Why Is Basti Artadi's Solo Album One Badass Pinoy Rock Masterpiece? Here Are The Reasons.

Pinoy music legend Basti Artadi has been busy touring and promoting his first solo work since it was released about a month ago. It's one of the most honest rock albums you'll ever hear in your life.

Everybody Knows That The Dice Are Loaded will take you back to the time when rock music actually rocks.

Via Yahoo! Celebrity Philippines

According to the band, the title alludes to people who choose to act as if everything is just fine despite being aware of all the corruption, corporate slavery, and fake wars going on around them.

Basti has always been the best at what he does. And so has his band, The Nice Ones.

theniceones2014 / Via Facebook

Comprised of guitarist Marco De Leon (Paramita, Reklamo, El Roboto), bassist Nikki Tirona (Bamboo, Champ Lui Pio, Pitik), and drummer Jed Dayrit (Cheeba), the name "The Nice Ones" came about 10 years ago while while the band was playing backup for a singer named Margarita.

"After each song we played, even if we made a ton of mistakes or we did perfectly, we would high-five each other and exclaim 'Nice one!' to acknowledge how good we were because we never really practiced for any of our gigs. It was all about winging it."

The entire album was made with a strict DIY ethic.

Nikki Tirona / Via Facebook

In true indie fashion, Basti Artadi and The Nice Ones personally handled all the grunt work of producing, promoting, and distributing their music. In fact, the only way to get a physical copy of their CD is to go to their gigs in person.

It is a rare work of pure musical inspiration.

Philip Decena

Every single song in the album was learned, rehearsed, arranged and recorded by the band in just 2 days.

And they did it all using basic, quality gear and equipment.

BLASTERSTUDIO / Via Facebook

The band kept their equipment use to just the essentials, going against the current trend of artists coming into the studio with a truckload of exotic gear.

Throughout Everybody Knows That The Dice Are Loaded, Marco relied on his trusty 1978 Gibson SG coupled with some overdrive pedals, Nikki used his Fender Precision bass, while Jed used whatever drum set was available in the studio.

And Basti just brought Basti.

The entire record is chock-full of tasty rock guitar goodness without even trying.

Marco De Leon / Via Facebook

According to guitarist Marco De Leon, "I wasn't aiming for anything at all. As soon as I heard the drafts of the songs, I immediately knew what to do with the music. It just came naturally. Especially the slide parts of the songs "Salty Kisses", "Last Goodbye", and "Senora" which were kind of country. I really had fun recording this album because it was so organic the way all of us did it."

It's a labor of love and it shows.

Anna Esguerra / Via so-stellar

"No one funds or manages our gigs. It's just us."

When they're not out being rockstars, Basti and The Nice Ones are as real you and me.

John Neil / Via Facebook

Basti is into board games, comic books, and super robots. Marco is a dedicated collector of Macross variable fighter toys and also builds guitar pedals from scratch. Jed does boxing. Nikki enjoys cruising in his bike.

Their music is authentic and everybody knows it.

rockonell23 / Via YouTube

"I don't like forcing the music I make to people. If people will appreciate it, that's fantastic. It's an honest album with no pretensions. It's an album that you play while you're driving. It's an album you don't need to analyze. It's music and that's that."