The Music Forums > Jazz and Blues Cafe
BLUE RATS....95'-present.a decade of blues
blues2death:
--- Quote from: deltaslim ---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.
--- End quote ---
now that's probably where i need to get some help from joric.haha...all in all...and im not kiddin...i had a good time in the 90s...i couldnt remember ALL the details....
lotsa funny moments though...i remember butch snappin a string, and he was so drunk out of his mind that he couldnt figure out what he should do to it...like everyone was lookin at him and he was staring blankly at the wall...hehe...only for a moment though.coz i managed to borrow a tele from perf that night...i think it was the same night that we played with the dredgers...man i might have been drunk myself bro!
oh and apa bein the sweet guy that he is.... :roll: he would never threaten another living being with his instrument :twisted: nope...he would never do that :roll:
blues2death:
now blue rats was a big band...understatement
we had three vocalists (trice,butch and joe), three guitars..two bassists,one sax and one keyboardist...and two drummers...
was a thing of necessity coz some members couldnt make it due to conflicting schedules...but there was one gig, that actually had all members present at one time...
trice,butch,AL,apa,percy,jj,houdini,cesar,joe and myself.
it was a party somewhere in batangas(pls correct me budhha coz i dont remember)...where i distinctly remember the members of the band were more than the audience...great food,great drinks...but so few people...it was dyahe for the guy who had the party...but it was ok...for those who were there it was grand.
it was a wonder that the stage could hold all ten of us...i mean save for percy and me...the rest of the rats were larger than life...i didnt mean that as an insult...but the music was even larger.
we played "liz reed" and "whippin post" in its entirety and more...everyone climaxin on that blues break as one instrument...it was like a herd of elephants mixin it up with a herd of bufallo...
haha....butch,known for bein so critical really got off that night..he was kissin everybody on the cheek...yikes!hehehe
even before that we all know that the rats had a potential to be the heaviest and loudest sounding blues ensemble....we could quiet down and be as soft as little mice ...but when the rats got down and dirty...ah you wouldnt want to be in the way of a train who's just on the verge of derailling... :wink:
blue buddha:
Supplement:
After just 6 months of gigging regularly in '95, it became apparent that it was difficult for everyone to commit to showing up twice a week. So the "strategic philosophy" was formed: The music would be Blues in every form done in a Jam format -- we didn't have to rehearse too much, we could have musicians come in and out of the band easily, and the sound would be different every night. The band was run like the Allman Brothers or The Grateful Dead -- more like a family of multiple musicians who showed up when they could. "Know the song intros, know the song endings -- whatever happens in between... bahala na. Tinginan nalang". As a result over the years, a ton of musicians would traipse into Hobbit House to jam with the band.
That early party gig in Puerto Azul, Batangas in 1995 was an ensemble milestone: Allmans/Dead formula -- 2 drummers, keys, sax, bass, 3 guitars, vocals... "the wall of sound". Not too long after that, Apa left for business school abroad and the Rats took on Norman Belardo on bass.
That 3rd lineup (1996 onward) of the Rats was the strongest and most versatile -- could play blues in any form: delta, chicago, big band, blues-rock, blues-pop, fusion, southern rock, acid, country, classic r&b, funk, etc... The band did a televised "Concert at the Park" in Luneta covering "a history of the blues". That band was:
Tricie G. - vocals
Joe I. - saxes, vocals
Butch R. - guitars, vocals
JM (blues2death) - guitars
AL - guitars
JJ Coloma - keys
Norman Belardo (of Advent Call) - Bass
Edmund "Bosyo" Fortuno (of D'Swooners, Juan de la Cruz, Anakbayan, Sampaguita) - drums
This was also the lineup that Mike Hanopol insisted on recording in 1996, which resulted in an as yet unreleased album of 8 originals and 3 covers called "Mahaharot na Tugtugin".
B2d, I don't know if you know this -- and if you don't, I'm sorry to have to be the one to let you know: Norman died in a tour boat accident in the middle east earlier this year. Presumably he was part of the house band on the boat when it capsized in a harbor off Bahrain. A real tragedy. Well, he's up there with Bosyo now holding down the low end and waiting for the rest of us. :cry:
Whew.... Ok. Next..........
blues2death:
excuse me while i regain my composure.....
ahem....Norman is one of the greatest friends a guy could have.miss you buddy!
blues2death:
blue buddha...i got to commend you.you remember every single detail.hahaha
while the rest of the rats were in a drunken stupor, one of us was actually takin down notes...
mabuhay ka blue buddha
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version