Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a Filipino rock group from the Philippines, active from 2002 to the present, with Lee Maningas and Monty Macalino among its members. The band takes its name from the Smashing Pumpkins song “Mayonaise”.

Style and songwriting

The group plays guitar-led songs built around catchy hooks and lyrics with emotional weight. Its material is largely written by Monty Macalino, who writes from personal experience, especially about love and unhappy relationships. The band’s songs are known to change over time as the line-up changes, with new members bringing different ideas and arrangements to existing material.

Career and songs

Mayonnaise wins the 2004 Red Horse Muziklaban, which the band attributes to the strength of its songs. Its early and recurring material includes “Bakit”, first written in 1999 when the band has three members, and later reworked into “Bakit Part One” and “Bakit Part Two”. The two versions reflect the band’s changing line-ups and Monty Macalino’s preference for a rock arrangement after an acoustic version does not suit him.

Other noted songs include “The Only Thing”, which receives radio airplay, and “Eddie Song”, another track in steady circulation on radio. “Eddie Song” is described by the band as a tribute to Monty Macalino’s driver. “Jopay” is another well-known song in the band’s catalogue; although it includes a reference to the dancer Jopay, it is written from the personal experience of a difficult argument and an ended relationship.

Band members and personalities

Monty Macalino fronts the group and is also known as the main songwriter. He is described as a comic personality offstage, in contrast to the more intense tone of some of the band’s songs. The current line-up is the third in the band’s history, after earlier membership changes.