MYXing it up in Bora

There’s one thing you can always count on in Boracay during summer: tons of people. Literally, tons. If you weighed all the oiled-up bodies parading along Station 1 these past few weeks, well, it would sink a Super Ferry pretty easily. That’s basically because people flock to Bora like moths to a flame, kids to a candy store, lemmings to a cliff edge. Everybody wants to go over the edge — at least one last time.

And last weekend, it was the Summer MYX Fest that had the boardshorts-and-bikini crowd nodding, swaying, tilting back beverages and grooving to the video channel’s most popular rock bands.

Note we said "rock." No Justin Timberlake wannabes or hip-hop DJs made the cut this time, because, well, there’s nothing quite like the sound of a fleet of guitars, rumbling basses and kickin’ drum kits reverberating out over the Boracay shoreline at night.

Those able to pull up a cushion or two at now-legendary nightspot Cocomangas — and work up a serious bar tab — got a front-stage view of the MYX Fest lineup, which included upcoming all-girl band Wake Up Your Seatmate (average age 22, though they all look about 16), Imago, Spongecola and 6CycleMind.

But there was plenty for the gawkers to see and do also: beach games (including everything from balloon popping to cocktail mixing and a cappella sing-off contests) were refereed by MYX VJs at next-door Club Paraw, while beyond the ad-hoc "entrance gate" there were free samples from Tanduay Rhum, Nestea, Nokia, Eskinol Naturals, Pepsi and Rexona. Not coincidentally, these were the event’s sponsors.

ABS-CBN’s MYX has come a long way from its 2000 beginnings (it began as a feature on Studio 23’s lineup), when resident musicologist Toti Dalmacion sought to spread the gospel of more, er, esoteric musical choices. The musical focus of the station has since broadened, become more popular, or sold out, depending on your perspective. Ask Andre Alvarez, head of MYX Channels, and he’ll say it’s all part of pleasing "the most number of eyeballs" in a competitive medium. He acknowledges that MYX’s evolution has been a conscious journey to reach an ever-wider audience with local music (the name "MYX" was an off-the-cuff reverse of XYM, short for "Generation X and Y Music"), and the use of subtitled videos has become its signature look — a sly and educational adoption of popular "videoke" technique.

Alvarez was there at MYX’s birth, and is now overseeing the channel’s first venture into the US. There, MYX hopes to be "the first pan-Asian-American music channel." Noting that there are already stations devoted specifically to Indian, Chinese and other ethnic sounds, Alvarez sees MYX’s mission as quite different: to bring a unique blend (a mix, if you will) of Filipino and other Asian music to a wide audience in the States. Of course, some things — like obtaining licensing rights to show videos on American TV — are more difficult there than in Asia, where "record companies just throw these things at you to play." But it’s a bold move for MYX, which will even air a 30-episode locally-made Filipino cartoon called Nutshack in the US. And if some Filipino bands break through to the American market in the process — hey, it’s all good.

The other ABS-CBN honcho at the event, head of Cable Channels and Print Media Monchet Olives, has been busy launching the MYX magazine, and is credited with "the notoriety of founding The Filipino Channel" in the US back in 1994. It’s now insanely popular, thanks to the Fil-Am craving for shows like Wowowee.

Still, staging a MYX Fest in Bora at the height of summer seems even more daunting. "It’s really crazy," admits Alvarez, shaking his head. How did the station pick Imago, Spongecola and 6CycleMind to rock out in Bora this summer? "These were really the most clamored-for bands," according to MYX’s charting.

The show kicked off a few hours late (seemingly while MYX staffers were busy yanking band members off bar stools up and down the beach). The sun set dramatically, and as VJs Iya Villania, Nikki Hill and Geoff Eigenmann started announcing the acts, we tucked into our Bailey’s shakes and attempted to take notes on our surroundings.

Yes, it is strange, but we remember when Boracay was not entirely dependent on product sponsorship. When exactly it morphed into a corporate fiesta is a debatable question. The MYX sailboat crossing the shoreline was fine, but when every single sailboat sports a logo or brand name, you know we’re in the age of roaming billboards. Even the sand sculptures are shaped into corporate logos. But it’s all, apparently, needed to keep the wheels of summer fun greased. And nobody seemed to mind very much — especially since it meant more freebies.

The big fad this summer (or was it last summer?) is hair braiding. Plenty of girls — and a number of guys — went Stevie Wonder on us, sans the sunglasses and head bobbing. It’s all very rasta, we guess.

As Wake Up Your Seatmate did a perky set of pop-punk (being the newbies, they opened with a corporate jingle for Nestea), we began to submit to the sonic blast of guitars and kinetic playing, augmented by swigs of beer and soft Bora sand between our toes. Hey, life can never be bad when you’re on the beach.

Imago followed with a strong set (they had guest guitarist Diego Castillo filling in for Tim Cacho), opening with the E-Head’s Spoliarium. Diego’s playing added drama, Zach Lucero’s drum bashing staked out Keith Moon territory, and Myrene Academia’s bass work rooted the band most impressively. Aia De Leon gave the song her turgid all, proving you can’t keep a good Filipino song down.

They slipped in their Apo Hiking Society tribute song (Mahal Kita, I think) before bringing on frequent "guest" avatar Raymund Marasigan, who was concurrently playing nights around Boracay with Sandwich. They concluded with their three big hits, sending the crowd into fits with finale Tara Let’s.

After that, Spongecola drew a big response from females in the audience who seemed to hang on to every syllable grunge-growled out by vocalist Yael Yuzon. It was that kind of set.

Between bands, more games ensued, more giveaways and VJ spieling. We drank beer and took pictures. The fest continued with 6CycleMind, who added a bit more rap metal edge to the, um, mix. Their set was generally stronger than Sponge’s, with lead singer Ney Dimaculangan strolling into the audience and spitting out lyrics like a Fred Durst version of Willie Revillame. The beer started to kick in.

By the end of the set, other members of Sandwich jumped onstage, and the kicker was a furious, though brief, surprise set by Sandwich — and some guests from the preceding bands as well. Marasigan, to me, has proved himself to be a strong and capable guru of the Filipino music scene. With one leg planted in the classic and legendary Eraserhead days, and the other frugging freely to whatever sounds are roaming his head, he’s never afraid to transform Sandwich’s music into something else — counting off Sugod with a bit of Fatboy Slim ("Right about now…") for instance, then switching tracks into the Ramone’s I Wanna Be Sedated. The band did their "summer" songs, including Sunburn, but the great thing about their album "Five On The Floor" is that Raymund has proven he’s the closest thing to Dave Grohl (post-Kurt) available on these shores — writing catchy, punky pop like Sugod, seemingly at will.

All in all, MYX had the summer Bora crowd covered, and it was the most happening spot on the beach for that four hours. Of course, after that, hordes of oil- and beer-slicked Bora-istas headed for other nightspots, new lands of abandon to discover, new morning horrors to endure. And it was all good.