Franco (band)
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Franco is a rock band from the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, formed in 2008. The band had its beginnings as a supergroup with members from iconic
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
bands, consisting of Franco Reyes (InYo) on vocals, Gabby Alipe (
Urbandub Urbandub is a Filipino rock band from Cebu City, Philippines. Since its inception in 2000, the band's line-up consisted of Gabby Alipe, John Dinopol, Lalay Lim, and JanJan Mendoza who joined in 2003. Urbandub is the first indie band in the Phili ...
) on guitar, 8 Toleran ( Queso) on guitar,
Buwi Meneses Buhawi "Buwi" F. Meneses (born June 4, 1976) is a Filipino bassist for the band Parokya ni Edgar, and formerly for Franco. Biography Meneses is the second of four children and only son of breast cancer activist Danny Valenzuela Meneses and t ...
(
Parokya ni Edgar Parokya ni Edgar (lit: Edgar's Parish) is a Filipino band formed in 1993. The band is known for its original rock novelty songs and often satirical covers of popular songs both foreign and local. The band is adept at playing in various musica ...
) on bass guitar, and JanJan Mendoza (
Urbandub Urbandub is a Filipino rock band from Cebu City, Philippines. Since its inception in 2000, the band's line-up consisted of Gabby Alipe, John Dinopol, Lalay Lim, and JanJan Mendoza who joined in 2003. Urbandub is the first indie band in the Phili ...
) on drums. This original lineup disbanded in mid-2012, and regrouped with frontman Franco Reyes backed by Paul Cañada on guitar, Dave Delfin on bass and Victor Guison on drums.


History

Franco started as a collaboration project between Alipe, Toleran, Meneses and Mendoza, who are prominent musicians in the Pinoy rock scene. In late 2008, deciding to have a front man for their project band, Alipe, Mendoza, Toleran and Meneses collaborated with Reyes, who had returned to the Philippines from a stay in the U.S., thus completing the band, ''Franco''. In 2009, they recorded songs that comprised Franco's first album. Upon the release of the first album in 2010, their songs quickly became hits and topped the charts. The band dominated the 2010
NU Rock Awards The NU Rock Awards was an annual accolade presented from 1994 to 2010 by the Metro Manila-based radio station NU 107, known for prominent performances by the most influential pinoy rock artists of each year. History The first NU 107 Rock Awa ...
with 4 awards and 9 nominations. They were also nominated and won an award in the 2010
Awit Awards The Awit Awards are music awards in the Philippines given annually by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI) to recognize the outstanding achievements in the music industry. The word "Awit" means "song" literally in Filipino. T ...
. However, in 2012, Alipe, Meneses, Toleran and Mendoza left the group, with Franco Reyes persisting to continue. Recruiting former bandmates from Cebu, Franco, now a principal act, released his sophomore studio album in 2013, entitled ''Soul Adventurer''. Franco now tours with new members, namely Paul Cañada, Dave Delfin and Victor Guison.


Music

Franco's musical roots are traced to a Cebu-based band named ''Frank!'', formed by Reyes in 1996, which is credited for having boosted the Cebu rock scene. However, despite reggae-leaning songs originally composed by Reyes for Frank!, the latter music of Franco became considerably heavier. Two Franco songs — “Touch the Sky” and “Song for the Suspect — have
Rastafarian Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...
messages.


Mainstream success

In 2010, they released their self-titled full-length album under MCA Music. Music videos for “Cast Away” and “This Gathering” were aired on the Filipino music channel,
Myx Myx (, stylized as MYX or myx) is a Philippine pay TV channel based in Quezon City, owned by Creative Programs Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation. The channel is targeted to youth audiences and primarily airs music videos. It was intr ...
. Franco also dominated the 2010 NU Rock Awards by winning four awards—Artist of the Year, Song of the Year for “This Gathering”, Album of the Year for their self-titled album, and the Listeners' Choice Award. The supergroup also won an award during the 2010 Awit Awards as the ''Best Performance By A Group Of Recording Artists - "Castaway"'', and was also nominated for the ''Best Performance By A New Group Of Recording Artists - "Castaway"'' and ''Best Rock/Alternative - "Castaway".'' The band was nominated numerous times for the
MYX Music Awards The Myx Music Awards, currently known as the Myx Awards, are accolades presented by the cable channel Myx to honor the biggest hitmakers in the Philippines. The awards ceremony is held annually and occurs most commonly in March, and broadcast de ...
. In mid-2012, four of the members (Alipe, Toleran, Meneses and Mendoza) announced a parting of ways to focus on their own respective bands. Franco Reyes decided to retain the entity by collaborating with former colleagues from Cebu, thereby recording the second ''Franco'' album. In 2013, ''Soul Adventurer'' was released as the band's second album. With the new lineup on board, the group won ''Best Alternative Recording'' (Awit Awards) for the song ''Better Days.'' On November 9, 2014, Franco launched an EP, titled ''Frank!'', at the St. James Power Station in Sentosa, Singapore.


Band members

Current members *Franco Reyes – lead vocals, guitar (2008–present) *Paul "Poldo" Cañada – guitar (2012–present) *Dave Delfin – bass (2012–present) *Victor Guison – drums (2012–present) Former members *Gabby Alipe – guitar (2008–2012) *Paolo "8"/"Ocho" Toleran – guitar (2008–2012) *JanJan Mendoza – drums (2008–2012) *
Buwi Meneses Buhawi "Buwi" F. Meneses (born June 4, 1976) is a Filipino bassist for the band Parokya ni Edgar, and formerly for Franco. Biography Meneses is the second of four children and only son of breast cancer activist Danny Valenzuela Meneses and t ...
 – bass (2008–2012)


Discography


Studio Album

* ''Franco'' (2010) * ''Soul Adventurer'' (2013) * ''Flight'' (2018)


EP

* ''Frank!'' (2014)


Track listing

''Franco'' (2010) ''Soul Adventurer'' (2013) ''Flight'' (2018)


Awards and nominations


References


External links


Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco Filipino rock music groups Musical groups established in 2009 Musical groups from Cebu Musical groups from Metro Manila MCA Music Inc. (Philippines) artists