San Pablo band Barred on Twilight Zone, artist Gerry Alanguilan & their debut LP
By Rick Olivares
San Pablo City hardcore band Barred opened the local music scene’s vinyl record account for 2020 with the release of Bloodstained Existence (through Still Ill Records) this past week.
Bloodstained Existence follows Barred’s appearance in the Pilipinas Hardcore EP along with acts like Veils, Badmouth, and xxFortessxx that was released also by Still Ill in 2018.
The band is San Pablo City, Laguna’s latest export (the local hardcore punk music scene is alive and moshing). The city has produced among others, the famed and late comic book illustrator, Gerry Alanguilan, of whom the members of Barred professed to be fans of. “We are a fan of his work especially Timawa (that was released by local publishing company, Alamat back in the 1990s). “We also know him as an inker for many Marvel Comics titles as well as a friend and former colleague of Filipino-American comic book artist Whilce Portacio,” said Barred vocalist Regin Tenorio.
Alanguilan illustrated the cover to San Pablo City band, Mellow del Prado’s debut album.
“We’re very happy and proud of the outcome ng Pilipinas Hardcore,” observed a pleased Tolentino. “It feels good to hear and see people singing along to our song, “Resistance”, that was included in the EP.”
Bloodstained Existence, four years in the making, continues thematically as Barred rails against society’s ills. The band – drummer Friedrich Esguerra, bassist Janry Garcia, guitarists Carl Cedric Garcia and Peter Cervancia, and Tenorio – recorded their initial demo in May of 2016 and completed the rest of the repertoire that would eventually comprise Bloodstained Existence a few months later. “We needed time for mixing and vocal tracking and (before we knew it), it was mid-2019.”
The band also cited work and family time for getting in the way.
The album nevertheless… is finally out. And Tenorio found a way to weave into the music some of his childhood fascinations including his love for the famed television fantasy/science fiction/supernatural series, The Twilight Zone, that was created by the late American producer and playwright, Rod Serling.
“We got the intro of ‘Trapped’ (the lead-off song from the album) from the 1959 episode of The Twilight Zone titled, ‘No Time Like the Past’, he elucidated. In that particular episode, a scientist uses a time machine to return to the past to try and change key moments in world history that led to what the world is today. Unfortunately, he fails and understands that he can only live for tomorrow.
“Bloodstained Existence is a message and an eye opener for everyone,” added Tenorio. “We want everyone to feel what life is like on the other side. There are terrors seen and unseen and there’s injustice, sorrow, famine, disease, death, abuse, pain, and suffering.”
Although Barred’s barbed and pointed social commentary continues for the entire album, the band does leave room for hope, “It’s never too late. We need to fight as one (against the social injustices). It’s a force that guides.”
The album cover (is also different from the test press version) is inspired by 19th century French painters, Gustave Dore, Eugene Delacroix, and Theodore Gericault and the contrapposto style utilized by Baroque and Mannerist artists, and depicts the war in Heaven. The powerful imagery was also used by many of the band’s mid-1990s metalcore influences such as Arkangel, Congress, Liar, Sentence, Integrity, and All Out War.
For those interested in purchasing a copy of Barred’s Bloodstained Existence and Pilipinas Hardcore, you may reach out to Still Ill Records on Facebook or through their bandcamp page.
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