A truly hot lady once told this writer, “Jazz is the only valid form of music for me.” She was a new doctor doing her residency in the Psychiatry Department of some hospital in Metro Manila. Our brain was too busy admiring her to make the connection between jazz and psychiatry. That was then.

Now, after listening to Radioactive Sago Project’s third and latest album, Tangina Mo Andaming Nagugutom sa Mundo Fashionista Ka Pa Rin, the impression is that jazz, (or music synonymous to unpredictability) and psychiatry (or any science that treats mental disorders) are so connected like a pair of sharp scissors. And before we argue if indeed this album is jazz, let’s see where this group came from, to see why it is the way it is.

History, really…

Sometime in the early 90’s, a young man was prepared to go to the U.P. College of Music to major in classical guitar and learn and play Segovia pieces. Then one day he and his mom were walking in a 5-star hotel, and there playing in the lobby was a classical guitarist. The young man quickly took notice of an absurdity – the guitarist was playing his heart out and the people in the lobby were just passing him by, oblivious, like the guitarist was not there, invisible.

“Hindi magandang pangitain ito!” the young man told himself. Afraid of becoming another invincible guitarist in the future, the young man switched to an AB course at the University of Santo Tomas. After two years, “Nadiskubre ko na marunong pala kong magsulat” and he majored in journalism (as a scholar of the Philippine Daily Inquirer). So the young man, Lourd de Veyra, finished journalism just when the newspaper froze hiring. Absurdly enough, he ended up working at the rival Today newspaper, whose publisher Teddyboy Locsin he admired for his editorials dripping with intelligence, literariness, and sarcasm that can fry fish. “Gusto ko maging boss ‘to.”

After seven years of newspapering, Lourd was ready to launch his first book. “Subterranean Thought Parade,” published by Anvil, was a collection of 50 poems. As a way to promote the book, Lourd read his poems wherever it was permitted. And to spice up his reading, he brought musicians to accompany him: his younger brother, Francis, on bass, Jay Gapasin on drums, Turiki a.k.a. Sonny Bolante on trumpet. They were freshmen at the UP College of Music. The reading-cum-playing became a traveling show with more musicians joining in.

During the awards ceremony of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Gawad para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video, they realized that they sort of needed a name for the group, especially as they were supposed to be introduced onstage. A few minutes before the show, the name came – Radioactive Sago Project. Sago of course are the glutinous balls you may find in a street drink (ask any Pinoy for a description). That inspired name, says Lourd, came from “Ewan ko nga,e.”

This was circa 1999 to 2000. The best years of the band, Lourd confesses.

The music in their heads …

Though Lourd took journalism, music was always on his mind; in fact it was in his genes. His mother and uncle both went to the Centro Escolar University (CEU) Conservatory of Music. His other uncle is THE Mike Hanopol. Younger brother Francis, a graduate of the UP College of Music, specializes in modern avant garde and was, at one time, the Philippine representative to the Asian Composers’ League in Japan. He and Lourd now compose most of the materials for RSP.

But before this, they were punk.

“May fascination ako sa free jazz movement nung 60’s,” says Lourd. “Sila Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolpy, Albert Eiler, Sam Rivers etc. Pero punk rock kami nung high school. Yung free jazz may similarity sa punk in terms of energy. Ang lalim ng tugtugan nun, tuwing pakikinggan mo may maririnig kang bago.”

Of RSP’s horn section, he says, “Yang mga torotot na yan, wala silang idea kung sino sila Miles, Coltrane. Nung minsan nag-inuman sa bahay pinahiram ko ng Kind of Blue, Giant Steps. Buti may talent ang mga ungas, after one week sumosolo na o. Hindi pa virtuoso pero marunong. E dati pinakikinggan nila Scorpion, Nazareth.” Almost all the torotot boys are members of those renowned marching bands in Rizal Province.

Original drummer Jay’s influences are Led Zeppelin and Soundgarden. Junji Lerma, the guitarist (also of the U.P. College of Music) is more inclined to Latin grooves. Francis, Jay and Junji also play with Bo Razon’s Latin bands and gig as Wajijuara, a side project. They released their own Latin-flavored album in 2005.

At the time of this interview, Lourd was planning his own side project – a punk band to play his own brand of “Dapitan Hardcore” in honor of the street where he grew up in Sampaloc, Manila. He has also published a second book of poems Shadowboxing in Headphones (UST Press, 2001) and is currently working on Disco Volate, a collection for the National Commission on Culture and the Arts.

Unpredictable and uncategorizable, RSP has been banned in ‘70s Bistro, the folkie-NGO-rocker bar in Project 2 Quezon City because neighbors complained they were too noisy. Their torotots, drumming, yelping, have out-loud-ed anything the harder-edged rock bands can dish out. “Pinakamabilis dumating ang barangay tanod pag kayo ang nakasalang,” the club owner explained.

Albums, yeah …

Radioactive Sago’s tour of duty in the art circuit is short but shiny. Among the quickest to notice, of course, was a recording company looking to sign the next big thing. Lourd had his Beat-type poems, Francis and the Radioactive boys had the grooves. They were just gung-ho ready.

Their first album was produced and released by Viva records in 2000. Eponymously named, the album was so different from what the industry churns out, some observers labeled it “novelty,” the same category under which they boxed the late Yoyoy Villame. (Lourd nominates him for National Artist.).

The music was definitely a hybrid, and Lourd, as vocalist, hated to sing so he just “spoke the words.” Malayang pagbigkas. The single “Baboy” was widely played, thanks to its, uh, “novelty” appeal. Hi-art guys and kitsch Pinoys took notice. The band was nominated as Best New Artist in the annual industry awards, the Aliw. They lost that one, but gained a loyal audience. Not bad for a group Lourd describes as “just a bunch of kids na gusto lang magyabang, hindi naman alam ang ginagawa.”

In 2005, the indie label Terno released their second album, Urban Gulaman. Mainstream recording company execs (some are even friends) passed on the album saying it was “malalim, e.” (Later, the same exec would go back to them and ask, “O interesado pa ba kayo?” An absurdity given that only dogs eat what they have thrown up.)

But, from the get-go, the single “Astro (Cigarette)” quickly became a crowd favorite and enjoyed ample radio airtime thanks in part to its strong Latin beat worthy of any dancehall. The subsequent music video for Astro, directed by R.A. Rivera, bagged the Music Video of the Year Award of MTV Pilipinas, and N.U. 107 Rock Awards.

Curiously, while all these awards are “walang kinalaman sa music,” Lourd calls Urban Gulaman “masaya lang yon.” He says, “Feeling ko nga last album na namin. Rumaket pa ko sa ABS-CBN Publishing patingi-tingi (as a copy editor) to finance the recording.”
The outcome, he calls “celebration yun ng dumi, daming sabit, parang yung third album.”

And what an album! The angry, conscienticizing title might annoy some. But for fans, Tangina Mo Andaming Nagugutom sa Mundo Fashionista Ka pa Rin, elicits the counterpunch: “Tangina mo ukay-ukay lang ‘to.” (Ukay-ukay is a store that sells second hand imported clothes, shoes, bags and accessories)

Lourd says he was prepared for people to hate it, not buy it. But stores say buyers are picking it up. And Pulp, a local music magazine, gave it a perfect score in its review, the first for the mag.

The music remains a hybrid but this time more groovily unpredictable, and the words… We asked Lourd to tell us a little about what each song title meant, as if they were an inkblot test.

1) Album title. “It’s a cheap way to attract attention. Hindi ako galit sa mga fashionista, dami kong kaibigang designers ‘no.”

2) George Estregan Groove Explosion. “Paboritong bass line ni Francis from George Estregan movies Taboo 1 & 2.”

3) Superhatdog. “Babangon ang bayan sa superhatdog!” Food to save the world after apocalypse or nuclear war.

4) Foodtrip. Anti-WTO, anti-smuggling of cheap veggies, included in the compilation album of the group Focus on the Global South, the band played this in Hong Kong during protests aimed at the WTO ministerial meeting,

5) Basagan ng Mukha. Same title of B-movie starring Roland Gan Ledesma and Manny Pacquiao.

6) Nasusunog ang Maynila. A bleak commentary on Mayor Atienza’s claims of bringing back the glory of Maynila.

7) Bisikleta. Remembrance of Pres. Marcos’ punishment of TV host Ariel Ureta who changed the regime’s slogan “Sa ikauunlad ng bayan disiplina ang kailangan” to “… bisikleta ang kailangan.” Ureta was made to ride a bike the whole day in Camp Crame.

8) Mambo Rat. A rat wearing Tito Eduque’s all-white attire, doing his mambo shuffle. Or say the title fast, five times.

9) Wasak na Wasak. “Wasak” is Tagalog for “destroyed” and the band uses it as all-purpose adjective, from the exemplary to the perverse.

10) Sisboombay. Parang tune sa bus,

11) For Adults Only. Lyrics from a Pete Lacaba poem.

12) Raoul Aragon = Ricky Torres. Ricky was a former jazz critic for Jingle mag. One time he talked about Lino Brocka’s instruction to Aragon during a scene in the film Anghela Markado. “Kung anong kinalaman nun sa piyesa pini-figure out ko pa.”

Embrace the absurd (E jazz nga ba yan?)

When the band was starting out they didn’t want to play jazz because it would bore them. Which was good because it meant they were not satisfied with was there before and could therefore create their own.

Record stores, radio stations and critics couldn’t label their music. The band makes no claim to it, but this writer thinks this is a jazz album in the sense that it is not pop, rock, hiphop, kundiman, disco, etc. It is not any of that… and yet it is all of that. Just listen, it’s all there.

It’s new and fun to listen to. The spoken word lyrics are certainly more interesting than any State of the Nation address. And overall, it’s a ribald celebration of the absurdities of life in our beloved Pinas. As Lourd explains, “Yung absurd pwede siyang maging overwhelming spirit, pwede mo seryosohin, na kapag inembrace mo mas makikita mo anumang stability na hinahanap mo.”

Just forget the label then. If you are Pinoy this album is you.

Visit www.radioactivesago.com or
www.ternorecordings.com.