1. So what happened to your band Coche Bomba ? Why did you to decided to quit?
Ivan: Coche Bomba did stop in November 1997, when our guitarist Andre' decided to leave the band. He felt pissed of playing H/C and pissed by the D.I.Y. Scene, which means touring in bad conditions like traveling 800 km. back & forth to play in front of 90 drunken punks who obviously don't give a fuck about the music anyway. He felt like he was not rewarded enough for his efforts & dedication. He applied to work as a guitar teacher & live a quiet life. The 3 remaining members decided to continue as a 3-piece, bass-drums-vocals thing, writing new songs in a more groovy-experimental vein: KU-RUMA BAKUDAN* was born. (Japanese translation for C. Bomba) At that time our drummer STF applied for a 5-year contract job in a railway station. Due to his hectic schedule (day/night shift, working even on weekends
) the opportunity for us to play gigs out of town was definitely lost. We can't even practice as much as before. So the music began to stagnate, not to say it began to deteriorate, to decay. I started to feel frustrated by the situation, mostly by the fact that after playing for 7 years. Our music was supposed to improve, to gain weight, more credibility but it didn't, but it didn't. I felt I was wasting time and energy keeping the band going, so I gave up & quit.
2. It seems your paintings has a direct relation to HC/Punk ideals, is it not? Why is it too gloomy, as most of it seems to convey.
Ivan: I don't think those paintings are directly related to HC/Punk topics & ideals. I used painting as a medium, as a mean of expression to show off my views about the society & the world we live in. Most people find those paintings violent, disturbing & provoking, it was not meant to shock people, but still, it's the way they feel when they see those pictures, sometimes when somebody ask me why the contents are so negative, sad & heavy, I would like to reply - "well, just look around, we're surrounded by ugliness & stupidity. We're entering the 21st century & could you explain to me, why most people got that backward mentality, we're living in developed & civilized nations & people still maintain those barbaric attitudes. 150 years of industrial development starts to fuck up the planet immediately & we all know it will be too late when the process will be reversed." He will reply: " Why are you so negative, there's also nice things in life" for most people. Art is assimilated as entertainment, decoration, it should not messed up w/ politics, criticism, aim for social change. Fucking Escapists! Cover up the truth if you want to be happy!
3. So which is more fulfilling you being painter or as musician? Is it just the same?
Ivan: It's two different things. It's not the same kind of fulfillment anyway. Through painting , you have to learn patience, you form your picture inside the head & then you have to build it slowly and transfer it to the canvas. It's sometimes frustrating or surprising when the result is far from what you had imagined in the first place. I consider painting as a fuckin' mind game, and you have to think in long-term plans. Through music, the fulfillment is felt much more immediately, especially when you're playing H.C., it's a physical kind of thing playing H.C. is good for the mental sanity: you can release frustration, fear or anger through music instead of pissing people off or beating somebody up.
4. So what was your best & worst experiences you had during your last visit here in the Philippines? Your comment about the local HC/Punk scene.
Ivan: Too many experiences to mention: the heavy traffic in Manila was quite exhausting and nerve-bending, drinking and singing in the KTV bars was cool. Mr. Cid Mendoza brought me to the cockpit, it was quite suprising to see that aspect of Pinoy Popular culture: all those crazy dudes screaming meron or wala, waving bills in their hands, talk about devotion! Fights were so fast I didn't felt any compassion for the chickens anyway, a fuckin' butchery of feather & blood.
Seen one gig in Marikina and one in Mayrics, the difference I noticed with that gig in the Guadalupe basketball court back in '93 are the audience seems more quiet nowadays, more girls are coming to gigs which is a sign of improvement. Musicwise, the bands have gained in sound quality and technique, but I feel they've lost in creativity. Too many NY-HC, Victory records type clones, too many boring emo stuffs. I wonder why the bands stick to imported American models instead of developing their own Pinoy sound. This problem is not peculiar to Filipino bands though…In my opinion, from all the bands I've seen playing, A.D.A., One Against All and Tame The Tikbalang were the ones that stood out of the rest.
5. Do you still go to HC/Punk gigs & I think you've been quite active before in your scene organizing gigs etc.? How did you pulled it off?
Ivan: Yeah, I still go to punk gigs sometimes, as a way to meet some friends I haven't seen since ages, havin' fun and drinkin' beer. Yeah, back in '98, I took part in organizing gigs, 8 gigs between October '97 & April '98. 4 H.C. gigs, 2 experimental-type stuff, 1 Spanish Ska band, & 1 dub-reggae gig. So let's go for another long story.. During the last two years, I used to run an autonomous place called "The Counter-Kultura Academy" it's a big house situated on the outskirts of the city that we rent for cheap. As the first floor was big enough to gather around 200 people. I thought it was good of we can organize some gigs there. The financial basis followed the D.I.Y./non-profit ideals : the entrance fee goes to the bands to cover their tour expenses (gas money, food etc…) and the benefits collected from the bar goes to us, in order to pay the bills, saving money to improve or repair the equipment and so on. It was basically the rules of the game. Needless to say, that the prices were really low to avoid any kind of financial discrimation. The problem is that many people didn't respect the rules : gate-crashers, people begging for beer and too many annoyances. Thanx God, it never led to violent fights and big material losses. But still, in a movement which is supposed to rely on independence, self-respectability-> what anarchy is all about, no? If I wanted to keep the things going, I had to rent the services of some security guard company. It seemed meaningless to me taking risks by letting those stupid bastards get inside the place without making money out of it. So that's only my own vision of things, in general terms. The H.C. scene in my area (I mean in France) is not that strong, coz' it's developed within a tiny small minority, good initiatives as squats, D.I.Y. gigs are irremediably spoiled trouble makers, alcohol and drug abuse spread misunderstandings and disorganization within' the scene. It's like the end of a cycle. Nowadays the audience turns to techno music. Personally I think that the H.C.-Punk scene as we knew it is really gone.
6. So what keep you busy nowadays?
Ivan: To sum up : doing some artwork for bands, record sleeves and stuff, contributing to some 'zines as I'm also drawing comics. I was also working on a musical project as a solo performer playing with machines until some burglars smashed the door while I was out and stole all the equipment! Too bad for me, needless to say the area where I'm living now is turning bad since the last five years. Must be the side-effects & casualties of neo-liberalism perhaps… As I'm unlucky when it comes to music, I'd rather concentrate on visual arts now.
7. Now I want to ask you the main reason behind your frequent trips to the Philippines? What's your advice on other Europeans who want to travel here for the first time?
Ivan: The two main reasons are that my mother is now established in Southern Palawan so I take the opportunity to visit her in her place. It's also because I really appreciate your country and its inhabitants. Feel quite puzzled by that cultural (not to say colonial) factor that makes the Philippines the most westernized place in Asia. Since my first visit back in 1990, I've seen so many things changing on the path of development and improvement, but since the economic crisis in Asia (planned by the IMF and Wall-Street) it seems to move backwards. And you don't need to be economical and political science graduate to see that the ERAP Administration is fucking-up the whole country. Those movie actors recycled into politics represent the triumph of ignorance over democracy, Really scary, no? It seems that the imbalance-between the rich and the working class, between rural and urban areas, between Luzon and Negros - which exists in your country is here to stay. And sometimes I'm wondering why I keep coming back too..
My advice to European visitors is - be curious, be aware, be attentive, at least try to learn something from your trip. Avoid talking about religion especially when you're an atheist, don't be rude with the locals, don't accept candies from people you don't know.
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