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A post shared by Wency Cornejo (@buguy67) on Oct 8, 2018 at 9:03am PDT

MANILA -- With the undeniable success of original Pinoy rock musicals in the past eight years, starting with the independently produced “Sa Wakas” in 2013 up to the recent big-budgeted “Ang Huling El Bimbo,” many are asking why not more of the bands from the 1990s? “Sa Wakas” used the songs of Sugarfree, while “Ang Huling El Bimbo” had the catalogue of the Eraserheads.

One band that made it big in that decade often referred to as the second golden age of Pinoy Rock was After Image, led by its charismatic vocalist and main songwriter Wency Cornejo.

In the 1990s, Cornejo penned all the hits for After Image such as “Next In Line,” “Habang May Buhay,” “Tag-Ulan,” “Mangarap Ka,” “Tag-araw,” “Tag-ulan, Tag-Araw” and “Bai,” among others that have been revived by younger artists. If memory serves, at least two became theme songs and titles of commercial movies.

There was 1995's “Mangarap Ka,” a coming-of-age story written by Olive Lamasan, crafted into screenplay by Ricky Lee and directed by Rory Quintos. It was topbilled by then hottest love team and real-life couple, Claudine Barretto and Mark Anthony Fernandez. In 1996, there was “Habang May Buhay,” directed by Mac Alejandre starring Ian de Leon and Donna Cruz.

In 2010, “Habang May Buhay” was the title of a top-rating primetime telenovela on ABS-CBN headlined by Judy Ann Santos. The Cornejo-penned theme song, this time, was recorded and sang by Sharon Cuneta.

Clamor

These are just some examples of Cornejo’s compositions that have become timeless and worthy for a theatrical production.

“Even my manager, David Cosico (of Stages), wants something like that. But I don’t want to. I don’t want it do be like some sort of self-aggrandizement. I’d rather write another musical,” Cornejo told ABS-CBN News.

We’re at the lobby of The Theatre at Solaire, where Cornejo sat on a sofa with fellow ‘90s band boom alumni Stephen Lu of Rizal Underground, Lei Bautista of Prettier than Pink and Jek Manuel of IAXE. Joining through video call were drummer Paco Arespacochaga of Introvoys and lead guitarist Perf de Castro of Rivermaya.

The event is about the second installment of the '90s music concert series at the Solaire. The first was “90s Live” held on July 22, 2017 that reportedly filled the 1,740-seat venue. This year's show, “90s Overload,” will be held on November 17.

The question was prompted by recent development in Cornejo’s career path. Recently, he made his musical theater debut via Atlantis Productions’ local staging of “Side Show.” He played the bad guy Sir, a ringmaster in a circus story based on real-life conjoined Hilton twins.

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Initially, it was suggested that for 2019, a musical featuring the songs of the bands involved in the '90s rock music concert series at Solaire could be worked out. It was suggested that Cornejo should write the libretto and music or at least a concept would be developed. He said a year would not be enough to do that.

“I was talking to Lei about that. 'Yan ang hindi ko pa nagagawa as musician. I’ve been wanting to write a musical since I was in college,” Cornejo said.

“Ang best friend ko kasi is also a musician and when we bonded in college, plano naming parang Jesus Christ-and-the-devil-type of story. Siyempre ako si Jesus Christ although sa Atlantis ako 'yung kontrabida,” he added.

Among the hurdles is getting the copyrights for the songs of each artist. It is common knowledge that during the 1990s, most of these bands signed up with major labels whose contracts entailed ownership of the copyrights.

“I don’t know if it’s too early, pero as installment in the '90s series, these are possibilities going on in my head. Ang sarap sana kung ‘yun ang magagawa naming lahat. A lot of creative thinking. All of us. All of our songs but it’s harder to do that. Harder than what they did with ‘Eto Na! Musikal nAPO,’” Cornejo said.

Humungous task

Given the logistics and funding, much more the copyrights to the songs, why not just limit it to the songs of After Image?

“Kung ganon ang pananaw, babalik pa rin sa akin. Kung may clamor, I’d prefer another person doing (libretto and music) of the After Image musical. If [a theater company] is interested in using the songs of After Image, I’d gladly give my permission,” he said and paused for a few while, as if weighing his next sentence.

“But you’ll have to go to Viva (Records), which owns the publishing rights of our songs,” he said, which brought a collective “ahhh” in the hall.

In jest, he added: “Hindi ako kikita masyado dyan.”

There was laughter in the hall before veteran entertainment reporter Mario Dumaual of ABS-CBN News said over the microphone, “Kaya ayaw niya gawin.” More laughter followed.

“Ewan, I really don’t know. Mas gusto ko gumawa ng bago,” Cornejo said, seriously this time. “Mas posibleng gawin. If we make our resources together. I don't want to pressure myself too much. I think realistically speaking, two years ang dapat ibigay ko to do that.”

For the meantime, there’s “90s Overload.” From last year, not included in this year’s line up is Jett Pangan of The Dawn. Incidentally, among rock musicians, Pangan has been the most active in acting for the theater in the last decade, most especially with Atlantis' landmark productions. He is also older by nearly a decade than the group.

Grand daddy

Cornejo, Arespacochaga and the other musicians at the press conference paid their utmost respect to Pangan, who is busy with prior commitments with The Dawn, when they unanimously described him, “the grand daddy of us all.”

“Most of us would look up to Jett Pangan as the father of this generation. Technically he wasn’t part of our generation. Ang ka-batch ng The Dawn was Rage band, Neocolors and Identity Crisis, ‘yang mga 'yan. Sila ‘yung nag-start from mid-'80s and spilled over to our time. So kung may musician kaming hinahangaan at naging inspirasyon, it’s always been Jett,” said Cornejo.

But even without their “grand daddy Jett” on stage, “90s Overload” has a powerhouse lineup like Dodong Cruz of The Youth, Myra Ruaro of Put3ska, Glenn “Laklak” Jacinto of The Teeth, Noel Palomo of Siakol, Cookie Chua of Color It Red and Naldy Padilla of Orient Pearl.