On Band Influential: THE DAWN
the first encounter…
it was 1986 when I first heard of the band… it was a time of New Wave music for us then, so mostly foreign bands dominate our listening playlist… until this song, Enveloped Ideas, came out… surprise, surprise, the band is a local one, known as The DAWN…
Composed then of Jett Pangan, Teddy Diaz, Caloy Balcells and JB Leonor, the fans of the band then experienced what many grunge fans would feel later in the 90’s when Teddy Diaz was killed in a mugging incident… it was a sad experience for us then, but fortunately the band found Atsushi Matsuura to continue and really move on… Francis Reyes later joined the band and Matsuura left… they came out with such rock classics like Salamat, Love (Will Set Us Free), Iisang Bangka and more… that by the time of the 90’s first pinoy band explosion, the band is already a legend, yet still definitely active… they were awarded the first NU 107 Rock Awards Hall Of Fame in 1994, yet also won the Best Live Act award…
the band today…
Caloy Balcells have already left, and the band have found many guitarists and bassists to session with the band, including Louie Talan of old Razorback(now Loquy)… but they have now fixed on former E-head Buddy Zabala to do it… they have just come off the success of their latest album, Harapin, and have even starred in a semi-autobiographical digital movie, Tulad Ng Dati,which won 3 awards in the recent Cinemalaya…
many guys my age would say they have grown up to the music of this group, most of the bands in the 90’s and maybe even today would name them in their list of influences… but the fact that Jett, Francis, JB and Buddy still continue with their own distinct sound, no age can limit a person who truly loves music and who raves on Pinoy Rock to appreciate the music of The Dawn…
