I spent Friday night, October 19 watching the Eraserheads perform to an almost totally Filipino audience at the Kool Haus in Toronto. Perhaps the most influential and internationally successful rock band to come from the Philippines, the E-heads made their impact on the Manila rock scene in the early 90s until they eventually broke up in 2002 with their seven studio recordings, two compilation albums and three EPs. The band just completed a four-date North American reunion tour, hitting October 12 in San Francisco, October 13 in Los Angeles, Toronto and finally October 20 Jersey City.
I have been friends with E-heads drummer Raimund Marasigan and bassist Buddy Zabala since my first trip to Manila in 1994 while the band was enjoying enormous popularity. I met them through Jeng Tan, who was Raimund's girlfriend at the time and my uncle's goddaughter. I have been back to Manila seven times since then and I have been able to film, photograph and perform with Raimund and Buddy's other numerous musical projects during and after their time in the E-heads. My brother Andrew has also performed with Raimund in the Philippines during his trips in 1995 and 1999. Andrew and I were unofficial founding members of Raimund's side project Planet Garapata
On Friday night, Andrew and I (along with our cousin Jhong) got to go back stage and reunite with 3/4 of the E-heads (also briefly with guitarist Marcos Adoro), and Buddy's wife Earnest. I last saw them in 2007 on my way home from living in Japan, and Andrew last saw them in 2000 when we flew to NYC to hang with the band during their 2000 North American tour.
This time around, due to Visa problems, the E-heads were in California for three days more days than expected and delayed their arrival in Canada, so they spent less than 24 hours in the country before flying out for their New Jersey show.
Andrew, Raimund, Me, Buddy
October 19, 2012. Toronto
