Thursday, October 14, 2004

Punch 9

stayed in MTS for an hour last night for a late dinner. the band was one of my favorites, Punch 9. i like them because they are one of the bands who does not follow the lead of other show-band-hell groups that are only good for dancing. they play alternative, so the band, while still falling short of a good gimmick, at least is one of the best by Davao standards.

fresh from a brownman revival gimmick last Saturday, I contemplated on writing about punch 9 in specific and the Davao band music scene in general.

well, for starters, punch 9 is purely raw talent. meaning to say, they play well (except for that lady at the back, who would bring the band down…) but there seems to be no connection with the audience. they play with their heads bowed down, as if trying to avoid the gaze of people up front. the singer has a copy of the lyrics in front of him, which i think, he is more intimate with rather than with the audience. playing well is not enough, bands must have the connection with the people that watch them play. sometimes I feel, that punch9 is such a waste, the musicality of the group is almost perfect, well if you take away the fat lady who is just there at the back with tambourine in tow, they would be closer to being great.

if you have bands that do not connect, you also have an audience that does not connect as well. i have seen taboan, packed to the roof, but there seems to be no activity from the audience except for the lifting of their bottles to their mouth. they stare at the stage as if a giant, wondering what to make out of people with guitars slung over their shoulders, or with a drummer sitting behind the set. and these are show-band-hells that are playing.

the Davao scene is a hard pack to please. it doesn’t lift its asses to swing to the beat, it is a simple audience that goes to places, well, to drink. at least that is how i have come to know us. I find very few people who can stand up and dance to the groove here in Davao. well there are certain places like the Venue, but still it would be very rare for people to communicate with the band.

from my point of view, Davao has a lot of improvement to make before it becomes a premier band gimmick venue. both the bands and the audience would still benefit from maturity. from where i stand, am not really complaining though, it’s just my way of getting intimate with the scene, knowing its flaws yet enjoying it just the same.

sometimes though, I do not know what I enjoy most, the beer or the scene… well, that is another story.

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