[ greyweed ] -- and the bored shall inherit the earth...

This is the first article I got published....but they mutilated my article; some sentences were deleted without thinking about their purpose, details were omitted and some sentences appeared, and I don't even remembering writing them.
And I think, to any writer, that is a big insult. If they did not like my work, they should've just asked me to rehash the whole damn thing. Or I would've have been acceptable if they just rejected it.

Plus, Sugar Free specifically asked me to please include in the article their manager's contacts and the mailing list's address, something I did but they disregarded entirely.
And most important is that this was co-penned with my best friend, Wacko NATIVIDAD, but they got his surname wrong....TRINIDAD?
Sheesh!

A Sugar Free diet

By Luis Anthony Oliveros
Manila Times
Ferbruary 18, 2003

THE year 1996 found Sky Church clawing its way up the local rock scene, scaring and wowing a crowd that adored the Eraserheads, Oasis and Rivermaya. By the end of the second millennium, however, the monotonous sound of rap-metal bands left fans yawning. Naturally, one would tend to look for something that breaks the conventional, so everyone was on the lookout for something with brains and excitement. Different acts came out, including Imago, Itchy Worms, and Twisted Halo, among others.

It just so happened that Sugar Free was in the horizon when the searchlights were turned on. The crowd lent a critical ear to this not so-new band, and jaws began to drop. If 2002 brought the demise of the Eraserheads; the year that followed carried the launch of Sugar Free’s two-year delayed debut album. It happened last January when the searchlights metamorphosed into spotlights of the Freedom Bar, and the band worked up a storm to a crowd that made the venue busting at the seams.

Sugar Free features the diverse talents of Ebe Dancel on vocals and guitars, Jal Taguibao on bass, and Mitch Singson on drums. Their lovely manager, unofficial band member and friend, Anne Arraya, is omnipresent, making sure that the band runs perfectly like a well-oiled set of cogs come performance.

But first, the semantics: after searching for a suitable name for the band, surprisingly, it was Jal’s mom who suggested the name. “My mom is diabetic. Makes sense because the music is upbeat but the lyrics are sad. It’s kinda ironic. Hence, the name Sugar Free.” Cool mom, eh?

It all started more than three years ago. Ebe had been friends with the band Session Road, which Jal used to play for. When Ebe’s own band disbanded, and Jal eventually left his, Sugar Free was born, originally with Session Road’s Chavil and Dennis handling the keyboards and drums.

They met Mitch during a gig in Manila’s rock Mecca, Mayric’s, where he was playing with the power pop-spiced Ciudad. Not long after, a demo tape was finished. Ebe’s brother, Vin (frontman of local indie deities Twisted Halo) was given a copy, which was passed on to Rico Blanco.

“I think he liked it,” Jal grins. Blanco jammed with them, experimenting on the sound with the feedback and different distortions. Blanco, however, was busy working on Rivermaya’s reformation and new album, Tuloy ang Ligaya. Consequently, he failed to make it to the gigs and he eventually drifted off. And, as what is being put down on the book of Pinoy rock history, that’s how the three-piece came to be.

Sugar Free’s first single, “Telepono,” gave the band recognition as a newbie. It debuted on In The Raw, NU 107’s program that features unsigned bands. They then entered the regular airplay. And as of writing, their second single, “Mariposa” is a hot item, recently occupying the second notch on NU 107’s Midnight Countdown.

They were recently tagged by critics as the next Eraserheads, mainly because of how they play around their sounds. The second time you listen and strains of Rivermaya become evident. Ultimately, however, you realize Sugar Free has a sound of its own. Jal enumerates Sting, Corduroy, the James Taylor Quartet as some of his influences. Ebe, on the other hand, names U2, the Carpenters, Andy Williams and Frank Sinatra as his. Mitch sums up the Foo Fighters, Weezer, Popsicle and Possum Dixon as the bands that inspire him.

The band is another bastard child, incorporating pop’s fun attitude and rock’s technical instrumentation; the vibrant lyrics entwine with the rockish treatment, a reminiscent of ’60s rock. Ebe writes personal and honest compositions. His lyrical themes revolve around love.

Jal explains that their take on everyday lives of people aren’t clichéd or metaphorical. Take “Unang Araw” as an example, with lines like, “Nasanay lang sigurong wala ka/di ko inakalang p’wede kang mawala” (got so used to not having you around/never knew you’d actually leave). Surely it’ll drive you into a sentimental frenzy; and if you don’t feel even a stab to the chest, you’re either very dense or very dead.”

They signed up with Viva Records with the promise of an early release date for the album, but it didn’t materialize. The album was delayed for two years. The truth was that the members almost reached the point of giving up on the prospect of ever releasing an album.

They had to shift gears and they shifted to EMI because it offered a better deal. Sound engineer Angee Rozul urged Ebe to work on the album once more. Finally, Sugarfree’s debut album Sa Wakas became a reality.

The tracks in Sa Wakas are stories imaginatively weaved into song, like pure emotion given a voice and a superb band to back it up. The album opens with “Burnout,” which sounds like an intellectual feel good song. Then there’s the boogie sounding “Lagoon,” an absurd ditty about illicit love that’ll keep you pressing the repeat button. The slow “Tummy Ache” impressively feels like Coldplay featuring Jal on vocals. Other notable tracks on the album are “Insomya,” “Los Baños,” “Hintay” and “Fadeaway,” all of which are testimonies to establish Sugar Free as the next big thing with a sound that references our immediate past.

“It’s either you like us or you don’t, that’s what Sugar Free is all about,” blurts out Ebe.

Not liking Sugar Free is not a crime. Ignoring them is perhaps preferable to disliking them. But if you do like them, cheer them on.

-- with reports by Wacko Trinidad