BLUE RATS....95'-present.a decade of blues - TALK @ PhilMusic.com

August 15, 2006, 02:34:41 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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let's give this a try....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #1 August 15, 2006, 02:44:48 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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introducing myself...JM, guitarist for 15 yrs now.journeyman musician po.meaning palipat lipat ng landas...learning stuff and soaking up whatever he can in whatever there is.

been a member of a number of bands....but i got my start in BLUE RATS.been part of a legacy, guitar player for 5 yrs before moving on.

but the BLUE RATS, despite personnel changes, are still at it.the legacy continues....

there is no blue rats website,no friendster account,not even myspace.

but i got an a-ok from blue buddha, to start a thread.and it is my goal here to put down all things blue and rattty!hehehe

Alumni...the present lineup...Jammers extraordinaire...a lil bit of history...styles and songs...the 'unreleased album'.......alumnus-where are they now?...maybe an upcoming reunion concert...

and mainly to answer the question..." Who is this F*&^in BAnd Anyway?!!?"

blue buddha, feel free to fact-check cause my history is pretty blurry at the moment...i need help mostly on dates..a bit of who's who...

like who was in the early line up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #2 August 15, 2006, 02:58:57 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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now i wasnt there when it all started...but i was pretty darn close.so forgive me if i dont get every detail right.

blue rats started years ago...cultivating itself in the friendship of three individuals. Apa O., Butch R. and A.L. (i dont know if he wanted his name here! )

they went to school together...eventually went their separate ways and studied abroad separately...reunited and found that they all have common love of the blues, decided to form a blues band ,just for kicks.

now all of them have day-jobs(understatement)...so they knew that this was only goin to be a semi-serious thing, playin only on the weekends...suppose to be something they could do so they wont burnout at their jobs...also the booze and partying didnt hurt...hehe

started fooling around w/a 4 track recorder, coming up with early compositions like "lakas ng tama". really stoked about what they came up with,they decide to go ahead and book a gig.

this was in 94-95.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #3 August 15, 2006, 03:09:19 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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now who are these three forefather of the blues thumpin rats of the round blues table?

Apa O.---media personality...closet bassist who eventually became the manager of Blue Rats.he made a lot of hilarious lyrics that became songs/originals for the band,(?)hehe...

Butch R.---hhhmmmm...classical guitar player virtuoso ( ayos ba butch ).who did the rounds as a blues/rock guitar player back in the good old days, i'm actually friends with a former bandmate of his so i know what the deal is.went through what most musicians go through. the struggle...constant gigging...until he landed a gig as a professor of guitar instruction in st. thomeas university...where i met him.

A.L. ---an architect in his spare time ...in his own words...schizophrenic member of the rats....churning guitar sounds, laidback and sweet to the beat...can never rush him..he's got it nailed down...learned a lot from this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #4 August 15, 2006, 03:16:49 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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still in '95 guys

so there they are guitars and a bassist. needed to fill in the blanks so the band would be complete.

a drummer and a keyboard player..maybe a saxophone player...

but one crucial element of the rats has yet to be discovered.

enter Trice Gomez...blues lady of the first degree.A niece of one of the members, who is known as a very powerful singer, who apparently gained experience singing in HS bands and family reunions.

She is THE vocalist and face of the rats.oh,it didn't hurt that the members could blow the socks of the non-believer...but Trice's voice was the storm as powerful as any blues veteran out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #5 August 15, 2006, 03:24:05 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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so they start rehearsing. SRV, BB king, Muddy waters...you name it...it was an encyclopedia of blues and rock n'roll.

first gig...it was like an audition gig.the bar?hobbit house..known for it's midget staff,frequent home for struggling artists and media who's who.

audition? the blue rats didnt care..all they thought about was having a blast playin the music that they hold in their hearts...it was a 'joke'.i have just been corrected that the rats who were there only knew 4 songs .

they rocked, they rolled , they conquered...hobbit house offered them a regular friday slot.

panic time...

although, they enjoyed and had a great time in their firsts gigs...it was apparent that their dayjobs were gonna present a problem.priorities w/school, job and dayjobs.scheduling the growing number of gigs .the only solution would be, get musicians who actually did it for a living to support and augment the band when certain key members weren't around.

so enter the UST musicians...of which i was a part of ...joining what would become the nucleus for the early lineup(s) of the Blue Rats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #6 August 15, 2006, 03:34:50 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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on vocals...Trice Gomez

on lead guitar---Butch R.
rythm guitar--A.L.
bass guitar--Apa

Ust musicians who joined:

sax:Joe Ingarra, New Yorker sax player who was a former navy service man who actually went here when there was a naval base in olongapo.also a member of the Navy's Orchestra or Band or whatever.came here in the mid 90s.discovered by butch...the rest was history.

apparently, apa and AL had jobs who werent as flexible as butch's.so butch took it upon himself to find replacement musicians who could fill in when apa and AL couldnt play.

keyboards: JJ Coloma
bass: Percy Bautista
drums: Houdini

enter me...yes that's right.ako pa din ang bida...well i only know how i joined the band..medyo hazy ang memory ko sa iba...so sorry po..hehe

i started out as a student of classical guitar in UST.where i had butch as my teacher.it was ok nung una...but i never showed my powers in electric guitar on campus.strict classical e.

so sometimes butch would catch me practicin blues on my nylon string during our lessons.sasabihin nya.."ano yan?"...wala po, medyo pampatanggal antok lang.

eventually joined the ust jazz ensemble....butch saw me play there...and then i got invited to play w/blue rats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #7 August 15, 2006, 03:41:56 PM

blues2death (Offline)
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so there you go :

first line up of blue rats:

trice gomez-vox
AL--rhythm guitars
Butch--lead guitars
Apa--bass guitars
Joe--sax

me--'3rd'guitar player--classical guitar student gone bad..
nyahahahahaha

JJ coloma--keyboards,classical pianist who learned to play them blues in the process.got barrelhouse piano licks and tricks up the wazoo.and also delved into harp for further studies.not 'blues harp' mind you....but the really big one, that you see played by tadao hayashi. JJ was great playin his organ...not his organ mind you but the hammond b3 type...of course he did it with a synthesizer...not a real hammond organ.

Houdini--drums..yes his name is houdini.he would really escape the world with his music...i met him in the UST jazz band...great chops.would always remember his first name. have no luck rememberin his last though.but he is a very good drummer..big part of the reason that the blue rats 'swinged' harder then great big axe in a red wood forest.

Percival Bautista--bass...who actually played a stinkin mean upright blues bass guitar...it didnt hurt that he had jazz chops to spare.also a member of the UST jazz ensemble.acting as the 2nd person in the blue rats swing part invention..haha...big jazz manner in a small package, that was how percy was.

played fridays at hobbit house....the occasional wedding and party...the once a week gig in hobbit became fri and sat...also an unplugged set in the grand boulevard hotel back to back with jun lopito...budhha i still have the flyers man....

exciting time for me...coz i got to meet my heroes...had a great time...and it was blues university for me....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #8 August 15, 2006, 04:00:17 PM

deltaslim (Offline)
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... great stuff... can't wait for the next episodes...

FS: SansAmp British, Boss FBM-1, Resonator gtr, THD Yellowjackets, MicroCube amp

Reply #9 August 15, 2006, 04:28:10 PM

blue buddha (Offline)
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Me too, me too.... I can't wait for the next episodes too! cheesy

You're doing pretty well b2d... Percy's last name is Bautista (last seen on a Norwegian Cruise Ship as part of the house band). Can't remember Hodini's last name... Don't forget Cesar in your next episode....

And you forgot to mention that the "audition" at Hobbit was really done as a joke more than anything else. The band knew 4 songs -- that was literally it. That they even hired the Rats was ludicrous....

O continue, continue.....

Reply #10 August 15, 2006, 04:44:15 PM

deltaslim (Offline)
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i hope there's a nice account of that gig in Club Dredd (?). i think it was Eddie Boy Escudero's bday blues gig. Basta I remember Apa, tipsy/drunk and walking around w/ his bass strapped on and thereby forcing people to duck for safety! And this was before their set!

i played on that gig too w/ my college band Soul Dredgers. iirc, Tom Colvin and Egay Imperio jammed with us.

FS: SansAmp British, Boss FBM-1, Resonator gtr, THD Yellowjackets, MicroCube amp

Reply #11 August 15, 2006, 10:23:35 PM

blue buddha (Offline)
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That's why Apa ceased to be the regular bassist for the Rats -- band members were spending too much time and money in emergency rooms across the city getting treated for bruises on the chest, upper arms, and back of the neck. The cops on the beat at the hospitals were beginning to suspect a serial attacker armed with a strangely shaped club tipped with four blades in the shape of three-leafed clovers.... cheesy

Reply #12 August 16, 2006, 01:45:26 AM

blues2death (Offline)
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now the rats were starting to create a buzz...oh yes certainly they were a blues band....but they made the party really alive when they played.nevermind that the songs they played were old and forgotten classics to generation x.generation x actually loved it.and though the blue rats werent born so they could be blues ambassadors to the pinoy community....it just became that way.

now w/the situation that the gigs are growing, and exposure was steady...the band provided some form of financial respite in others...for some it was just a weekend thing..well trice,jj and i were still goin to school so it was pretty cool having extra lunch money so we could all eat at mcdo...hehehe

nevertheless the roster began changing...and it seemed like the constant lineup that would exist in the gigs were...

trice,apa,AL,butch, myself and joe.....

and then we have the revolving door of the rhythm section of blue rats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #13 August 16, 2006, 02:02:17 AM

blues2death (Offline)
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percy and houdini...like i mentioned before, 2 part swing invention of the blue rats.were actually graduates of UST conservatory of music.living it. and breathing it. houdini had to bow out because of health issues. and percy was on his way to play bass in a norweigan cruise....

Cesar---aha...now this has been a running joke in the band. the age issue...now butch,apa and AL are in the same batch,the middle aged rats...JJ,me and trice form the new generation bluesmen/woman in the band during that time.....Joe? well let's say that he's been around the block 5 times...hehehe...in cesar we found someone almost as old as joe... ...cesar has been the veteran drum beater for as long as he can remember...at 14 he ran off to join a band in vietnam to entereatin the troops...yep he's that old ,you could just imagine how old joe is... i dont see him reading this thread so tanda talaga man...but to his credit...his chops justifies his age...mature and precise he could give today's drummers a run for their money--

Norman Belardo---former advent call bassist.now here's the kick when you play in a bar..any bar.you meet great musicians and even greater musicians.advent call was one of those bands we played back to back with.I call him 'Baloo' the bear ...me bein mowgli.which was literally how it was between us.he's as chunky as his basslines that plow forth from his fender jazz bass. He was the policeman who laid down the law when it comes to the foundation of the blue rats.it made the jams exciting and grand.often times impressing jammers when they come a-visting the hobbit house...a lot of guitar players wanted to hire the rhythm section coz we were as tight as a duck's &^%ss!

also notable are when henry/advent call keyboardist comes a jamming....that organ player from deep purple sure would worried if he ever hears this guy play!

ok hold on to your seats!

here's where it gets tricky!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

Reply #14 August 16, 2006, 02:44:42 AM

blues2death (Offline)
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enter "bosyo"..one of the many bands who we played back-to back with in hobbit. it started out as one big jam of a mess...but nevertheless really exciting.

eggpie....bass virtuoso. aha! his name is actally rene de castro...became eggpie when he had a stint playing in olongapo and call girls would playfully call him eggpie..hehe

he played bass for the jerks,jun lopito,pepe smith,sampaguita and most notably became part of the watawat band,backing up the great freddie aguilar.he was the go-to bassist for pinoy rockers.playing foundation licks in the style of jaco pastorius...i think he was better than jaco.seriously.known for his kabuki hairstyle..domo arigato mister roboto..

edmund fortuno---"bosyo"...how we got this guy to play drums for us,i will always be grateful.doesnt need an introduction.you know what your eardrums will get into when this guy's behind the kit....one memorable quote i heard from a hot momma who used to watch us at hobbit..."wow, if my lover would only look like that when we did the deed, that would give multiple,multiple orgasms all day and all night."

we miss you edmun...i will always remember the words of wisdom you would give me when i took you home to las piñas in plaza quezon.i love you bro! im sure youre givin the angels up there a heck of a good time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrxlddx0lqE guitarist telling the drummer what the intro to laklak was. caught on video.at binilangan pa ang drummer 1-2...1-2-3..lol

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