With The Jerks EP now on vinyl, the punk band’s place in OPM history has been corrected, writes Rick Olivares. Handout

With The Jerks EP now on vinyl, the punk band’s place in OPM history has been corrected, writes Rick Olivares. Handout

Sometimes, it is better late than never.

The Jerks seven-inch extended play single featuring three songs that date back to 1981 that were only played on radio and never released on any format are finally available. Forty-one years later.

The Jerks EP is available from independent label Mutilated Noise in a project I initiated some three years ago.

I had heard the songs “Romantic Kill,” “Big Deal,” and “I Need Something Inside Me” on DZRJ back in the day when the late Howlin’ Dave played their songs after seeing them on the now defunct On Disco.

I constantly pestered Howlin’ Dave to play the songs even after he just played them. One time, the exasperated disc jockey told me off: “Look, kid, we just played their song. We cannot play it again minutes after.”

“But, Dave,” I said – respectfully, I must add – “this could light a fire for local music.”

There was silence for a few seconds on the old telephone line then he said, “You’re right, kid.”

So he played it again and dedicated it to me. I was proud of myself.

The significant airplay on only one radio station got the attention of a few record companies, but when they made their pitch to the band, they asked if the Jerks could sound more like mainstream rock acts such as Styx.

“Styx,” spat out bassist Boy Matriano during a long-distance conversation from Hong Kong where he now resides. “Of course, we turned them down. We were this band influenced by what was then the growing punk and New Wave movement.”

The Jerks then disappeared from the Metro Manila eye as the gig opportunities dried up and the scene in Olongapo looked more attractive and lucrative.

And that is where the band – vocalist and guitarist Chickoy Pura, guitarists Nitoy Adriano and Heli Umali, Matriano, and drummer Flor Mendoza – headed over. They spent a good three years of their lives playing to mostly American soldiers and locals, including the odd Manila visitor or two.

By the time they returned to Manila, New Wave was in full swing. Newer bands such as The Dawn, Identity Crisis, and Ethnic Faces were making names for themselves. As for the punk movement, two years later, Twisted Red Cross, exploded with the force of a thousand Molotov cocktails.

The Jerks, though, instead of immersing themselves in the scene they helped create, went their separate ways. They re-formed years later in the 90s with only Pura and Adriano left from the original lineup to become more of a blues rock-based band.

The songs that came out in the 1990s – “Rage,” “Sayaw sa Bubog,” and “Reklamo ng Reklamo” to name a few – became more popular. And during live shows, The Jerks did not perform the old material that sounded totally different to their new sound.

And to the generations that followed the new songs that appeared on “The Jerks Live” and the self-titled debut under Star Records were their songs. Many were unaware of the older material.

It took Rivermaya recording “Romantic Kill” for their 2006 EP “Isang Ugat, Isang Dugo” for the song to even be remembered. It was cool, this tribute.

I sought to rectify this and made it a personal mission, one that began as early as 2015. I wanted to make a loud declaration that The Jerks began in 1981 and now the 1990s.

I had interviewed Pura for a story and when the story came out, it was only then that I put on the table the idea of putting out on glorious vinyl the old songs circa 1981.

Pura was open to the idea, but the talks stalled.

A few weeks later, I bumped into Nitoy Adriano and fellow The Jerks’ axeman, Jun Lopito, who had joined the band during their ’Gapo days.

They performed with Stephen Lu’s Rockoustic Blues Experiment at the Rooftop in Mandaluyong. And after the show, over a few beers and eats, talk turned to the Jerks and the old songs.

It’s a sign, I told myself.

But nothing came of it until 2019 when upon further prodding, it came to life.

After a false start with an industrial partner in putting out the record (it was originally planned to be on 10-inch vinyl), I chose to venture with Mutilated Noise Records which, in my opinion, has been a very strong advocate of underground punk music.

And now, it’s here.

The Jerks on 45. That’s 45 RPM. The way the old punk and New Wave records were released back in the day.

As my copy made it ways into my trembling hands, I looked at it the way only a kid can – with love, wonder, and amazement.

I placed it on my turntable and waited for the cackle of a stylus meeting wax.

And the old songs played and I was back in 1981 listening to the radio. I swear I heard Howlin’ Dave’s voice all over again as he announced The Jerks.

And I thought … This is for Howlin' Dave, and The Jerks – Chickoy, Nitoy, Heli, Boy, Flor, and Jun.

Now their place in OPM history is corrected.