EARTH DECAY on its 3rd consecutive year, tons of bands + discussions + etc.

Terror KEEPERS OF THE FAITH World tour March 2011 (Manila, Philippines) by Mel D.
It was January 2011 when I first heard Terror will play in Manila, I was completely stoked about that news. MARCH 16 2011 without a doubt will be this year’s biggest day. TERROR from Los Angeles California will graze Manila as a part of their 2011 KEEPERS OF THE FAITH World Tour (The band’s latest studio album released on Reaper Records) and they’ll be making us a show in Center for Arts, TIMOG QC, definitely one for the books. Philippines will be their last leg on the tour, so for that matter, this will going to be the craziest, and it was! Due to limited number of tickets to be sold, I went to the venue early I was among the early bird at the site, and also to hang out with my friends as well. The venue was 2.5 hour bus ride from my place, There were plenty of familiar faces and bunch of kids waiting outside the bar, indication that the show will going to be packed. Attendees from as far as Mindanao all showed up, also the guys from Cebu’s SRA were all in complete attendance. At first, I was really worried if the bar could cater such amount of people, knowing that this band is very much anticipated not only here but worldwide, surprisingly the show went off without any major damage or whatsoever on the venue and it was dope! If I’m not mistaken, there must have been 300-350 heads outside waiting the show to kickoff. Crimson Cartel & Tame the Tikbalang opened the show, oh I missed their set! Among the sets that I surely enjoyed was By Storm, sang along with their Integrity’s “Judgment Day” cover. Manila’s Isvarah guaranteed their brutality as usual, giving us some of their originals and Bulldozed “Break “which made the people gone apeshit. Seriously, Terror guys must have watched them.. to Terrorized them, haha! Mainland’s Demolition of False Progression’s set was also a killer as usual. These guys never fail to amaze me, their set was always intense. They haven’t played yet in San Pablo and I hope to see these guys play here in the near future. We also had fun chatting with Scott & gang while they’re having a sit-down on a nearby bar as he confesses us his Hot Water Music, Kid Dynamite, Lifetime and Coldplay interests. Nice one SV, the Hot Water Music tattoo was a killer! -The last two set of local bands before the main event was for Cebu City’s premier hc bands, Gardo and Queen City Crew, it’s good to see these folks again from the other side of the tropic to play in Manila once again (btw, Gardo will be headlining this year’s EARTH DECAY so better watch out for them), the last time I saw them was SRA takeover at Sta Rosa. Gardo plays heavy and furious hardcore with a lot of crunch & breakdowns on it, (you can feel it on the band’s name) that with surely make the kids do their moves. I’d like to see that “Blistered” cover once again if they play here. QCC surely delivered the goods and their set was devastating. I hope I could post some of my photos here to see what I mean. Paging Jade. Haha. The last set for the evening was no other than Terror from LA. Terror’s Asian tour consist of Scott Vogel (Buried Alive, Despair, Slugfest), Nick Jett (Ex-Death Threat, Over my Dead Body), David Wood (Down to Nothing), Mike Crosby (Donnybrook, Terror) and that Harley Flanagan looking roadie. Haha! I was behind the drummer that time with camera, so I could be in the best position to document the event, good thing that Koi(Crimson Cartel), who was managing the crowd control unit let me in at the ringside, f**k yeah I was standing a meter away from them, it was perfect, I had the sweetest spot. Anyway, the show had to be delayed due to some technical difficulties there must be a problem with the amplifiers, They weren’t happy with the sound equipment, but that’s cool. Anyway, The show finally started in a couple of minutes, It was loud and clear. Played their originals, from Lowest to Keepers. F**k yeah, this is one of the craziest shows I’ve attended. People hanging on the ceiling and huge wave of stage dives were expected. They ended their set with raging 12-13 songs I think, songs from old to the new albums’ including “Stick Tight”, “Keepers of the Faith”, “One with the Underdogs”, “Never Alone:” and so on.. Kudos to the organizers of this killer show, probably one of the decade’s illest, no other than Led & Mic of NCI collective, you guys are the Keepers!

NCI releases the final poster for March 16 Terror - (Keepers of the Faith World tour) Manila show to be held in Center for Arts, QC, definitely one of the best show of the decade. A must leave show, "gig leave" as i would say. Tickets will be available at the show, no reservations and presale tix, if you dont want to miss this out, just be there on time coz there will be a limited number of tickets. See yah at the floor! STICK TIGHT!

This was probably my ultimate score on a Book Sale joint. "Underboss",featuring Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, his story of life in the Mafia, underboss of NYC's most notorious crime family, the Gambinos.

Wise Guy : Life story of Henry Hill's three decade on Luchesse Crime family (this is where the movie Goodfellas was based)

The Sopranos : On The Couch, HBO TV Series printed on book expanded til season 4.


That was a pretty good catch.:)

Earth Decay 2010

October 30, 2010. I’ve already mark my calendar for this day, another “leavable” show as I would say, hehe the 2nd Earth Decay (consistently speaking) in San Pablo’s infamous venue, The Lion’s Club was about to happen, brought to us by the guys from Acid Cow Art Collective. The weather was fuzzy and its drizzling a little bit outside, not good for me because I just went on cough and colds, in short I’m still not feeling well but I still have to push my might for our set later, STILL ILL, SINCERE… You can see the diversity on the band list and it was enormous, hopefully all the bands can play tonight since the show had begun at around six (4 hours late due to some circumstances), participating bands were all good, local bands from San PbloBystorm, Legarda, Identikit, Ginseng Luzon, Piledriver, although Isvarah guys had to cancel their set, (Mot's wife had just gave birth to a healthy baby boy, epic!) the show's was still awesome because the guys from Empty, all showed up and played their reunion set. I think their last show happened sometime in early 2000's and this is almost their decade of hibernation, Back from the Dead! All hail Empty! and long live Earth Decay!

More shirts....

kid Dyanamite - 3 Sided with skull on right side







Force of Change - 2008 US Summer tour








Cruel Hand - Lock & Key

Bane Philippine Tour May 19 2010, Sta Rosa City Laguna

Photo by Keith Dador



Photo by Keith Dador



Photo by Keith Dador





2010 had been a remarkable year in our local hardcore scene. Why? foreign bands like First Blood, Alcatraz, Ruiner, Out of Step (Germany), Testament (although it is not a DIY show, it still kicks ass), Warbringer and so on, had graced our land to reach out their dedicated fans worldwide. But for me, the most anticipated was the Bane Philippine tour, held last May 19, 2010. To think, seeing Bane live would be impossible, knowing their extensive touring around US, they still manage to make a South East Asian tour, thanks to all the people who extended their support to make this happen. Bane has become one of the most anticipated hardcore bands in the late 90’s to early 2000’s along with their contemporaries like Indecision, Reach the Sky and One King Down. Up to this moment, many loyal fans still looked up and hold on to them. My first Bane encounter was when I was in early college, a friend handed me a copy of Hellfest 2000 video plus a copy of Bane – It All Comes down to this as far as I remember, even though I wasn’t that much of a Bane fan, I look up high on them because of their passion and sincerity to what they are doing. They wouldn’t go this far if it wasn’t because of that. Sincerity and dedication is what keeps the ball rollin. Seeing them live brought me goose bumps and that’s for sure, I bet for some kids too. There wasn’t a bad Bane show as far as I knew according to what I saw on some videos and reviews and I was right. Bane lineup features Aaron Bedard, Aaron Dalbec (Converge), Brendan “Stu” Maguire( Reach the Sky) and session drummer Nate Manning (later I recognized that he was a Cruel hand guitarist, shame on me! I barely recognized him). The show was a blast. The funny thing is when Dexter (8 Oz)and I were hanging around the corner after their set, Dext was holding his old Bane shirt to have it autographed by Stu, when Stu grabbed his shirt he turned up on Dext and said “Oh, I remember this show, this was Ten Yard Fight’s last show, We played with Reach the Sky, In My Eyes and Fastbreak!” and we were like ”Fuck, It’s like my dream show”. Bane opened another book in our history, and im glad I was a part of it.