Let me tell you this, Kwatro Medya is one, or if not tops the list of the grooviest Davao bands that you will ever hear. I'm not sure if they intend to be that way but each time I watch them play on stage, they always make me want to dance. I mean just move my body along with their rhythm and not "dance" like in the Step Up movie. What I'm sure of though is that their songs should be a part of every young Davaoeños "On-the-go" playlist. Their upbeat guitar play, upbeat drum beats, upbeat vocals (also upbeat vocalist) will surely make anybody feel that intense desire to just let go and let their body move. Unlike a few other local bands, Kwatro Medya is obviously not interested in putting you in a " senti" mood. What they want to do is to take away all of that "senti" feelings in your body and put you in the mood to party. Yes sir! Yes ma'am.  The Kwatro Medya band, all four and a half of them, wants you to have some fun!

The Beginning 

The story of how this band was formed is quite long and complicated. But basically,  Kwatro Medya is the offspring of Long and Dansoy's effort to turn the undermanned Nude Marry (their former band) into a group that in essence can be called as a full-pledged band. The troubles which are commonplace to forming a band made the going not easy for them. The years 2009 and 2010 were spent finding people to fill in the voids in the lineup.Nude Marry has seen a number of musically talented walk in and then out of  it's door. There rare are times though that the band has enough man power to practice and make original compositions with their instruments, however they were only limited to that. The band has no front man yet and their chances of finding one was quite bleak. Orvil of the band Spasm became their vocalist at one point but after a few gigs he bade poor old Nude Marry goodbye.   The beginnings of this band was a mess actually no matter which angle you look at it. But just any mess in forming a rock group, it gets straightened out eventually, if the some characters are just so inclined.

The last quarter of year 2011 was a time filled with urgency and opportunity for the band which is still not solidly complete. During that time, the owner of Saless Diner and Moozika, Moshe Papica,  already had the plans for the first Excursion concert underway. And since Nude Marry ( now the groovy Kwatro Medya) have already played countless of times in Saless Diner they have earned the confidence of the venue's owner which led them to be chosen  to be one of the bands to share the stage with Pedicab and the other acts that are slated to perform in that large music event. You probably imagine the boys of Kwatro Medya jumping up and about with glee that time right? Well, not exactly. How would you feel if you are just  months away from having your big break in the local music scene but because of some unforeseen circumstances you end up being two men (a rhythm guitarist and a vocalist) short? Well, most definitely bad.

When the three remaining members of the band (Long, Paolo, and Dan) thought that things could still get worse, it didn't. In fact two amazing and totally unexpected things happened. The first one is that, Pepot, Long and Paolo's former elementary classmate agreed to play rhythm guitars for their band. And the second one is that, Dan's friend AG, who apparently has a good singing voice came in the picture and filled the spot as Kwatro Medya's front man. And by the time they got everything that they needed, the band went straight to work. The Excursion 1 served as their much needed kick start as what followed is their steady rise to prominence in the local music scene.

Good Friends Playing Music Together 

Music-wise this Kwatro Medya is an awesome band, but what makes them stand out is, if you watch them perform, you could almost feel the organic connection that bonds every one of them. Long, Paolo and Dan have been friends since they were youngsters ( probably have seen their first tits in a movie together), and they have known Pepot and AG for quite a long time too. Basically, they are just a bunch of good old friends playing and sharing the music that they love to the rest of the city. Each time they step onto the stage, they don't give out that stiff aura of super seriousness which makes you feel that they do that thing as a job. This may sound as a cliche but it seems that they are having a genuine good time each time they play music. And this may also sound as another cliche but, yeah, they do have that thing that they all call "Chemistry".

The Interview 

I went to Saless Tekanplor one Friday evening to   interview Kwatro Medya  after their practice session. The interview took longer than I expected since they were a talkative bunch. But  I was able to get some really good answers from them though.

Davaoist: When you started out what were your intentions as a band?

Long: Basically, what we really wanted to do that time was to form a band in order to play in the Excursion one. But behind that, we just really wanted to have fun. Just for the sake of playing music. Until now, were already made 12 songs even though we have not released them yet, we still do it for the sake of making music.

Davaoist: What's the story behind the name Kwatro Medya?

Dan: It was Paolo who suggested to change our name (from Nude Marry). It was Pepot's idea really, the name Kwatro Medya. Actually the name has different meanings. The formal meaning was, because most of us are working, most of us have day routines, during 4:30 we prepare individually to for a practice in Saless.

Long: 4:30 is actually our meeting time. But at 4:30 everyone of us is still preparing, so we always meet up at 5:30. That is the other meaning.

Dan: The real meaning of Kwatro Medya, you need to see the band in order to figure it out ( looks at Pepot)

Davaoist: Pepot is the Medya?

Kwatro Medya: (Laughs)

Davaoist: As a band, what is your main musical influence?

Long: As individual musicians, we have very different genres, approaches, and very different influences. When it came to Kwatro Medya, we were more on fusion of music and it was evident on our first three songs. Those first songs were basically the only output that we can create out of mixing our different influences.

Dan: Because it was a mix, at the first stage of Kwatro Medya, it was quite difficult. It was really hard to achieve chemistry musically. Getting the output that we want was a struggle because every single one of us have were into totally different genres. We spent a lot of time to find the right combination just to make it sound right.

Long: We were all about fusion of music. It was hard, but in the long run, we were able to hit it because of composer and song writer, Paolo. He actually serves as the back bone of band right now. He creates a bass line and every and from that everyone else just follows to create a collective flow.

Davaoist: So, Paolo is the one into Dance Rock? You're a Dance Rock band right?

Long: Not really. We can't really say that. We just mix things up and try to create something good not minding which genre it falls to.

Dan:  The truth is there is only one artist that we like in common.

Davaoist: Who?

Dan: Daniel Padilla!

Davaoist: As a band, how do you prepare before a gig?

Pepot: Our most essential ritual before a gig is absolutely "SPAKOL".

Davaoist: SPAKOL?

( Preparing Before a Gig 101: "Spakol" means Spa dala *bleeeep)

Long: We also try to dress up formally in order to compensate to our very ordinary faces.

Davaoist: Do you still get nervous before a gig?

Long: Yes!
Dan: Especially when we played in Manila.
Pepot: I don't get nervous. I get nervous about my band mates.
Dan: "HAMBUGERO KA"! (laughs)

Davaoist: Best Gig?

Pepot, Dan, Long: at Saguijo! ( a bar  in Manila)
Pepot: I almost had 8 girlfriends when we played there.
Dan: It was the best because the audience interacted with us.

Davaoist: Worst gig?

Dan: Here at Saless. We didn't practice for two weeks and we played at an open mic night. There was only one person watching us and we totally messed everything up so after two songs Long just packed up and we followed.

Davaoist: What separates you from other Davao Bands?

Long: As a band, I could say it's the friendship that we have. When it comes to music, ahmmm, we are not the best band out here. There are a lot of really really talented bands in the city. But the problem with those bands is that they tend to focus too much on getting famous. Everything they do seems planned. It's not that we don't want to get famous, but our main focus is just to have fun making music together.

Davaoist: You just came from Manila, that was a really big event. How did you feel after that?

Dan: It was really awesome. It's like this. We left here as a band. We arrived there as a band. We experienced the whole thing as friends. And it doesn't get better than that.

Davaoist: What's the difference between the Davao crowd to the Manila crowd?

Long: It's totally different. In Manila, even if they don't know the band, they still listen to them and even applaud them. But here Davao, if they don't know the band they don't care.

Dan: No offense, but the crowd here is really hard to please.

Davaoist: Yeah. They are quite lousy and really hard to please.



                                                     Here are the members of Kwatro Medya:
                                               (ALSO CHECK OUT THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE)
          (GET A SAMPLE OF THEIR MUSIC BY EXPLORING THEM ON SOUNDCLOUD)


Agustin Gabriel "AG" Aldave-Vocals

Paolo"Pao" Papica-Bass

                                       

Louie "Long"Saceda-Drums

Jose Mar"Pepot" Camia-Guitar

Carlo Dante "Dansoy" Villas-Guitar

GIVE OUR BLOG SOME LOVE ON FACEBOOK.

LABYU TOO! (Click this Link) 

Disclaimer: We don't own any of the photos in this post. We don't have the funds to buy a camera. 

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It is rare to find a band that sounds like Azimuth in Davao City right now. There are just a handful of them who are into experimental music, or to easily put it, try really hard to keep their tunes as original as they can. Apparently, it is quite difficult to play the “They sound like” game when you start listening to them. I have asked some of my friends to listen to a couple of their songs, hoping that when I do that I would finally have an idea on how to describe their music. The best feedback that I got was “ Weird. Beautifully weird”. I don’t know if the band would be happy with that comment. But hey! Beautifully weird can is often times a good thing.

The band was established in 2006 with only three members – Roy, Jad, and Jay. These three guys happened to have the same taste in music, and from there everything took off. Since neither of the three knows how to sing well, they became an “un-mouthed” band for quite some time. Two months after founding their band, they were asked to play cover songs in a university event. Playing for that event with their 1^st session vocalist – Alvin help them gain a pretty good reputation and basically that was the moment that have paved their way into the local music scene. In 2009, they employed the help of Nep to become their main vocalist. The moment that they already resembled a complete band, they started creating original songs and also started to formulate their own breed of music which they call as “ Experimental – Man and Machine”.

We had a short interview Azimuth so that you can know them better. You can read it below. GO! READ IT!

The Davaoist: How did you come up with your name? What's the story behind it?

Azimuth: We were on our way to the rehearsal studio back then (if other people go to bars to drink and have fun, we go to a practice studio to play and have fun). Little did we know that a band name was required to be able to rehearse in that certain studio (which was commonly done in other studios too, actually). So we wrote "Azimuth" on the paper aaand.. woola! Azimuth was born. We coined it after the incident when the three of us, Jad, Roy, and Jan almost failed the quiz on trigonometry during our freshman year.

The Davaoist: Who are your influences?

Azimuth: As a group, we happened to have started the band with the same individual primary influence - Incubus. But as time went by, each of us had our own influences and interests, constantly growing and evolving... so we can't call it as a band influence, but rather as individual influences which help us create something new(we believe), through the collaboration of our own discoveries.

The Davaoist: How do you describle your music?

Azimuth: Weird!... period. Hahaha. Or experimental. 'Coz we experiment a lot. Hahaha.

The Davaoist: Where is the official tambayan of Azimuth? offical food?

Azimuth: We used to hang out at Torch and Trefoil (particularly at the space outside) where we usually practiced before, but now its pretty much at our very own houses. Although much of our band meetings/sessions/foodtrips however happen at Jan's house at..... secret. 

As for food, we could all agree on Porky Best paired with Sprite (very healthy! haha!).

Who are your favorite local acts?

A: Local? M2M. As in too many to mention. Hehehe.

The Davaoist: What were the craziest/most stupid things that your band ever did?

Azimuth: Hmmm.. we went to a resort at Talicud island without any of us knowing where it was actually located. I guess that was the craziest thing we did.

most stupid? hmmm..I guess there are too many to remember? haha..

                         CONNECT WITH AZIMUTH ON FACEBOOK

                                                                      Nep- Vocals 

Roy- Guitars 

Jay- Bass 

                                                                        Jad- Drums 

Here you go kids. Get a taste of Azimuth's Music 

        

MAKE LOVE WITH THE DAVAOIST ON FACEBOOK. LOL

Here's another band that you should really check out! 

Davao Bands: The Sound of Go

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If you like pop punk, then you will also love The Sound of Go. It's that simple. There is no need to complicate things here. I'll say it again. If you like pop punk, then you will surely love The Sound of Go! 

This band has already established itself as one of the best pop punk acts in the city. Back in 2011 they fronted for Chicosci, Typecast, and Taken By Cars for the "Three-lla From Manila" event held at Matina Town Square. To have the chance to play on the same stage with those gigantic bands, you have to be really good at what you do. And The Sound of Go is exactly that. Listen to their song "Chances Are" and you will know what I am talking about.  Their music kind of takes you back to that moment in your life when you thought that you are already sure of everything but then you still fall for anything. What I really like about this band is that they just don't make songs, they tell stories. The stories that they tell may or may not hit that nostalgia button in the depths of our soul, but it surely takes us to an experience that may feel familiar to all us. 

I had the chance to talk to Paolo Bondoc about their band, The Sound of Go. Since this was my first time to feature of a band where I had to do a Q&A sort of thing, I really felt that I asked some really stupid questions (not all of them though). I should probably change the title of this article to " The Davaoist Asks Stupid Questions to the Sound of GO"(just kidding). 

Davaoist: What's the story behind the conception of your band?

Paolo: "Me and IJ were highschool buddies. Shifting from one kind of genre to the other until we found what we enjoy the most. Before The Sound of Go, we played in a one-shot band for a certain collegiate band competition. A year after, we gave it another shot with 2 new members, and a new band name; The Sound of Go."

Davaoist: How did you come up with the name Sound of Go?

Paolo: "We wanted a positive sounding name. At the same time we were partly obsessed with Go Radio back then, so we came up with the Sound of Go. There were plans in the past to have another name change but we chose to stick with it."

Davaoist: Who are your influences?

Paolo:  "This question is a question that has millions of answers. Personally for me, it all started with the Eraserheads. Now we have a lot of bands that we look up to as inspiration writing and music wise. We are all fans of bands such as Go Radio, The Story so Far, Four Year Strong, The Wonder Years, A day to remember and a lot more."

Davaoist: Describe your music.

Paolo: "Pop punk, or at least that's what we aim for. Lyrics wise we (me and IJ) write about personal struggles and real life situations. Topics may include love, camaraderie and moving on with life."

Where is the official spot/tambayan of sound of go?

Paolo: "Saless bar is where it's at! At the moment, Saless is the only place in DC that caters to underground/independent events and we hope other venues get to do that as well. Even on non-gig nights, we hang out at tekanplor."

Davaoist: What is the official food of sound of go?

Paolo:"Official food? None that I can recall. Official drink maybe. Beer. I mean, who doesnt drink beer?"

Davaoist: Who are your favorite local acts?

Paolo: "Favorites would be Rise from oblivion, Simple Lang, Anne Mendoza, Jad Montenegro, and a lot lot more. DC has so much to offer."

Davaoist: What is the weirdest/craziest/shittiest thing thing that you guys did?

Paolo: "We do a lot of weird things. We are weird in nature. One weird thing would be finding a drummer online, and stealing 2 members of Anne Mendoza. (sorry anne, you're bandmates are "bandwhores")."

Davaoist: Any advice for people who want to start their own band?

Paolo: "Advice? We're not professionals but if you wanna form a band then just do it. Being in a band is a learning process and every moment spent with the band you learn something new. Also be humble and be respectful to everyone in the scene. Show up in time for shows and don't give anybody the "rockstar" attitude."

Here are their members

                                                     Aijei Arcena- Vocals

                                              Doms Contrata- Guitars

                                      Paolo Bondoc- Bass/Vocals

                                                         

                                                  Jovit Leonerio- Drums

                                    Pee Jay Anonymous- Guitars

Here's a sample of the music of TSOG. 

Chances Are- The Sound of  Go

        

                                Stop or Go- The Sound of Go

        


     And hey! Don't forget to LIKE their band on Facebook




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Davao Music Nation is the authority when it comes to featuring the music scene here in our city. When the site went live last year, it was not just the birth of an exclusive online Davao music magazine. It was something more than that. For the people who have been passionately following the progression of the Davao music scene, the conception of Davao Music Nation was a beginning of a revolution that could potentially help make the world explore the amazing music talents that our city has to offer.

The thing that you need to know is that this website is a serious project that was conceptualized over bottles of beer. I know two really great ideas that got incubated during a beer-drinking session- Guinness Book of World Records and Davao Music Nation.  The date was March 28, 2011. Jessica Madrazo and Johann Calderon, two of the main founders of DMN were drinking a couple of beers when the topic of starting a music magazine exclusive for Davao came up. The initial idea was for them to get into the cruel world of print publication, a world barraged with crushing pressures and  high costs. Good thing that Jessica knows that world pretty well and they have decided to build an online magazine instead. The following day the two of them went straight to work. They invited two people, JR de Castro and Julia Sta. Romana to join in the core group and contribute on the areas of promotions, marketing, and other technical stuff. The next step was to give the site its really catchy name and then after that, they purchased a domain on the same day. These folks work really fast.

"We all agreed on the concept, feature an artist each month, inject additional articles to keep it going, feature their music,their photos, videos, etc, and that we launch in 3 months, on May 26. It was to be without bias on musical preferences, styles and genres. It was just an avenue for musicians to promote themselves if they like, and establish Davao's music scene to the world." says Jessica when  I asked her about their goals when on the initial stages of the online magazine.

She also added, "Today, we have 4 partners, Dig Radio, Radio Republic, Pinoy Tuner and My Davao TV, all of them equally eager to know and share more about what's happening here in the south in terms of music. We have contributors, Kara Ahorro (K-Pops), Baian Valdez (Baian Muna), Klaus Doring(Classics Davao), Benjie Dimayuga (B Sides, Mic Fernandez on design, and Evan Bagsarsa (Trigger) on video editing for all of which do this for the love of Davao and our music, without compensation. Love is our currency. In the coming months, we will be launching a new show DMN GASStation (Gear Acquisition Syndrome or Gears Atong Storyahan), from Slawee ofOrange Box, Benjie aka UMBRO, and Anne and Mic of Anne Mendoza. All of whom, we consider to be a solid part of DMN."

One more thing. The Davao Music Nation is set to celebrate their anniversary this June, 1 , 2013. All of the bands that they have featured as artist of the month will play in that event. The event is also their way to say thank you to the people who helped them during their first year, to show their show their doubters that they are still alive and kicking, and also to show their fellow Davaoenos who great the Davao music is, if they just give it a chance.

CHECK OUT THEIR SITE RIGHT NOW                                      DAVAOMUSICNATION.COM 

And don't forget to Like their Facebook Page 

LIKE THE DAVAOIST ON FACEBOOK TOO 







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    You can support this event by saving the photo below and making  it your FB cover photo. It's now time for you to have a really cool one. :)

Let me give you an idea of what you will be experiencing when you go to this event. You will be chilling in the most popular music bar in the city right now. The best bands that this city have will play some music for you. Davao artists and creatives will make sure that your eyes will be kept entertained. You will get to shop for premier shirts and other merchandise offered by the best brands in Davao and you will get to hang out with the coolest people in the city. The Unite and Ignite II is an event that  is meant to give you the time of your life. That is why you just have to go! Don't fool yourself that staying at home and watching Walking Dead reruns is enough to give you a good time this Araw Ng Dabaw. There is an awesome party waiting for you this 15th and all that is left for you to do is to take the ride.

This event is being spear-headed by Stormproof  in  cooperation with the creative community of Davao City. Stormproof has a really great reputation when it comes to organizing events that can surely rock your world. So, you are assured that you will get home with big smile on your face ( depends on the amount of alcohol in your system) after this party.

To know more about Unite and Ignite II, just visit the event's Facebook Page. 


















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Oh yeah! This is it baby. Excusion Part Two. I may have exaggerated the title a little bit(just a little bit), but if you have been to the Excursion 1 then you might  agree with me on the title. I mean, that was a great night. Being able to watch Pedicab perform on stage is always a great night. However, that event was not just about Pedicab. It was actually a collection of performances  that was intended to cause musical overdose to everyone  inside that venue. Did I overdose? Of course! I was even already too drunk on the get go. 

Now, concerts  are like movies. If  the one that you watched was good, then you are probably secretly wishing that there is a part 2. You know, another installment where the hero has a new gang that could  help him save the world from another breed of enemies. I actually felt and even saw that in the faces of the peoplwhen the Excursion 1 was done. Their faces all sweaty from too much bumping and grinding with crowd but you can see the sadness. You can see that they already miss the highly impressive artists that have just given them a great night. But now, with the Excursion 2 on its way those same people might probably be as happy as, I don't know, Ronald Mcdonald  eating a Jollibee Chicken Joy? 

 Tickets are sold at only 200 pesos and you can get them now by visiting the Sa'less Diner's Facebook Page.

This years Excursion at Sa'less Diner and Moozika is going to be meaty. And I mean MEATY  Lineup-wise.  

Check out their Excursion 2's promotional video to see why I everybody is pumped up in Davao City right now. 

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This is the first post in this blog.( okay, that was a pretty boring start). I am actually planning to create some sort of a magazine  that obsessively tells stories about the awesome things that are happening inside Davao City.Back then, I thought that the whole thing is a pretty great idea.However, after a couple of minutes,  I thought that it was just the effect of rum. Almost everybody, once in their lifetime, will be in that moment when they thought that they are being a total genius just for coming up with something that they think that will totally take off--especially if they are under the influence of rum, or gin, or vodka, mixed up with  a little boredom and empty sense of purpose( pretty dramatic moment,I tell you). But everybody also almost certainly forgets about it in the morning. A friend of mine told me that that I just had an "Epiphany.I was not really sure if the guy was right. I never really knew what the word meant, until I looked it up just recently. Well, I admit it now, the guy was somewhat right ( smart guy he is). 

So, because  I just had an "Epiphany"(gay), I will try really hard to waste a lot of your time whenever you visit this blog.  Lucky you, I have been trained by Kurt Vonnegut himself, and he made me swear while my hand was inside a pot of burning coal that I would only write things that is worth anybody's while. ( I'm not really trained by Kurt Vonnegut and I'll probably be writing crappy things that will make you sick for two weeks). The plan is to hunt down the best stories that we could share to the citizens of the city who are obviously starving for something new, not fresh, but new. We are not talking about "NEWS" here. We are talking about something else. An experience. A free tour  in the parts of the city where you have never before. An introduction to strangers. A visual and verbal array that will either entice or disgust( we may have to resort to this option) your senses. And sometimes, if we feel  like it, we will try to give you something that are way beyond those things. Like new knowledge, tips, or even take you to the highly impressive magical world of "senseless bullsh*t in the internet.

I had this post-epiphany epiphany. Not really sure if such thing even exists, but believe me, I experienced it. It all happened when I was setting the whole thing up and asked myself this question- " Are there even any awesome stories  in this city?". If you have been living in this city for quite a long time, you will probably agree with me when I say  that this city is nothing special. It's no New York nor Mogadishu. We don't have world famous influences or 12 year old kids carrying Kalashnikovs walking around or picking their noses or  even just merely standing up feeling awesome and all in the corners of our city. Cebu and Manila certainly kicks our city's ass in terms of stimuli offered to the young generation. There is an obvious lag on  how trends in both culture and style are being transmitted to our city. Well, with things like  geography and economy being considered, there is supposed to be a lag. And damn! knowing that shit is depressing. DAMN! So, will there be stories? We are not really sure, but we are confident that something interesting will come up. And once that happens ( deliberately didn't finish the sentence to avoid writing something inappropriately corny). 

By now, you might already have an idea on what this blog is up to and what is it going to offer. But if you are quite confused, then you you are not alone "amigo". I guess that we just have to let life surprise us this time. 

-Markuz Dedal

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