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Rock inked!

Emblems, histories, totems. Tattoos are all that and more.

Filipinos have been tattoo-crazy since the last millennia, far ante-dating the Western fad for it. The Spanish, who first hove into view in the 15thcentury, would refer to the people of our islands as “los pintados,” or “the painted ones,” so awash were the first Filipinos in tribal ink, they resembled moving murals.

Tattoos fell into notoriety, reserved for lovelorn seamen and dangerous denizens of the infamous Bilibid prison.  The dreaded Sige-Sige Sputnik gang members, for one, were identified by crude bluish tattoos of the Russian spaceship on their arms.

Raimund’s Cheshire cat, Myrene’s drawings

For the newest tribe of modern-day Filipino musicians, tattoos have evolved into badges of honor and personal history, referencing bands and their brethren,  nuclear families, trials and triumphs, as well as pivotal career milestones.

For Raimund Marasigan, one of the founders of the Eraserheads and now spiritual guide of Sandwich and a slew of younger bands, a scarlet Cheshire-cat is a pointy-eared reminder of one of his avocations, the band Pedicab.  

For bandmate/ significant other Myrene Academia, drawings (a thunderbolt and a horned heart) made by her first-born have found a life of their own on her arms.



The ‘K’ of a former life

For Nathan Azarcon, late of the band Bamboo and now lead vocals of Hijo, a “K” in the ancient Filipino writing “alibata,” reminds him of yet another of his former lives, the band Kapatid.

Former bandmate Karl Roy, a tyrannosaurus rex of Philippine rock, is swimming in tats and shows off one which he claims is “the mask of jealousy,” actually a Japanese demon. Bladed weapons on his abdomen disguise the most nefarious of his scars, a battle with open-heart surgery.

Pam Lunar (his manager, who also helped organize the Y! Rocks event last December) shyly reveals a tag on her neck. It is Islamic script that reminds you of a crescent-moon, a nod to her last name.

Tattoo virgin gets inked


Russ Davis, manager of award-winning band, Archipelago, displays a Filipino tribal tag. Above it, a Polynesian tattoo, apropos of a man who oversees a band named after island groups.

Gab Alipe of Urbandub has a tattoo (“I Lift My Voice”) that, more or less, describes his main occupation.

The newest member of the “ink army” is none other than Tirso Ripoll of Razorback, who shows off a guitar-toting blue-haired boar on his arm (“razorback” being a particularly violent wild pig).

Razorback the band has just turned 19, so it’s been a long time to stay a tattoo-virgin. Still, Ripoll says that his wife posed “violent objections.” Guess even tattoos have to be reined in once in a while.

Lizza Guerrero Nakpil is the manager of Wolfgang. Her blog posts appear every week on Yahoo! Philippines OMG! Y! Rocks.

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