An Article from Mr. Wolf Gemora:
Back Of The Line, Rockstar.
It’s a Sunday. You’re lining up at your local grocery store. Your shopping cart has supplies and groceries for the next week. Of all the ten registers only two are open. Four other carts filled to the brim are in front of you. It’s crowded, it’s noisy and you just want to pay for your [gooey brown stuff] and get home.
Now, imagine if some lady suddenly cuts in front of the person in front of you. She says, ‘sorry ha’ to that person and says that she’s in a hurry. Well, so are you. For fear of arguing with this woman and delaying your wait even more, you just shut up. Sucks, huh? Whatever consequence led this person to cut the line (or if she was even telling the truth) is a total lack of respect to other people.
Similarly, there is a nasty epidemic of this sort that permeates the local Filipino rock scene, be it in small bar gigs or large productions during the U.P. fair. Mico Ong, lead guitarist of Pinoy prog band, Fuseboxx recently posted this message on the wall of the ‘Maximum Rakenrol’ Facebook group:
“How come Fuseboxx always gets bumped off the line-up?
This is a common thing to us and we are aware that this happens to other bands as well.
It’s just strange that it happened to us in our last 3 gigs. We really don’t mind playing last, or even after the main act, as long as it was set beforehand by the production/event. Even so, whenever there are sudden line-up changes, we’re always the ones who give-in, even if we have to play last. This is our way of showing respect and gratitude to the events/production organizers for letting us play and share our music.
The funny thing is, whenever this situation happens and we agree, nobody from the appealing band approaches us at the least, and be appreciative of the favor we gave. Countless self-centered reasons/excuses just to play before us.”
That, in a nutshell is a lousy situation that many bands have gone through for a very, very long time, including myself. Many a night during my experiences with Wolfgang back in the 90′s were of us arriving at our designated call time, excited to play the gig, wait for hours and hours and eventually playing at some ungodly hour with our initial excitement deflated. I think the worst gig ever was one in Club Dredd on Edsa when we ended up playing at 2 AM, after about 30 bands. No [gooey brown stuff], 30 bands. It was a miracle that our fans stayed through the whole event just to watch our set. But, by the time we went on everyone was just hanging on by a thread from the long wait.
That was in 1996. Apparently, things haven’t changed in 16 years. It baffles my mind how situations like this still persist when there is a very simple solution to it. All of this boils down to two things. The lack of professionalism and the lack (and sometimes, the absence) of respect. Many a musician who has fallen victim to this can only express their frustration thru muted complaints. Enough is enough.
Beat The Clock
The golden rule of any kind of production is to stay on schedule. No matter how good your show looks on paper, it all comes down to the actual execution of the program. And there is nothing more important than STARTING ON TIME. For both amateur and semi-pro show and concert producers who actually take their productions seriously will live and die by this rule. If you do not start on time, you will have so many unnecessary problems. One thing you don’t want is a bad reputation for running an amateurish production. No bands would want to play and no fans would want to attend.
The Early Bird Gets The Worm
One cannot put all the blame of a train wreck of a production to the producers alone. Part of the problem lies with the bands themselves. The following is a common occurrence that happens in small bar events. When it is actually time to start the event at let’s say, 9 PM, the opening band requests the people in charge if they could start a little later because there aren’t enough people in the audience to watch them. If the producers are idiots and give in to this stupid request, expect the dominoes to topple. There are several reasons why your band is first on the roster. Most basic one is that you and your band are nobodys. Don’t feel bad about that. EVERYBODY started as a NOBODY. Being a nobody does not mean you should act unprofessionally. The mere fact that you even uttered a request like that shows disrespect to the production and the other bands who are scheduled to play. Start on time, play your set as best you can, be appreciative of any attention given to you and move on. If you’re good enough, you might get another chance to play and get a better time slot.
If you’ve ever been guilty of this next offense more than once, shame on you. I cannot emphasize this more. Whatever CALL TIME you are given by the event’s organizer, you HAVE to follow it. Being late for your call time and worse, your set time is a mortal sin in this business. Now, once you loss your place in line, you have to play last. You automatically go to the back of the line. Sucks for you but you were late. To take the step of disrespect even further, there have been times when the late band would have the gall to ask the promoter to have them play at the next immediate time slot. Giving reasons like not wanting to play after the main band of the event. In Fuseboxx’s case, they gave in to the request, played later in the night and ended up without even a ‘thank you’ from the other band.
If you find yourself in a situation like Fuseboxx’s, my advice would be to respectfully decline the request by saying, “I’m sorry, but we would like to play at our allotted time”. Simple but direct. The tardiness of others is not your responsibility. You don’t owe anyone anything. If you give in then you have no one to blame buy yourselves. If you give someone a chance to take advantage of you, they will. And if they call you ‘mayabang’ or ‘rockstar’, [strawberry] ‘em. You were there on time, not them. Their problem, not yours.
Old Habits Die Hard
These ugly “habits” are not only rampant in the music scene but everywhere else in Pinoy society. Wether it be in business offices, call centers, show business, or the government, most Pinoys would rather use politicking than be responsible for their actions and take the consequences. It’s a practice that’s been holding Filipino society from growing into it’s full potential of being a progressive culture. The best solutions are usually practical ones. Eradicating tardiness, crab mentalities and politics in our music scene can only free us from the chains that bind us from becoming great. It’s really up to us to change. If not, this vicious cycle will never end.
