Bars, Bars and Band Venues, Entertainment, Food

Kapatid at Marbles

While good music is an important part of life in the south, I find it strange that there are very few venues for the underground music scene in the Las Piñas / Parañaque / Alabang areas. I’ve played in a few, like 19 East just atop Posadas Village near the Sucat interchange (though it’s mainstream), and Breakfast Club in BF Parañaque.

I recently went to a Kapatid gig at Marbles, a pool hall just in front of SM Southmall, and found that this was another one of those rare places in the south where bands played. I usually gig in the Makati and QC areas, sharing gigging duties every now and then with Kapatid, and was quite surprised that they would have a show along Zapote road. Zapote road is notorious for its traffic jams, SM, and hole-in-the-wall girlie bars. Before the Kapatid gig, I thought Marbles was a sleazy pool hall / bar where horny teenagers and over the hill DOMs picked up skanks. Well, it’s not a sosy Makati joint, but at least it’s decent.

While I failed to get the exact address of the place, anyone wishing to visit Marbles will not miss it, with its big enough sign at least 15 ft high, and SM as one of the nearby landmarks. Parking is easy enough; it has space for at least 10 cars, with the rest of the sidewalk open game. The guards are helpful enough to assist the vehicle owners, and will be quick to assure you that the wreckers won’t be coming to tow away your beat up early 90s Corolla.

Upon entering the place, you are greeted by 10-odd pool tables, all in pretty good shape, and a bar at the end of the room. An open observation for management, though: I found the karaoke lounge near the entrance—part of the establishment—plenty tacky. If it brings in good money, fine. If it doesn’t, well, please shut it down. If Marbles wants street cred by inviting great performers like Kapatid, they shouldn’t mess things up by having some guy outside singing a Sam Milby tune.

Beyond the bar, a door leads into the air conditioned stage area, with audience space for maybe a hundred people. From what I understand, this area used to be “open space,” meaning it did not have a roof over it; seems like business is picking up. I was able to catch the first group, the Kinky Hooters; very good, very tight band. Just as in most bars though, the place lacks a decent tech to man the board. Though sound quality and fidelity are OK, there’s a lot left to be desired with respect to clarity. Nothing like playing at 19 East.

At 65 per bottle of Red Horse, I thought beer prices were pretty steep, considering you can get beer for P25-35 inside BF, with a better all around bar vibe. Maybe management should realize that we’re not in Makati; we’re in Las Piñas, in front of SM, next to a car garage. P45 should be a good price, especially if you can get great bands to come over.

The night was capped off by another terrific and energetic performance by Karl Roy and the gang. All in all, Marbles was an OK place to hang out in. I’ve passed that I-wanna-play-billiards-cause-it-makes-me-look-cool stage, so the pool hall didn’t do anything for me. The fried chicken we got was OK, so I guess their food is decent, though I didn’t try much of it. Again, the operative word here is “decent.” Check Marbles out, if you want to have a decent night out on the town.

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