Jailhouse ‘No Bail Band’ Rocks Away Hard Time, Hopes to Break Into Music Business

It may sound like a performer’s dream: long hours to practice and a captive audience.

But the four current members of the No Bail Band can’t go on tour. All are in jail facing no-bail charges like rape, drug dealing and murder.

Still, they’re getting a chance at the big time. A record company has just put out the band’s first album.

The album was recorded in the Quezon City jail’s library after judges barred the members from going to an outside recording studio.

Most of the album’s 10 songs are country-style ballads that lament prison life. But a frequent request during concerts at the jail is Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock,” band members say.

The group was formed in 1997 by prisoners who regularly joined singing contests at the jail, which houses defendants while they are on trial.

“Prisoners have the luxury of time, and forming the band gave us something worthwhile to do,” said the band’s leader, Senen Quiambao, who faces drug-dealing charges. “It also helps us to sing our blues away.”

Police Inspector Herminio Chan, who gave the band its name, said the jail began singing contests to reduce tensions among prisoners.

“Singing is a better alternative to getting involved in gang wars,” Chan said. “We have had no serious prison problems since the contests were introduced.”

The band performs daily in an open area of the jail for the more than 1,500 prisoners, including 126 women, on a stage adorned with a huge painting of Jesus Christ standing behind bars.

Continuity is one of the band’s biggest problems because of the rapid turnover of members. Three of the group’s original members are now serving sentences at the national penitentiary, including one who is on death row.

Many prisoners are waiting to join. All the current members played in professional bands before their arrests.

After being featured in several Philippine newspapers and television shows, the band received an invitation from record companies to submit a sample tape.

Buddy de Vera, president of Alpha Records, one of the country’s biggest record companies, said he offered the group a two-year contract immediately after hearing the tape, beating out two competitors in getting the band’s services.

“I’ve been in the recording business since the 1960s, and I know talent when I hear it,” de Vera said.

Rene Zafra, 39, the band’s lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, said joining the band has given him a second lease on life.

Zafra is on trial for killing a man, but argues he did it in self-defense. The victim, a neighborhood tough, was stabbed more than 60 times, police say.

The possibility of fame worries Efren Dimayuga, the last founding member still in the band. He is on trial for allegedly defrauding Filipinos by taking fees from job seekers, then failing to produce promised jobs abroad. He has been sued by several of his alleged victims.

“My cases are about finished and I hope to be freed soon,” Dimayuga said. “I just hope whatever fame I get out of this will not encourage more people to bring cases against me.”