Now it can be told: I’m a huge fan of the Eraserheads, the great alternative rock Pinoy band of the 90s.

I’ve always been a fan of the group ever since the release of their Ultraelectromagneticpop debut album; but I’ve not been vocal about my admiration for them, except with my family and some very close friends. Maybe because my circle friends were not into that type of music… listening to E-heads music was a bit too baduy and jologs for their taste.
Luckily, my sister and I both adore the band, my sister being the most devoted to their music. We bought all their CDs, even the storybook they released with the Fruitcake album. We tuned in to almost all their radio guestings and recorded their live performances at NU 107. We also attended quite a few of their gigs, especially their performances in the UP grounds. My sister, with the help of her college org, even mounted a concert at the UP Sunken Garden featuring different Pinoy bands… with the E-heads leading the pack, of course. The most exhilarating concert I’ve ever been to was Combo Nation, a joint concert by the E-heads and True Faith. My sister and I (with an older male cousin who gamely acted as our chaperone/bodyguard) braved the head-banging, slam-dancing and bottle-throwing crowd in front of the stage just to get close to where the real action is. We were pushed forward, backward, sidewards… it was definitely one crazy evening, but we had so much fun!

The reunion concert by the E-heads staged last Saturday brought sweet memories of those days. No, I wasn’t there at the reunion concert, but I how I wish I was. To this day, I can always rely on the mp3 file of their song Magasin that I always save in my mobile phone if I needed something to perk me up. That song, for some weird reasons, has this magical effect on me. I would have loved to see the E-heads perform that song again together on one stage (apparently, Magasin was part of the second set of the reunion concert, which as we all know didn’t materialize due to Ely Buendia’s poor health that night).

Nowadays, I’m not so much of an alternative rock fan anymore. When the E-heads disbanded, my interest in the music scene also waned. I know there have been a couple of good Pinoy bands that have sinced spiced up the Pinoy rock music scene… but I guess most E-heads fanatics would agree that no band have come even close to what the E-heads had achieved. Ely, Buddy, Marcus and Raimund are not the best Pinoy musicians that we’ve had; in fact, in every gig, expect several “out-of-tune here, out-of-sync there” moments. People who are used to the seamless performances of Side A or South Border may easily get turned off by the E-heads’ seemingly lack of vocal and musical prowess. But in my humble opinion, I believe their magic lies on the fact that they (particularly the great poet Ely B.) are great storytellers. Storytelling, injected with good sense of humor, is in the core of their music. Everyone loves to listen to a good story… and probably that explains why The Eraserheads’ music is still very much ingrained in the hearts of those who cared to listen to their songs… even if the band members had long went their separate ways already.

To borrow a line from Alapaap… “…buksan ang puso at isipan, paliparin ang kamalayan…” It’s never too late to appreciate their music. Who knows, you could be the next E-heads fan.