There was a road rage 
She ran away out of his car
He tried to block her way
Before he knew it she was far
A brooding opening guitar riff introduces “Road Rage,” an original first single of the debuting band The Pub Forties, to be digitally streamlined and downloaded by Warner Music Philippines this March. It shamelessly captures in sound and sentiment two pressing current social issues, female battery and road violence, and all its dark pleasures and gloomy distresses.
Melody and lyrics were penned by Yugel Losorata, who is also bass/backup vocals. He wrote the song in 2010 around a notorious road rage case involving the son of a well-known art collector. It was arranged by The Pub Forties, made up of seasoned journalists Aries Espinosa on lead vocals, Kap Maceda Aguila on drums and Vincent Borromeo on guitars.
It was not impossible that The Pub Forties would do a road trip song. Espinosa is a vocal coach and choir master known for his high-octane singing, who was a Motoring journalist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer before he transferred to the Motoring section of Business Today.
Aguila used to be with the punk rock band called Wagitay, which penned the track “Switik.” He writes for the Motoring page of The Philippine Star while co-hosting its Motoring show Wheels on ABS-CBN.
Losorata writes for the Entertainment Section of The Philippine Star, and was an ex-lead man of the Ivory Music-signed band Syato with two full-length albums.
Borromeo was half of a singing tandem signed by a major label and writes for the Life section of this broadsheet.
MIND GAMES. The band’s name is perceived by this writer as wordplay for “The Fab Four” in reference to the Beatles, which is the team’s multi-cultural influence. Espinosa puts it in a cross-decade spread, “My musical influences run across decades and eras of artists — from The Beatles of the ‘60s, to Queen and America of the ‘70s-‘80s, to Incubus, Guns & Roses and Bon Jovi of the ‘90s, and to Linkin Park, Muse and Coldplay of the New Millennium.”
“Pub” also references publication as in broadsheet, as well as pub house where people hang out to drink alcohol. “Forties” points to that age group when mid-life crisis and the age of wisdom somewhat collides. And, yes, all members are in essence in their biological forties.
It’s never too late or bit way off to start a career in the music biz. The quartet knows that and actually makes use of the situation to their advantage. They’re no longer twentysomethings as their credentials strongly suggest. They are successful media practitioners by day, which is synonymous to saying they criticize issues, people and products.
But the point is, they have taken the risk of going to the other side of the fence, dressing up as music artists and opening themselves to the scrutiny of their own colleagues. In other words, they are part-time music trippers as the Beatle John Lennon rightfully coined daytime drug users as “Day Trippers.” Cool!
“For us, The Pub Forties is like a hangout of people in their forties and beyond, successful or life-battered peeps, who still want to have fun and feel young,” echoes Losorata.
Truth be told, it’s all fun for The Pub Forties, basking in the joy of being not too young and not too old, the privilege of being experienced, but not laying low yet. They’re right in the middle, aged to go for the right groove. They bring the news, they mingle with the newsworthy, and they can make and play music.
SHE MUST HAVE HATED HIS GUTS.
Just weeks ago, they escaped into the night
Then one moonlit fight she realized she’s tired
She --- went home alone to make it right (4x)
It’s pretty much about a girl who decides to go home and leave her abusive boyfriend to make it right and before it’s too late. She’s trying to fix what’s wrong to survive.
Through a mix of crisp words and catchy melody, The Pub Forties is trying to help send back the young lady home. That’s music for them, driving listeners out for a joy ride and bringing them back home to safety.
They blew it no doubt
Breaking house rules is their game
Change is here now
Home is where things should be sane
They found they couldn’t like each other’s posts
He started beating her and things got thrown
He sped into a club
And dizzied all the sad girls
Drunk and broke he quarreled with a cab —
Driven, unapologetic and unpretentious, it’s melancholia embracing mayhem — rock pops. It tackles not the crime committed by temperamental motorists, but by youngsters playing with fire and fate. It’s about a couple eloping into the night and raging about it on the road.
She — wooh (went home alone to make it right)
She — wooh (went home along to make it)
Right!
From beginning to the crashing final notes, “Road Rage” sounds like it’s delivered by some European rock art or Filipino-Americans used to an American lifestyle. But make no mistake, The Pub Forties is a group of pure Pinoys, their names appearing as bylines in leading local broadsheets, their music knocking on the door of the Original Pilipino Music (OPM) landscape with the intention of contributing to its progress.
The Pub Forties’ Pinoy sensibility is right there within the music, ready to take you away!
Alternative bands dead? I don’t think so! They are just fallowing, waiting for committed musicians with something fresh to deliver to fill up the niche, much like The Pub Forties. This team is willing to share their angst and art, creatives who are non-newbies with unqualified guts and thirst for glory.
“Hopefully, we’d have released additional singles and gotten more gigs so more people would experience our music. We’ve waited so long already, so I’m at a point where I believe nothing should be rushed if it’s meant to be anyway,” projects Aguila about the short-term plans of The Pub Forties.
This is, no doubt, great for OPM, which is suffocated by big name imports and lack of ambition. The Pub Forties has all the right drives and with some encouragement, may just make it!
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The Pub Forties debuts with ‘Road Rage’
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