Baguio band Dilaw goes mainstream

“It has been a crazy ride,” said Dilaw band vocalist and composer Dilaw Obero after only a year of his band, Dilaw, in the music scene. “This was just my dream before, but now, it has become a reality.”

From being a mere alternative hip-hop duo based in the City of Pines in 2022 — with Dilaw on vocals and Vie de la Rosa as rhythm guitarist/instrumentalist — the Uhaw hitmaker expanded to a full indie rock collective with six members.

“We wrote some of the songs together and we took on four other members,” Vie shared. “All of us found it initially hard to adjust as a six-member group because we have not been together for a long time.

“But all of us were ready to commit and take that risk. We were really determined to make our dreams come true.”

Today, the other members are Wayne de la Rosa (bassist), Leon Altomonte (guitarist), En Altomonte (keyboardist) and Tobi Samson (drums).

Wayne initially saw the Dilaw duo lined up for a gig in Baguio. “Around that time, I was ready to play for a band since the group I was playing with wasn’t active anymore,” he said. “I sent over to Vie a message if I could jam with them once. The next thing I knew, I was going down to Manila with them. After that, there have been six of us since.”

Toby was previously working as a resident drummer in a studio and he recorded the tracks with Dilaw. “An opportunity came to perform with Dilaw in Manila and they also got me as the drummer. The rest is history.”

“We set foot in Manila a few months ago,” shared Wayne, who was previously a content writer looking for a band. “Everything has been super fast. We did nothing but gigs, performances and all the projects. Right now, we’re just taking everything day by day.

“To be honest, we are not exactly sure where we live right now. A few months ago, around April or May, we were asked to come down to Manila for a month’s schedule of gigs. Since then, we were up in Baguio for a (total of) two weeks.

“We didn’t plan for this move (to Manila). We didn’t exactly know we were moving. But we are having a good time. We all recently realized how wild that is. We live in Manila now.

“There’s no turning back. We are grateful to everyone for making all these happen to us. We have yet to rest as we are still processing everything that happened in the past few months. Rest and relaxation have not been in our itinerary since May.”

Brothers Leon and En were previously playing together in a band in Baguio. Vie was a musician based in Shanghai, China and an English kindergarten teacher, as well.

Dilaw can’t be anything but happy for everything that has been happening to the band that allowed them to make a noise on the music and entertainment scene. They are undoubtedly enjoying their time in the limelight.

“The whole reason we’re doing this is to promote music to our community and help build a local music scene in Baguio, so the next generation after us can do it from their homebase (in Baguio) without having to move all the way down here (in Manila),” Wayne said.

Vie happily agreed. “Tiring but happy every day.”

Wayne added, “People have been in the industry longer than us. It has been really nice taking in all the information and all the knowledge. We haven’t been able to sit down and fully process everything yet.”

Dilaw landed on NME (New Music Express) 100 as “one of the most essential emerging artists worldwide in 2023.”

They recently released their second single, Orasa (Hour Glass), a bittersweet theme about love. They were recently signed up by Warner Music for a recording and management contract.

“The song is rendered repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly,” vocalist Dilaw informed. “It’s about the love that was lost. When you get into that situation, your feeling gets repeated.”

Unavoidably, the Dilaw members also clash occasionally. “It’s a double-edged sword,” explained Wayne. “Sometimes, personalities clash, we can’t avoid it. But we’re adults. It’s easy to address the situation when you admit it’s happening.

“The more we admit that we clash, it’s easier to tackle the problem objectively. We figure out a solution and at the end of the day, that’s what makes us all happy. That was how we were approaching the clash the past three months.”

Vie added, “We purposely made ourselves toxic so we could share what we want to say in a joking manner. But often, that was what we really wanted to say and that was the only way to do it. We were happy that we didn’t hold back.”

Dilaw band’s message to new artists is their collective chant, “Strike while the iron is metal.”

“Seriously, if you have the energy, the drive and the creative fire in you to do your thing, just keep doing your thing. Strike while the iron is metal. Do it.”