Urbandub

Urbandub

Urbandub arriving at the venue for the Deftones Diamond Eyes Tour Manila on February 12, 2011
(from L to R: JanJan Mendoza, Gabby Alipe, Lalay Lim, and John Dinopol)
Background information
Origin Cebu, Philippines
Genres
Years active 2000–2015 (on hiatus)
Labels
Associated acts
Website www.myspace.com/urbandub
Members Gabby Alipe
John Dinopol
Lalay Lim
JanJan Mendoza

Urbandub was a Filipino rock band from Cebu City, Philippines. Since its inception in 2000, the band's line-up was consisted of Gabby Alipe (vocals, guitar), John Dinopol (guitar, vocals), Lalay Lim (bass, vocals), and JanJan Mendoza (drummer).

Urbandub is the first indie band in the Philippines to release albums nationwide with the assistance of a major label. The label also featured Urbandub in a Pinoy rock compilation entitled "FULL VOLUME", with a remake of Sade's "No Ordinary Love". The band recently garnered the attention of fans throughout Southeast Asia with a recent tour in Singapore. The band recently posted on Facebook stating that, they will be having their last concert with their original line-up on May 9, 2015. Recently, Bass guitarist and back-up vocalist, Lalay Lim and drummer JanJan Mendoza left the band to prioritize their families.

Background

Birth (2001)

Urbandub's debut album suffered distribution problems due to the lack of support from major record companies. Later in the year, their first single "Come" was released and accompanied with a music video funded by Sonic Boom productions. The following singles from the album included "Boy", "Give", and "Would You Go". Although only a modest success at the time, the album managed to earn the band some degree of notoriety within Cebu City. Birth is raw and heavy, with obvious influences of Deftones and other experimental rock bands. Though the album's production quality was rough, it emerged as a successor to the scene that dominated independent radio in the mid 1990s.

Influence (2003)

With the release of their second effort, INFLUENCE (Lighter Records), Urbandub took on a new form, changing their sound with a new drummer (From Jed Honrado to Jerros Dolino). Jerros continued to record tracks with band, but left sometime in 2003 when he decided to leave for undisclosed reasons. The band then recruited JanJan Mendoza. It was the sound in this album that clearly defined the steps that Urbandub would start to take. INFLUENCE includes radio-released singles such as "Gone" and, their most famous release to date, "Soul Searching", which won the award as Best Song of the Year in the NU107 Rock Awards 2003. The album also won as the Album of the Year Award in the NU107 Rock Awards 2004. They also released a single called "A New Tattoo". They dedicate this song to a former friend Juan Paulo Hidalgo.

During this time, the band also experienced the dangers brought by rival frat/gang wars in Cebu as guitarist John Dinopol was mistakenly shot at by a motorcycle riding headhunter of an undisclosed fraternity. Although not in critical condition, his left arm was injured and had to recover for a few months. Amidst the dilemma, Urbandub enlisted Faspitch guitarist Russell Manaloto and Mong Alcaraz of Chicosci to fill in for John, who was still active with the band despite the injury. John recovered in less than a year and even went on to shoot the "A New Tattoo" video and perform live with metal braces on his arm.

Embrace (2005)

With the 2005 release of the album Embrace', the band has kept Lighter Records as their management arm and guide. In line with their ideals, EMI allowed them the creative freedom to record their album on their home soil of Cebu. Added to that, they have been able to maintain their independent principles while taking major steps into the scene that has awaited their new sound. Embrace's singles, "Alert The Armory", "Frailty", "Endless, A Silent Whisper" and the pop anthem "First of Summer" culled from the third album Embrace, became one of the most played songs on local radio. Serving up the band's usual host of poetic metaphors through guitar riffs and screaming drums single after single came rolling like Urbandub's name is glued on top of the charts.

Under Southern Lights (2007)

After more than 10,000 albums sold, thousands of miles traveled around the country and some dizzying highs and lows, an energized Urbandub returned with Under Southern Lights in 2007.

Under Southern Lights, the latest album, boasts 10 tracks of Urbandub's new approach to their own brand—their brilliance shines throughout a melodious rock tune and diverse songwriting.

Asked about the album title, "The name is our tribute to Cebu City where we come from and where we did most of the writing for the album. It's also a metaphor for our families in Cebu, being that they're our inspiration and guiding light," Alipe said.

The album starts with a shot, with that first single "Guillotine" – an indelible guitar hook and ferocious drums charge forth as Urbandub's trademark mix of airtight vocal harmonies.

If you have compiled all Urbandub songs into your own greatest hits album, you probably get the impression of "change". For a band like them, change is never that good. Urbandub is growing but not changing. They may be going to perform in a bigger arena, but they'll still going to sweat the same. And still be going to produce the songs like we've known them for. "We wanna try to reach out to more people with this album," says Gabby.[1]

The Apparition (2009)

In 2009, after ending their contract with EMI, urbandub signed with a new label MCA MUSIC and released their fifth and most experimental album entitled "The Apparition".

The writing took place again in Cebu, the band's homecourt, with the band renting a house up the mountains and turning it into a home studio for 2 months. after which, they returned to Manila and recorded again in Tracks Studio with their Under Southern Lights producer Angee Rozul. The first few prints of the album included a cover of Depeche Mode's song "Home", which, along with their cover of Sade's "No Ordinary Love", exhibited the band's eclectic taste in music. The first single off the album was the song "Gravity", a song that carries the band's trademark heavy riffing balanced with melodies and harmonies that are rarely found in Pinoy rock music.

Members

Discography

Studio albums

Album Tracks Year Records
Birth Boy
Breakdown
Would You Go
Dissect
Eating Me
Picture
Give
Come
It's Over
Two Things
Apart (a collaboration with Dice & K9)
Give (acoustic version)		 2001 Lighter Records
Influence Fallen on Deaf Ears
Under Crisis
Soul Searching
Runaway
Versus
Gone
Sailing
Quiet Poetic
A New Tattoo
Lover Among Ruins		 2003 Lighter Records
Embrace An Interlude Between Closeness
Alert The Armory
Frailty
First of Summer
When Heroes Die
Reveal The Remedy
The Arsonist
Endless, A Silent Whisper
Safety in Numbers
A City of Sleeping Hearts
The End of Something		 2005 EMI Philippines
Under Southern Lights An Invitation
Anthem
The Fight Is Over
Guillotine
Cebuana
Life Is Easy
Evidence
A Method To Chaos
Inside The Mind of A Killer (a collaboration with Kat Agarrado of Sinosikat?)
She Keeps Me Warm		 2007 EMI Philippines
The Apparition Meneurs De Loup
The Apparition
Face in the Woods
Gravity
When Shadows Have Eyes
What This Night Brings
A Call To Arms
Arrows
Tongues Like Knives
Bright City Kids
Stars & The Sun
Over The Hill & Back
We Kept It Hidden
Good Morning Bones
Mountains Tell Stories		 2009 MCA Music, Inc.
Esoteric Stars Have Aligned
Hover
Never Will I Forget
Dim the Headlights
Cold Hearted
When Love Is Not an Answer
Sleight of Hand
Between the Earth and Sky (a collaboration with Aia DeLeon, formerly of Imago)
Mantra
The Burning Taste		 2013 MCA Music, Inc.

Singles

Year Single MYX Hit Chart
Highest Position		 Album
2001 Come — Birth
Give —
Would You Go —
2003 Gone — Influence
Soul Searching —
A New Tattoo —
2005 Alert The Armory — Embrace
Frailty —
2006 Endless, A Silent Whisper 11
First of Summer 7
2007 Guillotine 1 Under Southern Lights
2008 Evidence 1
The Fight is Over 1
2009 Gravity 1 The Apparition
2010 A Call To Arms —
2011 Sending a Message —
2013 Never Will I Forget — Esoteric
2013 Hover —

Videography

Awards

NU 107 Rock Awards

OTHER AWARDS:

Additional information

“ When we were just starting out..urbandub was supposed to be a reggae band...we were suppose [sic] to play reggae mixed with dub, ska, dancehall, hiphop, and rock. A perfect example of what urbandub would have been--is the song "sailing" and "eating me" --that was the style we were suppose [sic] to be playing around with--since we were suppose [sic] to be a reggae/dub band, hence the name, urbandub. But because of the series of line up [sic] changes--and new influences--we became what we are today! The name just kinda got stuck and we never bothered to change it. So there you go..the story behind the name "urbandub". ”

References

  1. ↑ http://www.emimusic.ph/urbandub
  2. ↑ "odysseynext 404 Page Not Found". odysseylive.net.
  3. ↑ Urbandub - Gravity. YouTube. 13 December 2009.
  4. ↑ Urbandub - A CALL TO ARMS. YouTube. 12 April 2010.
  5. ↑ URBANDUB- SENDING A MESSAGE (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO). YouTube. 6 April 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.