BLUE RATS....95'-present.a decade of blues

[blues2death]

let's give this a try....

[blues2death]

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

[blues2death]

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.

[blues2death]

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.

[blues2death]

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.

[blues2death]

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.

[blues2death]

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.

[blues2death]

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....

[deltaslim]

... great stuff... can't wait for the next episodes...  

[blue buddha]

Me too, me too.... I can't wait for the next episodes too!  

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.....

[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.

[blue buddha]

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....  

[blues2death]

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.

[blues2death]

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!

[blues2death]

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!

[blues2death]

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.

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.... he would never threaten another living being with his instrument nope...he would never do that  

[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...

[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.  

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

[blues2death]

to continue.....

so that lineup  from 96...pretty much stayed the same, although various points in time bassists would be changed, butch roxas , apa and AL would go abroad for a while...

there was a time though that the rats would have "pwesto" four times a week....that's in different areas in metro manila. for a pinoy blues band, that was pretty busy.

so the lineup would be flexible for a time. sometimes norman would play for some gigs.if he couldnt make it--he was in advent call at the same time---eggpie would fill in...

we also went through a while when butch wasnt around and AL couldnt make it...i would be the only guitar player playing...and it would still be loud. man, maybe i was the reason the hobbit people always asked the rats to turn down.

eventually, we would find ourselves without a bass player, and butch would ultimately focus on his classical guitar studies and would quit electric guitar for good.

so enter.....

[blues2death]

johnny besa-----former bassist for "the breed", known for the all-black shirts and jeans getup,'black ,mercedes benz',and their singer turned newscaster/commercial for catsup...

       come to think of it, johnny has always wore black....harkens back to the kalye/atrium days. johnny, rockhard stature was as solid on the bass as it could be...backup vocals extraordinare...also manages to squeeze in zztop's "tush" occasionally in the set(with him singing it--w/conviction of course!)...great rock n roller...

and get ready...hold on to your hats----cowboy is in the house...
        ayos ba cow? well....cowboy 2nd generation rockstar..because of his mom.but it doesnt end there.he's got the whole package goin.good looks,height,great guitar chops,well toned vocal chops...and a good sense of humor would contribute  more than his rock pedigree...
       lefty guitarist in the tradition of hendrix...god, the last time i played with this guy was in a xmas party in 04.....playin a 80s themed set...remember blondie cow?" one way or another..."i forgot the lyrics,hehehe

and these guys manage to stay in the rats up to now...

and the saga continues.....

[nicemusic]

Sorry to jump in sir...

But you mean saga Sir?!?

This is what you call "Philippine Blues History"...

Someone please document this... before we lose some data

If there is a book authored on Philippine Jazz "Pinoy Jazz Traditions" by Richie Quirino... someone should start writing (with pictures sana and an extensive info about gear used   ) a book about Pinoy Blues?

I should hang here more often...

Am learning a lot!

Thanks!

Now sorry to interrupt this sir, you may now go on with your program...

[blue buddha]

Am sure b2d was just being facetious by calling it a "saga".    But it's the possible name dropping that makes this a rather interesting story..... so here's some name dropping as part of......

.....Supplement #3:

That lineup pretty much held until about 2000, with Wendell Garcia (pre-Barbie's Cradle) becoming a Rat too, doubling up with Bosyo on special gigs like The Talong Party (which shall remain undescribed to avoid potential arrests) and subbing when Bosyo couldn't make it.

By 2000, a lunatic range of musicians had jammed and performed onstage, in the studio, or done rehearsal time with the band – a virtual who’s who of Pinoy blues and rock (pasensya nalang if some were left out or if some were post 2000): Mike Hanopol and Joey “Pepe” Smith (Juan de la Cruz), Sampaguita, Jun Lopito (CocoJam, Boddhisatvas), Chikoy Pura and Nitoy Adriano (The Jerks), Dondi Ledesma (Wally Gonzales Band), Miyaki (Sampaguita), Binky Lampano, Edwin Vergara, Tom Colvin, Simon Tan and Jojo Lim (Lampano Alley),  Sammy Asuncion (SPY), “Indian Joe” Alex (Hukkah), Ka Roger Pullin, Cookie Chua (Color It Red), Tirso Ripol and David Aguirre (Razorback), Basti Artadi (Razorback, Wolfgang), Nino Mendoza (Blue Jean Junkies), Kakoy Legaspi (Mr. Crayon, River Maya), Alex Cruz, Megan Aguilar, Jamie Wilson, Bituin Escalante, Mike and Angelo Villegas, Butch Saulog, Jay Ortega, Dennis Mabanta, and Manny Amador.

By then, SOME VENUES PLAYED…

The Hobbit House
Republic of Malate
Heckle & Jeckle
Mayric’s
70’sBistro
Pep’s Bar
Mexicali – Alabang
Manila Blues Festival - Music Museum
Feté de la Musique
Jaguar Motors Launch – Peninsula Hotel
Pulp Summer Slam – Amoranto Stadium
Puerto Galera Summer Slam
Puerto Azul Music Festival
Concert at the Park
RJ Music Festival
The Glorietta at Ayala Center
Radio Bandido EDSA Celebration
Marikina Music Festival
Concert In The Garden – UP Diliman
The Conservatory -Peninsula Hotel
Beck’s Bar - Grand Boulevard Hotel
3 weddings and a bunch of private parties


… AND OTHER PLACES GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN…

Club Dredd
Roxy’s
Poppies
Studebaker’s
Euphoria
Zu – Shangrila Hotel Makati

O, b2d..... continue.....  :-k

[toybitz]

go on, go on.