Another thing you should know about local rap core music asides the baggy pants, countless tattoos and several pierced body parts is Powerspoonz. To them, it’s all about the music, the raw evocative energy filling the audience when the music envelops them.

The quiet solitude that encircles the band before each show is just the calm before the proverbial storm. It’s often forgotten that this young band has risen to the top, the hard way. Their efforts eventually paid off. Powerspoonz won the “SMB Battle of the Bands” in October 2000. Ikel was named Best Bassist while Frankie was named Best Guitarist. A year later, Powerspoonz became a nominee for Best New Artist of the SMB Cebu Music Awards 2001.

True to form, Powerpoonz combines the individual influences of Akit, Ikel, Frankie, Dingle and Ian into a performance that can be physically felt. Reggae, 70s and 80s ballads, and a heaping of hard rock, blues, ska, metal, world or tribal music and old-school punk rap shapes their music into a well-oiled melodymaker. In an era where the more bodies piled upon even more bodies seems to be the measure of success, Powerspoonz shuns the violence that hounds most rap metal bands. “It’s sad and frustrating to see crowds become violent.”

What then keeps them going despite it all? “Our songs are unique because it is written and performed straight from the heart --- it is emotional, experimental and personal,” says frontman Akit Po. It’s all about the music, baby, it’s all about the music.