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.”

- LEAH C. SALTERIO

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.”