Blind Man Death Stare on tour: Touchdown Manila

Aussie punk rockers Blind Man Death Stare rock Manila

by rick olivares

“We need everyone to get off their chairs and to stand up,” exhorted Parker, drummer and lead singer for Blind Man Death Stare, an Australian punk rock band making its initial foray outside the Oceania zone with Manila as their first ever stop. "We're gonna be having loads of fun beginning now."

It was Friday the 13^th. Friday payday with a tropical depression submerging the metropolis with its seemingly non-stop rains. Yet at the Dark Side Bar along Nakpil Street in Malate, Manila. Parker, along with guitarists Joel Parnell and Mitch, and bassist Immi were cooking up a different storm.

Blind Man Death Stare kicked-off their 40-minute long set with a raucous rocker, “IV Phones”, the fourth track from their recently release full length debut, It’ll Grow On Ya, and it the band’s pointed take on how technology and social media has ironically disconnected people from one another instead of fostering real relationships.

Despite the crowd not really knowing the band’s songs, the energy the Melbourne-based punks expended had most folks moshing and thrashing about. Folks were in a dancing mood that some of them clambered up on stage and accidentally knocked down Joel and Immi who didn’t stop playing at all.

‘Wow!” exclaimed Joel to no one in particular after the song and despite a tense moment when some beer got nearly splashed on a few effects pedals. “Let’s go.”

The road to the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia was hatched back in Blind Man Death Stare’s native Australia. Influenced by Lagwagon, Rancid, Bad Religion, NOFX, and other 1990s American punk bands, the band felt that punk rock was a way to communicate their thoughts and outlook on life. “We aren’t the nihilistic sort,” added Parker who is also the band’s principal songwriter and frontman. “We have our views on the world around us and we will say what we think we should say. But life is hard and too serious enough as it is so we make sure there’s this element of fun. We want people to like our songs and to mosh. We don’t get off on people moping to doom messages.”

That’s evident on songs like the album’s first single, “Spike My Drink But Don’t Take My Kidneys” that smacks of the fun of Reel Big Fish but is deadly serious. “Have we seen enough slasher flicks,” cracks Mitch.

The song “I’ve Had Islamabad Day” may be a pun but it is a pointed barb against how wars are also caused by religion and intolerance.

How does punk rock and a band from Down Under for the matter, get such messages across?

“We’re no community leaders, politician or some rich man who could get the attention that comes with that,” explained Joel. “With music – we have a chance, mate. We hope that people like our songs and when they do, they get into the lyrics and if that gets them thinking then it’s good, right? And that’s why our music is available on vinyl and on streaming. Plus, we’re going on the road.”

“Being in a punk band, well, we don’t expect to make a ton of money,” clarified Immi.

“Otherwise, we’d get a real job,” finished Joel.

“Being in a band, we get to play and create music – which is what we really want,” added Immi.



When It’ll Grow On Ya rolled off the vinyl pressing plant, the band was very much pleased. “I never had a record before,” admitted Joel. “This is a cool moment. Is this for real? It’s like – ‘yeah, now we’re for real.’”

“I thought of my heroes,” reflected Parker. “NOFX, Bad Religion, Rancid, Lagwagon, the Ramones, the Offspring – and this is for them. And of course for me and my mates. I just hope that the fans like it and it stacks up well against any punk rock record.”

“One of the cool things too is we get to travel and meet people who learn about us and our music. And the travel is fun.”

The band paid their own airfare for their three-nation tour with Manila as the initial touchdown point to be followed by Malaysia then Indonesia (Japan was also on the stop list but was cancelled at the last moment). However, once on-ground, the local promoter takes care of everything else. The band was to play in Cebu (Saturday) and Bacolod (Sunday) before moving on.

The band arrived in Manila at 4:30 Friday morning and by late afternoon, they felt somewhat jetlagged. The arrived early at the venue as their hotel was just around the corner. As the rain came pouring down, the band huddled outside the Dark Side Bar and shared a cigarette.

“I haven’t slept in two days but I am ready for this,” said Immi a few hours before the band took the stage. “The rain isn’t going to dampen the show one bit. I’m here to check out the local bands and am ready to rock.”

True enough, Blind Man Death Stare rocked the house. The result was 40 minutes of a show that at times reminded one of a good-time frat party with local punks and a pair of game Caucasian female fans who walked in (along with a couple of Nepalese citizens who have made Manila their home) moshing.

Dark Side Bar set list:
IV Phones
Spike My Drink But Don't Take My Kidneys
Bottles Warm
I Have A Sex Addiction
Solid As Is Hollow
David & Goliath
Bathtub Fiasco (the only one not on the album)
Lost the Plot
Tinnitus
Old People Should Grow Up
I Can See the Way You Look at My Mum
Double Trouble
Impromptu Holiday

Got the band to sign my record! I love the zombie motif for the album. As if the band is saying we've become like zombies -- soul-less creatures who are slaves to technology and social media/the internet. And the album is darn good!

Hanging out with Blind Man Death Stare before the show.


---------------------------------

From Mark Evardo from Cebu:

Blind Man Death Stare started playing at around 2am. Yet the crowd was still alive; waiting for them to play. Their set ended at 3am.

These guys are really cool. They drank and mingled with the crowd before playing -- just talking about how the punk scene is in Australia while we shared how it is here in Cebu. Would love to see them again next year if they come back.

They sure know how to bring on a show and play punk rock. And for sure, the punks in Cebu were entertained.