lank tangles

A reaction paper submitted to Mr. John Hendrix on the interview with the band Six Cycle Mind on May 24, 2008 at the Campus 99.5 Conference Room, Unit 906, 9th Floor, Paragon Plaza, EDSA corner Reliance Street, Mandaluyong City

As a personal opinion, the Filipino music industry equates to the Juan dela Cruz Band, The Eraserheads, Tropical Depression, such oddities as The Late Isabel, Daydream Cycle and Sugar Hiccup, and the instigators of ethnic fusion, namely Bagong Lumad, Cynthia Alexander, Bayang Barrios and Kadangyan.

A young person who has lived listening to the best, with the likes of such artists as The Beatles, Queen, Joe Satrianni and Mr. Big, all her life cannot be blamed, surely, for thinking so lowly of the local music scene. It makes one sad, more than angry, that whenever a newly-sprung Pinoy band would come out with new songs, after a few listens the hammer would come down with the verdict of, "It's something I've heard before."

Frankly, I grew tired of the whole talk about music being a business; but it is a sad fact. I've often witnessed commendable artists go through extreme style overhauls in order to cater to the demands of the masses. Take Kyla and Jay-R as examples, two artists who came into the scene with their own unique breed of achingly Pinoy hiphop-marries-R'nB. Both were initially recognized and wowed for it, but after some time, they had to give in and lose most of what defined their music for the sake of going mainstream in order to stay in the industry. It got me to thinking that the Filipino masses 'kill' real artists and are more in favor of a uniform set of performers who sound and look too much alike.

I really would rather talk about music as an art, see, and would prefer to overlook that important fact of it being a business, but it's a futile wish.

The interview with Six Cycle Mind did in no way change my opinion of the Filipino music industry, but it helped shed light on a few very basic facts:

That, with regards to age, younger artists are preferred for their potential of staying in the scene for a longer period before they retire. Plus, they have greater appeal, physically, to the audience consisting mostly of 10- to 30-year olds;

That up to a point, artists who want to make it big sooner or later have to fashion themselves into something the 'masa' would approve, never mind the fact that there are people, often a mere minority, who appreciate their originality. Why? Because music is a business; and

That there is a thing called respect.

In the course of the whole talk, perhaps the thing that hit me the most was what Mr. Darwin Hernandez said about respect. He talked about a side of respect I've never ventured into. That when you listen to an artist sing his/her song, no matter what your auditory preferences are, you do not have the right to dub their music as 'baduy' or 'panget'. You wouldn't feel so hot either if you were speaking your mind and pouring out the story of your life then somebody suddenly butts in and calls it 'baduy' or 'panget'. The better thing to do would be to keep your opinions to yourself, and change the dial, for no matter what you think of the song or the artist, somewhere in the world, a person is touched by its words, and people put the song on repeat to hang on to sanity and dear life.

As for the band, my biggest Kudos! for an awesome live performance. I don’t follow bands not included in the list that I mentioned, but I recognize and respect talent when I see and hear it. I' really more of a go-see than go-buy-the-album person, and live performances executed with such emotion and precision are the reasons why I go to watch Filipino bands in the first place. Although they have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone, the members of Six Cycle Mind proved to me that some artists are REAL, not just products of synthesizers and computer-controlled alterations.

That, and the fact that they recognize the reality that making music is mostly business but has steadfastly managed to preserve a unique sense of musical self as a band in such a fast-paced industry has branded them, in my mind at least, real Pinoy artists, performers and musicians. And this opinion of Six Cycle Mind has absolutely nothing to do with Chuck being such a hot, hot, HOT (damn, boy) middle-aged musician with his tattoos, tunnels and lazy smiles.