The Dawn of a new generation

I just shook the hands of gods!" my awestruck 14-year-old brother declared, after meeting The Dawn at an El Pueblo gig. But The Dawn would rather not be considered an icon, statue, or monument. They don’t want to be thought of as rock gods. "At the end of the day, we’re still a band, we still do our rounds. I want people to see us for what we are, and for what we’re still doing," says vocalist Jett Pangan. "We haven’t quit yet, we’re not dead yet, we’re very much alive."

They have been very much alive for nearly 20 years now, and they have no plans of calling it quits, for which we should all be thankful. They’ve been around long enough for my parents to have heard Enveloped Ideas in their youth. They’ve been around long enough for my kid brother, and an entirely new generation, to come to appreciate their music, in the context of the world we live in. Yes, we sometimes wish that things could go back to the way they used to be, tulad ng dati. And sometimes, change does break us apart. We, of all ages, can relate to The Dawn of today and of two decades before. If that’s not amazing, considering our country’s music industry, I’m not entirely sure what else can be considered amazing.

My older relatives still remember The Dawn as a new wave band, from when new wave was popular. (Of course, it’s currently making its comeback.) "It’s a misnomer to have called us a new wave band. The Dawn just happened to be formed at a time when new wave was the thing. We liked new wave songs, and we’d do some to cater to the audience, but we were never a new wave band," explains Pangan. While most of the members were into U2, the individual members of the band were into entirely different things, from The Police, to Yes, to Rush. "I think The Dawn was new wave based on the scene that was rampant at the time," says guitarist, Francis Reyes. "If the band had done the music that they loved, mala-Rush or Yes, and did originals, they would have ended up at Shakey’s, because that’s the only place where that kind of music could be found. But then to play at those places, you’d have to do covers of Bohemian Rhapsody, which the band wasn’t doing." So The Dawn found its niche in the new wave scene, which was more accepting and open to original songs.

That was how it used to be back then. Today, young musicians take it for granted that they’re expected to write their own material and, if possible, record a demo, EP, or album. "If you go back to the ‘80s, luxury na ‘yun!" Reyes exclaims. "These days, it’s a given that you have to do that if you have any sense of dignity." Nowadays, covers are a rarity, except, perhaps, in the high school scene. In the ‘80s, covers were the norm. "The chances of playing any original material at a gig were nil. People were there to watch you do your covers." It was difficult, and the search for original music was just as hard.

The 1970s had a lot of great bands like Juan Dela Cruz, but the scene eventually died out. "Once in a while you’d see a band on TV that looked like a rock band. They’d be performing an original song, but it’d turn out that the original song was written by a songwriter," says Reyes. "The scene in the ‘80s was focused on great singers who weren’t necessarily the songwriters. Essentially, singers were only interpreters of songs."

"That was what The Dawn went up against. You’d have singers and songwriters, and if you were in a band, you’d have to play covers. We went up against that, and we didn’t care. We knew we were doing the right thing," says Pangan. It was a matter of persistence. There were very few places to play original music two decades ago. Today, there are bars all over the place; gigs happen every night.

The industry has changed. Rock music has come to the forefront. "Last year, I felt like rock was almost gonna die!" Jett Pangan laughs a little, relieved that it hasn’t. Nobody ever stopped playing, and bands never stopped forming. It’s just that the media’s attention was elsewhere. "Trends come in cycles. The acoustic thing happened, and then R&B and hip-hop came on the scene just last year," Reyes remarks. "Nobody gave up on bands."

Today, you hear bands like Orange and Lemons endorsing a shampoo product. Jett Pangan considers it a good thing, whether or not some listeners like the bands that grace the billboards and our television screens. The many advertising deals on the airwaves and along major highways are indicative that the industry is still keen on what’s going on in the band scene. It keeps the scene afloat. (Piracy is killing it. But that’s an article for another time.)

"Record companies make a business of helping talents, distributing the material, and then taking a share of the profit. It has always been easier to package solo singers, be it the ‘70s, the ‘80s, or the ‘90s," explains The Dawn’s new bassist, Buddy Zabala (formerly of The Eraserheads and Twisted Halo, currently in Cambio). "Bands have always been risky business, unless they’re bands that seem to be going in a particular, sometimes predictable direction. But these are the people who will be waving the flag for other bands. I mean, thank God for the likes of Cueshe, Hale, Bamboo, and Sixcyclemind!" From a business aspect, it’s a great thing. It’s good for bands.

Zabala says that we’re really lucky here in Manila. It’s true, if you think about it. We have a great scene. In other countries, there aren’t clubs where anywhere from five to 12 bands hang out, drink, play, and have a good time, whether or not they’re getting paid, night after night after night. You can go to any bar, big or small, and you’ll find a production. High school bands, college bands, barkada bands, playing all sorts of music. We have incredible diversity in terms of genre. "The number of bands popping up is just a testament to the fact that the scene here is so healthy. It’s alive," Zabala enthuses. "Of course," Reyes comments, "not financially. But that’s another thing."

Over time, things change.

The Dawn is all about change, which is why they’re excited about the latest addition to their ever-changing lineup, Buddy Zabala. Changes in the music are inevitable, whether due to new influences or a new member, and already, they can feel the change from Buddy’s contributions to arrangements and songwriting. "We have yet to write stuff, but we know it’s going to go somewhere different, which is good!" Pangan says. The Dawn doesn’t want to remain static. "If we were playing the same songs from day one the same way, well, I can’t imagine anything more boring," says Reyes. "The songs take on a different character, since we integrate our new members’ styles into the sound of the band. It gives the music variety."

Junboy Leonor, the band’s drummer, made it through hellish Christmas season traffic to arrive at this point of the interview (a little towards the end, unfortunately), and further elaborated that any change in bassists was bound to affect the drumming greatly. My brother and I noticed this at the gig we went to, when The Dawn played Enveloped Ideas. It was the same song, but it took on a more modern sound. They gave the song new life.

They also integrated parts of new songs like The Killers’ Mr. Brightside into some of their own songs for the crowd’s pleasure, and we began to wonder what other new music they might have been listening to, or perhaps, influenced by.

"This might not sound very respectable, but I actually got into emo," says Reyes, popularly known as Francis Brew, a DJ on NU 107.5. "I got into it because of the music. A lot of the music, especially from the more aggressive emo bands that came out, is actually influenced by mid-‘80s thrash metal. Most have very interesting guitar parts na medyo metal ‘yung influence; it’s like these bands are bringing it back." He talks about the balance brought on by the so-called emo scene, with good melodies, complex compositions, and intelligent lyrics like those of Thursday, which would make excellent poetry if they weren’t sung.

Jett Pangan, on the other hand, finds influence in terms of songwriting in Sugarfree. "I’m not literally trying to write a song like Sugarfree, it’s just the way they exude themselves through their music," he explains. Buddy Zabala also cites Sugarfree as a recent influence, because he spent year and a half of working with them. He has also been listening to the Itchyworms, and Admit One bands, "kasi kasama ko sila palagi." And, like a lot of us, he’s been listening to the likes of Bloc Party. "It’s back! The ‘80s are back!" he exclaims.

Well, not quite. If this were the ‘80s, they’d still be battling it out against solo singers and record companies, but today, this is not the case. Nearly 20 years later, despite all the adversities they went up against, they’re still here, seasoned and experienced musicians. Look at the scene today, at all the bands we listen to now and enjoy. The Dawn was one of the bands that started it all.

It has truly been the dawn of a new generation.

After all this time, what are they thankful for? Getting to play music, because the best thing in the world is playing music, a feeling which a lot of us now understand and experience, thanks to the doors that such great bands have opened for us. Salamat!

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The Dawn’s latest release, "Harapin", is still available at all record bars. Watch out for their 20th anniversary release, coming out next year. You can e-mail me comments, suggestions, and violent reactions at bewaretheashtraygirl@yahoo.com.