Flattbush

Flattbush, the spazz-metal outfit, took its name from a little-known 1960s Filipino ensemble said to have been killed by the Marcos dictatorship over insurrectionist convictions, or so the accounts claim. The group coalesced in the late 1990s, several years after Enriko on vocals and Arman Maniago on bass arrived in southern California as transplants from the Philippines. Following six years of calculated moves inside the metal underground, the band included Americans Brad Walther on guitar and Ray Banda on drums when it signed to Kool Arrow Records, the label run by former Faith No More bassist Bill Gould. Their first album, Smash the Octopus, came out in 2003, and Joe Luevano joined as the replacement drummer the next year.