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Star Music launched their newest talent called the REO Brothers. Born and raised from Tacloban, the REO brothers composed of Otic siblings namely Reno on drums, Ralph on bass, Raymart on ryhthm guitar and RJ or Ronjoseph on lead guitar and vocals. According to the band leader RJ, their name REO represents their family. He then explained that “R is the first letter of their names, E is for Evasco as their mother’s maiden name and O stands for Otic as their surname.”
It was in 2005 when RJ made drums from tin cans covered with chips packaging bags. He fixed it up and started learning to play the drums on his own. After learning to play the drums, he then mastered playing the guitar and passed the skills to his other three siblings, Ralph, Reno and Raymart. They started playing Original Pilipino Music, songs from famous boy bands and songs inspired by their father’s (Reynaldo Otic) collection of 50’s through 70’s songs of The Beatles, Bee Gees, Sir Cliff Richard etc.
Super Typhoon Haiyan hit Tacloban, Philippines on November 8, 2013. There was widespread devastation from the storm surge in Tacloban City with many buildings being destroyed, trees knocked over or broken, and cars piled up. The low-lying areas on the eastern side of Tacloban city were the hardest hit, with some areas completely washed away.
The Otic family survived from the super typhoon but the devastation left the family penniless. It was 2 days after the typhoon that Raymart got the chance to communicate with their other siblings residing in Manila via a social networking site. Their siblings in Manila immediately decided to bring the whole family to Manila. The Otic family had to walk for more than an hour to reach the bus terminal from which they were fetched by their brother-in-law, a bus driver of Philtranco Bus Company. They only brought their guitars, some clothes and subsisted only on biscuits, a gallon of water and candies on their entire trip. It took them more than two days to reach Manila. They stayed in a small apartment in Quezon City.
They started playing as REO brothers in Tacloban in 2009 and formally launched in Manila via ABS-CBN’s Christmas Special in 2013. They said that they were so intense that night because they were lined up with big stars in the program. Their renditions of 50s, 60s and even 70s music of the Beatles, Beachboys, Dave Clark 5, Bee Gees and other prominent bands of the era were effortlessly perfect, from the intricate instrumentation, to the demanding vocal harmonies. Because of that, they were invited to perform in different key cities in the world including the famous Cavern Club (Liverpool, England).
They made history when they became the first Filipino musicians to perform at the historic Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, the birthplace of iconic British band The Beatles. The Reo Brothers have their 3 days UK tour. On August 1 at Cavern Club in Liverpool, on August 2 at Bournbrook and Selly Oak Social Club in Birmingham and on August 3, 2014 at Northumberland Theatre in London.
After almost three months, the band was back at United Kingdom for their second tour. They performed at Cavern Club (Liverpool, England) on August 31, at Ten Foundation (Belfast, Northern Ireland) on November 2, at Benwell & Springback Club (Newcastle upon Tyne) on November 7 and at The Dome (London) on November 9, 2014.
Because of their unique blend of voices, they were dubbed as the Pinoy Beatles. It was April 27, 2014 when they first launched their own rendition of the iconic song “Pinoy Ako” as the official themesong of the famous Pinoy Big Brother show. That’s the start when they made a revival of different iconic songs from VST and Company’s “Awitin Mo Isasayaw ko”, Hotdog’s “Manila”, and among others.
They also have their own songs called “O Bakit?” and their album carrier single made by award winning composer Mr. Vehnee Saturno and it’s called “Ako’y Tinamaan”.
Ako’y Tinamaan is a lovesong written and arranged by Vehnee Saturno featuring Loisa Andalio, Joshua Garcia in their music video soon to release.
Here’s their carrier single lyric video under Star Music:
The REO brothers album is now available at all record bars nationwide and digital format via iTunes and mymusicstore.com.ph.
