Raimund Marasigan

Infobox musical artist
Name = Raimund Marasigan


Img_capt = circa 1998
Img_size =
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Raimund Emmanuel Parcon Marasigan
Alias = Lemon, Sugar Raims
Born = birth date and age|1971|5|22
Philippines
Died =
Instrument = drums, percussion, synthesizers, Guitar, vocals, keyboards
Genre = Alternative rock/pop
Disco punk
Electronica
Experimental
Hip Hop
Pinoy rock
Rapcore
Label =
Associated_acts = Cambio
Eraserheads
Pedicab
Planet Garapata
Sandwich
Squid 9
Sun Valley Crew
Project 1
The Curfew

Raimund Emmanuel Parcon Marasigan (born May 22, 1971) is a rock musician and record producer in the Philippines. The breadth of his projects has made him one of the most well-respected mainstays of the Philippine rock band scene. He was the drummer of The Eraserheads, and the current keyboard/synths player for Pedicab, former guitarist and now frontman of Sandwich, current drummer of Cambio, vocalist of Project 1 and the man behind Squid 9. Aside from writing songs and being a musician, he is also a record producer, voice actor, tv host and product endorser.

Eraserheads Days

He first achieved fame as drummer for the rock band, Eraserheads, one of the most popular Philippine bands of the 1990s. He played the drums, provided backing vocals, and occasionally sang on lead vocals. Marasigan's songwriting output for the Eraserheads was only next to that of its principal songwriter, Ely Buendia.

Eraserheads Split-Up

In 2002, vocalist-guitarist Ely Buendia left the Eraserheads, and Kris Dancel from the all-girl band, Fatal Posporos, was recruited to fill the vacancy. The group billed themselves as Eheads and issued an EP entitled, "Please Transpose" (2003). The group later renamed themselves Cambio after their lead guitarist Marcus Adoro quit. Cambio released two albums: "Derby Light" (2003) and "Matic" (2007).

Eraserheads Reunion

Marasigan joined Buendia, Adoro, and Zabala for The Eraserheads reunion concert on August 30, 2008 at the Fort Bonifacio Open Grounds in Taguig.

andwich

The band Sandwich was formed in 1996 with his now-life partner Myrene Academia (Imago) on bass, Marc Abaya on lead guitars and vocals later replaced by Mong Alcaraz of Chicosci when the former quit to focus on being an MTV mainstay, Diego Castillo on rhythm guitars, and Mike Dizon (of bands Pedicab and Teeth) on drums. Although existing simultaneously with the Eraserheads, Sandwich provided a heavier, grittier sound, and built up their own fan base. Marc Abaya left the band in 2005 to concentrate on his career as a VJ while frontlining for his other band Kjwan and Raimund Marasigan has since taken over as the lead vocalist. They have released three albums: "Grip Stand Throw" and "Four-track Mind" (later reissued as a 2-in-1 by Sony BMG, and 2004's award-winning "Thanks to the Moon's Gravitational Pull" (initially an indie release; then later reissued by EMI Philippines with bonus tracks. Sandwich released further albums, entitled "Five On The Floor" (2006) which featured the phenomenal hit single, "Sugod", and "< S > Marks the Spot" (2008), with its hit single "Procrastinator" and "Betamax".

Other Projects

His projects include Squid 9. A hip-hop influenced band, Squid 9 started out as a studio act, formed from members of the Eraserheads, Monsterbot and Sun Valley Crew among others. It was soon performing live shows as well. Squid 9 released three albums: "Deleted Scenes", "Kraken Modular" and "Ink Jet". Squid 9 is also part of Electronica Manila and often collaborates with Wolfmann+. Squid9 Live is composed of Raimund Marasigan on samplers, drum machine and Chaos Pad), Vin Dancel (Twisted Halo) and Kathy Meneses (Daydreamcycle) on vocals, Buddy Zabala (The Dawn, Twisted Halo & Cambio) on bass, keyboards and samplers and Rann Golamco (Drip, Porta, and formerly of Mojofly) on guitars. Marasigan calls his home studio "The Squid Crib". Also unknown to many, Raimund (on keyboards) had a project band with Mark Laccay and Mike Elgar (before he joined Rivermaya) called Blueberry Juice which lasted until 1994.

Marasigan started Planet Garapata also in 1996, a short-lived hip-hop and electronica project that featured Eraserheads bassist Buddy Zabala, Eraserheads sound engineer Mark Laccay and Jeng Tan. The project debuted in Francis M's 1996 Happy Battle album and featured Marasigan's early rapping skills.

He is also the voice behind the character of Taira Yoshiyuki in the Philippine-edition of aired in Hero TV. [http://philmusic.com/main/content/view/109/1/] , Rockstars are all over "BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad", Jim Ayson, March 26, 2007]

After some various TV appearances as a host, such as being a guest host and part of Studio 23's Breakfast, Marasigan was picked by Myx to be the first and current host of Myx Tugtugan. He is also the "Songwriting Teacher" for ABS-CBN's Pinoy Dream Academy.

He is also part of Sun Valley Crew, a hip-hop/rap group with members Ryan Armamento and RJ Seneres on vocals, Uela also on vocals, Mong Alcaraz on guitars, Dan Gil on Rhodes keyboards, Dex Aguila on Drums, Raimund Marasigan on samplers and Ryan Ventura on bass.

He is often dubbed as “The Philippines’ busiest musician”, with multiple but different, simultaneous bands, in addition to collaborations with various artists such as Francis Magalona, Rivermaya, Sugarfree, Itchyworms, Chicosci, Freestyle, Wolfmann, The Dawn, Chillitees, and others.

Project 1

In 2008, Marasigan launched his new album with Sandwich, after that, he also launched a new band called "Project 1" with Clem Castro (former Orange and Lemons, now The Camerawalls) on guitars, Francis Reyes (The Dawn) also on guitars, Carlos Calderon (Chicosci) on bass, Jazz Nicolas (Itchyworms) on drums and Uela Basco (Chilitees), Katwo Librando (Narda/Duster) and Raimund Marasigan himself on vocals. Their first single "Ang Sarap Dito" was released on March 2008. According to its members, "The new group was formed because we, as artists, feel that we wanted to create something fresh, especially for the young generation. We all believe in a common goal of being positive and changing the way young people think." Their first single was used by Coca-Cola Philippines for television and radio commercials and also by .

Pedicab

In early 2005, Marasigan once again formed another project band: Pedicab. Composed of seasoned artists donning alter egos; Raimund (a.k.a Sugarraims) is on synths and backup vocals; Mike Dizon (of Sandwich and Teeth) a.k.a. Masterbeat is on drums; Jason Caballa (of Twisted Halo and Blast Ople) a.k.a J. Sonic is on guitar and backup vocals; Diego Mapa (of Monsterbot and Cambio) a.k.a. Daddy Maps is lead vocals; and interestingly, acclaimed music video director RA Rivera a.k.a. Just Toni is on visuals and multimedia. They call their music "dunk music" which is essentially their own version of Dance-punk. They released a two-track sampler called "For Hire" with tracks "Bago Pa Mag Pasko" and "Pa-Experience". Pedicab’s first album "Tugish Takish" (the name coming from onomatopoeia of the sounds made by banging on drums) under Vicor music was released later that year. Tugish Takish has spawned hits such as "Dito Tayo Sa Dilim", "Dizzy Boy", "Konti Na Lang" and "A Stormy Night". Their second album "Shinji Ilabas Mo Na Ang Helicopter" with carrier single "Ang Pusa Mo" was released on April 2008 under MCA Records Philippines. Their second album also contains the remake of "Pa-Experience" which they retitled to "Pa-Taste". It also has fan favorites such as "FX", "Follow Through", and "Breaking Away".

Personal life

He was with Jeng Tan (bassist of the Pin-up Girls) for a very long time. Since 2000 however, he has been living-in with Sandwich and Imago bassist Myrene Academia. They have a daughter named Atari Kim.

References