Up in Arms The original Juan de la Cruz Band, consisting of Mike Hanopol (bass / lead vocals), Edmond Fortuno (drums / backing vocals), Bó Razon (lead guitar), Bing Labrador (electric piano / electric organ) and Alex Cruz (alto saxophone / baritone saxophone / flute), was formed in 1970. In 1971 Wally Gonzalez (lead guitar, backing vocals) joined replacing Bó Razon. Some time later Sandy Tagarro joined (bass / backing vocals) replacing Mike Hanopol (who was contacted to join Joey Pepe Smith's Japanese group,
Speed, Glue & Shinki to replace the original bassist
Masayoshi Kabe). In December 1970, they performed in the Antipolo Rock Festival (the Philippine equivalent to the
Woodstock festival of 1969). They were subsequently tapped in September 1971 as the featured rock band in tandem with the Manila Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Redentor Romero) for the Philippine production of the rock opera by
Tim Rice and
Andrew Lloyd Webber,
Jesus Christ Superstar, at the
Cultural Center of the Philippines. Consequent to his dramatic part as the Judas character in the rock opera production, Sandy Tagarro vacated his bass guitar instrumentalist role in the group and was replaced by Clifford Ho (bass / vocals). Upon the conclusion of the
Jesus Christ Superstar production, Edmond Fortuno (aka “Edmund”, or by his nickname "Bosyo"), Bing Labrador and Alex Cruz (with guitarists Vic Naldo, Marlon Ilagan, and bassist Sonny Tolentino) formed a splinter group, Anak Bayan in late 1971 (Tagalog to English translation - “Child Of The Land”) which, together with the Manila Symphony Orchestra, performed for another major production run at the Cultural Center, the rock opera,
Tommy by
the Who. Anak Bayan would later release their self-titled album in 1977 (although recorded on a band session in 1973), and in 1978, they released the single "Pagbabalik ng Kuwago" (and its B-side, "Sirang Plaka") with the new lineup aside from Bosyo:
Jun Lopito and Gary Perez on guitars, and Gil Lemque on bass. The versatile Sandy Tagarro (drums / lead vocals) returned to the Juan de la Cruz Band, occupying the drummer's seat as Edmond Fortuno's replacement, and also as the band's lead vocalist; while Clifford Ho continued on bass. Rene Sogueco (electric piano electric organ / vocals) was also recruited to replace Bing Labrador. A musician from the Manila Symphony Orchestra (whom they had befriended in the
Jesus Christ Superstar production), Romy Santos (alto saxophone / baritone saxophone / flute / clarinet), replaced Alex Cruz. In the wake of this major revamp, the Juan de la Cruz Band recorded its first album in 1972, entitled
Up in Arms, which was released by
Vicor Music Corporation under its Sunshine Records imprint in July 1972. However, complications in the band caused Sandy Tagarro to leave abruptly barely after concluding the
Up in Arms recording sessions; not even to pose for the album's photography. Consequently, the group picture for the LP's album cover showed a different drummer (Bobot Guerrero), with Sandy Tagarro's name stricken off the personnel credits, with exception of a parenthetical credit of him as composer of one song ("Lady in White Satin"). Bobot Guerrero's entry as the new drummer of Juan de la Cruz continued through the promotional run of the album and into concerts and club stints. The
Up in Arms album was not a commercial success and had not been reissued, by Vicor Music Corporation to date. An unauthorized compact disc translation of the LP (albeit excellently remastered and packaged) by Shadoks/Normal Music (Bonn, Germany) with spurious bonus tracks from a later edition of the band—is sold in online Internet shops. Wally Gonzales is showcased as a rock guitarist with progressive leanings in this early effort. In several months, bassist Clifford Ho (briefly replaced by Tony Rodriguez), and keyboardist Rene Sogueco had also left (briefly replaced by Larry Martinez). It was during this transition phase that Mike Hanopol and
Joey Smith had recently returned to the Philippines in September 1972 from a successful sojourn in
Japan. In early 1973, Mike Hanopol (bass / piano / lead vocals) rejoined the group and Joey “Pepe” Smith (drums / acoustic & electric guitar / lead vocals) also joined the Juan de la Cruz Band for the first time. Joey Smith had also accepted a cameo singing role at the Cultural Center's "Little Theater" for an abortive
rock musical (produced by Carlitos Benavides) based on
Erich Segal's novel then in vogue,
Love Story, in which the Juan de la Cruz Band was once again called upon to perform. This was also the period when the members of Juan de la Cruz Band and Anak Bayan were freely associating and performing collectively as a "supergroup" ensemble in various concerts. Nides Aranzamendez (drums) notable rock drummer also jammed with the group and performed on the classic first live album, "Super Session".
Himig Natin The state of Juan de la Cruz's flux and gradual dissolution led Wally Gonzalez to reconvene an all-new powerhouse trio, together with Joey Smith (later a.k.a. "
Pepe Smith") as singer-drummer-composer; and with singer-bassist-composer
Mike Hanopol. Smith and Hanopol collaborated in
Tokyo with
Japanese guitarist Shinki Chen in a heavy psychedelic blues "free-rock" trio setup called
Speed, Glue & Shinki, which had released two seminal albums for
Atlantic Records Japan. Rock music historian
Julian Cope narrates in his book,
Japrocksampler (Bloomsbury, 2007), that Shinki Chen had recruited
Joey “Pepe” Smith on drums / lead vocal (and
Masayoshi Kabe on bass guitar and later Kabe's replacement, Mike Hanopol on bass guitar) from a Filipino rock group called Zero History, which he found performing at Astro shopping mall in Yokohama, Japan. (Zero History additional members included Mike Hanopol on bass guitar & Wally Gonzalez on lead guitar.) And thus the vibe of Speed, Glue & Shinki is noteworthy in the earliest contributions of Smith and Hanopol for the Juan de la Cruz collaboration, especially in the stop-start heaviness of "Take You Home" (a song by the American heavy psych group Fields, originally released in 1969, revived from the eponymous second album of S,G&S), and the talking blues of "Blues Train". The track, "Himig Natin" (
English translation: "
Our Hymn") by the trio Gonzalez, Smith & Hanopol, became a part of Manila's post-hippie culture and underground radio network, particularly the
DZRJ-AM radio show, ''Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm,
later on shortened to "Pinoy rock". The song is known as the first example of Pinoy rock. Himig Natin'' rallied Pinoy rock, which swelled into a movement and provided indicators of its yet-unrealized commercial fuel. The impact of the Juan de la Cruz Band inadvertently became the catalyst for the inception of
Original Pilipino Music (OPM) and the viability for diverse, originally-authored musical genres to emerge and thrive in the Philippines. ==Deaths==