Slapshock, from left to right: Lee Nadela, Jerry Basco, Jamir Garcia, Chi Evora and Leandro Ansing. Photo by rockmetalnews.com
In the nearly two decades that Slapshock has existed, they have given us more than a string of popular hits. But more than that, the memories of being able to watch them excite the crowd with their adrenaline-filled performances and showmanship through the years are what I remember most about them.
Slapshock had chosen to stick around and release albums even when there were periods the numerous scenes weren’t “too giving” or even caring enough, to put it bluntly, to the music of Slapshock.
When you think of it–based alone on their amazing longevity in the music industry and considering the many changing music trends that they have survived–definitely, Slapshock deserves our respect despite their most stubborn of naysayers!
The fact is, they survived when other local bands could not then, given “certain circumstances”. I would like to believe it is because of that “fire in the belly” that still exists within the band members that they have lasted and are continuing to make a name for themselves–not only in our own country but also overseas when they would do international tours.
And undeniably, at this latter stage of their careers as a successful veteran act together, Slapshock has turned out to be one of our most nationalistic bands as well. They certainly proved this praiseworthy trait especially in the wake of Super Typhoon “Yolanda.”
The members of Slapshock know real well how powerful music can be and how it can be used to send a message of hope and to bring people together for a common cause.
That is what they did accomplish a while back through a music video for a special song called “Unshakable”– a song which was dedicated to the survivors of typhoon ‘Yolanda’.
And for the noble gesture that they had shown through their song “Unshakable”, I can’t think of a much better way to acknowledge everything this band has accomplished and shared with us through their music, than to make them my subject of focus for my latest installment of “My own Top 3 Songs from…”.
*****
Here they are:
1) “Numb” – From the beginning of the intro–with the pounding of the drums to the chugging of the bass–all of these musical characteristics resembled to me a storm brewing in the near horizon for Slapshock would be unleashing what would be their greatest piece of work at the time with “Numb”.
To put it simply, the album ‘Project 11-41’ Slapshock’s third studio-release from where this single was taken elevated the status of the band from being one of the hottest acts to being the premier band in the country.
“Numb” had my vote, hands down, as the best local rock track to have been released from among the other local bands in the entire year of 2002.
To this day, I still rank “Numb” as the Number 1 track from Slapshock.
2) “Direction” – I remember I used to pump up the volume in my car each time I would get to hear this song played from one of the two FM stations at the time that played the latest local and foreign rock music in the mid-2000’s.
“Direction” was the lead single taken from the band’s fifth studio-release ‘Silence’. This was a “sleeper hit” though as it was underrated by some. But I just enjoyed the track’s lyrics, melodic guitar riffs, the rapid-fire pounding of the drums in certain sections of the song. Plus, it didn’t hurt that lead vocalist Jamir Garcia sounded a bit like Chester Bennington here.
It was because of this specific track that made me a purchase a copy of their album ‘Direction’ sometime in 2006.
3) “Anino Mo” – Whoever said that Slapshock couldn’t sound as good in Filipino as they would normally do performing English tracks, then “Anino Mo” was the track that helped silence their doubters.
Admittedly, when I first heard this track being played in the radio, it didn’t register to me right away that I was listening, in fact, to Slapshock. It had sounded like the music was coming from an entirely different band unbeknownst to me at the time. That was proof of how versatile this band really is.
“Anino Mo” was taken from Slapshock’s third studio-release “Project 11-41.”