Photo by Abram S. Barrameda
Whether they know it or not, subcultures tend to close themselves off from the rest the world, like bubbles impenetrable to those on the outside. It’s almost akin to joining a dodgeball game that had already picked teams—once the balance is there, each team is a mighty fortress, making an enemy out of anyone who isn’t one of them.
Music bars, however, have done just the opposite. Perhaps it’s the pervasiveness of music in general—how it can make people from all over, as the Beatles put it, “come together.”
Or perhaps it’s the simple fact that a bar is, indeed, a bar.
Class act
Places like Saguijo and Route 196 have become nightspots not at all limited to a certain crowd or genre. Jeula Agbayani (AB Comm ’11) of Rogue Productions, which has produced a number of shows featuring bands from all over the Metro, describes both bars as flexible in their showcased genres.
Agbayani singles Saguijo as the kind of place that “attracts every type of person with any inclination to any genre of music.” Indeed, the place has become the Holy Grail of bars in the local music scene.
“People in the industry would usually say that a local band is not yet a real band if it hasn’t played in Saguijo,” explains Migi Soriano (IV BS Mgt) of reggae-ska band The Jeffrey Zulueta Experience. “Luckily for us, we’ve played there a couple of times already. Once, a pole dancer even performed during one of our songs!”
It’s that openness to all kinds of music that have people flocking to all the different music-related gatherings that have cropped up in recent years. From the now-infamous Cubao X counter-culture to youth-run production houses like Gummybeer and Rogue to the concert-cum-party phenomenon that is Meiday, the lines that separated individuals by their taste in music have blurred.
The new scene: Casa Nami
With the advent of new music bars, however, the tides have turned yet again. Casa Nami—the surf and booze theme of which can be seen the second you climb its staircase—best epitomizes the trend prevalent among newcomers. Surfing paraphernalia line the walls, but it’s the loose, beachy vibe that tells you it’s okay when you see patrons in flip-flops and heathered stripes from the back of their closets.
Joro Cruz (III BS ME) of Gummybeer Productions attributes Casa Nami’s relaxed atmosphere to the fact that a bar has the added advantage of featuring a cheaper, more intimate experience in comparison to a full-blown concert. “Bars tend to be open to socializing and mingling,” he says. “It would be much easier to make new friends in a bar’s atmosphere than a concert’s hectic environment.”
Meanwhile, Ralph Mendoza (BS CTM ’08) of the band Bee Eyes, a self-proclaimed blend of jazz, punk, R&B and soul, has played at bars on both ends of the spectrum, and recognizes that newer bars like Casa Nami have their own distinct personalities. Compared to mainstays Saguijo and Route 196, which have opened their doors to musicians of all genres, Mendoza says that newer bars “find a niche so people can identify them easier; hence, a more regular following.”
Another main difference is in location. Cruz ticks off a number of newer bars as more visible to the public, “usually located in commercial areas or commercial complexes,” he says. “On the other hand, the older bars seem to stay hidden in their respective territories.”
The middle ground: B-side
That being said, B-side is one of the few music bars today that marry differences between the old and the new. Housed under The Collective on Malugay Street in Makati, B-side caters to a lot of indie, hip-hop and electro acts.
B-side’s vibe can run the gamut from chill to explosive, thanks to its flexibility in part to its equipment. With both a band and DJ set-up, B-side gets a crowd limited only by the night’s line-up. Agbayani, who also works as the bar’s events coordinator, shares from experience that “productions have been able to bring in artists of acoustic to heavy genres, so the crowd can vary each night depending on the production.”
Various productions at B-side have brought in a diverse mix of both performers and people, such as when international DJ Gold Panda was spinning, or when they do a 2-stage set-up.
Photo by Abram S. Barrameda
City built on rock and roll: 19 East
What seems like a speck on the nineteenth kilometer of Service Road is actually 19 East, a bar and grill done up like a mini family hacienda taken over by some young, hash-smoking eccentric of an uncle. The first thing you’ll notice after the spacious parking lot—formerly only a myth at most establishments of the same kind—are the sprawling ground, a countryside hidden on the edge of the city.
19 East, however, is neither an umbrella for all sorts of music, nor is it a niche for any specific genre. Neither can it be described as simply old or new.
What gives 19 East its fire is the music hall in the main building, where OPM acts both legendary and on-the-way-to-legendary—such as Sandwich, Ebe Dancel, Urbandub and Side A—have recently taken the stage. While it’s no Carnegie Hall, its subtle, slightly Victorian interiors complement the rawness of live performances.
As music bars are generally more personal than other settings, they present an opportunity to meet people that would have otherwise only been songs in your iPod. Soriano explains that playing gigs at music bars helps a band to not only build their confidence, but to also expand their network and make their sound more well-known.
This is opposed to concerts or events, where you need an all-access pass to begin with. Agbayani puts it best: “Gigs are not only home to the musicians that you love… but also the musicians you don’t know yet.”
If anything, 19 East is one of those places that are avenues for good music to reach out to an audience—and vice versa.
Editor’s Note: Migi Soriano is a member of The GUIDON’s Photo staff.
