Why The CompanY, Neocolours are more than just ‘legacy acts’

MANILA, Philippines — The vocal quartet The CompanY (composed of Moy Ortiz, Annie Quintos, Sweet Plantado-Tiongson and OJ Mariano) and the Neocolours band (Ito Rapadas, Jimmy Antiporda, Marvin Querido, Paku Herrera and Niño Regalado) have mutual admiration for each other. Hence, when the chance came for them to venture together in a joint concert, it wasn’t hard to make the musical project happen.

“Moy and I were brainstorming, and we needed a title for the concert,” Ito told The Philippine STAR. “‘Pakisabi Na Lang, Tuloy Pa Rin’ is the title of our first joint concert together. It was ideal that both titles came from our songs. Although both are titles of our songs, it’s a reminder for both of us of life in general.”

Ito will never get tired of calling The CompanY a “premier vocal group,” and they managed to maintain that for four decades now. “I have known Moy, Annie, Sweet, OJ for a long time now. I have worked with them since the ‘90s. I learned a lot from them. When we guest in ‘ASAP,’ they always guide us. They make sure nothing bad will happen.”

Jimmy lauded the albums of The CompanY, 31 to date. “What an accomplishment,” he remarked. “That means they are positive thinkers. They come up with their albums and continue creating music, whatever the situation of the industry is. That’s important and inspiring.”

Moy, for his part, admittedly long admired Neocolours. “From their first album, that was special,” he said. “They write and arrange their own music. Their music is beautiful. It’s melodic, and they do a lot of harmonies — suspended chords, a lot of oido, not just basic triadic chords… They can really arrange their songs.

“Their music makes you feel happy. Personally, I like the music genre that’s young rock, like Kenny Loggins, Doobie Brothers, Chicago. Neocolours is the Filipino version of young rock. They’re musical genius. You can learn from them, the music, the life lessons. They are very grounded and willing to share the spotlight,” he added.

“Neocolours is not astig nor mayabang,” said Sweet. “They’re boy-next-door. They’re not intimidating. When you know what you can offer and you know your worth, they know their worth.”

The collab concert will happen on Oct. 8 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater (NPAT) of Newport World Resorts.

The CompanY started in 1985 and remains visible and active in the concert circuit, with performances in and out of the country.

Neocolours became known in 1987. However, in 1993, the quintet stopped performing as a group, although the members were still active in the industry.

“Most of us work with other artists as composers, musical directors, producers,” Jimmy said. “My priority also became my family and other projects in my studio, like writing songs and commercial jingles.”

Neocolours regrouped anew in 1999 for the “Emerge: The Best of Neocolours” album. They toured for three years, but after everything, the members returned to their respective jobs. Ito works as a music producer for Universal Records. Marvin works as a musical director for other artists.

In 2018, Neocolours had a reunion concert at the Music Museum. Following that was a slew of projects. “May time na kami because malalaki na mga anak namin. Except in the pandemic. In 2022, tuloy-tuloy na kami. We even had a US tour that year.”

Every time The CompanY thought of collaborating with a band, Neocolours was never out of the picture.

Finally, in the first quarter of 2026, The CompanY worked with Echo Jham, which readily agreed to be the producer of the concert, “Pakisabi Na Lang, Tuloy Pa Rin,” combining the titles of the group’s popular songs. The CompanY and Neocolours will also release a song they recorded together, Marami Pa, an adult contemporary piece that will be out in September. Audiences will hear the song in the concert. The song is written by Moy, Sweet and Edith Gallardo. The instrumental arrangement was done by Jimmy, who is producing the song with Ito.

“A lot of people think of us as legacy acts,” insisted Moy. “We can offer our hits from the past, but ‘Marami Pa’ kaming maibibigay sa industriya. Next year, we will have international collabs, which we can’t announce yet, and it’s going to be big. That’s our ultimate dream come true. We can’t say anything yet or we will be sued. What will happen is an amazing collab.”

Pakisabi Na Lang is a 32-year-old song recorded by former The CompanY member Reuben Laurente. The song was written by Moy and Edith Gallardo and was covered by Ice Seguerra and Sharon Cuneta.

“I was only 26 when I joined The CompanY,” granted Sweet. “That was 27 years ago. Even now when we still sing Pakisabi Na Lang, younger people sing with us. That’s very surprising.”

Moy insisted that if the audience is not familiar with the music of The CompanY and Neocolours, they can listen on Spotify. “This is one of the golden eras of OPM (Original Pilipino Music),” said Moy. “The best love songs, the best story songs.

“One of the reasons our group was blessed with longevity in the industry (is) we write our own music, and we produce our own music. We’re blessed for that. We embrace who we are. We don’t hide from it. Longevity in a very fickle industry is a rare blessing for us. We still want to share what’s in our hearts musically.

“With what we have individually and as a group, there’s still so much to give. As you will see in the show, of course, the hits will be there. We will bring out the old war forces. With what we’ve learned, the lessons all these four decades, we can still be inventive and come out with musical ideas and new songs.

“We’re not like stuck in a hamper with the same old songs, hashtag #lumangbanda. There’s still so much to offer in terms of new songs, new ideas and new joy. We share what’s in our hearts musically, creative-wise. We can still come up with music ideas, even new songs.”

The CompanY is doing a US concert with Jose Mari Chan, “Pinoy na Christmas 2.0,” in November in Las Vegas, Chicago, Houston and California.

Neocolours is blessed with three musical directors in the group — Jimmy, Ito and Marvin. When the group marked its 40th anniversary last year, they came out with the song, Bente, a very witty P-pop track nominated in the Best Novelty category at the Awit Awards.

Bente, which talks about the perks of being a senior citizen in the Philippines, was The Company’s last viral song — thanks to Suzette Glorioso of Stages who pushed Bente to merit more than two million views.

“Something that’s meant to be funny can be taken seriously,” said Moy. “With anyone and anything, we are open to collaborate with, as long as mabait ang artista. During the pandemic, we collaborated with Orient Pearl, Boom Dayupay. So, we’re open to work with anyone in any genre, including alternative rock. We’re pretty good at playing pliable music. Whether it’s effective or not, that’s up for debate. We will try.

“The fact that we’re open to anything, that’s negotiable. Kailangan talaga mabait at hindi mayabang for us to work with them. What kept us afloat when bands started coming out — Eraserheads, Rivermaya and After Image — were covers. Even the A-listers were doing covers,” he shared.

“Ang mga nagtatagal na mga artists, they can come up with excellence in their craft without the need to be cruel. The ones who are mabait at humble and really hardworking, they are the ones who stay long in the industry.”

Both The CompanY and Neocolours are looking forward to collaborating with SB19 or BINI.

Naturally, the audience can expect the hits of both The CompanY and Neocolours. “But our aim — and the aim of our director and producer — is to give joy and hope,” said Moy.

“Let’s be honest. These are tough times emotionally, economically. So, we hope to bring light through our music that serves the purpose of doing our job. If this concert becomes successful, we’ll come out with an EP and bring this on tour.”