Wednesday 25 June 2014

Kevin Roy's Guilty Acoustic Pleasures

It is quite a common impression that acoustic performance is for balladeers. However, for us rock fans, it is a rare, unique and often satisfying experience to see our rock icons do acoustic once in a while. 

The phenomenon of rock singers/bands performing in an acoustic manner was termed unplugged, thus giving birth to one of MTV's most followed programs.

Then there came such rock stars who cover pop or ballads and make their own version acoustic rock style. My favorite on such is Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. 

In these performances we see the versatility that in spite of the often loud and intense performance there's a soothing voice and melody coming from our rock heroes. It is when the beasts lay their backs.


A laid back Kevin Roy during his GAP set at IMusix Place

I must say, they are kind of laid back during these performances, but I must also say that the comfort is in screaming out loud and intensifying the mood no matter how calm and mellow people might assume acoustica must be.




That defines acoustic rock from the usual acoustic performances.



One local duo exceeds my expectation on such performances. And every single time I watch them, the experience just gets better. 

They are GAP, short for Guilty Acoustic Pleasures. Kevin Roy of Pinoy rock and roll band RAZORBACK teams up with virtuoso guitarist Kess Cheng to give us a one of a kind acoustic performance.






Among their covers my favorites are Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here and Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine

Another very special thing about their performance is the way they connect with the audience. Kevin Roy's charisma and powerful voice enthralls audiences, that after a set or two, everyone seems to want more.

Catch them this Friday, June 27 2014 at IMusix Place. See you all!

promotional poster for IMusix Place show

Monday 26 May 2014

KALAMPAGAN 2014

What's supposed to be Cavite's biggest and most historic concert this year turned out to be most rock fans' biggest disappointment. 



I found out from a news article that the three main bands WOLFGANG, RAZORBACK and GREYHOUNDZ haven't been in the same event since 1999. That was a good decade and a half ago! Hence this event was considered by some as a 15-year reunion of these three greats.


The ticket says the venue is at Montano Hall in Cavite City. For some reasons, they setup the stage at the Cavite High Oval instead. But still okay, rockers won't mind standing or sitting on the grass since ticket prices are reasonable, or shall I say very affordable at 150 for general admission and 250 for VIP.


The event supposed to start at 4pm on May 17th, but due to some delays it started at around 7pm. 

There are a about a dozen front acts before the big 3 (as they are referred to) will play. Most opening acts are indie bands from Cavite ranging from alternative, grunge, classic rock to hardcore metal. Most of them, I must say performed well and some even wowed the crowd.


The weather that day was scorching hot, in my estimation about 34 to 36 degrees. There are refreshments and snacks at the venue, but not much variety. The pares tasted good though, and very affordable, perhaps the most affordable filler available. As expected beer is a bit expensive, a 12oz cup half filled with ice is sold for PhP20, not to mention that the beer is thinned 'cause it was already mixed with some ice in a jug.

These are some of the things I had experienced at the said concert, I guess these are the little things that one didn't notice much as after the event issues, speculations and rumors are everywhere.

Wanna know the reasons as to why the concert was stopped? I want to know too.


Here are some snaps (I'd taken only a few due to the hot weather, I used up whatever energy I have real fast):































Nonetheless, it was fun. We saw a lot of friends and even made new ones. It could have been better, it could have been awesome. And as expected, it could have been epic.