Sponge Cola

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Sponge Cola

Background information
Origin Quezon City, Philippines
Genre(s) Pinoy Rock
Years active 2002 – Present
Label(s) Sony Music Philippines
Website Sponge Cola
Members
Ysmael Yuzon (lead vocals/guitar)
Reynaldo Dilay (bass guitar/vocals)
Erwin Armovit (guitar)
Christopher Cantada (vocals/drums)

Sponge Cola is a Filipino rock band.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Early Years

Between 1998 to 2002, Ysmael "Yael" Yuzon, met Reynaldo "Gosh" Dilay through the school's theater guild, Teatro Baguntao. Yael was then the frontman of a rock band called White Chapel together with some talented individuals in Ateneo High School. Nevertheless, he decided to form a band with Gosh and two other members of the theater guild. They named the group Sponge after R.S. Surtee's Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour. The band won in several high school competitions boosting their popularity not just in their school but in other campuses, as well.

[edit] Behind the Name "Sponge Cola"

Some of the members of the old lineup left and were replaced by Christopher "Chris" Cantada and Erwin "Armo" Armovit. The latter is the guitarist of Sponge's brother band Rampqueen. Raymond Fabul another batchmate, began to manage both Sponge and Rampqueen. Later however, they learned about a Detroit grunge band already using the name Sponge. "But we wanted to keep the word Sponge in our band name because people have already associated us with that name," according to Yael. "So we decided to add 'Cola', since it's an easy enough word to remember." Sponge Cola was officially born in summer 2002.

[edit] Publicity

They came up with a self-titled album in the last quarter of 2003 containing five original songs: Lunes, A Tear, Saturn, Cigarette and Jeepney. The two songs penned in the vernacular were what made the band catch the public's attention. Lunes, written by Gosh, begins with a catchy bossa nova-esque beat that suddenly shifts to a heavy rock riff, a nuance in arrangement which surprisingly served the song superbly. Second single Jeepney was written by a classmate for a school project back in 2001 and is a reminiscent piece on young love during simpler, happier times. The song showcases Yael's vocal range; that is, his uncanny ability to shift from mellow to screamo.

Through this album, Sponge Cola got extensive airplay from several local pop and rock radio stations, which helped broaden their fan base across the nation. A bootlegged copy of their version of Madonna's "Crazy for You" even ended up on the Internet and became so big an underground hit, some listeners believed it was a Sponge Cola original. Though this misconception has been instrumental in increasing Sponge Cola's popularity, the band has since aimed to transcend the stigma of being a cover band. They pushed their original songs to the forefront, and public response to the band became better than ever; the magic had already begun.

[edit] Debut Release

Sony Music Philippines managed to sign the boys for record distribution and now release Sponge Cola's full-length debut album, entitled Palabas, thus dubbed in allusion to the band members' theater backgrounds. The album features a definitive voice in unadulterated rock, reminiscent of 90s alternative but mixed with enough sing-along pop sensibility-as based on the band members' individual influences. Gosh was weaned on classic OPM from the likes of Basil Valdes and Martin Nievera; Armo lends to heavy metal and rock edge, citing bands like Deftones, Tool and A Perfect Circle as influences; Chris likes pop-rock bands like the Beatles and Athenaeum; and Yael trips on everything from novelty songs to bubblegum-pop, from 80s power ballads, to The Smashing Pumpkins.

[edit] Popularity

During 2004, their songs Lunes and KLSP gained popularity and ended up in most radio stations' charts during that period. Also, Jeepney became popular in the beginning of 2005 along with their own version of Crazy For You. With the uprising of Filipino Rock in the middle of 2005, Sponge Cola gained even more popularity from listeners with their song Gemini and especially the emo-alternative rock song Una. All their singles were able to reach the #1 spot in both Philippines 100 and MYX Hit Chart. Finally, Sponge Cola releases their sophomore album entitled Transit that became gold after three months of release. Bitiw the carrier single even broaden the band's popularity on 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 which their 2nd single Tuliro is now making a noise again.

The band has also contributed on two tribute albums.They covered the 90's hit song by the Eraserheads,"Pare Ko",on Ultraelectromagneticjam and the classic "Nakapagtataka" on the APO Hiking Society tribute,"Kami nAPO Muna".

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

Year Single Chart positions
NU Rock MYX Hit Chart
2005 "KLSP / Kulang Lang sa Pansin" #1 (2 weeks) #1 (1 week)
"Gemini" #1 (2 weeks) #1 (2 weeks)
"Una" #1 (2 week) #1 (1 week)
2006 "Jeepney" #1 (4 weeks) #1 (2 weeks)
"Bitiw" #1 (4 weeks) #1 (6 weeks)
"Nakapagtataka" #1 (2 weeks) #1 (2 weeks)
2007 "Tuliro" #1 (2 weeks)

[edit] References

    [edit] External Links

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