CHECK, PLEASE It is no secret that the Philippine music industry is at a standstill at the moment. Due to the ongoing economic crisis, bands are not getting signed to the major record labels, the gig circuit has been going haywire, and as the mainstream music scene is stagnating in poppy sing-along ballads and covers, the underground band music scene has been quietly thriving by itself. Checking the smoke-filled bars, inexpensively decorated stages, and basag stereo systems of this subterraneous scene, there is one band that transcends the rest of the amateurish, garage-sounding, and still-to-gain-good-music-from-experience rock acts. And this is just what the music scene ordered - the underground's underrated, underestimated, and overlooked Sandwich

THE BEEF Like a proper loaf-made meal, Sandwich was created by throwing together a bunch of artists with different musical backgrounds and different palates. "For Diego and Raimund - Diego works at BMG and Raimund's in the E-heads, so they have always been talking and making yaya to each other to form a band, yet they never really pushed through," says Marc, recollecting the band's beginnings. "Diego knew Mike, since they were classmates in college, and Myrene was Diego's girlfriend and she could play bass and was sessioning for other bands." "Diego already had a rhythm section, so we just figured we needed a singer," continues Raimund. So the search for a vocalist began, and through a mutual friend (yours truly), Raimund remembered an Ateneo high school band that he judged and selected to win for a Battle of the Bands a few years back and decided to contact the lead singer. "Since Raimund was looking around for a singer and he asked you if you knew anyone, and you knew me and I sent you my tape, and you gave the tape to him and he liked it, we got together," Marc remembers. "I met Marc at your party and jammed with him, so we got Marc as our singer," says Raimund about that cosmic night where both he and Marc jammed on the Beastie Boys' Sabotage. "Then all fell into place at the band's first jamming at Mike's house, so we decided it should go on." The ingredients that make up this perfect bready-made Carte du jour are that: Marc is the current frontman and founder of the soon-to-gig Sideswipe, was the guitarist for ex-Rooftop, and was the lead singer and songwriter for ex-Shirley Beans. Raimund is the drummer of the infamously famous Eraserheads, the percussionist for ex-The Curfew, and the founder and consistent member of Planet Garapata. Diego is the guitarist for The Aga Mulach Experience and for ex-Dinosaur Jimmy, was the Tribal Fish sessionist and one-day member of Never The Bright Lights and Violent Playground. Myrene is the bassist for The Aga Mulach Experience, also known for being the Tribal Fish bass sessionist. And Mike is recognized as the drummer and songwriter of Teeth, percussionist for ex-Dinosaur Jimmy and Ripshifta, and sessionist for a million other bands in the scene's existence.