Fillipino rock band Sponge Cola has been going strong for over twenty-years and there’s a good reason for that: The four-piece band actually genuinely likes and respect not only one another, but also their throngs of fans the world over. Comprised of lead vocalist Yael Yuzon, bass player Gosh Dilay, guitarist Armo Armovit and drummer Tedmark Cruz this is a quartet that simply cannot be bettered, a rare case of a group of performers actually getting better as they go along.

 On the heels of the release of their eighth album Hometown, and on the eve of the March release of their brand-spankin’ new single So Close (a powerful duet with singing sensation Morissette), Vents was fortunate to sit down with the group in a rare bit of down-time as they tour across the U.S.

Vents: We’re super-excited to be speaking today with celebrated rock band Sponge Cola; greetings and salutations gang!

Yael Yuzon: Thanks, we’re happy to be talking with Vents!

Vents: Congratulations on all of the exciting things which Sponge Cola has going on right now! Starting from the top, how did your Saturday evening performance in Los Angeles go?

Yael Yuzon: It was great! It was a gig and a family reunion for me. My relatives all live in the Cerritos area of L.A. So they all drove there and it was a real party. It was an emotional reunion, so much so that I actually cried on stage. That has never happened to me in my entire life. It wasn’t the sort of crying where you could hear a pin drop or anything; it wasn’t a bummer. It was like, ‘Aww.’ It was like something you would see on facebook.

Vents: Anyone who has ever been lucky enough to catch a live Sponge Cola show knows that you guys put on a heck of a performance. Is it difficult to translate the magic from your albums to a live venue performance?

Yael Yuzon: It actually comes naturally the preparation for our live shows, because we write songs usually with an acoustic guitar and with someone singing. That’s usually how it starts. So because the whole of the writing experience is usually like that, it’s almost already a live performance. It’s just a matter of how loud and how many other elements we’re going to add. Our live performances often times write themselves. The live thing comes naturally for us. We’ve also been doing it for twenty years, so we don’t really get too nervous over anything…

Vents: It’s not your first rodeo as you point out: You’ve been at this since 2002. To what do you attribute the band’s longevity?

Yael Yuzon: I think it starts internally. I think we’re very good friends and that’s really what matters. It was never about money or all of these other external things. We just like hanging out with each other. So I don’t think that’s going to change. So far I think everyone in the group still likes me (laughter)! We focus on writing songs, really. I think that’s a big thing as a recording group: You need to have your own songs. There are some artists that don’t really write…I think with this new generation, especially in the Phillipines, that’s started to change. There’s a lot of writing now. There’s more writing now as opposed to in the past.

Armo Armovit: I think over the twenty years we’ve been together we’ve learned how to respect each other’s spaces. We’re always looking toward the greater good, which is the music and our service to it. The music is bigger than the four of us individually. We always try to keep that in mind. We all sincerely enjoy all aspects of the responsibility of playing music. Not just the playing of the mjusic and the writing of it, but also making sure that it gets to the audience the way it is supposed to, and showing appreciation and gratitude to that audience.

Yael Yuzon: It’s not really a job, it’s more of a calling at this point. It’s who we are and who we’re meant to be.

Vents: You touched upon the creative process. Creatively, how does that break down for the band? Does everyone sort of throw in their thoughts and ideas towards the creation of new music?

Yael Yuzon: Usually its me and Gosh Dilay our bassist. We’ll present the backbone of something. But there will be times when someone such as our drummer Ted Mark Cruz or Armo will present something and then we’ll work on it from there…Usually it’s easier for us as a group if Gosh and I come up with the backbone because it’s something tangible and that’s already there. There is already a base and you just need to add the backgrounds.

Vents: Crush Soda recently released their eighth studio album Hometown back in December. If I can add to the chorus of fans, what a brilliant album! Listening to Hometown, it feels like such a personal and intimate album. They all are obviously, but this one maybe even more so. Is that a correct assesment and, also, how long in the making was Hometown?

Yael Yuzon: Hometown was basically a collection of all of the songs which we wrote and recorded during the pandemic. For us in the Phillipines the pandemic started around March 15 of 2020. That was the day of the beginning of the lockdown. From March 15 until the release date of December 14, 2022 for the new album, those were ths songs that we wrote. We weren’t face to face, we were just sending files over to one another. Some fot hem were even recorded that way. So it is reflective of that time. There are parts that aren’t as organically connected, but at the end of the day it all makes sense and comes together. And it makes sense, still. Production-wise, that is what happened.

Ted Mark Cruz: When we could actually go out more, we had more time at the studio and not just online. So we had more time hanging out both personally and creatively. We really missed each other.

Yael Yuzon: A lot of people grew up during the pandemic. You know how some people are in bad relationships and then they were forced to stay together because of the lockdowns without any extended breaks, for some couples it was too much. It was like, ‘Oh, no!’ So I wrote about stuff like that and then based some material off of my friend’s actual experiences – which makes me kind of mean (laughs). I wrote a song about a friend of mine and then I sent it to her and she was like ‘Oh, this song is so relatable!’ And I was like, ‘Yeah..I forgot that it was about you.’ (laughs)

Vents: Switching gears a little, you’ve got an upcoming single that’s due to drop in March called So Close. There’s a very special duet within that gem of a tune. Can you tell readers what they can expect when they play this new tune?

Yael Yuzon: It’s a song with a duet with an artist named Morissette. Her range is just insane. She’s one of the best singers in the country. When I heard her parts of the song I told our producer Joey Santos that I was going to have to re-do my parts because I needed to match my vocals with hers. Everything I do as a vocalist has to match Morissette. It’s a great song about seeing the light of dead stars from a romantic standpoint. It’s like when you’re secretly in love with someone but you’re actually more in love with the memory of that person. Then you see that person face-to-face and you’re like ‘Oh, there’s no more feelings, not really. I was seeing the light of dead stars and not the actual reality as it exists in the here and now.’

Vents: It sounds as if she really came to play.

Yael Yuzon: Yes. I can tell that she is influenced a lot by Mariah Carey; that same range is there…

Vents: What did your collaboration with producer Joey Santos on So Close look like in the studio?

Yael Yuzon: His name is DJ Joey Santos and he has dance roots and he also has a Punk band. He’s anti-establishment and he’s a fun guy. He really shook upn the entire process for us. Normally we’re into some heavy guitars, or at least ample guitars. He was really good and had an ear for the instrumental and bringing us out of our comfort zone. Sometimes you’ve been doing this for too long and you get into a pattern and you default into what is comfortable. But he was very successful into weaving our sound into new things. We’re all into a lot of the same things and he’s an eclectic guy, too. He always serves good coffee and pastries, also! (laughs) He was very instrumental in moving us away from our instrumentals.

Vents: How is So Close different from anything else on the 2023 music scene?

Yael Yuzon: Music has always been about extrapolating something from a moment or experience. I guess in this case, there is a calm harshness to the lyrical content. It’s not like ‘Boo-hoo, I’m crying.’ It’s like ‘It’s just the way things are; this is the human condition.’ We’re not wiping tears, we’re wiping truths.

Vents: Word ‘round industry campfire has it that Sponge Cola has a new album set to drop sometime maybe in 2023. What can you reveal about this new LP?

Yael Yuzon: It’s a little like The Neverending Story: Hometown is already out, but we’re going to keep adding songs to it. The album started with nine tracks. And then there was eleven. Now there’s going to be twelve. So it really is like The Neverending Story. All we need now is a massive dog flying with us (laughs).

Vents: Musically, who inspires you?

Gosh Dilay: I really grew up listening to the classics from the bands of the 1990s.

Yael Yuzon: I’m influenced heavily by this point by my wife who is also a singer in the Phillipines…she always pushes me to be my best. When you’re wife is a pusher, you’re really going to get things done. And this is like positive reinforcement kind of pushing.

Armo Armovit: For me it’s actually my grandmother. She’s 90, 91 years old. She plays piano but she doesn’t read music. She just listens to you sing and then she’ll play along with you. Her honesty is always very moving.

Ted Mark Cruz: For me its artists such as Questlove and Erykah Badu. Those artists are still a big part of what I listen to. I’m also a big fan of jazz and funk type of music,