FINALVOW E.P. AND MUSIC VIDEO LAUNCH

5 o'clock. 

Just got home from a meet-up with a friend who made the stickers for our E.P. and music video launch.. happening in about an hour or two. This is a first, a big leap for the band. Since I joined FINALVOW in 2007, almost everything changed. The line-up, the inspirations, the music.

There really is nothing new with how we compose music. Carl still (and will always be) writes the structure and the foundations of the song (he has a unique gift of creating a melody in a snap!), the rest of us is the salt and pepper, or the Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain who adds the flavor, the uniqueness, the oddities if you may call it. Mix it all up and whoala! The re-birth, regeneration of FINALVOW. And it all sums up to this, the E.P. and the music video.

7 o'clock

People were now standing outside Freedom Bar, in Anonas, Quezon City. Waiting for the gates to open. CD's, band shirts and stickers were set up at the selling area for people to buy and brag around. We had the honor to come in early, we had to, it's our night! :P

Looked at the stage, damn! All cocked up and loaded, ready to do massive aural and visual circus the line-up of bands would certainly deliver. I checked the amps. As promised, our brother Bone Pagligaran from Modular Display Inc. delivered a monster. Not one, but two Kustom HM100 Hybrid amps! Backed up by the Kustom Deep End DE300HD head and cab for Snowwman's bassworks, i'm pretty sure this will be one helluva night!

Got my guitar, plugged the cord and turned the volume a quarter to the right. Turned the knobs to my specs, dist pedal off,  i struck a chord.. Instant eargasm! The response was so sweet it made me wanna play funk all night. Then came to try out how this monster would growl with my dirt pedal...

AMAZING!

The combination of the Kustom HV100 and my sig ZABFX Omega pedal turned out to be a match made in heaven. Chugged out a couple of riffs and i know, i'm on the right track. My sound turned out to be what i always wanted. A savage amp plus a pedal which can carry on with the biggest oomph I want yet still be mellow and sparkly but gives the mid range output the guitar has without the muddy lows the low B-string usually gives off when being played (I play a 7-string Ibanez RG7321).

After our soundcheck, I went backstage to see the man, Josh Dimaano behind the gears that would record the audio for the event. Plugged onto his laptop were Presonus ACP88 then mixed on to a PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 that made sure everyone and every little note played that night would be heard and captured.

It's tiiiiiime!!

The first band to play was called The Hanging Experience. Students who hail from the Asia Pacific College gave the audience a glimpse of the night to come with their own songs of funk-rock insipired chops and grooves.

Black Manika came next with their trademark experimental sound. The ethereal sound B-gee creates with his guitar complements the industo-electronica vibe delivered by the bands' rhythm section. While the man Danes' shrieks and vocal works give chills down the spine of everyone in the room. This band really made the smokin' night burn more!

After two bands, we had to give out some prizes from our friends at Von Dutch Originals, Conquer Outdoor Equipment, and Mortal Outdoor Clothing.

Performing after the break was heavy rockers Inner Volume. Now this is a band I haven't played with and seen for a while. Their passion and attitude towards their music never changed since then. Yeah, they were my high school friends (older, hehe) and really one of the first local bands that made me go out and shed more wood. They gave out a performance that always gives the audience something to linger on feeling. They effin' rock!

Ska-punk rockers Jeepney Joyride came up and gave the already fired-up audience more boost. Their set of all-originals gave justice to their name. Never will your gig adventures be dull with these boys around. So electrifying that even Lady Gaga would go and run for her money. And I promise you'll be singing "Midnight Special"'s chorus every single time (I should know, it's singing in my head right now). :)

Then came the pinoy progfathers, Eternal Now. Their all instrumental set still super phenomenal even with the absence of their vocalist Jelo Bangcal. Meisters Chad, Pepe, Loubert and Marco's set sent shockwaves through the entire venue with the message: "This is prog. We're here to stay!" They kicked off with the Overture and then vignettes from their songs Path of Mirrors Pt. 2 and Betrayer's Tongue. Watching them live would really bring magic and make you proud to be Pinoy! It really was very nice sharing the stage again with one of my heroes, and mentor, sir Chad Robles and his band Eternal Now.
Prog on sirs! \m/

The program was going quite well and after Eternal Now's set came another raffle. Shirts and stuffs were given away courtesy of our friends and sponsors. :)

Bone Pagligaran came next to give the audience his brand of music and offer them his voice that continue to make me think why people with real talent go unnoticed and less-supported. Hearing Bone live for the first time honestly made my GAS attacks go away. His setup was simple, uber simple. Guitar plugged in to a  Kustom HV100 and that's it. But his tone.. I must say, too good man. Too damn good. Then come with the tone are his songs that will sink deep in your heart and soul. A must check guys! Truly, proudly filipino!

It is on!!!!

We came up after Bone's set. And while setting up, I feel belittled as well as very honored to be playing with such great bands. This is it! We started our set as planned with our soundcheck-yet-to-be-arranged-for-a-full-instrumental song "Beautiful Mind" followed by the tracks from our first E.P. that were re-arranged to give way for our individual influences and styles to come out. After 3 songs, we played a track from the current EP called Revelation. The EP will be developed into a concept album that, time permits be finished by November and launched by Demcember. After Revelation, the lights went out. The projector was turned on and it was time for the premiere of the music video for our song, Gravity. Everyone was silent, eagerly waiting for the start.

3..2..1..

People cheered as the video played. Seeing familiar faces being projected on the wall, portraying a character in the film. As the audience were busy watching, i took the time to wipe the sweat dripping from my forehead down my eyes. Which gave me a hard time seeing what notes to play. Riki and his team, the Bongga Boys, did really well with the video and as soon as the  showing was done, Julius gave us the cue to perform Gravity live and the show went on. Last on our setlist was a new song called Rotting Flesh, also included in the cd. It was a tune new to everyone and we were very pleased that the response was great. We were about to cap the night when they asked for another song. We obliged and played another one of our "regenerated" song called Hate. This song was the heaviest we had before we came up with our new songs included in the EP so I think it was just perfect to end the night with it.

Battle Scars and a Million Paintings Launched.

We planned the event to start early as to make time for people and bands to mingle and be familiar with.  A photobooth was set up for all to go cam whoring and take home a piece of FINALVOW's history. Drinks were given even after the show ended courtesy of Antonov Vodka Ice and GSM Blue. Globe sim cards were also given away as a thank you to all our friends, families and supporters who was and still are here no matter what.

Everything went well for the night. And were hoping to see you guys come December 24, yeah, after the date the Mayans told us it will all be over, to be with us and celebrate yet another milestone in FINALVOW's career. To our friends who lent their resources and support for this event, you guys are truly amazing!! See you soon!!

\m/