Eraserheads

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The Eraserheads was the most popular Pinoy rock band in the Philippines during the alternative rock explosion of the early 1990s. The Eraserheads is also regarded as the band that opened the commercial doors for other aspiring Filipino rock bands like Rivermaya, Parokya ni Edgar, and Yano. Their fans affectionately call them "E-heads." The band's debut album, Ultraelectromagneticpop, released in 1993 by BMG Records, was a commercial success. The album also brought the underground "college rock" scene into public awareness. Their influence and contribution to Philippine music today is so great that they have often been called the "The Beatles of the Philippines." In 1997, they won an award in the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, USA and the song "Ang Huling El Bimbo" won the Asian Viewer's Choice Award the previous year. The Eraserheads was formed in 1989 by four University of the Philippines students namely Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Marcus Adoro and Buddy Zabala, taking its name after the David Lynch movie Eraserhead. The group performed regularly at campus gigs in their alma mater. They had also performed at Club Dredd along EDSA, Quezon City, Metro Manila, a now-defunct club popular in the 1990s which served as a breeding ground for many Filipino Alternative Rock acts. The group submitted a demo to RJFM but were immediately turned down as their music did not fit the classic pop-rock format of the station. Fortunately, BMG Records-Pilipinas snatched them up and released their debut effort UltraElectroMagneticPop! under BMG's newly formed "Musiko" label. Their debut album comprised mainly of ska-tinged pop hooks laid down on a traditional guitar-bass-drums foundation. Buendia's catchy melodies and witty caustic lyrics helped fuel the album's success. In 2002, while driving in his car, bassist Buddy Zabala received a text message from their vocalist. According to some fans, Ely said (through the text message) that he wanted to quit the band (the exact reason/s behind this remains unknown except to those directly involved). Ely was quoted as saying "graduation time." After leaving the band, Buendia was later replaced by Kris Gorra-Dancel (of the Fatal Posporos). The "new" Eraserheads shocked fans in a Hard Rock Cafe gig when the new vocalist showed up instead of Buendia. November 2002, Marcus Adoro quit and the band was later renamed to “Cambio” as they added Diego Mapa (of Monsterbot), and Ebe Dancel (of Sugarfree). After the Eraserheads disbanded, the band members formed other bands, such as Pedicab, Surfernando, Sandwich, The Mongols, and Pupil. The remaining 3 members (Dancel, Marasigan & Zabala) formed a new band Cambio(meaning "Change") with Ebe Dancel and Diego Mapa. n late 2005, Sony-BMG & radio station Jam 88.3 released the compilation album Ultraelectromagneticjam: Music of the Eraserheads. The album features current top Filipino artists doing Eheads originals. This helped the band to gain younger fans, some of which were not present during their time. Now, the Eraserheads is even bigger. Tons of Bootleg CD's are being distributed FOR FREE in the internet through the bands' original mailing list, Circus. Anybody else like this band?