ANOTHER ARTICLE FROM MANILA BULLETIN
Slapshock goes global
Kaye Villagomez
Slapshock is yet to digest what went on when they performed at the world-jolting Desert Rock Festival in Dubai recently.
The first Asian act to be invited for this annual world rock event, Slapshock traded rock metal combustion alongside a western dominated stage led by the likes of Korn and the new band (Velvet Revolver) of former Guns n Roses lead guitarist Slash.
In an interview with the Manila Bulletin for one of Slapshock’s major supporters Dickies, it turned out that the Dubai feat was just the clicking of a lock that would soon open doors en route international recognition.
"The experience was way too overwhelming," confided vocalist Jamir Garcia. "It gives us an ultimate high to just perform before an international crowd that actually digs what we play so you can just imagine how it felt being on the same stage where the reasons why we’re a band also played."
For the band, the merits of being an artist and fan at the same time during the Dubai Rock Fest had to be more than what they bargained for. Destiny however had other plans for the 11-year old rock act.
Jamir Garcia and the rest of the guys said that Center Stage Management (CSM), a multi-national media company, just signed them for global recognition. "And it came at a time when we were just out of label and management," confessed Slapshock members who are all managing themselves at this moment.
Slapshock reached the Desert Rock Festival when big shots from the international industry, Dubai’s CSM, took interest in the local band. "We were contacted through our former label EMI Music. From there, one thing led to another and the next thing we knew, we were part of this honorable ensemble and we realized there was no other choice bit to give it our best shot."
The best efforts paid off. If you search the YouTube for Slapshock’s performances in Dubai, the foreigner-dominated audience of thousands were relegated to followers on the Pinoy frontman’s cue. "I was myself surprised at how the audience reacted. They really went wild beyond our expectations.
Sobrang iba yung pakiramdam na nagre-respond yung crowd na dominated ng foreigners sa isang band gaya namin. We did six songs and when finally we came to our last song ("We Are One"), it just summed everything up for us. The biggest lesson of our biggest gig ever was something we stood for all these years...music unites, regardless of everything."
Bassist Lee Nadela described the Desert Rock Festival, which had the likes of Incubus playing last year, as Dubai’s way of drumming up entertainment in the industrialized city.
In a fleeting moment on stage, Garcia took off his Dickies shirt to reveal a Pilipinas basketball jersey underneath and that’s the time a
group of Pinoys screamed the loudest somewhere in a sea of thousands. According to desertrockfestival.com, ticket sales peaked to 28,000 for the two-night event that also featured (aside from Korn and Velvet Revolver) Machine Head, As I Lay Dying, Nervecell, and Muse among others.
Slapshock went beyond making Pinoys proud that the producers of the concert went far beyond the fact that the band was the least known group in the prolific roster. They tapped Slapshock for an international recording output: The band’s sixth all original CD in 10 years in the business.
"We’re supposed to launch by June or July in Dubai for a record that’s to be released internationally so definitely the pressure is solid there," Jamir said. In as much as the pressure to make it internationally exists, so does the deadline. "But we’re looking beyond this as an opportunity for us alone, we would also want to leave the door open for other Filipino acts as well."
Nadela added that the band is into this system of all new and original materials every time an opportunity for an album arises. "We’ve done five so far and there’s a sixth best of album that we really don’t consider, so this new one with CSM, which will really be a big one."
