dreamingdaylight

There has never been a better time to be an Eraserheads fan than right now - for the first time since 2001.

"Eraserheads Reunion" rumors have been flying all week around the wild and wooly pinoy blogosphere. A number of these had been reported on the decade-old Eraserheads mailing list , sparking speculations a-plenty.

And all these have definitely been enough to get me out of the music journo doldrums and get on the case. Were the clues and leaks and blind items intentionally scattered out there as a devious form of viral marketing? Perhaps.

If it was really a viral campaign, it has proved to be quite effective, and my hat goes off to the digital marketing strategist who conceived it.

The Rumors:

a) All four Eraserheads (for the uninitiated these are four guys named Ely, Raimund, Buddy, and Marcus) have signed up to perform for a one-night only reunion concert.

b) The concert will be held on August 30, 2008 at the CCP grounds along Roxas Boulevard.

c) The concert is sponsored by "a big company," who ponied up the big bucks to entice the eHeads to bury the hatchet and get together.

d) The concert will be free. People will sign up on a website to win tickets.

Whatever the rumors, it all came to a head on Sunday, July 13, when the info was leaked (or deliberately programmed) on entertainment writer Ricky Lo's column at the Philippine Star , who essentially confirmed all of the above as true.

In a radio guesting on JAM 88.3 FM on Sunday, Ely Buendia confirmed the news as well.

The next piece in the puzzle - the mysterious benefactor.

"‘It took one big company to bring the former band members together,’ said the source who is keeping the company’s identity ‘confidential’ for the time being," wrote Lo.

PhilMusic.com has since learned that the mysterious sponsor is quite possibly Marlboro, the cowboy-smokin' brand of Philip Morris. Furthermore, the tobacco company has been rumored to have ponied up a rather large sum as the carrot on the stick for the reunion. Each member is said to be receiving a rather large sum - with estimates ranging from P2.5M to P10M apiece - in order to pull together for a 45 minutes set.

Given some of the friction reported between two camps of the eHeads over the years - the camp of Ely and Dianne on one side, and the camp of the other three guys (and their partners) on the other - it does appear that the money was sufficient enough to smoothen the path for a one-night gig.

There is some irony noted that it took a tobacco company to pull it off. As far as we know, three of the Eraserheads don't smoke. Raimund is asthmatic (hence the use of his email userID asmatik88), Ely is a heart attack survivor, and we have never seen Buddy with a cigarette in hand.

We also monitored the following message - containing the allegedly official announcement - posted on the Eraserheads mailing list on Sunday night by Villy Ray Villacorta:

Yes it's true. It's been in the works for several months na. Marlboro is sponsoring this concert and paid each of the members a staggering P10M each to do a full 45-minute set. This is the official announcement:

"No more blind items my dear friends. Yes. We are confirming it.
There is no point denying:

August 30, 2008 will be LEGENDARY!!!

The country's most influential band ever will be reunited for ONE NIGHT ONLY.

This once in a lifetime experience will be staged at the CCP
opengrounds.

Tickets are free and you can download it early August. Website to be
announced.

ONE BRAND.
ONE BAND.
ONE NIGHT ONLY...

ERASERHEADS REUNION CONCERT!"

At this writing, the website is speculated to be an offshoot of Marlboro's local website at http://marlboro.ph . Smokers are encouraged to sign up to be included in "The Red List" of special events. The list members are then notified of events by email and SMS. Could the Eraserheads Reunion concert be part of this?

If we could throw in some more speculative fuel in the fire, I'm guessing that music label Sony BMG will take the opportunity to make some money while the sun shines on this occassion - so expect some re-releases or noise involving the Eraserheads back catalog.

This early on, there has already been some buzz involving the release of an orchestral arrangement of the classic Eraserheads tune "Ang Huling El Bimbo" released as the single of an album of orchestrated pinoy rock songs called "Kumpas".

Posting on the Eraserheads mailing list, Romel Sanchez (a.k.a. "Sancho" - long time eHeads compatriot and former housemate of Ely Buendia):

There's a new version of "Ang Huling El Bimbo" performed by Ely Buendia, backed by FILharmoniKa, an orchestra under the baton of Gerard Salonga. It will be premiered this afternoon in Jam 88.3. I think RJ will play it tomorrow afternoon also. NU 107 will (hopefully) play this starting Monday or Tuesday.

This version is part of a new album called "Kumpas", an album of orchestral reworkings of popular pinoy rock songs.

So it's been that sort of a weekend. Smokin' news all around, and I don't just mean sponsored by Marlboro.

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Update: The "Ten-Million-Per-Head" figure appears to be bloated. I got some text messages from a guy who works at a music instrument distributor who is "in the know" who scoffed at that amount. He says that while each bandmember is getting paid a sizeable sum, the figure is more in the neighborhood of P2M each. Maybe the "P10 milion" figure floating around refers to the whole band's take.

"Why are people so interested in the talent fee?" someone asked me. Maybe it's like a prizefight. We're all interested in finding out how much Manny Pacquiao gets paid. Why not musicians?

.................................

source: http://philmusic.com/main/content/view/165/1/