Lola Amour is a Filipino rock band formed in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines in 2013. The band consists of Pio Dumayas on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, David Yuhico on background vocals and keyboards, Manu Dumayas (who had previously served as a session musician for the band from 2017 to 2024)[1] on bass, trumpet, and backing vocals, Zoe Gonzales on lead guitar, Angelo Mesina on trumpets, Jeff Abueg on saxophone and backing vocals, and Raffy Perez on drums.[2] They dabble in the genres of modern rock, funk, and pop.
History
Formation (2013–2016)
Lola Amour was formed in Muntinlupa from two rival bands, "Sinigang Na Baboy" (Pio Dumayas on vocals, Renzo Santos on drums, Joxx Perez on bass, Mico Fernandez on guitar)[3] and "Decaf" (Raymond King on bass, Zoe Gonzalez on guitar, Martin Kim on vocals and Angelo Mesina on drums),[4] comprising students from the De La Salle Santiago Zobel School (DLSZ). While the two bands always competed against each other in the annual school battle of the bands, they were friends as members of student music clubs such as the DLSZ Symphonic Orchestra and DLSZ Jammers. The two bands decided to merge and perform at their senior year graduation ball. When the group moved on to college, they officially adopted the name "Lola Amour", after the grandmother of vocalist Pio Dumayas.
Wanderland Music and Arts Festival (2016)
Lola Amour performed at the fourth Wanderland Music and Arts Festival.[5] The band won Wanderband 2017, the annual battle of the local independent bands of the music festival.[6]
Don't Look Back EP (2017)
Soon after performing at the Wanderland Music and Arts Festival,[5] Lola Amour released their first EP titled Don't Look Back, which consisted of four songs: Fools, Maybe Maybe, No Tomorrow and Piece of Mind.
Coke Studio Philippines (2019)
Lola Amour was included in the third season of the Coke Studio Philippines, an annual music television program in the Philippines. Notable songs released in this collaboration were "Sundan Mo Ko" with rapper Al James, cover versions of Pa-Umaga (original by Al James) and "Tuloy na Tuloy Pa Rin ang Pasko" featuring Al James (original by APO Hiking Society).[7][8]
Singles, Perez & Santos’s departure, Fallen Tour (2022)
2022's first two singles are collaborations with other artists. "Click" is a song inspired by a movie and is partially written by drummer Renzo Santos. It features duo Leanne and Narra on additional lead and backing vocals. "Madali" is a rock song featuring rapper Al James.
On May 2 Lola Amour announced that they are bidding farewell to two members, saxophonist Joxx Perez & drummer Renzo Santos. They had their last appearance on an online concert documentary held at the PETA Theater on May 5. Raffy Perez (Joxx's brother) & Jeff Abueg joined the band as replacements for Renzo and Joxx respectively.
At this time, "Fallen" reached the Top Ten on Spotify Philippines. Due to this, the band embarked on the Fallen Tour with the new members. At the end of the year, the band released "dahan-dahan", a love song about falling in love with the same person over and over, featuring a guitar solo played by Pio.
"Raining in Manila", self-titled debut studio album & King's departure (2023–present)
Lola Amour's self-titled debut studio album was initially scheduled for a 2023 release, but the band postponed it upon realizing the success of their song, "Raining in Manila". According to trumpeter Angelo Mesina, the band had been producing the album even before the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] Due to the success of Raining in Manila, the band embarked on the Raining in Manila Tour. It was on that tour that the band found out that the song reached No. 1 on Spotify Philippines.
"Raining in Manila" has received a degree of international attention. Enhypen member Jake covered the song during a Weverse live stream in July 2023.[10] Thai singer BamBam also covered the song during his concert at the Araneta Coliseum on September 22, 2023, then later released a cover version on his social media.[11] On January 19, 2024, English singer Chris Martin sang the song's first lines during his band Coldplay's concert at the Philippine Arena before inviting Lola Amour on stage to perform the song with him in front of a sold-out crowd of around 50,000.[12]
On March 27, 2024, shortly after the release of the single "Namimiss Ko Na", bassist Raymond King announced that he would be leaving the band and would be replaced by longtime sessionist and Pio's brother Manu. King's last appearance with the group was at the Album Launch Concert at Circuit Grounds, Makati on April 13, which had former members Martin Kim and Joxx Perez as guests.
Lola Amour's self-titled debut studio album was released on April 10, 2024. Consisting of nine tracks, it includes the singles "Raining in Manila" and "Namimiss Ko Na".[13] The band is currently embarking on the Album Tour with sessionists Nian Sayoc and Tim Cruz on additional guitar and trumpet respectively.
Pio Dumayas – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, (2013–present), occasional live percussion in earlier performances,[14] keyboards and bass (2013-2014, as part of Sinigang Na Baboy)[15]
Zoe Gonzales – lead guitar (2016–present), backing vocals (2024-present)
Angelo Mesina – trumpet, live backing vocals, occasional guitar on videos (2016–present)
David Yuhico – keyboards, occasional guitar in videos, backing vocals (sessionist 2021) (2021–present)