What is Sterilium? It is one composer's pseudonym, a name by which this individual writes and records music. If such is the case, then who is Sterilum? In real life he is Mark A. Galang, a father, husband, occupational therapist by profession, former medical student, a medical tran__scriptionist/editor by employment; and, of course, a composer, singer, musician, and songwriter. Sterilium started as a hobby (which still is as of now), a home-based musical project which became possible through the advancement of technology which made computer/internet-based music possible.

His musical journey started out when he was ""forced"" by his parents to take basic classical piano lessons at the age of 11 (1991), classical guitar lessons the next year at the age of 12, another year of piano lessons at age 13, and two more years of classical guitar lessons at ages 14 and 15. His parents originally intended to improve Mark's somewhat clumsy handwriting through fine motor exercises brought by learning music. Little did they then know that as time progressed, his interest in music developed when the onset of puberty came along. Mark started singing for a band named ""Sanitarium"" when he was in the 6th grade until 1st year high school playing covers of mostly Metallica songs at the same time attempting to learn how to play musical instruments from his bandmates as well by observing them. His first bass lesson was given to him during this time courtesy of their bassist Mark Rivera. He left the band the year after as during this time he felt that being with the conflicted with his confused spiritual beliefs. During this period, he concentrated on practicing guitar and some piano until he eventually ended up in UCCP-Ellinwood-Malate Church where he met Abong Romero, Erick Bejarin, Rodell Tolentino, and Archie Padolina. As they had this musical chemistry they decided to form a band. They auditioned for a manager who eventually named the band ""Jacob's Ladder"" (1995) where Mark assumed the role of a keyboard player and vocalist as elected by his bandmates. Mark at first was unwilling to assume this new role as he was more accustomed to playing guitar at that time yet he accepted that role and as such led to a shift of instrument preference. As a result, Mark sought to study and practice piano, this time by himself, as well as tried his hand at songwriting. Jacob's Ladder performed mainly within the confines of UCCP-Ellinwood where they played songs ranging from folk rock to typical praise and worship songs.

Being dissatisfied with the more famous guitar-oriented musical genres at that time which made Mark's role as a keyboardist almost nonexistent, he turned his ears away from alternative rock and into music with more keyboards such as that of Toto and smooth jazz. With these new musical influences, he attempted to introduce these ideas into Jacob's Ladder's music but it was at conflict with his other bandmates from a creative standpoint. It was also during this time that their manager has severed his ties from the band thus leading the band's ministry towards an uncertain direction. As such, he listened and searched for other musical genres and artists to gain new ideas in an attempt to find something that will agree with his bandmates' musical knowhow until such time that he ended up listening to Dream Theater. It was for the first time in Mark's musical journey that he caught a glimpse of a more challenging yet musically and artistically satisfying genre of music that he and his bandmates may agree with; it was progressive rock. Mark and his band then started out playing Dream Theater covers and eventually wrote new songs (this time they were progressive rock songs. Due to these listening experiences, Mark's musical tastes grew and became more vast and varied. His bandmates also began listening to progressive bands. As such, they became influenced by bands such as Dream Theater, Yes, and Rush, as well as local Filipino bands such as Wolfgang and Eraserheads, and Christian artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman and Don Moen

Time passed and Jacob's Ladder changed their name to ""Blue Fusion"" and started to play and write prog. They only had a few gigs outside of Ellinwood (the number of which could be maybe aroud 3 or 4 performances) within the local scene, one of which is at Freedom Bar's first prog night (the number of people watching the gig was approximately about 20 to 25 individuals, most of which acquaintances and friends of the band and fans of the more popular Eternal Now). However, the most memorable gig would be at the now defunct Rino's at Sucat where the production was entitled ""Sonic Dimension"" which featured both Blue Fusion and Eternal Now where the night ended with Mark and Erick jammed with members of Eternal Now and a certain american guy where they covered ""Surrounded"" and ""6:00"". After this period, Blue Fusion went into a hiatus and each member focused on each other's priorites.

With this hiatus, Sterilium was born. Most of the songs are either progressive rock or jazz-rock instrumentals but as time progressed, a few radio-friendly pieces were also written as well as prog rock epics with vocals.

Mark eventually got married to Nina shortly after Blue Fusion's hiatus , had a son named David, finished BS Occupational Therapy, entered medical school, quit medical school due to financial reasons, and entered the medical tran__scription industry where he is employed at present. Though his family is his number one priority, Mark, in his free time, is still active in the music scene, the internet music scene that is, and still writes, sings, records, and produces his own music as an expression of his mind, heart and soul.

The Philosopher A philosopher's thoughts and musings about life.

Progressive Rock

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The Evil Seagulls	8/24/2007 4:35:24 AM hey there, we've got a new song - dream on - hope you enjoy the mixture of old-school progressive and acoustic balladesque music. cheers, mark ps: not forgetting the acoustic progressive ballad: "she came along like the wind blows on a sunny day"
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