Howlin' Dave And His (Arguably) Last Interview

Howlin' Dave should have seen this out. The product of many weeks spent tracking down people, transcribing, and essentially reconstructing the history of a brave musical era.

In his passing, Howlin' Dave has, in all manners cliche-ish, left an enduring legacy which all started with his radio show "Pinoy Rock'n'Rhythm". And Dante, til his last days, never fully understood its impact.

Upon the encouragement of an editor for Rogue Magazine, we are posting excerpts from a feature about the Brave New World Pinoy punk movement era. This article, which will appear in the June issue, incorporates interviews of people who played major roles during this particular era in Pinoy punk. One of these people was Howlin' Dave, probably the most influential of them all.

Excerpts:

... those times pag wala akong ginagawa, I would be reading books. Ganun. Then, yung sister-in-law ko, meron siyang pinahiram na Aldous Huxley book. One of the first editions pa yun ng book e ... ‘yung cover ‘yung abstract ... ang galing. Ewan ko kung sino nag-paint nun. Brave New World ang title ng libro. Parang A Clockwork Orange, parang Stranger in a Strange Land. So ...BRAVE NEW WORLD. Sabi ko, “My God. This is the future!”

... sila Arnold (Morales, of College, Urban bandits, Put3ska, and Music Front) kasi, ‘yung mga taga-Sta Mesa, may mga Slabs na. Sila ‘yung Salabusabs. Eh malapit lang ‘yung RJ, bumisita yung mga Slabs. Parang mga laking mental talaga eh. They’d say, “Mga pware, tangina ... " Ganun, may mga dalang Tanduay. Niloko ko nga ng “Pare, kumakain ba kayo ng pusa?” They said, “Oo!” Tapos kinabukasan, ‘tangina, nagdala nga ng pusa! Adobo! Pucha, eh, puta, palaka??! Hindi ko na pinilit, baka magdala nga eh. Magdadala talaga yun; palakang Araneta inaadobo talaga. ‘Yung pusa nga eh nakalagay sa lata ng gatas, lata ng Nido yata ‘yun. The cat was chopped nicely, pero nakita ko ‘yung laman mga may balahibo eh. Puta buhok pusa to ah! But I appreciated their primal attitude huh!

Obviously, the full story will see print in Rogue's June issue.

(Photo lifted from an old Jingle Chordbook magazine.)