It’s time that men reclaim music, particularly rock ‘n’ roll. There’s no doubt women rule. That’s a given and we are thankful for it, for the most part. Boys will certainly appeal more to the most important demographic in the music business today (i.e. the 12-year-old girl.) Pop is, after all, all about the shiny and new so anyone above 40 is practically in the same bracket as Engelbert Humperdinck. (Google him, kids. Be warned that is not an endorsement or an incitement for you to download his music. The example is purely for educational purposes.) But there are exceptions.
Pupil, fronted by Ely Buendia, is one such example. The band’s latest LP, “Limiters of the Infinity Pool,” is their best yet and contains probably the best songs that the former Eraserhead has written throughout his considerable career. They’re still as catchy, lyrically playful, and great fun as anything he’s ever done before but they’re obviously the sound of someone older. This is how a man’s supposed to sound like. It’s still rock ‘n’ roll and I like it.
Their last single, 20/20, topped the MYX charts and stayed there for a couple of months. It was heartening to see it alongside younger acts (see above) without seeming out of place but rather standing proud and perhaps taller than everyone else. That’s where someone like Ely belongs, slugging it out with the best of them, and not being confined to the nostalgia circuit, singing E-Heads hits. (Not that that we’re totally against that, but you get the point.)
I was fortunate enough to have been involved as a producer along with the ever-brilliant director Jason C. Tan in the making of the video for 20/20. It took six months to mount and several more months to complete. (Please check Ely’s account, “Highway 54 Revisited,” of how we actually did it on his blog for Yahoo Philippines.) No doubt we achieved something special and that doesn’t mean just being able to empty EDSA nor being able to use an original artwork by artist Gabriel Barredo as a “prop.” (The last artist that the latter worked with for a music video was Michael Jackson.) It was more the satisfaction of helping to redress the balance in the popular charts, if not to bring back a bit of sanity. However, make no mistake, it’s still the music that matters. If it had been anyone less than Ely and that particular song then it wouldn’t have charted even if we had cleared the entirety of Metro Manila. Everyone who worked on it would agree with me, as would anyone with ears.
It’s important that Ely or musicians of his ilk (including his ex-bandmates Raymund Marasigan, Marcus Adoro and Buddy Zabala in their respective projects, peers like Rico Blanco, Nathan Azarcon and Dong Abay, who are all still making new music today) are heard and not just remembered. It’s vital that we support and listen to them. They deserve no less — and neither do we.
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Visit myxph.com to vote for Pupil’s 20/20. The band and the video is nominated in five categories including Favorite Music Video.