WOLFGANG -- Pinoy Metal "The band of the '90s -- Wolfgang put the stamp of heavy metal and hard rock with balls and melody on the Pinoy sound. Uncompromising with their music, vocalist Basti Artadi, drummer Wolf Gemora, guitarist Manuel Legarda and bassist Mon Legaspi stormed the underground with forces such as "Darkness Fell" and Halik ni Hudas. Their aggression forced those "above ground" to turn cultish, lapping up tunes such as "Center of the Sun" from the album Semenelin and Tulisan from the current album Serve in Silence." -- words by Isa Lorenzo

Wolf recalled in '92, he was a roadie for Razorback, which used to play in a club in Makati called Kalye, even subbing for drummer Miguel Ortigas. Before that, he had a band called Hysteria that covered songs from glam rock stalwarts Def Leppard, Whitesnake, GNR, and, believe it or not, Poison. "We even hung out and opened for Side A at the Calesa Bar. We were starting to play showband music. Buti na lang we broke up, pare," laughs Wolf. "When Manoy came home from Spain, the other fellows were talking about how good the guy was. He could already play Ozzy/Randy Rhoads songs."

Manuel studied at the St. Louis University in Madrid and came home in Christmas '91. He started hanging out with the guys from Razorback. That was when he met Wolf who asked him if he wanted to form a band. The guitarist said yes, and the two looked for a bassist and a vocalist. Then at Kalye, they saw Basti singing for a group called Sin City. Acording to Wolf, Artadi was not the best singer at that time, but he had stage presence. Sin City covered stuff from Metallica, Tesla, and even Joan Jett.

Basti disclosed, "When it looked like my band was going to stay in the garage forever -- actually it was a room where we practiced -- I told Miguel that if he knew anyone looking to form something seriously, just let me know. And I was able to hook up with Manuel and Wolf."

Mon came in three to four bassists later, recommended by The Jerks bassist Angelo Villegas.

"Our first bassist was John Templo," remembers Basti, " but he wasn't as serious about it as we were. We got another bass player who ended up being grounded, and his mom shipped his bass to the province so he couldn't play. Angelo played a gig for us, but he couldn't commit because he was involved with Rizal Underground. He made us meet Mon. After that, it was great already."

At that time, Mon was playing in a rockability outfit called the Runaway Boys with Stephen Lu, as well as doing sessions for Mariya's Mistress. Mon recalled, "Tinawagan ako ni Angelo, sinabi niya na may metal band na naghahanap ng bahista. Akala ko pa nga Werewolves ang pangalan ng banda. Nag-meet kami ni Manuel sa Broadway Centrum and we jammed at his house."

"When Mon joined, we were already playing at the Atrium," said Wolf. "It was fairly easy since we were playing covers just like Razorback and slipping one or two original material. We were famous for 'War Pigs,' 'Paranoid,' and Bad Company songs. But everytime we write a new song we'd just slip it into the set. The Weekend Live gigs were getting better and better, but the club closed down. We saw it coming. We told ourselves we can't do this forever, we just can't play in clubs and do covers."

While the band played in schools and did out-of-town gigs once a month, Basti and the rest of the company started writing songs. They made three demos: "Arise," "Left Alone," and "Darkness Fell." The first two tunes were submitted to LA 105 and got massive airplay; "Darkness Fell," with its meandering guitar passages reminiscent of "Little Wing," got noticed on 99.5 RT.

Sony, led by big boss Wally Chamsay, put together a massive marketing machine for Semenelin. Four different posters were released at two-week intervals prior to the release of the album. In April '96, a single was released which not only promised a free copy of the album a month later but also a bonus track called "Roadworthy Man". The single also had eight different album covers -- a move that must have shocked the misers in the music industry. Wolfgang then undertook the Roadworthy Man Tour, making them one of the country's most electric live acts.