“District represents a part of a bigger whole, just like our album, an extended play instead of a full length album,” he explains. “It has six songs, three of which I co-wrote, ‘XGF’, the carrier single, with Chito Miranda and Los Magno; ‘Twelve’ and ‘It’s About You Girl’. The other cuts are ‘Mahaba Pa ang Gabi’, ‘Pick Your Poison’ and ‘Fireworks’.”
Aside from Yael, other members of the band are Armo on lead guitar, Gosh on bass and Tedmark on drums. The music videos of “XGF” and “Mahaba Pa ang Gabi” can now be seen on MTV stations. The second of three kids, Yael’s older brother Yani is an acting coach on GMA-7. It’s also common knowledge Yael is now the special someone of Karylle and she gets along fine with K’s mom, Zsa Zsa Padilla.
“Everyone knows she went through a lot recently with the passing of the Comedy King,” he says. “We tried to be with her and encourage her to relax. We’ve all traveled together to Maldives.”
Does he also get along fine with K’s sister, Zia Quizon? “Yes, we share the same jokes and watch the same shows.”
K auditioned for ‘Miss Saigon’. What if she made it, would they be ready to live away from each other? “We’re very supportive of each other’s careers. When she did ‘Kitchen Musical’ in Singapore, I visited her. You don’t get closeness naman just from the number of days of being together but in how you connect with each other. I’ve had friends who went abroad but we remain close. You just do what you need to do. Life is short.”
How else does K support him? “When we need a female vocalist to back us up, okay lang sa kanya. And that’s uncredited. She even helps promote our new album.”
What’s next for Sponge Cola? “Our experience in representing the Philippines in the Memphis and Dubai music festival was very encouraging. They love our songs, so we want to expand outside of the Philippines. We intend to release an album compiling our best songs in Southeast Asia.
