The members of the 25-year-old band The Itchyworms have remained close and in touch after all these years.
It all started in 1996 when college freshmen Kelvin Yu, Jugs Jugueta, and Jazz Nicolas met as members of the Ateneo Musicians Pool.
All they wanted was to play at the freshmen night, one of the activities during the orientation seminar of first year students.
Jugs quips, “Paano ba… we were never really friends.
“No, hindi joke lang! We were really friends first before being bandmates.”
Aside from that, all three were ardent Beatles fans.
Jazz says, “Parang kindred spirits, makahanap ng kapwa Beatles fan during that age.”
It was their passion for the Beatles that lured Chino Singson to their group a year later.
Chino narrates, “Nakita ko mahilig sila tumugtog ng Beatles, and then dahil ako, mahilig din, ‘Pa-jam naman sa isang show niyo kung pwede.’
“They had me jam on one show and, later on, kinukuha na ako ng manager nila to session lang muna.”
Thus, The Itchyworms was born.
Chino says about their name, "Literally joke lang iyong pangalan namin kasi noong time na iyon, parang never naman namin iisipin na aabot kami ng 25 years."
Jazz is the best person to tell the story behind their band name.
He recalls, “Sa Ateneo, maraming higad, may time na nahigad ako.
“Nahawakan ko iyong higad and then dinala nila ako sa clinic. Namaga iyong kamay ko and then pag-uwi ko puro pantal iyong mukha ko.”
The singing buddies have so far produced several hit songs, including “Beer,” “Penge Naman Ako N’yan,” and “Akin Ka Na Lang.”
In their 25 years of playing together, Jazz is proud to say, “We’re just lucky na we’ve been really good friends.”
Chino, Kel, Jazz, and Jugs relish telling their story in OG’s debut episode, “25 Years of The Itchyworms.”
25 Years of The Itchyworms is the debut episode of a series from OG, Summit Media’s video-first brand.
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