New record out featuring Fil-Am bands: The Ghost of Manong

New record out featuring Fil-Am bands

by rick olivares

“The Ghost of Manong: Schizo’s Take on the Past, Present & Future of Lokalpinoy” is a new record featuring 10 Filipino-American bands from Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco and will be released this coming October from Schizowerks Records.

Album producer Le-Van De Guzman spoke with us about this upcoming release that has generated excitement. “It's basically a compilation of songs from bands here in the US. Some of the music was recorded as far back as from 1995 but there are many more recent recordings. Some bands aren’t active anymore but others still do the club circuit.”

The band featured in the “The Ghost of Manong” include Pedro Gil, Mayday, Carpools, Stella’s Notch, Signal 3, Brown Sugar, New Day in August, and Sisa’s Veil who all hail from Los Angeles. Rubberband is from NYC while the Skyflakes call San Francisco home.

Some of the notable members of the bands include the Carpools’ Tim De Ramos who once played for the Chillitees and Rubberband’s Ricky Tarriela who once played bass for punk outfit the Philippine Violators. Stella’s Notch is now defunct but it was known as the band of Sugar Hiccup’s Melody Del Mundo when she moved to the United States.

Brownsugar are now currently based in Manila but are known as “Zipcode”.

De Guzman and other Fil-Ams have dubbed their scene in LA as “Lokalpinoy” that are organized in small shows and halls. Many of these local outfits also open for touring Philippine-based bands who perform in larger venues and much larger crowds.

Explaining the odd name for the album, De Guzman revealed that it is a sequel of sorts to a compilation album he first put out in 1997. “Me and my friends released a compilation back in 1997 called “Lokalpinoy”. The cover featured an Ifugao headhunter – the same one who appears in the new compilation. We nicknamed him ‘Manong’ and he somewhat became our official trademark. Since I was using the same image, I decided to call it ‘The Ghost of Manong’”.

Of the 10 songs, De Guzman said, “There is a good balance of English and Tagalog songs as well as fast and mid-tempo songs.”

The Ghost of Manong will only see a limited pressing of 250 copies with each fetching a retail price of $25. “What makes this even more special is it is released as a picture disc housed in ca clear PVC jacket with flaps,” added De Guzman. “There will also be download codes for exclusive content.”

For those who wish to pre-order, they can do so through schizo-archives.com or through Manila-based record seller Robert Tuazon (on Facebook).

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Track List

Side A

5am Car Wash by Pedro Gil

Suntok sa Hangin – Mayday

Let It Go Carpools

Kampana ng Ice Cream – Rubberband

Hear – Stella’s Notch

Side B

Labu Labu – Signal 3

Things to Do – The Skyflakes

Parang Tunay – Brownsugar

Close My Eyes – New Day in August

Confusion – Sisa’s Veil