GINILING Festival’s newest addition and only Thomasian member, Advertising senior Leandro Gabriel “Bombee” Duerme, 20, traces his love for music to the time when a standard guitar was just as tall as he was. Bombee grew up listening to his father’s collection of vinyl records at their house in Project 6 in Quezon City.
He particularly loved the songs of Queen, a ‘70s English rock band that popularized the songs “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Will Rock You”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, and “We are the Champions.”
At the same time, he also enjoyed listening to Madonna, an American pop icon who has sold millions of records.
Being a music lover at an early age, Bombee started playing the guitar in his sixth grade. A classmate at Ateneo de Manila University grade school influenced him to take guitar playing seriously and then form a band.
“We loved listening to Limp Bizkit at that time,” Bombee said, referring to the American metal band that he and his friends used to listen to.
Bombee recounted that he and his friends fell in love with the groove of Limp Bizkit’s jive. Bombee paid close attention to the guitar parts.
Despite having no formal music training and just self-studying the guitar, he joined several bands before finally settling with Giniling Festival.
New flavor
In November 2007, Giniling Festival was looking for a new guitarist and a new drummer.
“I was playing basketball with my high school friends when Jebs (Giniling’s guitarist) texted me to have a session with them,” Bombee told the Varsitarian.
After performing for three gigs with them, the band finally decided to get Bombee as Giniling’s new guitarist.
“I was confident that I will be one of them, but not that I was really sure that they (Giniling Festival) will choose me,” said Bombee.
He emphasized that he is an optimist. For now, he said he is happy as a member of the band- a dream come true. Finishing college is his priority.
“I actually don’t know how I’m able to juggle my academics and being a guitarist for Giniling. I think, it comes naturally,” said Bombee, who is in his fourth year in UST’s Advertising course.
Aside from Bombee, Giniling Festival’s other members are vocalist Jeje Santos, guitarist Jebs Mangahas, bassist Lec Cruz and drummer Marko Ho.
Giniling Festival’s catchy name was taken from one of the cheapest meals available at the UP Diliman Campus in when the band was formed in 2003.
The band’s namesake consisted of a handful of “giniling” and a cup of rice which cost only P12 then.
The band performs songs inspired by almost everything under the sun, combining it with heavy riffs and fast-paced solos. The lyrics of their songs usually vary from the nonsensical to the current issues in Philippine society, but even when writing songs and singing about social issues, Giniling makes it a point never to leave humor out of the mix.
For example, the song “Mabuhay Lahat ng Single” from their self-titled album released in 2007, encourages romantically unattached individuals to remain strong despite loneliness. A song from their debut album, “Hari ng Metal,” shows the band’s strong musical ties to bands, such as Kamikazee and System of a Down.
Giniling considers Parokya ni Edgar, which has dozens of songs with humor-laden lyrics, as their biggest influence. Onstage, Giniling’s humor-infused theatrics may be compared to that of Tenacious D’s and their brand of “comedy-metal” similar to Kamikazee’s.
Giniling’s other influences are Nirvana, Tool, Motley Crue and the Darkness.
Music and studies
Bombee chose to take up Advertising in UST because he considered the fine arts in the University as the best compared with other schools in the country.
“I see myself working in an advertising company five years from now,” he said.
He knew that playing in a band would not be enough to sustain the needs of his future family so he asserted that he would have to invest himself in his course and future profession outside the music industry.
Just recently, Bombee finished his thesis for his course.
“I know that playing in a band should not be my bread and butter,” he said.
Playing in a band, Bombee said it will not be enough to sustain the needs of his future family. Finishing his advertising course will give him another option aside from playing in a band.
“I found my path in music. The values I have learned in UST really helped. Playing the guitar is something I will still do even in old age and nursing arthritis,” he said. With reports from Aura Marie P. Dagcutan
