The headline, "OPM is dead!" has been circulating for quite some time now. Most people believed it is true because international songs has been constantly dominating our music charts. The number one spot has always been either from a K-Pop artist, from The Biebs or from One Direction. It has been like this for years. Rarely does an OPM song get the most coveted number one spot. Yes, OPM songs would dominate once in a while but when we say once in a while, it is really once in a long while. Although with this belief in mind, one band tries to prove everyone wrong. OPM might have been idle but it is definitely, certainly, absolutely, 100 percent, very much alive!
The proof of OPM being awakened once more lies on this 13 year old band.
Meet, Sponge Cola! This band is one of those who massively contributed to turn OPM from dead to "undead". In 2000 at the Ateneo de Manila High School, Ysamel "Yael" Yuzon formed a band with him on vocals and guitar, Reynaldo "Gosh" Dilay on bass guitar and backing vocals, Erwin "Armo" Armovit on lead guitar and Chris Cantada on drums. Inside the campus they were known as "Sponge", but upon learning that there was another band with the exact same name, they added "Cola" to the mix to keep the word sponge and to make it different from the mainstream band names. Catchy and creative!
By 2004, they released their first full- length album under Sony BMG Philippines entitled, Palabas. Their first single KLSP instantly topped the charts, creating noise for the very promising, young band. KLSP was instantly followed by many more singles like the Romeo and Juliet inspired song, Gemini, Una and one of their biggest hits, Jeepney. All of these sky rocketed to number one upon release, dominating the hit charts and making the band more popular than ever.
The band was doing great and two years after Palabas, they released their much awaited second album: Transit. This album contains the band's most requested songs like Bitiw, Tuliro and Pasubali. These songs weren't only heard on the radio or on music channels but it eventually became theme songs for some of the most watched television shows. The album Transit also gained the band another success when they started to get recognized in certain award giving bodies like the MYX Music Awards.
Artists usually pick their first album to be self-titled but count Sponge Cola out of the usual. 2008 marked the release of their third album entitled, "Sponge Cola". This album generated hits like, Puso, which became the UAAP Season 71 theme song. There was also, Di Na Mababawi, Makapiling Ka and Ayt! which they recorded with Mr. Pure Energy himself, Gary Valenciano. In the process of recording this album, the band had to bid farewell to their drummer Chris Cantada, who was facing health issues at the time. Different drummers got on board to fill in for Chris but in 2009, Ted Mark "TMac" Cruz officially became a new member of Sponge Cola. Aside from all the hits they've made for this album, another reason to be amazed is the fact that, believe it or not Sponge Cola was the first band in the Philippines to record their album in MP3 and MP4 format.
The album "Araw, Oras, Tagpuan" of 2011, became the fourth album of Sponge Cola which contained Kay Tagal Kitang Hinintay, Regal, Stargazer, Araw, Oras, Tagpuan and Tamabay. This gained them a Diamond Album Award for selling more than two hundred thousand copies of their song Tamabay which was a complete hit from the song itself to the music video which was definitely creative.
Sponge Cola released "District", an EP, in 2012 containing 6 tracks which was spearheaded by the song XGF featuring Chito Miranda of Parokya Ni Edgar and Los Magno. This single earned them the top spot on the most downloaded list for 7 long weeks. And nothing out of the usual with this band, all the other singles they released from this album also became number one.
2000 was when they started and thirteen years later Sponge Cola is still as popular and they keep on getting better. 2013 marks their thirteen years as a band and there is no better way to celebrate that than to share their music through a concert. There might be questions like, "Don't they usually celebrate the 10th year anniversary?". The answer to this question is, Sponge Cola is anything but a usual band.
Last July 19, 2013, Maximum Capacity was held at the Music Museum, which marks not only their thirteenth year as a band but also their first major concert. The theater was jam packed and all seats were taken. There were cheerleaders, a guitarist at the entrance and merchandise were being sold to keep everyone busy while waiting for the band. As the crew finished all adjustments and sound checks, the lights were dimmed and everyone started to scream out of excitement. Four guys entered the stage wearing insane neon colored clothes and with the help of black lights, they illuminated on stage. The drum beats were heard, followed by the bass and the guitar and before the crowd knew it they were playing the song song 22 . No, not the song by Taylor Swift. It's the one way cooler than that. 22 was one of the singles they released in 2004 from their first album. As they performed their opening number the crowd went wild, screaming and singing along to every line. When they finished, it was the first time the stage was completely seen with all the lights and props. The director, Paolo Valenciano, and the entire team did a good job in conceptualizing a very creative and futuristic set which can be matched with international ones. There were black lights, smoke machines, an illuminating back drop, scaffolding to create leveling on the stage, there were microphones coming down from the ceiling and many more surprises.
Apart from their music, the thing people look forward to in seeing Sponge Cola live is their small talks between songs. They always seem to carry out funny and interesting chats which Yael said to be something he should avoid that night because of time constraints but none the less he was able to inject a lot of talking song after song keeping the crowd alive and laughing. It also helped that they had guests like Zia Quizon, Los Magno, Ryan Bang and Gary Valenciano to add to the fun filled night.
The fact that Sponge Cola was able to maintain their fan base for thirteen years and making every single song top the charts, goes to show that OPM was never dead. The limelight might not have captured it for a while but it doesn't necessarily mean it was not there. Sure, it was not as popular as other international bands but still they strive to make music that matters. A music that matters are those songs people can fully relate to. These are the songs that are considered soundtracks of life. And they have given us multiple songs to live with.
With every song they perform, the crowd sings. Every beat they play, the crowd moves. Every line they sing, the crowd relates. This is what OPM is all about. This is missing piece people seem to not care about. It is making a connection between the performer and the crowd and Sponge Cola has definitely achieved that. For thirteen years, they managed to make the crowd move, to make them sing to every line and most importantly they were able to relate with them through every song. People might have concluded that OPM is dead but they are wrong. It was only half asleep. As the other half was done and out, there was Sponge Cola who was one of the bands keeping it awake. Of course it was not all rainbows and butterflies. They also had to go through struggles but the main point is they kept fighting. The amount of number one hits they have made contributes to the awakening process OPM needed. Their achievements are proof that while everybody thought OPM was gone, musically, this band was fighting for it. Not everyone might notice this but with a little more time, everyone will be able to let the light shine on OPM once more. People would appreciate OPM again. With Sponge Cola's increasing fan base, continuous number of top chart hits, insane record sales, and top ranks on downloaded songs, they have contributed in shifting the limelight back to OPM. As long as Sponge Cola continues to create their art in the form of music that matters, they will certainly continue to keep OPM alive.
-Basically PauAu
You can find videos from the concert on my Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/paulinegoddess/
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