Hale (band)

Hale
Hale performing live at Wanderland April 2015.
Background information
Origin	Metro Manila, Philippines
Genres	Alternative rock pop rock
Years active	2004–2010 2015–present
Labels	Warner Music Philippines EMI/PolyEast Records
Associated acts	Join the Club Rivermaya Kjwan Rico Blanco Mayonnaise
Members	Champ Lui Pio Sheldon Gellada Roll Martinez Paolo Santiago
Past members	Omnie Saroca

Hale is a Filipino alternative rock band from Manila, Philippines formed in 2004. The group composed of Champ Lui Pio on vocals and guitars, Roll Martinez on guitars, Sheldon Gellada on bass guitar and backing vocals and Paolo Santiago on drums.

History

Formation (2004)

Roll Martinez and Sheldon Gellada were music majors from University of Santo Tomas, Champ Lui-Pio was from De La Salle University - College of Saint Benilde and former drummer Omnie Saroca was from Technological University of the Philippines. All four of them met up to form Hale in mid-2004 and soon after signed up to EMI Philippines (now PolyEast Records).

Debut Album and Mainstream Success (2005 – 2006)

In 2005, A Rock Band named Hale released their debut self-titled album Hale, consisting of singles "Broken Sonnet", "The Day You Said Goodnight", "Kahit Pa", "Kung Wala Ka" and "Blue Sky", together with "Tollgate" which was released together with the re-issuing of the album on March 2, 2006. "The Day You Said Goodnight" marked the first steps of Hale's massive success to the mainstream and gained tremendous popularity as the singles were released. "The Day You Said Goodnight" was also nominated many times by most of the music media as OPM Song Of The Year 2005. Soon, the band was also nominated as Band Of The Year 2005 and Best New OPM Artist for 2005.

Hale re-issued their debut album together with the single "Tollgate" on March 2, 2006.^[1] At the same year, the debut album had reached Triple Platinum Certification (90, 000 copies sold). They were also chosen to make a commercial endorsement for Nescafé Philippines and a jingle "One Moment, One Nescafé" written by them in promotion of the Nescafé products.

Twilight (2006 – 2008)

Hale released their sophomore effort Twilight on September 30, 2006, consisting of singles "Waltz", "Hide And Seek", "Shooting Star" and "The Ballad Of".^[2] The music video of "Waltz" was also nominated many times as the Most Favorited Music Video in 2006, marking another step of Hale's success to the mainstream. The album was also certified Gold (15, 000 copies sold) a week after its release.

It was said that the band encountered tremendous amount of pressure to record their sophomore effort. On the other hand, their effort was meant to reflect their success from the preceding album as a band where their musical influences and styles had encompassed a wider spectrum of musical arrangements.^[3]

Treehouse Productions (2008)

Having encountered pressure from the mainstream successes of their first two albums, the band self-imposed a 10-month hiatus. During then, they established the Treehouse Productions where they would help the needy children suffering from mental and physical illnesses through music. In the process, other music acts eventually signed up for Treehouse Productions to help the band achieve their objectives, such as Rico Blanco and Mayonnaise.^[4]

Above, Over And Beyond and Departure of Omnie Saroca (2008 – 2009)

Soon after their hiatus, they released their third effort, Above, Over And Beyond, which consisted of singles "Pitong Araw", "Leap Of Faith", "Over And Over (And Over Again)" and "Sandali Na Lang" on April 28, 2008.^[5] Even before the release of their third effort, "Sundown", which featured Monique Rae, was released as a jingle for the promotion of the local toothpaste product, Close-Up. Despite expectations, album sales for the album was low due to economic woes of the band's music label, EMI Philippines. As a result, the band resulted in promoting the album independently which, however, saw limited success. Hence, just like Twilight, the success of the album did not come up to par with the former albums.^[6]

Hale drummer and percussionist Omnie Saroca left the band in the same year to focus on other issues outside the music industry. In turn, former drummer Paolo Santiago of Join the Club joined the band to replace Omnie Saroca in late-2008.

Kundiman (2009 – 2010)

Their fourth and final album, Kundiman, released on July 28, 2009, the band started promoting their album soon after its release, about a month after the first single, Bahay Kubo, went for radio airplay. Other singles include "Kalesa", "Harinawa", and "Magkaibang Mundo".^[7][8][9]

Of all eight songs in the album, written in Tagalog. They also sought guidance with OPM band Mayonnaise's Monty Macalino in the song composition and arrangements of the album.^[10]

Break-up (2010)

The band went on their separate ways on August 6, 2010.^[11][12]

Reunion (2015 – present)

Rumors of the band reuniting, while not widespread, started online in mid-2014 until word became official that the band had reunited through their gig on January 13, 2015. This was also their first gig since their break-up in 5 years.^[13] Their first single "See You" debuted on January 27, 2015.^[14]

Their fifth album, Time and Space, was released on March 30, 2015 via ITunes and Spotify. It was announced through Hale's official Facebook page.^[15]

Discography

Studio Albums

For a full, detailed list, see: Hale discography

• 2005 – Hale
• 2006 – Twilight
• 2008 – Above, Over and Beyond
• 2009 – Kundiman
• 2015 – Time and Space

Band Members

Current Members

• Champ Lui Pio - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (2004–2010, 2015–present
• Roll Martinez - lead guitar, backing vocals (2004–2010, 2015–present)
• Sheldon Gellada - bass guitar, backing vocals (2004–2010, 2015–present)
• Paolo Santiago - drums, percussion (2008–2010, 2015–present)

Former Members

• Geronimo "Omnie" Saroca - drums, percussion (2004–2008)

Timeline

Awards and nominations

Awards ^[16]

• Gold Award (15, 000 units) for debut album Hale (June 2005)
• Platinum Award (30, 000 units) for debut album Hale (August 2005)
• Double Platinum Award (60, 000 units) for debut album Hale (November 2005)
• Triple Platinum Award (90, 000 units) for debut album Hale (May 2006)
• Gold Award (15, 000 units) for second album Twilight (October 2006)

Nominations

References