The Bad Batch - APC

Contrary to popular belief, Mong, Mike D and I's 1st band together wasn't Sandwich, at least not officially. In the beginning we had the little known The Bitter Pill. Mong and I would eventually recruit Mikey of Ciudad, Isa who later would play bass for Taken By Cars and after looking all over for a drummer, finally coerced Mike D to join in on drums. Although Mike would only play maybe 5 shows, he would later on be replaced by Pao of HUH! Only to be rescued again by Mike! We were around for only a year, at least I think? From 2005 to 2006. But in the short span of time, we were able to play a lot of shows and even maintained a thriving yahoo groups page! (Remember those?) If you've ever been to Sagujo from 2005 till today, you'll still see our Inksurge poster right by the door which had actual tour dates!!! Hahaha! I remember there was a stretch that we were playing more shows than Sandwich did. Recently, I've been getting requests for us to do a reunion show, but when I asked Mong if he still had our demos he told me his comp got corrupted (as did mine!) and with it all that was The Bitter Pill. That is until our friend Klara unearth two songs from our demo cd. We had 5 originals but for the life of me can't really remember how the other 3 went! Haha! I know I played keyboards on some song and have a vague idea of how it went. Maybe the rest of them know.  Hehehe. But yeah, please enjoy Jopet by The Bitter Pill. Who knows, maybe you'll see us soon!

The Bitter Pill - Jopet (1st version)

My brother Micah and I have been making music for the past 20 yrs.  He over in NYC with his bands Black Sonny and The Jack Lords Orchestra and me with Sandwich and Perfect Sound Forever.  We've always wanted to either perform live together or even maybe record some songs.  But alas.. We always end up drinking whilst trying to make stuff and end up with a bunch of half finished demoes and song sketches.  Funny thing is he told me he wanted to form a band after seeing me perform the 1st time with my old band The Aga Muhlach Experience.  Over the years we've played many shows in our homes here in Manila or in NYC but never really documented anything. Enter Raims!  Who decided to give Micah a Uke before he left.  We did a live one take i-phone recording of the Jack Lords track Mauldin Years and sent it to him as Micah's way of saying thanks.  He in turn adds more orchestration and drums!  All of it happened in a span of a few hours.  Anywho, here it is! Hope you kids enjoy! 

Maudlin Years

The Aga Muhlach Experience was my first "real" band.  Formed in 1995 by Mario Muhlach, Toti Dalmacion, Myrene Academia and I.  The band went on to have many other different members and incarnations over the years, but this one is an early gig with the original line up with Lexi on guitar.  I'm not sure if this was Buzz Nite or Awakenings or maybe even Myrene's Not Radio nights, but Im sure its at Dredd.  Eventually Mike Dizon would join in on drums and of course all three of us would later be part of Sandwich.  

This was perhaps the most exciting time for me as a musician.  Barely out of my teens and not really knowing how to play, but always adhering to the  mantra of  "destroy and have a good time".  Nothing better than good friends making a lot of racket and noise with infinite possibilities.  But as with all good things, we wouldn't last.  Mario Muhlach had to go back stateside and just like that the Muhlach's were gone.  We would go on to play various reunion shows every so often and maybe one of these days actually make an album we've always talked about.  We played with a slew of great bands, who sadly never made it to bigger things. I've had some semblance of success with my current band, and even though I've played almost a thousand shows, nothing comes close to the thrill of those early days.  It was an honor playing with all those kids and really showed me what it meant to be in a band.  

The Aga Muhlach Experience live at Club Dredd 1996.

Here's a little turntable set I did for the homies over at Bastard Clothing awhile back. Wanted to share it again and hopefully entertain some of you a bit with all this going on.  Be safe and stay strong guys! Enjoy!

dayglo_castillo

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