Philip ‘Rokarja’ Pace is a relic of the days of rock. Sporting a black leather jacket, well-used cigar holder and long two-tone moustache, he grins at the memory of his 1980s heyday that he hopes to recreate.
Who knows? We could spark something off
“Rock bands used to rehearse in these rat-infested rooms. When a group started playing, the rats would all scurry into another room.”
Mr Pace is talking about the Tigné barracks; a refuge for mulleted punksters who used this space to rehearse and perform before the area was developed in 1989.
He founded an organisation called Rokarja, which provided underground musicians with a creative workspace and held rock concerts for their talents to be heard.
Mr Pace is proposing to recreate these better days by hosting a Rokarja and Co. reunion at the Black Pearl in Ta’ Xbiex on March 31.
The Rokarja team aims to bring together members of old rock bands from the 1960s to late 1980s, as well as today’s budding young musicians.
Laurence Baldacchoni, drummer of 12th Ode who rocked Tigné Barracks in the 1980s, is looking forward to playing at the reunion and mingling with other musicians. His band is an eclectic mix of young and old, bringing together experienced old hands and fresh, youthful ideas.
“It will bring back good memories,” he said.
The Rockarja team hopes the reunion will encourage old musicians to pick up their instruments and reform their bands, or create new groups entirely. “Who knows? We could spark something off,” Mr Baldacchoni said.
Like many a former rocker, for Mr Pace, today’s musicians just are not what they used to be. Sterile internet forums and young, image-conscious starlets clearly do not have the same appeal as the distant sounds of acoustic jamming sessions (accompanied by the scurry of rodents’ feet), that encapsulated the Maltese underground rock era. The Rokarja reunion will be a chance to show today’s kids how it is done.
But that’s not all he’s aiming for. “The key word here is legacy,” he said. For him, the Maltese rock era was a cultural moment in history, which has as yet gone undocumented. He is concerned that this moment will slip through time unnoticed.
The reunion is therefore not just for old-timers to reform and compare old haircuts, but for Maltese musicians of all ages who are passionate about coming together to make their mark in history.
Mr Pace intends the culmination of this reunion to be a mega concert, a three-day event in summer 2013, featuring a mix of Maltese bands and soloists. For the hardcore, Mr Pace hopes camping for the full three days will be available with bathroom facilities.
Finally, the mega concert will be filmed and sold as a DVD. Mr Pace might not have had the technology back in the 1980s to document his legacy, but he aims to make the most of it now.
For further details, e-mail Philip Pace at rokarja30yearslater@yahoo.com or phone 9928 7701.