Fanboy moments with Deftones and Queso
“Ganito pala ang feeling ng maging starstruck!”
The person expressing this is a star himself: Ian Tayao. He is the charismatic and gifted lead vocalist of Wilabaliw and Queso. A guy with enviable vocal chops and natural command of the stage.
Tayao has such power, he can tell his audience either to start rioting and trash any concert venue or to calm down and genuinely love each other. Fans will follow either way. Right now, though, the powerhouse frontman is a gushing little fanboy.
Related: Deftones’ Chino Moreno mourns Chi Cheng
Compliments from their idol
Queso is about to open for Deftones, one of their main musical influences. Earlier, Deftones bassist Sergio Vega wandered to Queso’s side backstage and told them he has seen their performances on YouTube and quite liked it. (Check out www.rosarioko.com for pics and details).
Queso guitarist Ocho Toleran would later show photos of him with one of the signature axes of Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter. Turns out, it was Carpenter himself who took the pictures. Toleran was just taking fanboy/guitar nerd pics until Carpenter sussed out the situation and offered to shoot the pics himself.
ALSO READ: Being starstruck by Deftones
Backstage, it is, for a night of heavy aggressive music, quite calm. There were genuine rock stars about, but no wild shenanigans. Sergio Vega, bass
strapped around his neck, re-emerges from the Deftones backstage area and proceeds to the almost-deserted buffet space.
So very rock & roll
He just caught a glimpse of the first opening act Philia and runs into me.
“How are you, sir? Good to see you again,” he says as he shakes my hand. The day before, I was at the band’s press conference and then, with music photojournalist and fellow Yahoo! blogger Niña Sandejas, wormed my way to where Vega was seated with musician and fashion designer Kate Torralba, who is friends with him.
I muster up the courage and make friendly assumptions. “Dude, a buffet table and you with your bass… I have to take a pic, it’s so rock and roll!” We both get the irony.
PHOTO GALLERY: Deftones captured live by Niña Sandejas
The fruity bit
“Sure… oh wait, not here where the meats are,” the vegan Vega responds.
We both spy the fruit table. “Oh this area’s better,” he says. I snap a couple of photos. As he starts to walk off, he looks back at the fruit basket.
“Oh, might as well… Fruits aren’t rock and roll but…,” he says, grabbing an apple and laughing a bit before heading back to the Deftones area.
Vega’s hardcore band
The day before, Vega was telling Kate, Nina and I how happy he was for his home hardcore band Quicksand. A new album is in the works and their tour is better attended now.
He doesn’t deny that the Deftones association may have helped and that he’s pleased: Vega will play for both bands in an upcoming festival.
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Come concert day, Ian Tayao cannot remove the smile on his face as he and Queso open for their collective heroes. He dedicates “Mottaka” to the memory of Chi Cheng, the Deftones original bassist who died recently.
Why I love being a fan
Later, Sergio Vega will play with the intensity that won’t disappoint the thousands who turned up at the World Trade Center for Deftones. They came expecting the band to play their favorites and tracks off the excellent new album “Koi No Yo Kan.”
This is why we love music. And this is why I love being a fan. The onstage moments and the occasional fanboy encounters.
Like, I can’t believe Ian Tayao is a friend and that Sergio Vega and I had coffee together.
