(A
story by Stiff Lu – Night watchman of KASBAH BORACAY, proprietor at Loudhouse MusicEnterprise, lead vocalist of the Rockoustic Blues Experiment, gatekeeper of TheRizal Underground and a musical voyager touring the U.S. for this first time
this June, 2018)
As I embark on my first international feature shows this June,
lemme share with you my best years in rock and roll - with the powerhouse
quartet THE RIZAL UNDERGROUND. We were formally introduced with the release of
the independently produced compilation album ALERT LEVEL that featured TROPICALDEPRESSION, COLOR IT RED, THE BREED & us. It is the biggest honor to have
had the privilege of forming this band with some of the most talented set of
musicians in the underground back then namely – MIKE VILLEGAS, ANGELO VILLEGAS
& HARLEY ALARCON.
The 80’s were a big struggle for underground rock bands. The
only salvation back then was the rise of THE DAWN, AFTER IMAGE & IDENTITY CRISIS.
Meanwhile, bands like DEAN’S DECEMBER, VIOLENT PLAYGROUND & such struggled
to get off the ground during the domination of RICK ASTLEY & disco in
general, which gave rise to LOUDHOUSE MUSIC ENTERPRISE - a recording studio
and artist management company, whose primary purpose was to support up and
coming bands and produced ALERT LEVEL.
It was this project that propelled me to form a new band
from scratch to complete the 4 band lineup. Production date was 1992, the power
crisis years, when we had 12-hour long power outages. That’s when I met the
late hard core/punk bassist JAY DIMALANTA of the Filipino legendary punk band DEAD ENDS that the
RIZAL UNDERGROUND was born. During this time, we convened with 2 other guys
from the Malabon/Navotas area that didn’t make the final cut. Fortunately, by this
time, the brilliant guitarist/singer/songwriter MIKE VILLEGAS was also starting
his musical journey and decided to join us.
Soon after, we connected with the legendary rock drummer
HARLEY ALARCON, who had just returned from a 6-month stint abroad, connected
through Jay, as they were former band mates with DEAD ENDS. Not long after, the
group was formed and an intensive on the job training ensued to coincide with
the recording for ALERT LEVEL. With 3 songs in tow, we took the show on the
road and the incredible success of the ERASERHEADS changed the whole picture
for bands and before you know it, several major label record companies were
knocking on our door.
Sadly though, JAY DIMALANTA had decided to pursue a more
personal musical journey and we soon parted ways amicably, luckily, another
journeyman, ANGELO VILLEGAS was also in the midst of change and decided to join
us from THE JERKS.
And then the Golden Era of Pinoy Rock in the 90’s came
about, the rise of the ERASERHEADS dominated radio and soon after several bands
broke out into the mainstream – paving the way for alternative radio stations
like NU107, LA105.9 & other stations with adapting the new format. Arena
rock was born, more concerts in cities & towns all over the Philippines
were abundant and there was so much room for new signings that brought about
the 90’s rock movement.
Not long after, we signed with POLYCOSMIC RECORDS and on we
went to produce our debut album. Those were fun times, we had our regular Thursday
spot at MAYRICS and we all came home to LOUDHOUSE and stayed till Sunday for
the song arrangement and demo recording sessions. After a month of sessions, we
were ready to hit the studios and that's where we met RENE GARCIA, who was then writing
the jingle for the SAN MIGUEL BEER “concept” ad campaign “SABADO NIGHTS”.
As luck would have it, this was the break that propelled us
to become a household name in this business, when RENE asked me to lay down the
vocal track for the demo. With the clients’ approval, we were well on our way. It
was a massive nationwide ad campaign that brought us to every region here in
the Philippines. We did motorcades, radio interviews & live performances in
every major city, every week and on occasion joined by the lead star of the ad
INA RAYMUNDO.
The exposure surely helped promote the brand and with the
inclusion of the track to the cassette album, an additional track was needed to
maximize the tape on side B which prompted us to record an alternate “acoustic”
version to our favorite track “BILANGGO” and these developments surely added to
the spike in album sales. With 2 major “hits” in tow, the band continued on its
path to success - touring the entire country, out on the road for 18 straight days in the Visayas (this prolly caused my itchy feet), that also led to a sophomore album DISKARIL. By this time though,
there were several hundred more bands signed - radio plus MTV, which were the
only available outlets, became saturated with everyone vying for air time.
As the struggle went on, Harley soon left to form POT - several
drummers took over the chores, the longest stint of all was ANTON GARRIZ who also
contributed to DISKARIL and we went on touring. With the lukewarm success &
mild reception to the album, the boys explored different avenues individually, that
led to a band hiatus in the late nineties. As each member found success in
their respective fields of endeavor, we all took our different paths more
seriously that led to a longer hiatus. But we stayed in touch, doing a few gigs
here and there during the 2000’s. Celebrating birthdays and special affairs - In
2017, we got together to celebrate the 25th year anniversary release
of ALERT LEVEL with an online digital release and a get together at THE ROADHOUSE AT MANILA BAY to celebrate this event. Photos here.
As the years go, I still get goose bumps every time we get
together and I continue to aspire and pray for a grand reunion with the core
group intact and performing in large venues as we did back in the mighty 90’s. Please
LIKE our page for updates about the band and give our debut album a listen on SPOTIFY here.
I would personally like to thank my RIZAL UNDERGROUND mates
for the privilege and here’s to hoping for that grand reunion of sorts. Cheers!
Several music videos
were produced in line with the promotions of the albums, which you can find
here;
