Inquirer.net | "Behaved barbarians"

By Tony Maghirang
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:53:00 10/04/2010
Source:  http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20101004-295978/Behaved-barbarians

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Parokya ni Edgar emerged at the dawn of local indie rock in the mid-’90s, when the frenzy for back-to-basics guitar action gave rise to The Youth, The Eraserheads, Yano and a plague of grungy garage bands. That makes PnE’s members elder statesmen to a new breed of hungry young musicians.

While most of its contemporaries have now fallen off the radar, PnE still churns out music that swings between elegiac ballads and roaring, alcohol-induced head-bangers. Rockers and pop heads love them in equal measure and their live concerts reek with the reckless abandon of no-future punk rock, except that everyone leaves the venue with a smile on his face.

The band’s latest release, “Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop-Rockers” (Universal Records), possibly hints at the arc of the band’s musical career. It contains slapstick lyrics, snatches of silly banter and half-formed tunes, as well as moody, complete compositions that should sit well with the college crowd.

Then there’s the reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, not only on the cover shot but also on the extended album title itself.

Reckless Joys
In spirit and wit, the CD hardly departs from the band’s previous eight albums, although it makes a strong case for the potency of rocking in middle age. Its overall message: Parokya ni Edgar does not want to grow up.

For the most part, “Pop Rockers” exults in the reckless joys of rock and roll. Its opening number “Original Song” proclaims: “Pagkat ayoko maghanap ng trabaho/Habang buhay magbabanda ako.”

In “One-Hit Combo,” lead singer Chito Miranda pays tribute to his musical heroes, The E-heads; and then on the song’s chorus, rap sensation Gloc-9 fires away at his own homage to FrancisM.

Miranda admits there’s no real concept behind the band’s albums.

Serious At Work
“We just work on the songs... There’s no conscious effort to create this or that tune. What comes out after the last album and during the creation of the new one, we simply compile them together into a new album,” he says.

Bassist Buwi Meneses adds: “We’re not even conscious about being funny. We’re actually very serious about our work, contrary to what most people think.”

The band takes earnest efforts to slice pop rock into different shades of intelligent fun.

“To us, making music is about having fun,” says Miranda. “We didn’t form a band to be No. 1 one or to reach a certain peak of popularity ... We’re thankful that our fans have remained solid behind us.”

Drummer Dindin admits the band had actually been hailed to a police station for a juvenile offense.

Miranda explains, in typical PnE fashion: “All of us have a deep sense of right and wrong. We’re barbarians, but we’re well-behaved barbarians.