piNOISEpop The Bay area tradition continued to promote Original Pilipino Alternative Music (OPAM) in the 4th bi-annual music festival called piNoisepop (Bindlestiff Studio, San Francsico, CA). It featured a wide range of Pinoy band-driven music from Pinoy Punk Rock to Filipino Jazz. Pulutan Productions fulfilled their promise and brought the bands from the past festivals and added an eclectic and diverse set of new bands at Bindlestiff Studio, an epicenter of Filipino American performing arts. Fleerbox, Misfire, Nuisance, Red Ghetto Sun, MuddSF, Skyflakes, Love dAriA, Enda, Rubymar, Kayumanggi, Chunhan Avengers, E:trinity, Basement 31, Galaga, and Bobby Banduria played during the three-night festival. Young, talented Filipino-American stand-up comics such as the Socialow Brothers, Angelito Gaberdine, Allan Manalo, Ramon Abad, and Tim Tayag worked their fifteen minutes of fame in hosting the show, roasting the bands, and sharing some of their experiences growing up as Filipino Americans in the United States. A special side stage band, the Soends, also played their own drunk versions of songs from the 60s and the 70s in between sets. The festival started off with new band Fleerbox. They delivered original pop songs from their Struggle CD, which consists of "Don't Walk Away," "Everything's Okay," "A Song for Annie," and "Golden Chair." The singer's voice reminded me of a young Morrissey during his early years with the Smiths. Fleerbox's music style showed some brit pop and early Eraserheads influences.

Red Ghetto Sun Skyflakes

Next band, Misfire hits the stage with pop rock influence tunes. Fronted by new singer Sarah Hill, she has definitely outgrown the band's trademark in playing 80's cover songs. Original song, "Misery" had a touch of the 1950's doo-wop style and "I Need You Now" exhibited the nice backing vocal arrangement of lead guitarist, Neil Gonzales. The night got louder with Heavy Metal band Nuisance from San Jose. As the band's heavy distorted sound roamed the crowded theater, songs such as "Pain and Suffering," "Hate," "Circle," and "Emotion," served as a shock treatment for first time goers in the festival. These head-banging dudes from the South Bay sure know how to get the crowd pumped up. Formed in 1999, Joe, Ian and Mike of Red Ghetto Sun started off as a live project band with influences from U2, Helmet, Bad Brains and Rush. Their own style of syncopated song structures and a heavy rock sound have given them a reputation of being a live "kick-ass" band. Red Ghetto Sun had given a new meaning to the term "multimedia" when they hired a sampling session artist to perform with them. Their set blasted out with "Rebels Against the Future," "Rocket to Samarkand," "Cause and Effect," "No Brainer," and "Goodbye." Joe Pacheco, the front man, was very impressed with this year's festival, "I think piNoisepop four had a greater vibe of community this year. A lot of the bands now are really tight and it made a difference. Even if you're playing an okay set, the enthusiasm and support from everyone can make the difference and encourage you to play your best." The festival continued with indie punk band MuddSF as they opened the second night of the festival. Originally from Guam, rhythm guitarist Alan Kao commented that it was nice to see that the festival brought all Filipino American indie bands together and it showed that there was a music scene for minorities in San Francisco. On each of the pop, melodic punk rock songs they performed, the rhythm section showed their skills with fast, hard-hitting drum rolls and bass line progression. With a D.I.Y. attitude, MuddSF has a lot to offer to the bay area indie scene. Skyflakes, or the artists formerly known as Bandsilog, played next. These kids have grown musically ever since the first piNoisepop in 1998. Songs like "Golden Gate," "Meathead," "Talk About Today" and "505" made the band's performance very pop, emo, cute and simple. With Trisha's sweet vocals and Ron's power chords put together, Skyflakes will surely be remembered, not as a snack, but as one of San Francisco's original Asian indie pop groups. Skyflakes have released three CD/EPs, "Econofast," "Red Leader," and "Skyflakes." page 1 | page 2 | page 3