Nathan vs Bamboo

[glanz]

---

Hijo akoa kay fraternal brod nako si nathan....

[parengjohn]

HIJO....NATHAN...ARIBA

LIVE n LET LIVE

[briansy]

Ask lng ko kay fan man ko sa bamboo gud. As in wala juy na compose diay si bamboo sa ilang band?

[rr_sipat]

Kawayan lang ako.a....

[DTI Rep]

Ask lng ko kay fan man ko sa bamboo gud. As in wala juy na compose diay si bamboo sa ilang band?

same question here

[gilbertian]

I'm not sure what Bamboo actually writes - it seems that the band's compositions are all credited collectively so you don't know who writes what. Bamboo is a Fil-Am guy, I don't think he writes much Tagalog lyrics for example, though it's sho nuff he handles the English lyrics.

[billy jade]

yeah!!!!......

[rata]

from what i know kato first album nila kay half done na daw to before pa ni join si bamboo. some of it where composed while still in Kapatid (Nathan and Aira's band with Karl Roy).

[glanz]

THE BAMBOO SAGA by kerly solon

The truth's out. FINALLY. Nathan's finally spoken. Screw it if its just his side of the story. All I know is its all making sense now. ALL OF IT.

It would be proper to start with Bamboo (the man) is an ass. All the crap that ran around for years about him being an ass? Yes. Its all true. And its all showing now. Dude's such a hypocrite he should hate himself and call himself Mr. Clay.

About a two months after the band broke up, Pancho posted on the old band page that Bamboo was looking into having him as a manager again. Sweet right?

Then Hijo came out. Started playing small gigs here and there. Creating a buzz.

Now if you'd just look at it like that, just the fact that Nathan, Vic and Ira went on and formed another band already makes things all fishy.

Still, loyal as I am. I chose to look at it at a lighter note. Said stuff like, 'Maybe they're just shaking things up. Divide and conquer for a better music scene then eventually get back together' and 'I think its personal AND artistic differences that caused the rift'. I loved the band too much.

I said artistic coz I noticed a shift in the music that was laid out with each album. I said personal coz I know songs with that much voice and conviction has to come from very strong and opinionated individuals who'd debate and fight like hell just to get their thoughts across.

You could tell both parties were trying to get ahead of each other. It was a race on who'd release a single first, who'd put out a video first, who'd release the album first. This was insanely interesting.

Facebook artist pages were put up. The page for Hijo now, if my memory serves me right, is not what was original set up coz the first one got hacked. Bamboo's paged, initially, was handled and updated by Bamboo's webmaster, Sean Sumido. Now this page, when it went up, got to my nerves. Credits from everything Bamboo the band did were up on his page. This didnt settle well with me at all knowing that Hijo came out with all originals and a clean slate.

Both were stirring up the music scene differently. Hijo went about it openly with gigs and answering any and all questions thrown at them, something you'd expect from them as thats how those guys have always been. Bamboo went his usual way too and played the mysterious card, there were rumors but never any official word.

Alas! Hijo released a video for 'Tamalee' with a video that sent goosebumps all over your system like mad, shook your soul and make you realize you shouldnt mess with these guys.

Bamboo, on the other hand, went mellow and melodramatic with 'Questions'. Somehow an answer to 'Tamalee', trying to justify what had occurred with grander orchestration. Literally. Strings and all that. This time, he created his own Twitter account, Formspring, and started taking charge of his Facebook artist page. Something I never would've expected, let alone imagined, he would do. The mysterious one is now the social networking one.

Hijo made its way underground. Like any and all respectable musician and artist would. Start from scratch. They chose to go independent. Making sure they were in total control of everything. Bamboo went about it with a management (Bamboo the band's former manager) and signed with a label. His first few shows after the break up was in the US and Canada with Gloc9. Then landed a major first event, as a soloist, when he got back and became a special guest for the Tanduay Rhum Rockfest.

Now this I just had to see. Searched for videos taken from the event on YouTube and was left surprised - in a not so amazed way. I was surprised at how there was no fire in the performances. I mean, cmon, with an orchestra you're bound to be badass and raise souls - but it wasnt. It was just a show. That was it.

I was baffled by this. Seriously. How in the world can you perform with a full orchestra, play some of the anthems of this generation and be, well, just that. And how in the world do I feel fire, passion, electricity and get goosebumps when I look up stuff from Hijo when they're still settling in as a band and Nathan's still working on his vocals.

The strangeness hung in my head for hours and days. Then I realized what it was.

With Hijo, even though the band's still settling in, the connection thats needed to make music feel real is already there. That passion to create music together is there. The chemistry. The fire. Its already there.

Bamboo, on the other hand, is a man with an army of instrumentalists who are simply paid to ready, study, understand and play a piece. No emotion required. No artistic investment. No connection. No chemistry. No matter how grand your ensemble is, if they dont feel that music running through their veins, those notes can run and soar, but it you wouldnt feel anything from it.

If you listen to Hijo's tracks, it feels like Bamboo (the band). It still feels like home. Its different, but it still feels like home. Its a continuation of the battle-cry I'd followed through for years, but with a slight difference. Bamboo (the man), on the other hand, feels really different. I dont get me wrong. I applaud the musicality - its insane. But the feel, its a whole other world.

Bingo! There goes my 'artistic differences' theory.

I kept an ear out for both parties. Seeing movements. Observing. Its something you somehow acquire if you grow up around MTV and all of that.

The cards werent played fairly. Someone had the upper-hand. More connections. More listeners. Bamboo.

He was always the crowd favorite. A man with that voice. How can you sound like that and not get noticed? How can you sound like that and not sell? How can you not sell when you've sung practically every single song that defined generations.

The end of 2011 was a whirlwind. I cant even remember the order of things, but here's what it felt like to me: Hijo had planned on releasing an album and announced the date. Bamboo set the release date for his album on the same week. Hijo signed with a label (something I wasnt expecting but understood the move completely) then somehow had the release date for their album pushed back. Albums were released. Hijo did radio tours (thats how you'd do it old school). Bamboo did promo tours and meet & greets (again, enter shocked face here).

Hijo was still not getting their well-deserved exposure.

On the other hand, Bamboo, the mysterious one, went and had an interview with Boy Abunda for a segment in Bandila. Now, it would've been just a tad bit more respectable and Bamboo-appropriate had the interview been done for The Bottomline, but it wasnt.

Everything about it was just wrong.

First of all, Bamboo getting interview by Boy Abunda is unheard of. Surreal. Dude wouldnt even face the media before but now he's doing interviews. Second is, who the hell was that guy sitting across Boy with all smiles, all friendly and buddy-buddy with him Third was how quickly he answered he answered the last question. He said no to a Rivermaya reunion flat out. No dramatic pauses. No nothing.

The question that caused a ranting post from Nathan. I didnt even really know about the interview. I logged in to my Facebook and there it was - Nathan's statement. I knew something was up. Words of an interview were visible. Did my researched. And was outraged as well.

Bamboo said no to a Rivermaya reunion. A few days after a video of him on a jam session with some of Rivermaya's members surfaced. Like hell.

Still, I played all loyalist to the four influenced me and gave Bamboo the benefit of the doubt. A very faint benefit of the doubt, but at least there was something. I was just waiting for him to redeem himself. I thought, 'Maybe he's forced to be all Mr. Showbiz now coz he's a solo artist, but then you can be a solo artist and keep your 'cool' and not be bestfriends with everyone, but then maybe he was forced into it.. but then I can come up with a list of soloists who dont really do the stuff he's doing now'.

Early January came. Bamboo outdid himself. Went and signed to become a regular on ASAP. A show he wouldnt even really talk on before, but wow, now he's there almost every week.

I found out about this and only one word came to mind: SELL OUT. He's selling out like there's no tomorrow and locking down ASAP so there's very little chance Hijo's gonna be able to do promos there now the way things are going. Any 'benefit of the doubt' I left in him just vanished.

And it gets more interesting.

Hijo released their second single/video 'Di Mo Na Kaya'. About two or three weeks after, the video finally made its way to YouTube. Then Nathan's account gets hacked, jeopardizing the band page again.

All hell broke loose. It seems someone couldnt take it and was playing dirty.

Then Nathan did the one thing he never did after the band broke up - release a statement. Set an interview with PEP airing some pretty nasty stuff but said what he reveal didnt even scratch the surface yet.

They asked Nathan to differentiate the Rico leaving Rivermaya and Bamboo leaving Bamboo. He said that it was different since Rico wrote a huge bulk of the Rivermaya songs and was practically Rivermaya, whereas with Bamboo, they'd written the songs, Bamboo was simply an instrument to help rely the message.

This confirmed something that'd been running at the back of my mind - I'd been cheering for the wrong guy. For years, I thought Bamboo led the pack, was the brain of the revolution they'd started. Then he wasnt. It was Nathan. It always been Nathan.

Then he was asked if Hijo wasnt worried that they'd come off as the ones who couldnt get over the break up. He said what every artist would say, and something even Bamboo would back: your songs are about what you're going through.

Personally?

Screw playing along with whoever is the crowd favorite. I find it wrong how everything is being played out and its making Nathan and the rest of Hijo seem like they're the bad guys. Sure, by the looks of it Bamboo's moved on. Heck, it was his idea to screw the band over in the first place so he should be over it alot sooner than the rest of us.

Its not right giving credit to someone who never deserved to be placed on the pedestal and leave the ones who did all the hardwork to the sides. Nathan, Ira and Vic are simply fighting for whats rightfully theirs. Fighting to get the right recognition as the guys who did most of the heavy-lifting and not just as the guys who worked with Bamboo.

And another bingo! There goes my 'personal differences' theory.

I'm someone who was taught by Bamboo THE BAND to always take a stand when you feel somethings wrong. Its not my war, but I'm part of the army that believed in what they were preaching together. So, in some ways, this is my war.

I got a hunch that this is gonna get a whole lot worse before any of this is gonna get better. Shit's about to go down way before the cloud clears.

My respect goes to the ones who've stayed the same. It goes to the ones whose fire lives in their music.

This saga, God help us, is far from over. Heck, its just begun.

[Ferrari 430 Scuderia]

basaa diay bamboo