Charlie Ysmael showcases his 40 years of rock at 19East | The night of March 29 at 19East
was lit by the glow of four decades of rock, one man’s unending love for the sound, and the love and support of his loved ones and colleagues in the industry.
Charlie Ysmael’s “Timeless” was more than a concert as a piece of Filipino rock history stepped back onto the stage, guitar in hand, and a grin that says “I chose to rock.” Charlie , the 65‑year-old frontman of the once-legendary outfit, The Breed, celebrated his birthday and 40 years of rock. And what a way to celebrate!
Enlivening the night, The Breed crooned in “War Pigs”, “Batang Araneta” “Asar”, “Enter Sandman”, and “BMB” while JM Cuervo rocked the bar with his rendition of “Wildflower”, “Highway to Hell”, and “Smoke on the Water”.
The Tropical Depression provided the reggae sound for the night with their hit songs “Kapayapaan”, “Bilog na naman ang Buwan”, “Mahal Kita”, and “Hanggang Magdamag”.
Radha’s powerful vocals contributed “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “You Make Fe feel (like a natural woman)”. She also showcased her rock side with “Rock n’ Roll (Led Zeppelin)”.
Beauteous actress-singer Kookoo Gonzales came in as a surprise guest and joined Charlie in a set of songs. Also lending support were KO Jones, Laura, and Ingrid.
Ysmael himself sang many hit songs including “Electric Dreams”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with Dr. Ted on the guitar, “Sabor a mi’”, Take on Me”, and his well-loved Elvis Presley medley. In between Ysmael would be showcasing his expertise on the guitar and his band’s drummer skills which both earned thunderous applause from the audience.
Finally, the Queen of Filipino Rock Music Sampaguita brought the house down with her iconic numbers “Bonggahan,” “Nosi Balasi”, and “Laguna”.
More than the stellar guests, as produced by Stellar Productions, the concert came as full circle for Ysmael as he stepped on the very spot where he first heard a guitar scream in the ‘80s.
The making of the Legend
Little did this psychology graduate, a would-be pilot, a TV newsreader, and a hotel-circuit crooner expect to go a long way — after crackling an “old Elvis record and the twang of Chuck Berry mingled with the harmonies of The Beatles.” His first professional foray came with Arenarr, a band signed to Vicor Music in the late 1980s. They were the soundtrack of a generation still learning to speak in Tagalog‑English code‑switches, and they gave Charlie a taste of the studio’s gritty, magnetic pull.
When the 1990s hit, he answered that pull with a louder, faster answer: The Breed. “Two full albums with DYNA Records, and that’s where the Beast truly awakened,” he recalled. The band’s signature track—“Black Mercedes Benz”—still reverberates in the memories of anyone who ever owned a battered cassette player or a Walkman that survived the turn of the millennium.
The Breed’s lights dimmed by the close of the ’90s. The group disbanded in early 1998 and a wave of grief hit when guitarist Manny Amador—the man behind the ear‑splitting riffs that defined the band’s raw edge—passed away years later.
But Charlie never stayed still. He swapped the stage for the newsroom, delivering headlines as an RPN 9 newsreader. He spun tracks as a NU 107 DJ and even dusted off the old DZRJ‑AM decks, curating the next wave of sounds for a younger audience.
In the hotel circuit he found a new home with The Spirit of ’67, a 13‑year stint that saw him experiment from pop‑soul to swing, adding a brass section for good measure. “It was a period of musical apprenticeship,” Charlie explains. “I learned how to wear many hats—vocalist, guitarist, arranger—so that when the world stopped in 2020, I could rebuild from anything.”
COVID-19 shuttered clubs, silenced microphones, and forced the entertainment industry into a grinding halt. But in the empty rooms of his home studio, Charlie heard a new riff: The Breed, resurrected.
From October 2020 to May 2022, he and a hand‑picked quartet—Paolo Blaquera (lead guitar), Gerard de Dios (bass), Jay Alviar (drums)—wrote, recorded, and mixed “Against the Light of Day,” a hard‑rock statement that was released in November 2022. “We tried to capture the old Breed sound, the punch, the lyrical bite. But we also let the pandemic’s darkness shape the music’s edge,” Charlie said.
The Legacy continues
What is Charlie’s greatest achievement? “My kids,” he said, his voice softening, “they’re the real encore.”
His son asked the same question that haunted his father: “Why didn’t you become a pilot?”
Charlie’s answer is now an anthem: “I chose to rock, son!”
Charlie’s story is proof that rock isn’t just a genre—it’s a mindset. In a city where the rush of traffic often drowns out the hum of guitars, Charlie Ysmael stands as a reminder that the beat never truly stops—it merely waits for the right moment to drop again.
We look forward to many starry nights for rock music in the days and years to come!
