Hi guys, (and gals!)
We’re back on the touring trail again, while at the same time trying to get some new songs up and going. Will try to update regularly here and on our myspace (myspace.com/faspitch). Here are the previous two posts from our Myspace Blog:
Faspitch and the City: Part I
And… so…
Smoggy
sunrises and driving up and down Edsa. That has basically been some of
the less exciting of a plethora of… stuff we’ve been through. Yup, we
arrived in Manila on the 9th got settled into the apartment, went down
to Shopwise bought some city living equipment (a.k.a. a fridge and
broom w/ dustpan). Decked out our living quarters with fancy tapestries
that look very much like our towels and shorts but above all else, made
sure our computers were plugged in (for DOTA of course) and plugged in
our guitars later.
After a week of tonsil-recuperation we kicked
off the first leg of our WTF! Tour at Saguijo and man was that a blast.
So many nice people came and Gabby was kind enough to sing Hunger with
me at the very last minute. The next few gigs were all fun as well. I
personally enjoyed the gig at Gary V.’s studio but I probably shouldn’t
get into too much detail lest I embarrass myself and my band mates call
my hurtful names. The Mag:net Bar gig was awesome! So many familiar
faces singing our songs in the crowd and that really lifted us.
It’s
been difficult for all of us coming from home and having to leave all
the set things in our lives like school and work and family. But we
were reminded of what made this journey all the sweeter, and that is
the fans and the people who come up to you after gigs and say they
really enjoyed the show. Another aspect of gigging that we’ve really
come to enjoy is being able to watch the bands as well, and I count
myself fortunate to be able to see the likes of Salamin, Hilera,
Greyhoundz, Urbandub, Queso, Kjwan, Typecast, Nyctinasty, etc. up close
and be able to talk to the members themselves.
The music can
be such an amazing spectacle but the people behind them and the
personalities of each are what’s important (I think) and these days
we’ve started learning that more and more.
The main reason why
we are here though is so that we can start working towards our second
album. We began writing a few months ago while still in Cebu but the
geographical difficulties and differences in our schedules made
consistent writing an impossibility. Now that we’re here we’ve got the
time, and the we’re all together in one place. That should definitely
do it.
We’ve still got a bit of adjusting ahead of us though. I
have to adjust my sleeping mattress. The toilet seat needs constant
adjusting. Our Refrigerator-Box-slash-Dining-Table needs adjustment.
And a few of us have to adjust our heads (in the morning when the sun
starts to sting). We’re getting there.
Peace,
Henry
——-
Faspitch and The City: Part II
The concrete world is starting to get ya.
The city is alive, the city
is expanding.
Living in the city can be demanding.
Oooh yeah… Inner City Pressure. There’s the traveling to and from
gigs, waking up before the traveling, showering after the waking up,
processing the bodily functions that don’t normally process cos you
just woke up and you’re hungry and your trying to process your hunger,
and then there is the playing in front of people who have totally not
heard you before (and sometimes totally not like you at all), meeting
new and interesting people (in good and bad ways), and meeting new and
interesting obstacles to city life.
Example no. 1 - Second Hand Smoke.
That has been quite the dilemma for me lately: Breathe the smog or
breathe the cigarette smoke. Either way I fail. Most of the bars we’ve
played at are smoking bars so I’ve had to inhale large clumps of used
nicotine and it finally got to me about a week ago. I had to ask Lalay
to take me to the Hospital as I was having trouble breathing.
Quasi-Official Diagnosis: asthma attack due to second hand smoke. As a
result I’ve had to ask my bandmates to not smoke near me, and if at all
to smoke at the window (poor poor fellows).
Lalay wins the roll for
[Pendant of the Asthmatic Vocalist]. Word.
Example no. 2 - First hand smoke. I don’t smoke but most people around
me do. And they’re doing it more and more. It’s none of my business but
it is not a beautiful sight to behold (much less to be-smell hehe). At
all.
Example no. 3 - Free beer. Oh wait… that’s not an obstacle. Let’s
move on now.
Neon signs, hidden messages.
Questions, answers, fetishes.
You know
you’re not in high finance. Considering second hand underpants.
Check
your mind, how’d it get so bad?
What happened to those other underpants
you had?
Yeah, I do sometimes wonder where my other underpants went. I had a
pair of nice ones the other day, but they seem to have disappeared at
the laundrymat along with my brown handkerchief.
Speaking of which, I would like to say Happy Happy Birthday to Alex Lim
who’s constant understanding and loving care has provided us with a
means of retrieving our laundry. He has also over the years allowed us
to grow as a band and provided us with some super awesome experiences
and equally awesome advice.
More importantly though, he has been a
friend (a very good one) and a father figure to us and has always been
there in times of need. You are a true angel in disguise Alex and were
it not for you Faspitch would not exist as we know it today. We hope
you have many more birthdays to come and would be proud to be there
with you at each and every one of them.
I think that it has been the presence of people such as Alex, Lalay,
and the rest of Urbandub, our techs, Ralf, and whole bunch of other
folks (including the fans) that have really helped us deal with the
"Inner City Pressure". Not their individual expertise but the care and
warmth they show to us everyday. These are the things that are
sometimes lacking from an unfamiliar cityscape. I thank these people
everyday and I hope we meet more like them.
I would also like to thank everyone (EVERYONE) who attended, made
possible, and made amazing the What The F! tour we did during April.
The last leg of the tour was somewhat anti-climactic (due to a
self-destructing bass amp) but it was still something we were very
proud of and are very thankful for. We have another tour lined up in
June with Typecast for No Fear that we are really looking forward to,
especially with a few more new songs being added to our setlists.
We
want to see you again.
And so I have to stop writing now. The floor is dirty and I’m on a
mission to achieve complete floor cleanliness. So here I go, load some
Dallas Green and git wid da mopping.
Henry
—-
Probably get an update up once we get back from HK.
hungry
exhausted
