sponge cola's talented men..

Formation (1998-2002):

Sponge Cola is a Filipino rock band formed in 2002. Between 1998 to 2002, yael and gosh, both from Ateneo High School, met through the school's theater guild, Teatro Baguntao. Yael was then the frontman of a rock band called White Castle. 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 Sporting Tour. The band won in several high school competitions boosting their popularity not just in their school but in other campuses, as well.

Some members of the old lineup left and were replaced by chris and armo. The latter is the guitarist of another band Rampqueen, which was managed also by Sponge's manager Raymond Fabul. 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 formed in summer of 2002.

Early Career (2002-2004)
They came up with a self-titled EP in the last quarter of 2003 containing five original songs: Lunes, A Tear, Saturn, Cigarette and Jeepney. The first and the last song penned in the vernacular caught the public's attention. Lunes, written by Gosh, begins with a bossa nova-esque beat that suddenly shifts to a heavy rock riff. 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. Yael's vocal range is evident in the song showcasing his ability to shift from mellow to screamo.

Through this EP, Sponge Cola got extensive airplay from several local pop and rock radio stations. A bootlegged copy of their version of Madonna's "Crazy for You" ended up on the Internet and became an underground hit, with some listeners believing it was a Sponge Cola original. Though this misconception helped increase their popularity, the band aimed to remove the stigma of being a cover band, pushing their original songs to the forefront.

band members:
Ysmael "Yael" Yuzon
Reynaldo "Gosh" Dilay
Christopher "Chris" Cantada
Erwin "Armo" Armovit