hero worship

asking the band about how they got into their bands (none of us began our musical journeys (naks) with shirley) everybody mentions some hero or other that just made them want to do the things we do more than the normal person wants to do the things we do.

a common member of this mythical group is buddy zabala, bass player for the eraserheads, and musical genius extraordinaire.

i remember hanging out at maginhawa with mr. mark villena, engineer and producer of our rizal day sessions ep, reminiscing happily about eraserheads gigs at club dredd (the old ones, not the one in eastwood, ha ha), and a point he made clear was that the instruments the eraserheads were using were the same instruments that mark and his then tungaw bandmates were also using, cheap fender and gibson copies that were the only instruments available then (since the music stores weren't as abundant as they are today) and feeling this sense of awe since his heroes weren't just heroes, on some level they were equals. haha.

there's this strange feeling of elation achieved when you realize you're at a point where a hero of yours was, like somehow you're taking the route they took.

i remember being at a gig at saguijo, selena was introduced to buddy zabala, and she proceeded to tell us after the whole encounter at the jingmobile. we were changing shirts, having played a really sweaty set. ean's mouth started watering, pupils dilated, and he began muttering about how the bassline in the chorus of maselang bahaghari is probably the best bassline in the world. then he changes his mind, mentioning a string of eraserheads hits and b-sides and how he'd just study them for long periods of time, trying to wrap his brain around how mr. zabala was able to do something so transcendental in a pop song. jing starts travelling back in time in his head, back to the club dredd of old. selena is still visibly shaken at the meeting, and kathy is drunk in the jingmobile. hahaha.

before shirley, way way before shirley, i auditioned to play bass for twisted halo, when the band and their then-bassist jal taguibao parted ways. i didn't get in, buddy zabala became the new bassplayer. but i didn't feel bad at all because if i were in their shoes i'd also have picked buddy over me haha.

one twisted halo gig, that was an nu107 alternativity concert, buddy's flight back from zamboanga was delayed and i subbed for him on short notice, leaving the gig to go practice with twisted halo, and coming back to play the gig to find myself jumping up and down so much that i jumped on my glasses rendering them unwearable. i was subbing for buddy zabala. my hero. haha.

years later (haha ang tagal ko na palang nagbabanda) after a lot of other bands, i'm in shirley and outerhope and happy and i get a text message from leigh of cambio, asking if i could sub for buddy on bass with cambio. i say of course. i practice with just diego, learning the chords of the songs, and just really hammering on my guitar at home with the cambio cd playing. ang galing galing talaga ni buddy. one really fun gig at al's bar, and i thought that topped them all. but no.

last week i got the text from leigh again and of course i wanted to, and no i wasn't doing anything, and yes i love sessioning for cambio. thing is, the dawn were also playing that night. i didn't know why i was called in to session, but i was there. leigh said something about buddy having another gig or having to go somewhere so he couldn't come early so a sessionist had to play. great. getting ready for the gig, buddy zabala shows up and i'm petrified, i mean he wrote the basslines that i would be butchering. he was giving me advice, simple things people in bands should know, like "watch the drummer." "just relax." haha. coming from him those words meant a lot. my knees were shaking and kathy g commented on my playing after the set (we split 6 songs between us, the first three were mine, the next were buddy's) saying i wasn't moving at all haha.

ayun. haha. hero worship.

-owel