Our album's first online review!

I'd like to thank Archaic Magazine and Miguel Miranda for the review of our album, Culling. It's much appreciated.

COG (PHI)
CULLING Tower of Doom
Written by Miguel Miranda on Tuesday 30 March, 2010. Last updated on Tuesday 30 March, 2010

Say hello to the latest bunch of weirdos who are doing progressive metal like you’ve never heard before. Calling themselves Cog, this Filipino sextet bring their thrash metal places previously unimaginable without resorting to fey keyboards and assorted elegant frills. Alright, you have this Garon Honasan dude on saxophone. That's odd. But listen closely how his instrument is woven into the fabric of each song. Novelty is the word. What Cog are doing with the saxophone is so rare, it’s got to be a novelty until a bunch of other bands ape what they’re doing. Hopefully not...


Click here to go to Archaic Magazine and read the rest of the review


Again, a big thanks!



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Cog Videos!

Many thanks to Reytian21 for recording performances from our gig in Dayo Bar this past weekend. We're gearing up with more gigs after Holy Week. If you guys want to get us for a gig, just click on over to the Tower of Doom website to contact our management. We are so game to play.

Here are the videos he took of our performance - and he's got more from our Fete gig. Thanks man!

(edit: before playing the videos, please do turn down your volumes controls - the videos were taken at close range - the volume levels are definitely loud!)





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Barak-Ooh-Mama. The Coffee. Seriously

This post is for my friend Rej, who has only heard about this, but has never seen it.

It's in Eunilane Grocery, along Kalayaan in QC (towards City Hall, from Kamias intersection).

I will actually buy some just to see if it's good. Epic win and fail, depending on how you look at it.

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Fender Surprise

Now, you guys are probably wondering, what's a guitar doing in a bassist's page? Well, dear folks, this particular guitar was given to me by my father just a few days ago. As if that wasn't surprising enough, this is my father's first Fender Strat, the one he bought in the late '80's when he was in the 'States. It's a mid-80's Fender Stratocaster Elite. It's one of those guitars that have a nearly equal number of supporters and detractors, thanks to some of its technical and structural design changes that set it apart from the normal Stratocaster.

But the thing is...I have always identified this guitar as my dad's. Yes, he's now shifted to a Paul Reed Smith Gibson-style and a '57 Reissue Hot Rails Strat, but, well, my good memories of him, a lot were seeing him with this guitar.

So, this is, in part, my inheritance from him. I still can't believe it's with me.

I guess it's time to learn how to at least play rhythm guitar right.

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Tower of Doom: UP Fair 2010

Two nights, a lot of fun, and a lot of drinking.

Photos of performances from Cog, Boy Elroy and Imbue No Kudos. Please check the links at the bottom of the entry. Cheers!

More pictures at my Facebook album and my Photobucket folder.

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The Importance of One Plate

My partner Alex and I eat from the same plate.

This isn't a figure of speech, It's very literal. Save for the occasional flu (or, in my case, cat bite and anti-rabies shots), we make it a point to use only one plate as our main dish, so to speak.

Honesty
One reason for this is, as Alex puts it, is that it's hard to be angry or dishonest with each other when you're face to face and eating that close to each other. I have to admit, I was rather shocked by this practice, as I wasn't really used to sharing at this close a level. In my family's house, everyone had their own stuff - plates, water glasses, even rooms. But after seeing how compartmentalized and screwed up my family became, we decided to try this out.

I can tell you all now: it works. My relationship with Alex, while never really as smooth a sailing experience as most people think, is at least one based on honesty, mixed with tact and understanding. It's not just how you tell the truth, but also how you consider the other's feelings when being truthful. It may sound contradictory, but it works for me.

When the day ends...
And it's not just about dishes, too. Alex has also been the one make it a law of our house (apartment) that we don't go to sleep at night (or early morning) until the day's pressing problems with each other have been resolved. Either that, or somebody just has to be the first one to give a hug and say all is well, I love you anyway. And mean it.

I had to adjust to this mode of living with each other - I had no choice. I am truly, madly and deeply in love with this man, and living without him is not an option. And so I learned.

Six years later, I think it has been very much worth it. While I'm writing this, I am also thinking of what brunch will be (Given that it's grocery day, I may just finish off a large part of our remaining food stores), and I'm letting him sleep a bit more, since I know he's had a long week. Later, I'll probably wake him up with a kiss.

And then we'll eat from one dish - as always.


Note: If you guys have noticed: yes, we only have one set of plates. We're still saving up for another set, as we're getting bored of the same color all the time, hahahah! The food in the picture is tuna shanghai, which I bought from SM Cubao's grocery.

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The First Cassette Album I Ever Bought: INXS' Kick

Okay. I was around 13 or 14 years old when I was given an old Sony Walkman TPS-L2, and a "summer job" that consisted of filling up my dad's aquariums with water after they had been cleaned of fish crap.
 At the time, CD's were not yet an option, and I ended up borrowing my sister's music cassettes. That's probably why I have an enduring love for New Wave - or British Wave, as some call it. Heck, I even learned how to make mix tapes because I was supremely bored with the job, and my sister had a double-deck cassette player. After I got "paid" by my dad (I guess he figured out I was getting really bored because I started talking to myself - I am not kidding), he suggested I buy some music that I liked.

Now, at the time, there was this afternoon show called VH-1, essentially a local version of an MTV VJ-helmed "top ten" segment. It was probably the first of its kind in the country. Anyway, I decided to buy INXS' Kick album. This was after seeing the visually striking "New Sensation" video.

While I admit that I can still identify probably all the songs in the album (it was a LONG summer), I'd say that while the album introduced me to more risque, adult music, I also grew tired of it really fast.  Still, tracks like "New Sensation," "Devil Inside," "Need You Tonight," "Mediate" (that was in album sequence; one of the best song album sequences I've ever heard) and "Mystify" are good examples of the band's brand of funk, rock and "show band" sensibilities.

As funny as it sounds, the damn album did change my life. I can honestly say that listening to that album probably got me into being in a band. and the whole summer situation probably gave my my musical preferences.



(I can't find the actual video. Apparently, INXS's people are damn good at scouring YouTube for that sort of copyrighted material. Oh, well.)

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Photography: Cats

 

I still feel somewhat bad that I kicked Murray (as I had named him) out. However, 16,000 pesos worth of anti-rabies shots convinced me that keeping a stray cat around was asking for trouble. Good memories, though.

 

Last picture is not Murray, it's the other cat, who tried to woo his way into our hearts through sheer cuteness.

Honestly, though. I miss my dogs.

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Cog. Culling. Tower of Doom.

Finally, it's out. After so many years (literally), my band's new album, Culling, is out. Fuck yeah.

- Music video for our first song off the album: "Millipede"

- Behind the scenes for "Millipede" video shoot

Available now in music stores and iTunes. You can also find our first album, Conflagration, in iTunes.

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