Now Serving: Long Bond Yellow Paper's Alimango Salad

The Long Bond Yellow Papers, a band which according to the Davao Music Nation (DMN) “have just emerged out of nowhere” is obviously not planning to go back into hiding behind the shadows of anonymity. After winning the Mindanao Band Festival Songwriting Competition, a win that made them earn a place under the local spotlight, LBYP is not showing signs of slowing down. In fact, they are speeding up! The band is set to leave their indelible mark in the local music of community of Davao by launching their very first album—“Alimango Salad”. The launching of LBYP’s Alimango Salad album will be happening this Saturday night (11-09-2013) at Saless Tekanplor and there is no doubt that it is going to be an electric event. HOW ELECTRIC EXACTLY? Well that is for you to find out. So, don’t deprive yourself of one awesome night this weekend. You should step into Saless Tekanplor this Saturday evening to step into the world of LBYP and just allow them to make you experience some serious rock and roll.

But before you help us swing and sway the venue later, it would be best if you get to know first. So, just keep reading you totally fine guy/gal.

What you need to know is that these guys initially formed this band because of a very simple, if not insanely common or I might as well say testosterone-driven reason– to be cool in high school. Back then, they were exactly like that bunch that is always there on every event in your campus, playing all too familiar songs during intermissions just to keep you entertained. They were the familiar faces that you see on the  students-only band competition on your school’s foundation day. They were the Yeah-I-Have-A-Band kids. They were the Screw-You-I-Love-Rock-And-Roll kids. And most of the time they were also the most fun-loving, trouble-making (not sure if this can be applied to the featured band) and the most easy-going bunch in the campus. Yeah! You can actually say that you can tag them as the cool guys.  I have heard that Long Bond Yellow Papers was successful in earning some notoriety during their high school days. It was like girls screaming their names and sending them love letters on Valentine’s Day. However, sweeping behind all that was just said, the most admirable thing about this band is that when they realized that they have they passion for making music, they pushed through. And that is something that rarely happens to bands that were formed during high school. I’m pretty sure that you have heard such story.

I asked Almond Roe Yumang,the band’s vocalist to look back and tell me something about the beginnings of his their band. “It all still in high school…that was around 2005. There were still two of us in the band that time. We shared a lot of tough times together (laughs). Then we looked for other members and then in 2008 we already seemed like properly formed band.”

Another thing that you might be interested about is the story behind the name “Long Bond Yellow Papers. If you think about it, the name seems like one of those just-came-out-on-a-whim type of names which is similar to the “Tear Here” on that famous “Chippy” commercial.  The truth is that the band thought really long and hard to come up of that name. I’m not really sure though. Almond told me about it. “(We chose the name LBYP) we were really into Red Hot Chili Peppers that time. So that was that. We tried to come up with a name that rhymes with Red Hot Chili Peppers (RCHP). And absolutely not MYMP (laughs)”.

I have listened to a couple of songs by LBYP and I can say that they are a band that plays with “heart”. Their love for creating music just emanates through every tune and song lyric that they offer to their listeners. Two of their songs, Alimango Salad and Permanent Change are my personal favorites. The first song, if I interpreted it correctly, carries the theme that can open someone’s eyes to an issue that in a way makes our society stink, while the latter acts like the band's outstretched arms inviting you to go with them in finding a meaning for this life. Imagine yourself on a Sunday afternoon. You are on your I-Am-Going-To-Chill mode. There is nothing that can ever raise your Cortisol levels. And then you are listening to some LBYP songs. It won’t exactly be like having Lennon serenading you to sleep with beautiful music and deep wisdom. However, it may leave you with  the same feeling only in a much edgier way. 

Normally, I include an interview of the band on every write up, but not this time. Reason? I am running out of time and this article should be published right now. I’ll grace you, the dear followers of LBYP with an interview soon. But instead on thinking of negative adjectives to describe this shitty writer, it would be best for you to start prepping up. In a few hours, LBYP will dominate the best local music venue in town and you should really be there.  The admission will only take you back a hundred bucks and you will already get a free beer, a free Alimango Salad CD and most especially, a night of good music. So yeah! See you at Saless!