Sponge Cola’s secret to longevity: No drama

SPONGE COLA band members (from left): Erwin Armovit, Yael Yuzon, Gosh Dilay and Ted Mark Cruz

“Ultrablessed” seems more like a Twitter hashtag than an album title from a pop-rock band like Sponge Cola. But having been in the music biz for 13 years now—still intact and a consistent hitmaker—frontman Yael Yuzon said that there was probably no better word to describe the band’s current state of mind.

Schmaltzy as it might sound, Yael felt that “Ultrablessed” would be the perfect title for their coming fifth studio album, to be released by Universal Records. “We have been around for a while and we are very lucky that we are still doing what we love to do: Making music and working with our musician-friends. We are happy and thankful,” he told the Inquirer in a recent interview.

While some of its contemporaries in the early 2000s have disappeared from the spotlight, Sponge Cola—Yael, Erwin Armovit (lead guitar), Gosh Dilay (bass) and Ted Mark Cruz (drums)—has retained its fizz. Last year, the band’s 2010 EP, “Tambay,” reached diamond status (150,000+ copies sold), making it one of the few local bands to achieve such a feat.

Solid friendship

More than the popular songs it had released in the past like “KLSP,” “Jeepney,” “Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay,” “Gemini,” “Bitiw” and “Tambay,” Yael credited the band’s success and longevity to the solid friendship among the members.

“I think one of our advantages is that there aren’t many conflicts within the band. We are all very different people, but we don’t clash. We assume different roles: I’m the firecracker; Ted Mark, the more laidback member, for instance. We don’t get sick of each other,” Yael said.

“We will be friends first and a band second,” he added, quoting a line from the film “Josie and the Pussycats.”

And all four work toward a single goal: Making good music. “We acknowledge each other’s ideas. We are all open-minded; we are all team players,” he said.

He said none of them was a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. Yael likened making music to playing basketball, “Your team can’t win playing hero ball—you have to share it.”

Yael said that the tracks of their coming album were currently being mixed, and he couldn’t be any more excited. For the first time since the band released its debut album “Palabas” in 2004, Yael declared that they finally put together a collection that was fluid and cohesive, both in sound and theme.

“I’m overwhelmed by how well the songs were strung together. The album paints a concrete picture, which we haven’t achieved in the past,” Yael said, adding that the band had a tendency to go “chop suey” or approach things with a “whatever goes” attitude when coming up with an album.

“Ultrablessed” wasn’t approached any differently—there wasn’t a deliberate effort to make the record sound and feel tighter. But for some “magical reason,” he said, everything just kind of melded beautifully. “Perhaps it’s our years of friendship coming through… We just wrote what felt natural to us.”

Guitar-driven

According to Yael, the new album, is honest and sincere. The songs are more guitar-driven, a departure from their more recent experiments with hip-hop, piano rock and other genres. Its carrier single, the soothing “Kailangan Kita,” on the other hand, was described as “a very traditional OPM song, updated with a bit of 1980s glamour and 1990s grunge.” “It’s something that uplifts your mood,” Yael said.

After years of heavy smoking, Yael finally kicked the habit three years ago, which did wonders for his singing—and ultimately, his craft. “It allowed me to be more experimental when it comes to vocals, and I rarely get hoarse and tired easily. But just the same, he said he would always be more of a storyteller who roused the emotions of the listeners. “I would like to believe that our instrument-playing tells stories as well,” Yael said.

“Ultrablessed,” slated for a November 22 launch (Yael’s birthday), will most likely have 10 tracks, one of them written by Yael’s girlfriend, singer Karylle.

Does it help that he’s with someone who’s also in the music biz? “Yes, she shares what she thinks about my work. Sometimes I record a melody on my phone and have her listen to it,” Yael related.

He loves surrounding himself with people who are sure to give valuable input. “It’s good to be around creative minds, like my brother and fellow musician Yani, because when you hit a wall you’ll have someone to help you break it,” he said.