In a rare boy’s night out, three editors became groupies for the night when they attended a Creative-backed event presenting the band named Reklamo – a socially-aware rock-band endorsing the world-renowned audio and peripherals solutions company. Although no product was launched, nor initiatives announced, being present for a night of powerful music opened our hardware-acclimated eyes to another facet of our industry – something that doesn’t work on specifications, features or gadgets alone.

                                             Migs, LC and Ciro on the hot seat(s).

Saying that, there was still no way to avoid technology in its most supreme form due to the choice of venue for said event. It was held at the soon to be opened (today in fact) – “Listening In Style”; in addition to world-class amps and receivers from brands like McIntosh, flat screen TVs of all (mostly swallow-your-coffee-table-size-big) sizes surrounded the expansive room. Front and center were a series of LCDs giving different views and/or delayed playback of select vids. Right beside it was a huge 100+ inch LCD screen. You could say we were distracted from the event on hand once we entered the premises.

That was soon overcome by the appearance of Reklamo’s charming Manager Amy, who introduced the assembled press to the three band members – LC De Leon on Vocals/Banjo/Acoustic Guitar, Mig Dayanghirang on Bass, and Ciro De Leon on Drums and Backing Vocals, a charismatic trio. They presented a video produced in collaboration with splintr.com – another reference to the technology seeping into the music industry. The video, making full use of the multiple large LCDs on the display wall, showed a slick rock-out video of four selected songs – all with their own messages.

They are a band with a mission, with their very names proclaiming change and a challenge to the establishment. As Creative grows as a company, social issues start to become more of a concern – and what better way to reach a better social understanding as an audio-centric company than to work with a socially-aware band of Reklamo’s caliber? Seemingly somewhat far-fetched, this partnership nonetheless has advantages for both sides in the form of more coverage in previously inaccessible areas for each party. With Reklamo’s endorsement of Creative products, tour schedule and reach, combined with Creative’s expanding requirement for social awareness, both music and technology is advanced, through combining different facets of both.

                                             They read HWM! Thumbs up to you too!

The long and short of it, the two parties benefit from the partnership, and the bottom line is that the technologically-inclined is able to see another side of the Creative Company equation, along with enjoying the unique sound from Reklamo. Through the assistance of Creative, Reklamo is perhaps also reaching out to guys like us who can’t seem to look beyond the spec sheet of a product, and open us up to the fact that an understanding of the social tapestry, especially in the Philippines, is as important as writing about hardware in our magazine. In that, Creative is way ahead of us, as evidenced in their support for Reklamo, socially aware and willing to complain about it.