MANILA, Philippines - Sponge Cola releases Ultrablessed, the award-winning pop-rock band’s fifth full-length under Universal Records.
Sponge Cola is arguably considered one of the most prolific bands in the Philippine music industry today as it has written, produced and recorded over 15 certified OPM smash hits. Sponge Cola was awarded the coveted Diamond Record award for the outstanding sales of its EP Tambay which sold over 500,000 units.
Sponge Cola is composed of Yael Yuzon on guitars and lead vocals; Ted Cruz on drums; Armo Armovit on guitars; and Gosh Dilay on bass.
Launched before a mammoth crowd of screaming fans last January in Eastwood City,Ultrablessed contains 10 all-original tracks including its first single Kailangan Kita which was written by Gosh Dilay. The CD’s second single, Anting-Anting, was written by Yael Yuzon and Dilay, in collaboration with rapper Gloc 9 and Denise Barbacena, who also appear as guest vocalists in the single. Anting-Anting is rapidly climbing the charts of Manila’s OPM radio stations while the music video of Kailangan Kita, directed by Tonette Jadaone, is enjoying massive airplay on music channel MYX. The video also features Kitchen Musical’s Carla Dunareanu, who is now a DJ on Magic 89.9 FM. Likewise, the music video of Anting-Anting, which was directed by J Pacena is also dominating MYX.
Ultrablessed is also packaged with a special DVD of Sponge Cola’s first-ever live, full-length concert that happened in Music Museum last year titled Maximum Capacity, directed by Paolo Valenciano. The DVD contains live performances from the concert, which was both a commercial and critical success. It also contains the footage of Sponge Cola’s historic live performance with Zia Quizon and Gary Valenciano.
Early this year, Yael and Ted went to the United States for a much-needed vacation after the band toured the Philippines in the recently-concluded Tanduay Rockfest. While in a rented Hyundai Elantra, they documented their road trip in the West Coast with stops in Arizona, Nevada, and California. “We decided to film our trip and make a documentary. We also had a couple of performances along the way,†says Yael. “We met up with former MYX VJ Michelle Ng and Jorel Corpus who was the former guitarist of Kjwan. Jorel is now an L.A.-based record producer and he produced our very first album Palabas.â€
The very first episode of Yael’s and Ted’s US adventures can be viewed on the band’s official YouTube account on www.youtube.com/spongecolamusic starting Feb. 15. Ultrablessed is available in all record bars nationwide.
For details, check out the band’s official website www.spongecolaonline.com, like its official Facebook page (Facebook.com/Spongecola), follow the band on Twitter (@sponge_cola) and Instagram (@spongecolamusic) and subscribe the its music on YouTube (spongecolamusic).