Wolfgang to honor late bassist Mon Legaspi on 30th anniversary tour

When Wolfgang reformed in 2007, the band's original drummer, Leslie "Wolf" Gemora, didn't return.

- By JANUAR JUNIOR AGUJA

He had been one of the founding members alongside vocalist Basti Artadi, guitarist Manuel Legarda, and bassist Mon Legaspi when the band first started in 1992 as Wolfpack before changing to their current name on the suggestion of guitarist friend David Aguirre of Razorback.During that five-year break, Artadi and Gemora relocated to the United States to form Lokomotiv, a Pinoy rock band based in California. Artadi would later depart the band before its disbandment in 2007 — the same year he returned to Wolfgang.

What pushed Gemora to finally reunite with his former band after two decades was when he was pitched in 2025 to join the band again for their 30th anniversary tour this year. He didn’t hesitate to say yes, as he saw it as a way to honor Legaspi, who passed away in 2022 due to cardiac arrest.

"With Mon’s passing, we realized how short life is," he explained to The FREEMAN in a one-on-one virtual interview. "We have to take every opportunity that comes our way, and we just have to say yes and yes as long as we're not hurting anyone. We need to do whatever makes us happy."

"We may be in our 50s, but we are still quite young in the grand scheme of things, who can still play at the top level," he added. "We want to do this before our bodies can't physically do it anymore, so we are taking advantage of this opportunity, and in the spirit of Mon. Mon Legaspi is always part of Wolfgang, even though he’s somewhere else right now."

Legaspi was a major contributor as a lyricist, penning most of the band's Tagalog tracks, including hits like "Halik ni Hudas" and "Natutulog kong Mundo" from their 1994 self-titled debut album, released by Ivory Music.

"There were three previous guys before Mon, and they left either due to circumstances or because their style didn't mesh with our sound," Gemora recalled. "But when Mon joined us, Basti said that this is when Wolfgang became Wolfgang, and our lives changed."