Pinoy rockers Up The Ante: From living room to UAE stage

Up The Ante in action

AL AIN, United Arab Emirates – Despite having different tastes in music, five overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) here have decided to join forces and "up the ante" — that is, build a career as a rock band.

“Our passion in playing as a band comes from our dissimilar influences in musical styles and genres,” band leader and guitarist John Mark “Kram” Cruz, 39, shared in an e-mail.

“We were just a bunch of aspiring musicians, confined inside a living room that we turned into
a makeshift band room,” he added, referring to vocalist Rosette John Balanay, 30; guitarist Jigs Bongato, 28; bassist John "Joms" Magno, 26; and drummer Dexter “Fester” Buenagua, 35.

Then in November 2013, the band, calling themselves Up The Ante, participated in the Al Ghurair Centre's Battle of the Bands.

“We landed the 1st place. That inspired us to continue making our own music and from that day on, we've been jiggin’ all over town,” Kram said.

Up The Ante’s music is highly influenced by Franco, Urbandub, Foo Fighters, Coheed & Cambria, Pearl jam and Dishwalla. They already have an original song, "Fallen," which Kram said is dedicated “to all the soldiers all around the world who died fighting for peace for their country.”

“In performing your own original piece to the crowd, it is always uplifting and a suitable outlet to express your mindset on everything that surrounds our society,” he said.

Musical influences

The varied musical influences of Up The Ante—ranging from jazz, heavy metal, alternative rock, progressive rock, country and blues—have helped Kram and the members “in contributing ideas in writing and arranging our own tune.”

In the Philippine music scene, Kram had been involved with the Scam, Bloody Mary, and Last Train as a drummer, keyboardist, and guitarist, respectively.

Rosette John, on the other hand, had been engaged with the High5 and H2O; Jigs with the Redeemed Band; Joms with the Amerie and Avian Limit; and Fester with the Radiostar, One Way Traffic, Segundo and Spunky Idiots.

Challenges

Aside from the various musical influences of each of the members, Up The Ante also has to deal with one more thing: schedule.

Kram is an administrator and fleet coordinator at the flyubai. Rosette John is a medical case coordinator at the National General Insurance. Jigs is a marketing executive at the Express Money UAE. Both Joms and Fester works at the CPI Media Group as a graphic designer and a database administrator, respectively.

“As a musician here in the UAE, we are all stuck in our day jobs since it is our principal precedence,” Kram said. “No matter how much we love to jam together as a band, there are always conflicts on schedules.”

Despite of this, though, Up The Ante manages to have “a run-through jam” once a week.

“We always tend to improve our music and the desire to play every time we perform. We wish and would continue anywhere," Kram said. "We came from different parts of the Philippines and the only thing that keeps the members in one place together is the band.” —KBK, GMA News 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more