Upon this rock
It’s like the first burst of nicotine through your lungs after another night of unsleep. Or alcohol streaming in your blood after a whole day of imbibing water, caffeine and decaying dreams. You open the radio and Angus Young starts the sledgehammering riff of Back in Black. Associates Fagen and Becker mull over the day and night of the expanding man. Frank Zappa warns you about eating yellow snow. Resty from Maria Cafra wants to know how the hell you’ve been, as drums and overdriven guitars accompany. That’s how rock ‘n’ roll starts a revolution in your head; you start believing in flight and then proceed to flap your atrophied wings.
That’s what it must’ve been like for those raised on DZRJ: you turn on the radio as three chords and the truth blast through.
The legendary station is celebrating 45 years of maximum rock ‘n’ roll. Many are familiar with the story of how DZRJ was established by the then 17-year-old Ramon “RJ” Jacinto in the backyard of his parents’ home in August 1963. DZRJ was the first to air The Beatles, the Stones, the Beach Boys, etc. It would go on to give Original Pilipino Music a much-needed boost by being the first to provide airplay to then fledgling acts like the Juan dela Cruz Band, Sampaguita, the Apo Hiking Society, Anakbayan, Florante, Maria Cafra, Aunt Irma, Freddie Aguilar, among others. The station which had a cult following became a staple of pop culture. Not only did people tune into DZRJ to hear great songs, but they also wanted to hear bits of rock ‘n’ jock wisdom from DJs such as the late great Howlin’ Dave (Dante David), Double A (Allan Austria), Red Rooster, Little Rock (the late Sony Pecson), Baby John (Ronnie de Asis who is now back in RJFM 100.3 as station manager), Toney Burke (Mike Llamas), Cousin Hoagy (my friend Hoagy Pardo), Becky Zarate (Brother Becky), and Charlie Brown (the late Emil Quinto), among others. Sadly, we don’t have a cosmic rock ‘n’ roll howler like Dave anymore. To quote Lou Reed, those were different times.
“The station was then known as ‘The Teenage Station for the Teenage Nation’,” says Underground Radio (UR) general manager Ramon Jacinto Jr. “From the very start DZRJ has always been run by music lovers for music lovers. It wasn’t something corporate; DZRJ has always been about the music.”
Baby John, now Papa John, says, “The role of DZRJ in the development of Pinoy music cannot be underestimated. At its height, if you were not listening to DZRJ, you didn’t have good taste or you were not up-to-date in music.”
RJ Jr. recalls how radical the station was in the ’60s, playing material that you wouldn’t be able to hear elsewhere. “Payola was very rampant among radio stations. This meant that pretty much all radio stations sounded the same and played the same thing. DZRJ has always maintained the true essence of a radio station: playing music people want to hear. And I think that’s why we have lasted for so long.”
To celebrate its 45th year, the station is putting the spotlight on the roots, the present and the future of rock ‘n’ roll. Rock musicians led by Joey “Pepe” Smith will perform on Oct. 25 at the A-Venue Events Hall along Makati Ave in a concert billed as “SuperSession.” Pepe, along with main man Ramon “RJ” Jacinto, will lead the Pinoy Rock dream team composed of Raimund Marasigan (the Eraserheads and Sandwich), Chickoy Pura (The Jerks), Marc Abaya (Kjwan), Tirso Ripoll and Louie Talan (Razorback), Cooky Chua (Color It Red), Zach Lucero (Imago), Wendell Garcia (Pupil), Dondi Ledesma (DND and Wally & Friends), and Kakoi Legaspi (Rivermaya), among other stellar rockers.
“The ‘SuperSession’ is one giant jam session,” RJ Jr. enthuses. “We tried to find the best representatives for the 45 years that Pinoy Rock and DZRJ have been around. So in this concert you will be seeing a pretty good contingent of Pinoy Rock artists. Joining legends Pepe and RJ will be current icons Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, Marc Abaya, Aia de Leon of Imago, Jett Pangan of The Dawn, Louie Talan and Tirso Ripoll, among others. And we will even be providing you with a sneak peek into the future of Pinoy Rock with Nicole Asensio of Crowjane (think a young Sampaguita) and Bea Lao of King Antares.”
The super-group will revisit classic rock tunes from Led Zeppelin (Stairway to Heaven…. really), The Beatles, the Rolling Stones (with Pepe reprising his Mick Jagger impressions with The Downbeats), Steely Dan (Chickoy does a reading of Reelin’ in the Years with a very special guest), Sampaguita, the Eraserheads, and of course, the Juan dela Cruz Band.
Five years ago, for DZRJ’s 40th anniversary, a concert was held at the Araneta Coliseum to showcase four decades of Filipino musicianship. It featured about 30 different acts ranging from Elizabeth Ramsey to Pilita Corales to Jose Mari Chan to Asin to Pepe to Barbie Almalbis to Jaya and even Andrew E, among others. It basically showed a snapshot of Philippine music in its different aspects (from rock, to folk, to rap, to pop music) throughout four decades. This time, the “SuperSession” organizers decided to take a different route.
RJ Jr. says, “Ever wondered what it would be like if the best bass player in the country played with the best drummer, best guitarist and the best front man in one band? What would that be like? That would be amazing if that were to happen. And it will on Oct. 25. For the 45th anniversary, we also wanted to focus on the station’s roots. So, for this anniversary celebration, we elected to celebrate our roots as the pioneer rock radio station in the country together with our history of helping and promoting local artists.”
Just imagine. Pepe singing Jumping Jack Flash and other Stones classics, with Dondi Ledesma or Louie Talan playing bass, Wendell on drums. The first quivering of guitar strings that night would be like the last cigarette ever or first beer of the evening.
It’s a gas.
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“SuperSession” is for the benefit of The Golden Rooster Foundation: a foundation that helps the families of our fallen soldiers in Mindanao. Tickets are available at all Ticketnet outlets (911-5555). Tickets are priced at P950, P750, P500 and P300, and are also available at all RJ Guitar Center outlets.
