Meet Pinkmen, a six-piece folk rock band that’s as cool as they are unique

While Pinkmen hasn’t been around in the local music scene that long, the six-piece folk rock band from UP Diliman is already making a dent.

Spearheaded by Matthew Medrano and Giro Alvarado, Pinkmen’s guitar-heavy music is a unique blend of eclectic influences including The Beatles, Simon and Garfunke, The Eagles, Queen, Pink Floyd, Tenacious D, Kundiman, and classical, Spanish and Filipino guitar roots.

“Parang mixed tape ng tatay mo,” Giro and Matt both say.

And it’s true. In an exclusive session with GMA News Online, the pair performed a stripped down version of their single “Hanggang Sa Muli,” stunning the small crowd into silence. It was slow, it was romantic, it was familiar, but also, it sounded new.

Matt and Giro got together in high school, performing original songs for various school activities. “We decided that we wouldn’t want to become known for a cover. We wanted to be known for our own songs” Matt said.

Not long after enrolling in UP Diliman, they enlisted their friends — Jed Zulaybar (keyboards), Mark Armas (bass), JR Recla (drums), and Immanuel Baile (percussions) — to join them.

In 2016, they joined the UP Fair Battle of Bands, won and soon after, signed with Ely Buendia’s Offshore Music.

“They’re really those geeky guys who are hopeless romantics, boy-next-door, down-to-earth people and that’s what makes them unique. They’re not trying to anyone else,” Offshore’s A&R Director Pat Sarabia says. — LA, GMA News