BASTI Artadi

ROCK BANDS love to break the rules, both in their music and personal lives. But rarely does a group – at least hereabouts – utilize new media to further enhance its craft.

Wolfgang was never known to follow trends. Nearly 20 years after a breakthrough performance at dzRJ’s “Junior Jam” show, the band went on to record albums that were intriguing in form and content, for which it gained a loyal fan base.

Though not too visible in the scene these days, Wolfgang remained in the loop when it released its sixth studio album, Villains,” exclusively through digital download two years ago.

Long-distance recording

It became the only album by a Filipino band that was recorded through the Internet. Basti Artadi did his vocals in San Francisco, USA. Guitarist Manuel Legarda and drummer Francis Aquino nailed down their respective parts in Manila, while bassist Mon Legaspi recorded his part in Hong Kong.

“We wrote and recorded ‘Villains’ by exchanging files through the Net,” Artadi told Inquirer Entertainment. “It’s a reflection of how Filipinos, no matter how scattered all over the world, can do something to attain its objective.”

FRANCIS Aquino

Live streaming

Sunday night, the band performed in a concert that was also streamed live through the Internet.

The gig, held at the White Space parking lot on Chino Roces Avenue, Makati, was beamed online through Smart Communications’ MySandbox on-demand mobile content service and the band’s subscription-based website of its indie label SemenelinMusic.com.

“The band has always been interested in approaching things in a new way. I guess that’s why we’re always the first to try something new,” Artadi said.

MANUEL Legarda

Reaching out

Since Wolfgang has not been visible in the live scene these days, the show drew thousands of fans. Artadi explained that it was also the band’s way of reaching out to its followers overseas.

Learning process

The live broadcast was streamed using high-speed broadband transmission via Smart’s 3G platform and processed through high-performance video servers, which transmitted the Flash-based video files from the show to players in the MySandbox mobile phone page and the Semenelin website.

According to the band’s handlers, producing the show was a new learning process.

“It’s a whole new vocabulary. However, we’ve been able to overcome challenges the old-school way,” says Lizza Nakpil, Wolfgang’s manager.

MON Legaspi

But dealing with the demands of the event was fulfilling, thanks to a “forest of technology” at their behest. “We’ve done everything humanly and inhumanly possible to make it happen,” Nakpil added.

DVDs on the spot

After the concert, DVDs of the event were burned on the spot and distributed to attendees.

“Wolfgang is actually the ideal artist to pull off live streaming, since they do only a handful of shows a year,” Nakpil pointed out. “It’s also a plus that Wolfgang has a very distinct identity. They’re really one of a kind, and each of the band members is keenly individualistic, so they’re great to watch in any medium.”