Never mind the bollocks, here’s Rivermaya one more time

The reunion concert on Feb. 17 at the SMDC Festival Grounds, with Bamboo and Blanco on board, should be a timely reassessment of Rivermaya’s legacy in contemporary Filipino music.

Words Pocholo Concepcion
February 14, 2023

In 1994, the year Rivermaya released its self-titled debut album, the epicenter of the explosive Filipino alternative music scene was concentrated in three small, dingy bars: Club Dredd along Edsa, QC; ’70s Bistro on Anonas, Project 2 (also in QC); and Mayric’s across UST in Manila.

Tough luck for bands that wanted to play at any of these venues but were thumbed down for being “too pop” or for simply not having the “right attitude.” For a time, Rivermaya was one of them — even looked down upon as a “showband” (the kind that performs in hotel lounges) by the guys who handled Club Dredd’s gig calendar.

But in hindsight, Rivermaya’s members couldn’t care less. Though the band was a showbiz creation of Lizza Nakpil — who ran a PR agency and booked Rivermaya in its early days at Faces in Makati — the moment Bamboo, Rico Blanco, Nathan Azarcon, Mark Escueta and, for a brief period, Perf de Castro, found their musical sweet spot, nothing could stop their ascent to the top. Never mind the Club Dredd crowd.

For the record, Blanco,Rivermaya’s chief songwriter, is a rocker at heart. As a keyboardist, he was said to have improvised in a jam with Azarcon and the band’s first guitarist, Kenneth Ilagan, on Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” back when Nakpil was still auditioning aspirants to complete the Rivermaya lineup.

Blanco went to the extent of paying tribute to such Pinoy alternative rock predecessors as The Jerks, Ethnic Faces, Deans December, The Wuds, Identity Crisis, even Joey Ayala, in Rivermaya’s 2006 album “Isang Ugat, Isang Dugo.”

It was also Blanco who said he wanted to write a pop song that would be a hit. He didn’t do just one, but many: “Ulan,” “214,” “Awit ng Kabataan,” “Himala,” “Panahon Na Naman,” “Kisapmata,”“Elesi,” “Hinahanap-hanap Kita,” “Umaaraw, Umuulan,” and so on — all the while as producer, too, of most of Rivermaya albums.

But all good things come to an end. Bamboo was the first to leave the band, and then Blanco himself. New members came and went, until Rivermaya stuck to a lean trio lineup with Azarcon, Escueta, and Mike Elgar.

The reunion concert on Feb. 17 at the SMDC Festival Grounds, with Bamboo and Blanco on board, should bea timely reassessment of Rivermaya’s legacy in contemporary Filipino music. — PMC