Meet Viva's 1st boy band

MANILA, Philippines - Viva Communications introduces its first boy group. This is XLR8, pronounced accelerate, which means to increase the speed. And that is just what is expected to happen once fans get their first sight of these talented boys. XLR8 will make its debut in Party Pilipinas on March 28 and they will perform the first single You’re So Hot from their self-titled album.

It took Viva one year of auditions, dance and voice training and to find the right songs for the boys from producers Christian de Walden and Marcus Davis.

Here are XLR8:

Hideaki Higashi (Aki). Born and raised in Japan of a Japanese father and Filipino mother, Aki opted to make his home in the Philippines because he wants to be in show business. His career experience includes regular stints in Walang Tulugan and the defunct S.O.P. as a singer and dancer. He likes halo-halo, taho, noodles and adobo. He speaks Japanese and Tagalog.

John Carlo B. Lazerna (Carlo). Carlo is the video game addict of XLR8. He is seldom without a game going on no matter where he is. His other passion is dancing which he began as a form of exercise but has now become a big part of his career. He also likes pretty girls and treats his fellow members like his brothers. He likes watching animé and shows like Phineas and Ferb, The Simpsons and Spongebob.

Meljohn Magno (MJ) and Melmar Magno (MM). MJ and MM are XLR8’s R&B twins. They had voice lessons as kids but everything else like dancing and playing the drums, keyboards and guitar came naturally. The boys have appeared on television. They also paint and to the delight of XLR8 are also budding songwriters. MJ is in fact making his songwriting debut in the group’s album with the songs Dance With Me, I Love You Girl and Ms. Beautiful. They dream of becoming Kings Of Pop and conquering Asia like Rain.

Adrian Justine Muhlach (AJ) AJ has show business in his blood. His father is Cheng Muhlach. Aga is his half-brother. He is nephew to movie queen Amalia Fuentes and cousin to Niño. What he loves most is music. He plays the guitar, drums, piano, flute and loves to dance. He looks up to John Petrucci, Joe Satriani and David Cook. He likes sleeping and watching Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel.

Francis Albert Ramos (Kiko). Francis is the grandson of Ben Delgado, the first Pinoy crooner to become a success in Las Vegas. But while he can certainly dish out those sentimental ballads with feeling and has performed in stage musicals, what he really loves is dancing to R&B and hip-hop music. As a result of this combination he likes Bublé and Groban and Korean and Japanese pop tunes and has a crush on JoJo. He also likes Harry Potter and romantic films like Nottinghill.

Arkin del Rosario Jr. (Arkin).

Arkin is the acting XLR8. He actually grew up listening and dancing to the music of Michael Jackson and N’ Sync but somehow got sidetracked and landed in professional theater. He has also appeared on television and was already thinking seriously about a career in acting when the chance to join XLR8 came along. He is now back to his first love — singing and dancing.

Caleb B. Santos (Caleb). Caleb learned to sing in the church choir and despite his busy schedule with XLR8 continues to be active in church activities. It was there that he learned how to play the guitar and drums. That is also why he considers the gospel act Hillsong United his major influence. He also likes the music of Jay Sean and Jason Mraz and misses the old computer games.