YEARS ACTIVE: 1993 – 97; 2007 – PRESENT
Members: DONG ABAY, ERIC GANCIO, ONIE
BADIANG
90’S HITS: BANAL NA ASO, SANTONG KABAYO,
TSINELAS, ESEM, SENTI, PAALAM SAMPAGUITA
Yano is a Filipino folk/punk rock band
formed in 1993. The band members were originally composed of Dong Abay on
vocals and Eric Gancio on guitar. Onie Badiang later joined them to play bass.
Nowie Favila was the usual drummer but declined to join the group due to
commitments with Ang Grupong Pendong. Other drummers of the band included
Nonong Timbalopez, Harley Alarcon and Jun Nogoy. The band got their name when
Abay looked through an entry in "Talahulugang Pilipino", an old
Tagalog dictionary. "Yano" in Tagalog means "simple", a
term often used by Tagalog speakers in the Province of Quezon. The group
disbanded in 1997 after Abay left the band.
In 2007, Gancio revived Yano as a
one-man band, although he continued to use sidemen as backing musicians for
live performances. In later years, Gancio while performing vocals and lead
guitars is accompanied by JR Madarang on bass and Ronald Madarang on drums. In
2013, Yano released their fourth studio album titled Talâ (Star).
In 1992, Dong Abay, Eric Gancio and
Larry Mapolon met in Patatag, a progressive vocal ensemble. Gancio was chosen
to represent 'Patatag' to a composite chorale group for a concert tour in Japan
where he met Manji Ikuta who would be the front act in all their shows, with
his band called 'Soso'. Manji gave Gancio a vintage semi-acoustic electric
Yamaha, which Gancio later named 'Kai', in what was a pseudo samurai sort of ritual.
In December 1992, Gancio invited Abay to the former's desire to journey into
the adventure of writing his own songs. Gancio later met percussionist Renmin
Nadela who later became the founder of 'Agaw Agimat'. The word Yano came up
while browsing the Filipino dictionary for words. It was a Bisaya (Visayan)
word (meaning 'simple'), Gancio then decided that the name appropriately
symbolizes the songs that have already been written, as well as the style of
songwriting.
They recorded their demo at the home studio of alternative artist Joey Ayala in June 1993. They brought two of the tracks, "Kumusta Na?," ("How Are You?") a song about the "EDSA Revolution", and "Kaka," a song about the 12-hour brownout during that time, to a local radio station L.A. 105.9 where the group was first heard. This paved the way for Yano to become active in the local club circuit. Mayrics, Club Dredd, 70s Bistro were among the first clubs that Yano performed in. Drummers for the band included Nowie Favila (Ang Grupong Pendong), Nonong Timbalopez (Put3Ska, Ex President's Combo), Jun Nogoy (Coffeebreak Island) and Harley Alarcon (Rizal Underground and POT. In 1994, the band's self-titled debut album came out, with rock songs including"Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo" ("Holy Dog, Saintly Horse"), "Tsinelas" ("Slippers") and "Esem" (wordplay for SM or Shoemart mall. This was followed by a string of successful concerts around the Philippine archipelago. Their first album from Alpha records (re-issued by BMG) reached quadruple platinum in 1994. After producing three studio albums, Abay quit during the late 1990s because of fame-induced pressure. The group later disbanded after Abay’s absence.
