moving on, we continued chatting about Ely and Pupil. My friend mentioned Bamboo Mañalac former member of Rivermaya. Bamboo, like Ely, formed his own band and he called the band after his name Bamboo. The band Bamboo was now disbanded now but unlike Ely's Pupil, Bamboo became a massive hit it became everyone's favorite and for me, it seems people forgot that Bamboo was of Rivermaya. The impact was at that.
As compare to Pupil, when people sees Ely performing, they can't help but ask for E-heads songs in which according to another friend, Ely doesn't like because he want to be known as Pupil's vocalist and stop being connected to his former band, Eheads.
Of course it really hurts for a recording artist because Ely can't established a name or band of he can call his own. Ely is not alone with this predicament, just like any other band who went separate ways, fans still see or wishes the old band members performing together.
It's like starting from being unknown to known but they've already known you.
I told my friend, well, didn't just happened our local bands. I've learned that Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry experienced the same. When Joe left Aerosmith due to some personal misunderstandings with Steven, he formed his own band while Aerosmith hired James "Jimmy" Crespo Jr as lead guitarist to replace Joe. But Aerosmith fans didn't enjoy the band's new format. When the band came up with a new album and tracks, it wasn't a hit just like their previous hits. Fans were dying to see Joe Perry back with Aerosmith again.
Meanwhile, Joe Perry himself was trying to establish a reputation of his own but failed too. We are lucky Steven Tyler and Joe Perry reunited after all. They were really meant to be, right? We wouldn't have a chance to hear Cryin or Regine Velasquez's fans wouldn't hear her singing the Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing", or Tanging Ina star Ai ai delas Alas lip sync-hing the said song.
A reunion of Ely and former bandmates is far off in my opinion. Even the reunion concert will never happen again. A tribute album has been given to the band, signifying that there will never be a E-heads again. In fact, Raymund Marasigan much known as lead vocals of Sandwich, IMO. Unlike Ely, many still sees E-heads in him.
As of now, all I can say is that Pupil being a band, they must first come up with a hit of their own because E-heads hits is that really old songs to be forgotten yet. And it will never be forgotten actually. The official soundtrack of Panday 2 in which the Pupil performed was a good sample of a song of their own. When I saw a child singing the song when played on TV, deep in me, I was smiling because of what I know that Ely's situation. It was a sign that people starting to learn about the band and not Ely alone. Again, just a big hit. It's never too late. I still believe in Ely's talent and of course the rest of the Pupil. Rock on!
Note: You might found some grammatical error, please bear with me as I write continuously without re-reading.
