Lola Amour writes an ode to their growth

AFTER YEARS OF LINEUP CHANGES, WE ASK THE 'RAINING IN MANILA' HITMAKERS: HOW HAVE YOUR BANDMATES GROWN SINCE JOINING LOLA AMOUR?

- By ANDREA PANALIGAN

One of my favorite fun facts about Lola Amour is that on their Wikipedia page, there is a very comprehensive, complex timeline of the duration of each member, past and present. This includes sessionists, sessionists-turned-band members, and former members briefly popping up for a couple of gigs.

Any band with the skill and luck of longevity is prone to change, but this is all the more true for the Raining in Manila hitmakers. What could easily be misinterpreted as a symptom of instability is actually a testament to Lola Amour's resilience: it will always be about the music and doing what they love, regardless of who ends up onstage with them.

When I met the members—Pio Dumayas (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Zoe Gonzales (lead guitar), Angelo Mesina (trumpet), David Yuhico (keyboards), Jeff Abueg (saxophone and clarinet), Raffy Perez (drums), and Manu Dumayas (bass)—they exchange inside jokes and laugh almost as much as they speak. They have, as the online joke goes, one brain cell, finishing each other's sentences and effortlessly matching the other's banter.

The band is, after all, made up of friends of friends. Some met through school. Pio invited his brother Manu to join a few years in. When Mesina was still in med school (he's now a licensed doctor), the band gave him all the time he needed.

With this history in mind, The Philippine STAR pose a question to each member: How do you think your bandmate has grown since joining the band?

Ahead of the release of the band's new album "Love on Loop" later this year, we also speak with their band manager Mika Ordoñez, who fans have come to love, about what she wants listeners to remember about the band.

ZOE, ON HOW PIO HAS CHANGED
"Throughout the years (he has changed) significantly—performance-wise, stage presence, everything. I've seen the start. The spiels? They were so bad.

But now, even without the guitar, he's so confident. The way he moves just feels so natural."