It's always a pleasure to hear from ex-head Marcus Adoro. Maybe because his forays into our polluted little metropolis, far removed from his beloved surfer's paradise in La Union, are so rare. Late last year, we had the pleasure to exchange emails with the former Punk Zappa in preparation for an article on the late lamented Eraserheads that eventually saw print in the October 2005 issue of People Asia. The thing is, only snippets of this conversation saw the light.

A pity, I thought. More people should read it. And so here's the whole thing for the first time. The real deal. The real Macoy.

PhilMusic: You had two indie releases, "KamonKamon" and "Surfernando: The Adventures of Belma and Luis" ... currently you do gigs as Markus Hiway. Is there a new album in the works? Will this still be indie or distributed by a major label?

Macoy: First things first, Kamonkamon the indie series was meant as a hype which I masterminded myself, kase that time nabili na ng BMG records ang buong work which is a comicbook, the comicbook soundtrack and a video documentary-type cd. This was around 2002. The BMG people were for some reasons reluctant to release the album up until last year (2005). Pero pumayag lang sila with one condition--babawasan daw ang pages ng comic book- which defeats the purpose of the comicbook soundtrack and the idea of the whole work, and because Kamonkamon is a highly philosophical work I declined with the condition.

The eventual release of Kamonkamon would be just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. I'm opening a blog-type website this week so anyone interested can take a looksie. (At para di naman ako magmukhang tanga after all this years na dada ako ng dada na marerelease na...!@#$%^&*() )

Surfernando is an entirely different banana. The indie release (Belma en Luis) is half of all the songs for a pinoy surfing album. Surfernando is a character,so to speak. I wrote the songs in 2003 after three years of surfing. I plan to record and release them on major labels. I'm currently shopping for a deal.

Markus Highway is just a rakenrol name that I like and I want to keep at the moment. If the Surfernando songs get recorded the Album will be called "Behold...Rejoice! Surfernando is hear na." The artist will be Markus Highway.

PhilMusic: What are your plans for Markus Hiway? New album? New band? Nationwide Tour? Gigs? Manager?

Macoy: The plan is to get session musicians to play in the recording. And get a touring ready band for gigs. And work with other willing back-up bands as well. So far Ive been backed by Mano-manu and Sunflower Day Camp. It's more fun that way for me. And I can always gig with an acoustic guitar as Markus Highway. In fact I just finished a low-key bar tour with Mayonnaise and SDC. It was great to be there and play the surfernando songs alone after 5 years.

I'm currently shopping for a manager as well. Someone who can dig me.

Marcus Highway is just a rakenrol name that I like and I want to keep at the moment. If the Surfernando songs get recorded the Album will be called "Behold...Rejoice! Surfernando is hear na." The artist will be Markus Highway.

The gigs and the tours will eventually come. I'm excited.


PhilMusic: I hear you are something of a surfing pro. Do you compete or teach surfing? Have you won any competitions?

Macoy: I can surf. I leave the competition for the boys. I teach girls with nice asses, but then again who wouldn't. I only do it once in a while though nakakapagod pala. I don't compete because surfing is not my profession, I just enjoy being out there and the lifestyle. But I have been making documentaries about it since 2002.

PhilMusic: You've had a ton of band names since 2001... Could you name all of them?

Macoy:
SURFERNANDO
MARKUS HIGHWAY
THE GUMAMELA BAND
KAMONKAMON
THE FLAMING KATOLS
MARKUS REGIME
THE MAMONES
TALAMPUNAY BAND

I'm good with wordplay. Most of the Eheads album title came from me. I do enjoy changing names when I perfom and only invite some crowd. I'd like to stay "underground" sometimes so to speak and let the songs do the rest of the work.

PhilMusic: Why all the name changes?

Macoy: I like changing names because it's an old rock n roll tradition. All the old travelling bluesmen used different aliases and my favorite cool bands do it. I like Markus Highway for the Surfernando song.

PhilMusic: How would you describe the sound of "Markus Hiway"?

Macoy: It can range from just me and a guitar to a big full band with horns section and all.

PhilMusic: And finally, a personal question. How has being a dad affected you and your music?

Macoy: I have to make more songs in the key of Cmaj.