07.16.2008
RUNNING A ROCK CLUB WITH SAGUIJO'S ANGELO CARLOS
IT'S A ROCK-Y BUSINESS, BUT FOUR YEARS OF BEING "ALWAYS ABOUT THE MUSIC", SAGUIJO'S NOT A RISK, AFTER ALL.
Along a dark Makati side street, Saguijo stands out like a beacon of noise. Cars are parked on both sides of the street, and people spill out onto its sidewalks, smoking and carrying on conversations.
Inside, it doesn't get much brighter. The stage is immediately to the left. People entering take care not to be conspicuous as they make their way to the bar or upstairs to the art gallery. The band, in their deep concentration, doesn't notice anyway.
It's Wednesday. The middle of the week. Hump day. Every other place would be a ghost town, but not Saguijo. Yuppies from nearby Ayala Avenue mingle alongside long-haired hippies, sipping their beers and listening to a jazz band with a female singer.
"Our guests have told me you get to interact with the bands. After their gig, you get to chat with them, grab a few drinks," says Angelo Carlos, co-founder of Saguijo. "It's really laidback. I guess we were one of the first [places] that you get to do that…Big Sky Mind's been doing that for a while though."
Don't let Angelo's humility fool you. Saguijo has been at it for a while as well: four years to be exact.
Four years is a long time. That's enough time for another Olympic Games to roll around. That's enough time for a newborn to grow legs and waddle off to pre-school. That's even enough time for the Next Big Thing to flame out and disappear.
Everyone knows rock venues come and go. Even the most hallowed of places, like Club Dredd, closed its doors eventually. But Saguijo has proven its staying power, evidenced by the crowd that gathers almost every night.
It was no walk in the park though. "The first six months were tough. People weren't coming in. That made it even harder. When no one's coming in, you're still working. So it was difficult," he admits.
Along with his two partners, Carlos opened the place in 2005. As a teenager, he frequented Club Dredd and had always dreamed of having a place like that to call his own. "We got into this thinking we're not going to be millionaires. Never once did I think we'd be extremely rich from my business. But it's okay. I just wanted to work in music."
It takes people who really care about music to make something last this long. It takes an understanding of one own customers to see what's lacking and what the scene needs.
"I'm sure there's a lot of people like me out there who don't want to listen to a bullshit band doing covers of 80s, 90's [songs], like a hotel lobby," he says.
"But a lot of people are into that," Carlos concedes, "So I'm not going to go bashing them, but that's their thing. And this is our thing. It's different. We found a niche in it."
The fact that they opened in Makati was something different too. Most rock bars were in Quezon City, where denizens of rock clubs usually live. Makati was for yuppies.
Or is it?
(Yosha at saGuijo. Photo taken with permission from http://dripmanila.multiply.com.)
"In the last 5 years, we broke ground again in Makati. Back in the day we had Kayle and Weekends Live," he reminisces. "That was in the early 90's and Makati has been a dead spot for rock since '94 or '95."
Carlos says he knows people come to Saguijo because of the bands, and because of the music. It's so out of the way that people make the effort of going there.
Comparisons to Club Dredd are common. "Kids have told me, 'You're our generation's Club Dredd,'" he says, not without some pride.
The comparisons are not unwarranted. Not since Club Dredd has there been a bar that has brought the people closer to musicians and artists. So close in fact, you're practically sitting in Raymund Marasigan's lap. Carlos says the bands enjoy the interaction too. "They have a connection with the crowd," he explains. "You play in front of 200 people and you feel really connected to them instead of 5,000 who are just like there."
Carlos points out that the bands just want to be heard. "They play in Capone's, they play in Embassy and they're treated like background music," he says.
And like Club Dredd, Saguijo has been a breeding ground for new bands. Up Dharma Down, Taken by Cars and others that hit the mainstream, all got their break in Saguijo. "All these new bands in the last three or four years have their roots here, Carlos says without conceit. "So I'd say yeah, somehow, we're part of Pinoy rock history."
Running a rock club hasn't always been easy though, but Carlos has to admit the returns are pretty good.
"The first six months were really trial and error. I really didn't know anything about it," he admits. "But one thing is constant. We always had good music. It kept us afloat."
Like their tagline says, Saguijo is always about the music. And for someone who's always loved music, Angelo Carlos business risk wasn't much of a risk at all.
TAGS: saguijo carlos angelo carlos club dredd
