PULP ISSUE #53 Ely's side of things:
Eheads was an experiment gone bad. It had escaped from the lab and
wreaked havoc upon its creators
and the unsuspecting townspeople. With this interview, diane and i
hope to capture that monster
and put it in a cage where it belongs, so that anyone with a
curiosity can study it, dissect it
or just fed it with peanuts if they wanted. Me, i"ve already made my
mind up about the band.
It was good while it lasted, but now all i can remember vividly is
the ugly business that led to
the breakup. I just wish those people hadn"t involved Diane and our
family. It was really uncalled for.
All of you people be warned: if you ever say something bad about
diane again there will be bloodletting.
We dont want to blow it out of proportion, but sometimes you have to
fight fire with fire. Still,
i dont want to be the one to talk about it because you would have to
put me in a straitjacket and censor
every word that would come out of my mouth. Diane is a better
candidate for telling the story because
aside from being there when it happened, she still has the mind to be
objective and the bottom line is
i trust her. Her opinion is what i value most. This may spark more
mudslinging and controversy or
it may finally put everything to rest. Either way were glad its
finally on print
-Ely Buendia, by email
DIANE:K
First let me recount the events of that fateful day when Ely finally
decided to quit. It was
a Sunday, and we were on our way to my family"s house in B.F.
Paranaque when all of a sudden
we got a call from roadie Sammy saying that we were already late for
a gig. Now the S.O.P. was
gigs are supposed to be confirmed at least a day before thru text or
handouts. Since neither of this
happened, for the record, we were obsolutely oblivious of th mall
show that day! I mean kaya
nga andyan and roadie to ake sure that the artist is well informed of
all the details of the show.
That was his job. What we resented the most was that kami yung
pinamukha niyang unprofessional.
Sammy claims that he told us about the gig the other night during a
bar show. If he did clearly
tell us about the mall show one of us would definitely have
remembered. Bottom line is even if he
did verbally mention the gig to us he still do not follow S.O.P. He
could have texted us like
he always did before. Syempre nasanay na kami na ganoong systema
kahit sa former managers. So who"s
unprofessional now? The mall show pushed through, we had to miss our
family gathering. But everybody
was already giving Ely the cold shoulder, as if sinadya niyang ma-
late. Never mind that kami ang
na-hassle because of Sammys #!&@up. In their eyes, Ely is being a
rockstar. The next day Ely decided
to take up what he thought was unprofessionalism on th management"s
part with the manager himself,
Butch Dans. It turned out that the verdict was already out. Butch
didnt even investigate further, he
just took his employees word for it. His exact words to Ely
were, "its his words against yours". Apparently
Sammy lost no time defending himself. Siniraan niya agad si Ely and
would you believe pati ako dinamay!
Insinuating that we were probably too high on drugs that night at
that bar to remember anything. Diyos ko
naman may pamilya na kami and nag.aaral pa ako that time. we were
raising a kid! Do you think pagaaksayahan
namin ng panahon ang drugs! i had cancer, bawal nga sakin kahit yosi
o alcohol-#!&@ magda-drugs
pa ba ako? Siyempre gusto ko pa makita lumaki anak ko no! Pero
according to Butch, the accusation
that we were on shabu cam from Mica (then girlfriend, I mean ONE of
the girlfriends, of Marcus). First
of all i havent even tried the stuff! One more thing, she also
claimed na she told me about the mall show
kaya impossible daw na hindi namin alam unang.una wala syang sinabi.
Di ko naman sya kinakausap. Ayoko
na sanang mag namedrop especially now that tapos na ang lahat pero
#!&@ngina, grabe yung ginawa nya
di man lang niya naisip na we have a name, privacy and family to
protect. Parang siya yung my sayad.
To this day ipaglalaban ko ang innocence ko kahit ipa-drug test nyo
pako just so you know whos really telling
the truth. God! That girl is such a hypocrite, sana tignan-tignan
niya nga yung kasama nya para malaman kung
sino talaga ang junkie! Ely is even more pissed off at her kasi super
imbento at pakialamera at pati ako dinamay.
I really dont like trashtalking other people. But this time below the
belt na kasi what she did. Im just
defending myself and my family. Sa totoo lang we could sue them for
slander sa ginawa nilang yan. Why Thirdline
(management firm who handles eraserheads during that time) would even
listen to just anybody is beyond us.
Anyway back to the story what struck us th most was the other three(
Marcus, Raimund, Buddy) supposedly
Ely"s "friends" corroborated Sammy"s incredulous and ludicrous story
without even talking to Ely first.
Ok let me put it this way. Kunwari for the sake of argument kung mali
man si Ely, hindi ba usually kahit mali
yung kaibigan the least a tru friend can do is to give his/her friend
the benifit of the doubt? Pero in this case
totally walang nangyaring ganun. Ang masakit pa lalo e na wala naman
talagang kasalanan si Ely pero they still sided
with the management. Nasaan yung camaraderie? Ten years down the
drain. Where was the friendship? Then is dawned to us
that wala na talaga. Ely was so disgusted by it that he decided to
give the other three the dose of their own medicine.
After all nabastos kami by their betrayal, Ely quit the band jsut
thru text. There was no sense in staying and continuing
a band where members stab each other in the back.
It was never like a competition for ely bec. he wanted it to work
out. His priority was the whole band
not himself. You dont form a band and then go creating rivalries.
Ely"s not like that. After all he chose raimund
to be with the band and lingid sa kaalaman ng marami Raimund
acltually almost got kicked out of the group before
they even signed up with BMG records dahil nga he was displaying a
selfish attitude. Strangely everybody did
sense early on that Raimund is treating Ely more like a rival than a
bandmate. Even when performing Raimund always
seemed to be either trying to show off or upstage Ely, to detriment
of the performance. Ely got turned off by that
who wouldnt? Well di ko talaga nakita or kilala ang Eheads until
nakilala ko si Ely, noon ko na lang sila napanood
talaga at narinig. Kahit di ako fan ng bands at wala ako masyado
background sa scene, napuna ko pa rin na parang wala
talaga silang chemistry on stage unlike the Mongols parang sa tingin
ko mas nag ja-jive talaga personality and musisc-wise.
Tsaka super humble ng members, there really just genuinely happy to
be in the band, anyways going back to topic, dahil may
pinagsamahan na sila ni Raimund, Ely chose to work it out and still
kept him in the band. Bakit pa nagbanda si Ely eh di
sana nagsolo na lang siya. He never considered anybody in the band
rival. Ely"s a team player. Ang issue lang naman ni Ely kay
Raimund was the manner in which he achieved his personal agendas.
Hindi naman na-badtrip si Ely sa pagbuo ni Raimund ng bagong
banda. He was actually happy for his bandmates newfound success. Kaso
never kasi naging open si Raimund about it, not that
Ely or the band wanted Raimund to ask permission. He could do
anything he wanted. Sana lang nagsabi or nagkwento man lang, hindi
yung biglang tahimik tapos magugulat na lang kami na magsusumbong
yung staff(ng eheads office) na Raimund, with Karen(ex manager
ng Eheads) would use the Eheads office to book his bands gigs.
Nakarating nga sa amin through concerned employee na may times na
sinusulot nila what were supposed to be gigs for Eheads. Bad trip
naman yun. tapos may mga shows pa Eheads na bigla na lang ika-cut
ni Raimund short para makahabol sa Sandwich gigs. Wala lang finesse.
Again, we dont have a problem with Raimund putting up another band
sana lang he was more open and considerate, less sleazy. That"s it
lang. Other than that ok naman masaya pa nga kami for him.
V
Pulp: What do you hope will happen after this comes out?
Diane: The truth is we came out to end this at hindi para mag-umpisa
ng away. The whole point of this interview was for us to defend
ourselves from all the vicious attacks we"ve received following the
Eheads breakup and to finally shed light on what really happened. Its
not a crime to fight back especially when your re#!&@tion is at stake.
Kung kami papipiliin we would still not choose to do this pero they
left us with no choice. This is a last ditch attempt to end this
controversy and feud. we are ready to make peace anytime basta huwag
lang talagang mamersonal. Sana talaga matapos na ito nakakasawa na. To
Thirdline(management firm who handles eraserheads prev) jsut please
stop attacking our personal lives. Its unfair. To the ex-bandmates: we
wish youd stop being resentful and bitter towards Ely. He has nothing
against you. Wag niyo kalimutan yung pinagsamahan niyo, wag na din
sana manumbat, after all all its common knowledge that it could"ve
been another John, Mike, Edward or any other man in your places then,
and it would have still been the Eraserheads. You are all talented and
Ely believed in all of you, that"s why he wanted to share everything
with you. Himdi niyo na kami kailangan tapakan to prove your worth.
There are better ways to achieve our goals in life especially with
talent like yours. To the die hard Eheads fans: its not the end of the
world, the"re all still alive and you still have CDs to listen to.
Matanda na yung apat pagbigyan niyo na silang gawin ang gusto nilang
gawin. If you really love them support their new endeavors. They would
appreciate that. You dont need to take any sides. This about great
music. Dont be too attached to the image (its just an illusion)
they"re just people like you and everybody else trying to earn a
living. Just enjoy the music, whoever it may come from, Sandwich man
or Cambio, the Mongols(Pupil) or kahit sino magaling sila lahat,
support filipino music, And sa mga tao na sumusuporta pa rin sa lahat
at walang kinikilingan, mabuhay kayo! Thank God na madami paring mga
tao na may breeding at matatalino who understand that good music
trancends everything including musicians themselves. Habang may
natitirang mga ganito may pag.asa pa ang industry. You Rock!
thanks again for replying!!
