Marcus Adoro
Marcus Adoro in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Marcus Antonius Corpuz Adoro
Also known as	Marcus Highway, Punk Zappa
Born	(1971-12-31) December 31, 1971 Pangasinan, Philippines
Genres	Alternative rock pop experimental folk rock Pinoy rock punk rock stoner rock surf rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter musician surfer
Instrument(s)	Vocals guitar bass keyboards harmonica percussion
Years active	1989–present
Member of	Markus Highway
Formerly of	Eraserheads The Flaming Katols Surfernando The Curfew
Website	marcusadoro.com

Marcus Antonius Corpuz Adoro (born December 31, 1971) is a Filipino musician who was the lead guitarist of the Eraserheads, a Filipino alternative rock band in the 1990s. He is also known by the stage name or band name Markus Highway.

Eraserheads

During his days as lead guitarist for the Eraserheads, Adoro only had a few contributions when it came to songwriting. He would compose one song per album, which were usually album fillers, like "Punk Zappa" in the album, Circus, and "Southsuperhiway" in the album, Natin99. The most contributions he had ever given to the band was in the album Carbon Stereoxide, in which he wrote the songs "Pula", "Wala", and "Escalator Alligator".

Adoro's style of lead guitar was a very significant piece to the Eraserheads' sound, and to a greater extent, using takamine, Gibson and Yamaha the sound that came to define Pinoy alternative rock. His minimalist approach contrasted with the "flashier" style of most local guitarists of the time. Instead of long, epic solos, Adoro preferred "pretty little ditties" that often complement the tone of the song. His "less is more" method resembles that of many guitarists from Manila's '80s underground punk scene, particularly Bobby Balingit (The Wuds) and Resty Cornejo (Identity Crisis). During the band's later years, Adoro began to acquire a fascination with electric guitar noises and environmental sounds which he would incorporate to his style as the band's music progressed and became more experimental.

Projects after Eraserheads

Career after Eraserheads

Adoro's current band name is "Markus Highway (a wordplay on "Marcos Highway," a Philippine road). Adoro explains that "Markus Highway" is just a rock and roll name that he likes and he wants to keep at the moment. He says that he's good with wordplay. He reveals that most of the Eraserheads album titles came from him. "I like changing names because it's an old rock n roll tradition. All the old travelling bluesmen used different aliases and my favorite cool bands do it. I like Markus Highway for the Surfernando song," says Adoro. Adoro had changed his stage name or band name quite often since 2001. His different band names since 2001 include Surfernando, The Gumamela Band, Kamonkamon, The Flaming Katols, Markus Regime (a wordplay on Marcos Regime), The Mamones (a name spoof of Mamon, a Filipino sponge cake, and The Ramones) and Talampunay Band. He eventually settled to Markus Highway since 2007.^[3]

Adoro along with former bandmates, Buddy Zabala and Raimund Marasigan performed for an event at the Millennia Club called "Marooned", a production of UP bands from past and present. Buendia was invited to the gig, but was not able to attend. "Batch 88",^[4] from Belma en Luis, was one of the songs that was jammed by the trio.

When asked about his career plans in the Philmusic.com interview, Adoro said that he plans to get session musicians to play in the recording of the Surfernando album, get a band ready for gig tours, and work with other willing back-up bands as well. He said that he had been backed by artists such as Mano-manu and Sunflower Day Camp. He just finished a low-key bar tour with the band, Mayonnaise and Sunflower Day Camp.

Adoro unexpectedly appeared in "LivELY: A Fundraising Concert for the Benefit of Ely Buendia" on January 28, 2007. Though not in the list of performers, Adoro suddenly walked on stage before Rivermaya had finished performing. He then borrowed Mike Elgar's guitar and played a reggae rendition of the Eraserheads song, "Huwag Mo Nang Itanong", and a song from his new album.^[5]

Marcus Adoro has a new band named Markus Highway under Warner Music Philippines, their first album "Behold, Rejoice! Surfernando Is Hear Nah." was released on February 2008.

Life after Eraserheads

Adoro was interviewed by GMA-7 newscaster Jessica Soho on her show, "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho." The topic is all about La Union which is now popular for beach surfers in the Philippines. He is now based in La Union and he enjoys his new life as a local surfer.

In the Philmusic.com interview, Adoro says he surfs, but he doesn't join competitions. He does not compete because he says that surfing is not his profession, and he just enjoys the lifestyle. He has been making documentaries about surfing since 2002.

He also directed the short film "The Artist Is In" which premiered along with Ely Buendia's short film "Waiting Shed". It was followed by "Violator Copy," a compilation of Adoro's unreleased videoworks which featured various local artists and surfers, Jericho Rosales, Dong Abay, and Pepe Smith.

In 2012 he started the project "Greems"- a collection of 100 musical pieces, played in the same chord progression, all in the same key and all pieces clocking in at 57 seconds. The 100 pieces were written and recorded in 21 days. When asked why the handle "johnlennonfull2", he says "it was an instruction from a voice that came to him in his dream. The words to Greems will be released as a book before the year 2012 ends.^[6]

Controversy

In September 2019, Marcus' daughter, singer Syd Hartha, and Marcus' ex-partner, actress Barbara Ruaro, both took to social media suggesting physical and psychological abuse inflicted by Marcus.^[7]

Filmography

• Run Barbi Run as himself (Eraserheads)

Discography

References