MANILA — “Minsan,” the nostalgic Eraserheads tune about friendship, written by vocalist Ely Buendia, was never about his band mates, but his actual friends outside the group, he has revealed.

A candid Buendia went as far as saying his fellow Eraserheads members were “never” his friends, in a recent episode of the Spotify podcast “Wake Up with Jim & Saab.”

The musician couple, Jim Bacarro and Saab Magalona, were enumerating memorable Eraserheads songs which Buendia would then dissect, or share trivia about.

When “Minsan” was brought up, Buendia said: “It’s one of those songs… There are some songs, when you mature as a songwriter, [you hear] lyrics na medyo cringe-worthy. It’s not a specific line, but the whole sentimentality of it.”

“Minsan” is one of the tracks from Eraserheads’ second studio album “Circus,” released in 1994.

“Baka I can explain why I feel that way. May pinanggagalingan ‘yun, e,” Buendia said, when Bacarro and Magalona expressed surprise with his answer.

“It’s about fans… I was kind of sick of fans saying, when the Eheads broke up, ‘You’re friends, you shouldn’t have [broken] up. You made us feel bad.’ I was sick of that. I think everything points to that song. That’s what they reference all the time.”

The original Eraserheads disbanded in 2002 with Buendia’s departure, after 13 years.

Despite over a decade spent together, Buendia recalled that he never formed close relationships with his band mates Buddy Zabala, Marcus Adoro, and Raimund Marasigan.

“What fans didn’t know, what the public didn’t know [is] we were never — okay, I don’t want to break any hearts again… We were never close, we were never friends, as in tight friends. That’s why we broke up,” he said.

“We weren’t Itchyworms, we weren’t Parokya ni Edgar,” Buendia said, referring to Eraserheads’ contemporaries.

Buendia did acknowledge that Eraserheads’ run “was good while it lasted,” in terms of the members’ compatibility.

“We had a very, very good working relationship. It’s just that I don’t like it when people say that it was the wrong way to go, ‘yung dynamics within the band,” he said.

When Bacarro recounted that Buendia had once told him the four Eraserheads members never shared a round of drinks for leisure, Buendia said, “Never.”

“But then, you know, it’s another one of those things na I can’t really seem to set straight. It’s another myth. I’ve given up trying to correct those myths,” he added.

Over the years since the release of “Minsan,” fans have long regarded the song as a sentimental recollection of how the band was formed at Kalayaan Residence Hall in University of the Philippine Diliman, during the members’ college days.

But for Buendia, who penned the song, “Minsan” was never about the friendship that birthed the band.

“That song is actually about my actual friends, the friends that were with me during my stay at Kalayaan. It wasn’t about the Eraserheads; it was about my friends,” he said.

As Buendia’s statements about “Minsan” circulated on social media on Thursday, the singer took to Twitter to address the “hate” he has been receiving, supposedly from fans of Eraserheads.

“Big deal, still? Why hate on people who want to tell the truth? I didn’t ask to be interviewed, nanahimik na nga ko dito eh living a happy life kayo yung makulit about the eheads. The music is all that matters, have you forgotten about that, and who wrote most of it? Just sayin,” he wrote.

Big deal, still? Why hate on people who want to tell the truth? I didn’t ask to be interviewed, nanahimik na nga ko dito eh living a happy life kayo yung makulit about the eheads. The music is all that matters, have you forgotten about that, and who wrote most of it?😎just sayin.

— Ely Buendia (@elybuendia9001) May 27, 2021

Related videos:

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv