Genre: Rock Location: Metro Manila Record Label: EMI Philippines
Members: Raimund Marasigan – Vocals, Guitar Diego Castillo – Guitars Mike Dizon – Drums Myrene Academia – Bass Mong Alcaraz – Guitars
About the band: There is more than one artist with this name: 1) Sandwich was founded in 1998 by Raimund Marasigan and Diego Castillo for the purpose of fulfilling their mutual desire to work together. Castillo recruited former band mates (from The Aga Muhlach Experience) Mike Dizon (of The Teeth) to play drums and Myrene Academia to handle bass duties. Marasigan was a judge at a contest where Marc Abaya jammed to a Beastie Boys song with his band, Shirley Beans.
Although existing simultaneously with the Marasigan’s foremost band at that time, Eraserheads, Sandwich provided a heavier, grittier sound, and built up their own fan base. Abaya was still in college at the time, and Marasigan would still tour occasionally with the Eraserheads, but these weren’t hindering factors for Sandwich, as there were many sessionists ready to take over in case of a member’s absence.
They signed with then-BMG Records, now known today as Sony-BMG Music, and released their debut album, Grip, Stand, Throw, with much success, thanks to its carrier single, “Butterfly Carnival.”
The band won three awards at the 1999 NU 107 Rock Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, and Song of the Year.
They released their second album, Four-Track Mind, in 2000; it was awarded Album of the Year at the Rock Awards in 2001.
Sandwich then parted ways with BMG Records and released their third album, Thanks To The Moon’s Gravitational Pull, in 2003. It was under distribution by EMI Records Philippines.
Abaya left Sandwich in 2005, in an effort to cope with the difficulty of juggling his job as an MTV VJ, and his obligations to his other band, Kjwan. Marasigan has since taken over sole vocal duties.
After Abaya’s departure, the band wrote songs for soundtracks, like “Humanda Ka,” which was done for the online game, Tantra, and “Nginiig” for the ABS-CBN show of the same name.
Mong Alcaraz of Chicosci joined the band late 2005 to solidify Sandwich’s new sound and assume guitar duties Abaya left behind.
They released their latest album, Five On The Floor, in early 2006.
In late-October 2006, their songs “Sugod” and “DVDx” became available in the online music game O2Jam.
The video for “Sugod” won five major awards at the 2006 MTV Pilipinas Video Awards including Video of the Year, Best Director, and Best Editing.
Recently, Sandwich member Mong Alcaraz and Myrene Acamedia had won the best guitarist and best bassist in recent NU Rock Awards 2006