History

Source: www.parokyaband.com


Anatomy of a comic relief

For a band that initially thought to call themselves COMIC RELIEF, Parokya ni Edgar has surely come a long way. Call it luck, serendipity or fortitude if you may, but it is clear to see that the boys are already far too successful to be considered, uhm, mere comic relief. If anything, they should be acknowledged as an integral part of Pinoy pop culture. And to think that they became so without really trying.

Parokya ni Edgar formed way back when the members were only wee high-schoolers from Ateneo. They were just part of a big 'kada, who thought it fun to write and sing songs for their own enjoyment. There was Chito, Vinci, Gabriel, a certain Miko and Jerick. They would usually hang out and sing this made-up songs after classes. As such, there were three singers and two guitarists and Comic Relief it was, that they call themselves.

Eventually, they became good enough to be invited to open for the E-heads. That was when they thought it cool to add a drummer and a bassist. Enter Dindin and Buhawi, two non-musicians (in the professional sense of the word) who just wanted to be part of the "glee."

It was also for that performance that they started to call themselves Parokya ni Edgar. The name was derived from an old classroom joke about one of the charac­ters (Ibarra) in Rizal's opus Noli Me Tangere. It was supposedly a joke about where Ibarra's father studied or something (ha-ha...).

Their performance was not really earth shattering and was reportedly a wreck but the boys soon got the "bug."

After graduating, two of their members (Jerick and Miko) eventually sputtered to different directions. But far from quietly halting the party, the remaining members forged on nevertheless and in­vited guitarist Darius Semana to the fold. It was when they started playing the legendary Club Dredd.

It was the height of the Pinoy rock explosion. The airwaves was then dominated by "alternative" groups like the aforementioned E-heads, Color It Red, Tropical Depression and the like. As in America, where grunge was hot and happening soon, the Philippines saw an influx of kids who hardly know how to tune their instruments, hastily forming their own bands in the style of their idols Nirvana, Pearl Jam and or Soundgarden.

The scene was so, that Parokya ni Edgar's outrageous performances shined.They were unlike no other. No silly rock star poses, no angst ridden tunes sang in inaudible growls, in fact, they didn't even play the big hits of the day. They just took the jokes and the silly antics they conceptualized back in High School to the Dredd stage, shocking an audience that didn't know them from Adam.

They eventually drew in the crowd. And soon the songs that they created for themselves eventu­ally found a new audience. By then Parokya ni Edgar became a byword in the underground scene.

As with anything that smells like money, Parokya ni Edgar were soon being sniffed and sorted out by a host of recording companies. Eventually one of these recording companies (Universal records) offered them a slot in a compilation album.

The "compilation thing" became an album offer and before the boys realized it, they were already signing on the dotted line.

Soon, the young band was in the studio, perfecting their first obra which they later titled, "Khangkhungkherrnitz." For this first effort they included the songs that they have been doing during the Dredd days, "Buloy," "Lutong Bahay," "Trip" - the album was a palpable hit. It seemed the whole archi­pelago has had enough of their melodramatic artistas and just wanted a bit of a laugh. The album eventu­ally reached the triple platinum stage.

Various award giving bodies including the prestigious AWIT, cited them for album of the year, best new group and best rock performance. Radio stations like NU 107 and DWLS-FM lauded them for their song "Buloy."

But it was far from their best. For their follow-up which they called "Buruguduystunstugudunstuy (whew!)," the boys soon had the international music scene on their heels, winning the 1999 MTV South­east Asia Video Music Awards Viewers Choice Award. And their individual efforts are being noticed too! Dindin, Buwi, and Chito were nominated that year by NU 107 for best drummer, best bassist and best vocalist respectively. The AWIT too, gave them the best novelty recording award for their song, "Don't Touch My Birdie" and best TV theme song for "Okatokat."

Following on the lead of their idols, The E-heads, they released their own Christmas album. Though it was the least selling of all their effort (more than 20,000 units sold only) it nonetheless earned them hits in the songs "Gising Na," "Olops (the other reindeer)," and more.

They were soon back in the triple platinum field for their fourth release which they called "Gulong, Itlog, Gulong." It yielded the novelty hits "Picha Pie" an adaptation of the Gloria Gaynor classic "I Will Survive."

And the awards continued. The mostly conservative ('till then at least) Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Foundation voted them the most popular group. NU 107 hailed them the band of the year with Buhawi being the bassist of the year.

Of course with their success come the various endorsement deals the group had received in­cluding the one for Chippy, beverage giant Coca-Cola, PLDT, and the recently Mitsubishi Motors.

Indeed, the band has surpassed all expectation by going this far. As for an encore who knows? Maybe they'd still be rocking till they are graying old Lolo's and maybe we would all still be there singing with them.