In a Facebook post last night, The Dawn front man Jett Pangan announced the departure of bassist Buddy Zabala and "the return of the comeback". He also vaguely confirmed that Francis Reyes and Carlos Balcells will be resuming their guitar and bass duties respectively. It seems like a fitting way to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, happening this year. 

We reached out to Francis Reyes about the good news and he happily replied, "It does feel good to be home again, and having Carlos involved again, too, is something I wasn't expecting at all. I imagine we'll be busy, but we also have our respective day jobs so we'll balance everything out."

We also asked some of our Filipino musicians about The Dawn's influence on local music and what it means to have them back in this day and age:

CHINO SINGSON, THE ITCHYWORMS

Exciting times! I was listening to the Dawn even before I took up an instrument, so they definitely shaped my musical tastes early on. When I eventually learned guitar and started playing in a band, I learned and played many of their songs. "Heart's Thunder", "Abot Kamay" and "Puno't Dulo" were literally part of the soundtrack of my youth. So the classic lineup of Jett, JunBoy, Caloy and Francis is a throwback to the albums I'm most familiar with. The addition of Sancho only makes it sweeter!

GEP MACADAEG, AUTOTELIC

The Dawn is the first band that comes to my mind when it comes to 80's Pinoy music - they are the definitive Filipino New Wave band. It was an honor for me to pay tribute to The Dawn when my previous band recorded a cover of "Living Seed" from the Enveloped Ideas album. Excited ako marinig uli sila, lalo na't bumalik sino Kiko at Carlos!

JASON CABALLA, PEDICAB/CHEATS

The Dawn's importance and influence on local music is unquestionable, but to be honest, the last great song the band released was "Tulad Ng Dati." Not that I'm hoping that Kiko and Caloy's return would bring the Dawn back to its glory days, but I'm just glad that this particular lineup of the band is back together, because in some ways, it was the band's definitive lineup.

REN AGUILA, WRITER

I am glad that the team has somehow gotten back together. I believe that the band has left a mark not only through memorable songwriting but also through how they were able (thanks to a major beer brand) to get their music to the widest possible audience, thus opening a path for bands like the Eraserheads to do just that later on. Honestly, it would be fun to revisit Mike Sandejas's Tulad ng Dati because of this news.

Listen to The Dawn's discography here: