Catalog
Bio
The journey into sound began in 1987 when Bong formed The Bottles. An experimental post-rock project heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground, punk rock, and Krautrock, with an array of an ever revolving cast of musicians, mostly his friends from school. In 1989, Jem joined as bassist/ vocalist/ songwriter, and The Bottles evolved into a full-on alternative rock band, with hardcore, and metal leanings. Playing covers and plenty of original compositions, the band’s concert shenanigans were even chronicled in an issue of Jingle magazine. The band called it a day in 1993 after a farewell gig at an amphitheater in Bacolod City.
Meanwhile back in 1992, Bong, Jem, Chris (who was in a reggae/dub band at the time), and Hugene (their last human drummer) already planted the seeds of FoodShelterAndClothing, as a side project with a strong inclination towards electronic music. This was at the height of grunge, but also a time of the burgeoning electronic, and dance scenes in the UK, and industrial rock acts spurting all across North America, and Canada. Bong who was exposed to the latter via tapes sent to him by a friend based in Ontario in the late 80’s, always wanted to play this kind of music but was expectedly constrained by the lack of gear, and funds. Yet, the band soldiered on with a 4 track cassette recorder, and a Yamaha Portasound, and Keytar (played by their late keyboardist, Joel), and was able to record loads of songs (approximately, a dozen or so C60 cassettes of tracks, not counting the other side projects) throughout the 90’s. These tapes were sold via mail order, and some of the songs were aired on NU 107’s alternative-centric programs. It’s worth a mention, that in 1997, the band was chosen as one MTV Asia’s OUT-OF-THE-BOX artist, representing the Philippines.
In 1999, they released the pioneering soundtrack to the Alamat comicbook, Baylans. A full-on album with tracks inspired by said book as commissioned by its author, Jason Banico. In the noughties, the band signed an EP deal with Triad Records and released their Cracked EP on CD. This was uniquely marketed in convenience stores (instead of record bars) throughout the country. Between 2007-2012, the band released a bunch of singles/EP’s via their own online label, SSS Records. These were accompanied by remixes of the featured tracks, as done by some of the country’s leading underground electronic musicians, and producers. Around this time, the band also wrote, and produced tracks for a student film thesis of another Alamat comicbook Trese: Case One (many years before the Netflix adaptation).
Fast forward to 2021-22, the band was busy re-recording old Bottles’ songs for a future release, as well as getting back into the saddle as fsandc, after a pandemic-induced hiatus. Released as of this writing, is their latest single/EP, JUNKIFIED. Now, the journey commences yet again.