By WAKU SAUNAR
In the 90’s, hard rock quartet Mutiny etched their name in the annals of Filipino underground movement dishing out bone-crushing tunes like “Salamangkero,” “The Unholy War,” “Hard Luck,” “Take A Trip,” “Alipin,” and the carrier “Rak en Rol na Lamang” from their sole album “Ang Salamangkero at iba pang mga Kuwento,” earning themselves considerable fan base in the process.
The band is made up of frontman Paul Viloria, guitarist Charles Founier, bassist Robert “Sum” Go, and drummer Roy Secillano.
Sum describes how their act was formed in a nutshell: “Paul and Roy are from Mutiny in Manila while Charles and me from Anno Domini.”
Tempo recently caught up with Sum in a chance interview and according to him: “We’ve disbanded after our debut. Eventually, Paul revived the group carrying the name with new members who happen to be our close friends.”
Sum, a finger-style bass player, also plays with a pick on certain songs and optimizes the potential of his multi-effects’ preamp settings. “Slapping appeals to me but I’m not good at it. I’m not interested in tapping at all,” he maintains.
The self-taught rocker also writes songs and sings backup. Among his influences are Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, the late Jack Bruce of Cream, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Sum plays both 4 and 5-string basses. “I like the low B sound strung with .45s ” he says.
Sum is still musically active, keeping his chops in shape. “Right now I’m in China playing with a band.”
Sum advices aspiring bassists to keep on playing, practice and have fun.
