Tuesday, April 7, 2009

HAIL TO THE FALLEN

Noel Salonga, front man of Skabeche, sent me this SMS last April 4 (Sat): “Je Bautista of BETRAYED passed away today at 12:15AM because of his cardiac arrest. . .”


Betrayed was one of the pioneers of Pinoy punk. The passing of sir Je (who once held down the bass for said outfit) is a huge loss to the local music scene. Am honored to have met and interviewed him for a piece on Music Front, anotehr local punk bastion, during one of the handful of their reunion gigs last year. He had vision, fortitude and straightforward kindness as well as a passion for the upliftment of punk as a manifesto for life.


My condolences go out to the Bautista family. RIP, sir, and may you find peace in the great gig in the sky.


* * *

Betrayed early 1980s, orig line-up


BETRAYED

Betrayed was formed in 1980 by three High School friends in Queens N.Y. They were Eddie Siojo (vocals), Dave Vote, and Steve. The name of the group was taken from a lyric from the song "Rough Trade" by Stiff Little Fingers. They recorded 4 songs (which ended up on compilations in the US), before Eddie leaves for the Philippines. . .


More here: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cch223/philippines/betrayed_main.html


Old skool mosh pit, Music Front 2008

(I was actually at this gig. What a pit that was!)


MUSIC FRONT

THE SOUND OF MUSIC FRONT.The music is dead.Goodbye rock 'n' roll. Goodbye Howlin' Dave. LET'S DANCE. Following the disbandment of the Urban Bandits twenty-odd years ago, Arnold Morales formed Music Front and thus declared "We're not a band, we're modern newscasters." The original lineup of Music Front was made up of ex-Urban Bandit Fur on bass, ex-Zoot Suit on guitars, and ex-Negatives Tini on drums. . .


More here: http://www.myspace.com/musicfrontph.