All for Juan
I don’t use e-mail; I use D-mail — devil mail,” Joey “Pepe” Smith tells one person as he enters a studio on
Shortly later he mouths quip after quip to the members of the orchestra. Rock orchestra, the man in denim calls it. “Dapat naka-maong kayo sa show.” Then he makes a ripping motion with his hands. He’s been through drug busts, death of friends, despondency, a nearly fatal car crash — all just part and parcel of rock ‘n’ roll to him. Now he enjoys a resurgence of sorts in music and art. If this were the
Minutes ago Mike Hanopol came in dressed in black, with long silver-streaked hair and beard, the trademark beret reduced to a scalp cap. He’s like a magus who teaches the dark arts. On the contrary, someone close to the guy told me that Mike is a licensed pastor in
Wally Gonzalez is an easygoing chap. Talks to people with sincerity. No airs whatsoever. One could easily forget that this guy is the best Filipino guitar player who ever walked the earth.
I am crashing the rehearsals for the “Fiesta ng Musikang Pilipino” three-night concert series at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo, which begins the day after May Day, featuring the Juan dela Cruz Band with Josh Groban/Jethro Tull violinist Lucia Micarelli and the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). And I don’t give a damn if the resident whip-cracker gives me the evils or not. (“Excuse me, this is a rehearsal!”) I just wanted to see larger-than-life rock legends Pepe, Wally, and Mike in one room together, playing the tunes that we Filipinos consider part of our rock ‘n’ roll DNA.
Inside the Jupiter studio’s large soundstage, the three legends are joined by bassist-extraordinaire Dondi Ledesma, drummer Wendell Garcia and the MPO, plus a smattering of contemporary rock musicians whose bands are also playing at the “Fiesta ng Musikang Pilipino.” Chickoy Pura of The Jerks. Jett Pangan of The Dawn. Armi Millare of Up Dharma Down. Ebe Dancel of Sugarfree. Kat Agarrado of Sinosikat?. Wally & Friends petite drummer Bea Lao. Marc Abaya of Kjwan and Kevin Roy of Razorback are making guest appearances at the gig.
They start with Ang Himig Natin, which is presaged by languid and lilting violins. I never heard the Pinoy Rock anthem played that way before, with a French horn slithering around the Emajor7 and Amajor7 guitar progression. Music that could unfasten heavens, I tell you.
“Ibang-iba talaga pag kasama mo symphony orchestra,” Hanopol says by way of distinguishing the latest Juan dela Cruz reunion from “Ang Pagbabalik” in 1998 and “Ang Pagkalas” in 2005, both at the World Trade Center. The 1998 gig was unforgettable, what with Dondi and the late great Edmond “Bosyo” Fortuno backing up the trio. The only thing I remember about the 2005 gig was that the three got up onstage riding Harleys and that Pepe changed wardrobes before the finale.
Here’s the story of the Juan dela Cruz Band according to Pepe, Mike and Wally, and as documented by different rock scribes.
The three got together as members of a popular Filipino combo in 1967. Wally and Mike from Jungle Cats joined drummer Pepe in the Downbeats who opened for The Beatles in that infamous July 4, 1966 concert in Manila.
“Phase two ng Downbeats ’yun,” says Smith. “Puro covers pa kami noon — gaya ng Stones, Young Rascals, The Troggs, Hendrix. Kung ano ’yung uso sa radyo. Pati na ’yung mga never-heard. Kasi pag never-heard ang tinugtog mo, wow, sikat banda mo.”
“Doon magaling si Pepe sa never-heard,” interjects Wally. “Ewan ko kung saan niya hinalukay ’yung mga plaka na ’yun. Baka sa baul ni Elvis (laughs).”
The trio honed its chops by playing in Japan in 1969 as part of a quartet known as Zero History. Then Pepe got recruited into a Japanese band after being spotted playing in a mall. The group became known as Speed, Glue & Shinki with Shinki Chen on guitar and Masayoshi Kabe on bass (whom Hanopol would replace later on in Shinki’s “Tiger” double LP).
“Pinalitan ko ’yung bahista nila kasi nasobrahan,” recalls Mike with a chuckle about the bassist who had a predilection for sniffing glue.
“Si (Kabe) ’yung ‘Glue,’ at ako naman ’yung ‘Speed’ (laughs),” Pepe says. “Summer noon so tamang-tama pasok ni Mike.”
Then Hanopol makes a stunning revelation: “Nag-open pa kami noon sa Pink Floyd sa Hakone.”
I guess it was the open-air festival at the Hakone Aphrodite — “Seikei Gakuen Jofudai” by Lake Ashi. So, what was it like to open for Floyd?
“Wow, ang ganda!” Pepe enthuses. “Ibang klase ang Pink Floyd ’no. Panahon ng ‘Atom Heart Mother’ and tsaka ‘Ummagumma’ ’yun eh. Umaakyat nga ’yung fog pag parteng crescendo.”
Speed, Glue & Shinki had a cult following in Japan. Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes even pays tribute to the Japanese band that loved amphetamines and playing off-kilter, stratospheric blues-based rock ‘n’ roll in his book published last year, Japrocksampler: How the Post-War Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock ‘N’ Roll (the author’s follow-up to his volume on German rock).
In an interview in the October 2007 issue of Uncut magazine, Cope considers Joey Smith of the Japanese proto-metal trio one of his favorite singing drummers of all time. Cope tells Uncut, “Joey’s stage name was ‘Speed’ because all his songs were about scoring, selling and taking amphetamines. What’s great is that, mid-song, when he wants to make a point, he just slows the whole song down, because he’s in charge of the rhythm.” He adds later on that Smith is the “Moses of singing drummers.”
And that was even before Pepe birthed Pinoy Rock in a toilet.
He says, “Sa ladies’ room ako pumunta para isulat Ang Himig Natin kasi out-of-order ’yung men’s room eh. Ayoko maistorbo.”
This was just 20 minutes before the power trio put together by then manager Dodie Gonzalez (á la Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience) played in the “Himig Natin” concert in Rizal Park in 1972.
I ask Pepe is it true that he was on acid when he wrote Ang Himig Natin.
“Bakit? Lahat naman noon naka-drugs ah (laughs),” he quips. “May naka-Cortal pa nga eh.”
“Di ka naman namigay eh,” Wally tells Pepe.
“Meron pa n’un naka-United American Tiki-Tiki (laughs),” Mike adds.
After the song was written, the trio performed it right then and there. And the crowd reaction?
“Sumakay naman ’yung mga tao. Since sila din lumulutang, naintindihan din nila kami,” says Pepe with a grin.
Pink Elephants, a toilet, stoned immaculate concertgoers, a song of hope — all these elements were present during Pinoy Rock’s Year Zero.
Sa Bayan Ni Juan
Pepe, Mike and Wally comprised Juan dela Cruz Mk. 3 (or Mk. 4, not quite sure). The first incarnation led by Wally featured Bing Labrador, Alex Cruz, Sandy Tagarro, and Bosyo (who came up with the name “Juan dela Cruz” as a nationalistic statement). Then the lineup shifted into a different quintet: Wally, Clifford Ho, Rene Sugueco, Bobot Guerrero and Romy Santos.
Juan dela Cruz’s debut album “Up in Arms” was a cult hit. It is much-sought by record collectors to this very day; one German audiophile reportedly paid $500 to Papadom for the vinyl. (Nowadays, a factory-sealed vinyl copy goes for $1,500, according to Pepe.) The psychedelic-blues-rock platter features tracks such as Justice (Where Are You) and Lady in White Satin, along with Frank Zappa and Leon Russell covers. No copy of “Up in Arms” is locally available. No surprise there.
The band downsized into a power trio, and the rest is history.
“We took up the challenge,” says Pepe. “From Dodie’s idea, Juan dela Cruz was born.”
Then they recorded the “Himig Natin” album, which features the poignant carrier single as well as other rock tunes in Pilipino such as Mamasyal sa Pilipinas and Rak en Roll sa Ulan (plus a Grateful Dead cover). With title track, the Juan dela Cruz Band invented Pinoy Rock: rock music uprooted from the West and flavored by Pilipino lyrics that talk about a very homegrown concern. “Ang himig natin ang inyong awitin upang tayo’y magsama-sama sa langit ng pag-asa,” sings Pepe, just before Mike’s beautifully sparse piano passages and Wally’s heartrending guitar solo lift the whole thing to the heavens. Clearly a work of genius.
“Four tracks pa recording nu’n, analog pa,” recalls Pepe. “Magaling si recording engineer Jess Payumo tsaka si Jun Orensa.”
The three did overdubs and other studio trickery, but some tracks they cut live to achieve, as Smith puts it, “on-the-spot sheer energy.” During those times, they played in places such as Folk Arts Theater, Romulus along Roxas Boulevard, also in Cavite and other provinces. Who could forget those “New Moon” gonzo gigs?
When asked to describe the prevailing music scene during the early years of Juan dela Cruz, Pepe says “Malungkot, madugo (laughs).”
He expounds, “Medyo mahirap dahil wala kaming kasabay noon eh. Kaya pinakiramdaman naming kung ano ’yung dapat naming ilabas na musika. Noon, martial law, di naman alam kung magugustuhan ng bayan ’yung mga kanta namin — pati na ’yung punong pamilya (laughs).”
I ask the three musicians (known for their wild outfits and even wilder hairstyles in those days) how they avoided the long scissors of the law.
“Di kami lumalabas,” Pepe quips.
But Ang Himig Natin opened the floodgates to every local musician’s mind. From then on, it wasn’t baduy anymore to sing in our native tongue. In fact, it became much, much hipper to do so. Others pursued the same muse; a whole scene was established with the likes of Anakbayan, Maria Cafra, Sampaguita, Asin, Petrified Anthem, and Judas, among others. Original mind-altering Pinoy rock and folk music blossomed forth.
It was our own birth of the cool.
Radioactive Sago Project’s Lourd De Veyra says, “Like God, if Juan dela Cruz did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them. The band made Pinoy music somewhat dangerous, subversive in a lyrically oblique sense. The three co-opted the language of Western blues and created an idiom that is genuinely Pinoy — whatever that means.”
The excellent live platter “Super Session” followed in 1974 (Great Pinoy Antiquities is essential listening), then “Maskara” a year later. The sleeve art depicts the trio wearing KISS-like makeup. The music is a lot grittier and more experimental: weird drones in the title track before things start rocking again in Pinoy Blues. Pepe concocts and snorts his metaphors in Nadapa sa Arina. Mike naughtily sneaks in some double entendres in Balong Malalim. And the trio records its second most popular tune titled Beep Beep, bestowing upon the humble jeepney driver a cloak of weighty importance. To the point of heroism, even. And it, uh, rocks.
The trio then goes on an extended hiatus of sorts, releasing obligatory best-of albums in between — the one that claims to contain “live” Juan dela Cruz tracks recorded in Cebu (with sleeve art inspired by Deep Purple’s “In Rock”), and another with gun-metal sleeve.
Juan dela Cruz took a stab at another album at the onset of the ’80s. “Kahit Anong Mangyari” boasts the title track, as well as classics such as No Touch, Panahon, Titser’s Enemi No. 1, Divisoria, Project, and Panahon (which I felt was Juan dela Cruz’s swan song of sorts). And after playing a “reunion” gig at the Araneta Coliseum, the band parted ways without fanfare.
Wally traded his Gibson SG for a briefcase, got a haircut, and went corporate, working on the family’s shipping business. Before going to the States, Mike recorded seminal solo albums — during the band’s hiatus and after the breakup — which feature classics like Mr. Kengkoy, Buhay Musikero, Awiting Pilipino, Buksan and Laki Sa Layaw (Jeprox). He also did production chores for Hagibis. In the States he formed a band called Cold Steel. Pepe did time. Lore has it that in prison Pepe would play ragtag guitar with two strings and make the inmates cry. When he was released, a kind soul gave him an electric guitar. A white one, symbolic of redemption. Smith started playing again. Good times, bad times.
But that’s all in the past. At this moment, Mike strums a Steinberger, held firmly by a guitar strap with a silver lightning design. Pepe shakes a metal slide across the fretboard of his Fender Strat. Stabs of horns and violins add aural glitter to Project. Stratospheric fills for a stratospheric song. Wally takes the stage for Free Spirit and his signature piece Wally’s Blues. The whole room vibrates. The trio takes over for Beep Beep. Sakay na kayo kahit hanggang kanto.
What a strange trip it has been and will be.
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“Fiesta ng Musikang Pilipino: An OPM Chronicle” begins today, 8 p.m., at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. The series features Sugarfree and Up Dharma Down on May 2, Radioactive Sago Project and The Jerks on May 3, Sinosikat and The Dawn on May 4 at the CCP Main Theater. Each band’s set culminates with an OPM song musically arranged with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, and performances by American violinist Lucia Micarelli and the Juan dela Cruz Band. Proceeds will go to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) John Mary Vianney Gallilee Development and Retreat Center for Priests in Tagaytay City.
Tickets are available at Ticketworld, Music One and selected Odyssey outlets.
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Special thanks to Manoling Poblador and Aaron Reyes of Greative Dynamic Marketing, Chickoy and Monet Pura, Boy Vinzon, and Abbey Valenciano.
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D-mail, er, e-mail iganja_ys@yahoo.com for comments, suggestions, curses and invocations.
