Rock ‘n roll keeps Aeon band ‘young’ in their 10 years

CEBU, Philippines — The Aeon rock band from Cebu was in its fifth year when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the local music scene. The four-member group resorted to side hustles such as online live selling to compensate for the lack of bar gigs during that time.

Feeling uncertain whether the band would return, vocalist Shi Ann Delgado wrote “Rebel Ride” as a love letter to rock and roll and the thrill of performing, a feeling that was missing during quarantine.

“I missed living the rock and roll,” Shi Ann told The FREEMAN on the song’s inspiration. “Everything stopped during the pandemic, and I had this thirst to perform, drink, and live the rock and roll life. When I wrote the song, there was this thought that we wouldn’t come back as a four-member band.”

With Shi Ann at the front, the rest of the band consists of William Menchavez Jr. on drums, Jao Delgado on lead guitar, and Magz Bondoc on bass.

Five years after Shi Ann first wrote the song, “Rebel Ride” was released last May as the band’s debut single. The release marked a milestone in the band’s tenth anniversary, alongside their meeting with Danish rock star Mike Tramp of White Lion during his visit to Cebu earlier this year, and a performance at the Rodeo Festival in Masbate last June.

The FREEMAN interviewed Aeon after their gig at The Social in Ayala Center Cebu, where they perform on Saturdays. On Thursdays, they perform at The Social Park Avenue in Mango Square Mall, and 301 Ramos Sports Bar and Grill on Fridays.

The band was formed in 2015 when Shi Ann and Jao recruited Menchavez and Bondoc to perform for an older audience, notably foreigners, seeking cover renditions of classic rock hits.

“Performing every weekend helps us support our family, which we have been doing for the past ten years,” Shi Ann said. The band is influenced by their favorites such as Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Lamb of God, Pantera, and Guns N’ Roses.

“Rock is a different kind of music to entertain people with,” Bondoc said. “It’s hard to sell, but with the right energy and execution, it will click with our audience. It’s like making them reminisce and feel nostalgic about their younger days, and they enjoy it so much. It’s great to make them feel young again.”

With a setlist mostly composed of covers and a few original tracks, the band doesn’t want to emulate their idols but rather add their spice to their renditions, especially given their limitations as a four-member group.

“When you are doing a cover, you have to own it. If you can’t connect with the song you’re performing, you can’t sing it well,” Shi Ann said.

“It’s hard to do covers with just four people. We don’t have a keyboard player, for one. We just have one singer. You have to make it loud and clear that what we are doing is rock,” Bondoc added.

“You have to play from the heart when it comes to rock,” Menchavez chimed in. “If you can’t do that, you can be easily replaced just like that. That’s why you have to feel the music you are performing.”

When asked what has kept the band together for ten years, the members struggled to give a deeper explanation beyond seeing each other as family and treating each other as equals.

“We have our own language as a band,” Bondoc said. “Only the four of us can understand it when we perform. We just show it to everybody when we’re onstage and feel each other’s energy to prove we are truly a group.”

Aeon disagrees with the notion that “rock and roll” is dead in today’s music landscape, believing instead that the genre has simply evolved, with its elements present even in the works of non-rock artists like Lady Gaga, P!nk, and Bruno Mars, whom they admire despite not being rock stars.

“Pop music borrows from rock and roll. Some pop stars even play the guitar. You can’t kill rock and roll if you can’t kill the guitar,” Bondoc remarked, to which Menchavez added, “The roots of rock will live forever. Music is embedded with it.”

Acknowledging how pursuing music as a career is often at odds with practicality, the band advised aspiring musicians to continue with their jobs and education when possible, but to also make certain sacrifices if they want to pursue music seriously.

“Our job is a risk. We had to sacrifice everything for our craft because it’s from the heart. It’s our passion. We’re not doing this for the fame, but for the rock and roll,” Jao said.

“If you love playing, you have to make sacrifices, and we are happy because we love what we are doing. Everything we sacrificed for our love of music actually helped us put food on the table,” Bondoc added.

Menchavez remarked on why they continue to perform: “It helps that music keeps us young.”