Pupil are a Filipino rock band consisting of singer and rhythm guitarist Ely Buendia, lead guitarist Jerome Velasco, bassist Dok Sergio and drummer Wendell Garcia.
History
Early years and formation (2004–2005) Pupil was formed when former Teeth bassist Dok Sergio joined The Mongols' line-up in late 2004. The Mongols' bassist Yan "Yanni" Yuzon moved to third guitar duties while Sergio handled bass. The transitional five-man line-up was witnessed in The Mongols’ last single and music video entitled “Heroine”. In May 2005, guitarist Jerome Velasco, a.k.a. J. Astro, left to pursue a career in producing, recording and studio engineering. The group's last gig under the name "The Mongols" was on July 7, 2005.
Velasco’s departure shook things up for the group as they were trapped into the decision of whether to stay as a band or not. As they decided to continue and as they progressed, the band noticed that they were producing a different sound without Velasco on the lead guitar and decided to form a "new" band. “We got a better bass player and dumber guitarist,” jokes guitarist Yan Yuzon, who left bass playing duties to Dok Sergio to take Velasco’s place. Upon the determination of forming a “new” band, the group’s first move was to change their name.
Frontman Ely Buendia chanced upon the name "Pupil" while browsing a medical book. The band wanted a classic name for a rock band. Before using Pupil, they tried several other names, such as Villain, Lords of Nasdaq, The Gets, Trochlean, Traitors, and Tyrel Corp. They chose the name Pupil because Buendia liked the fact that it is the part of the eye where light enters. Guitarist Yan Yuzon likes its double meaning, as well as the “eternal learning” connotations of the name. Pupil's launch gig was on July 13, 2005, at the UP Bahay ng Alumni. Pupil also joined Livestock Productions. It was an event group with members such as Sponge Cola, Kiko Machine, Menaya, Tawo, Sleepyheads, and Elytistas.
Resurgence
Pupil had a hard time searching for a record label. They submitted their demo to several labels, but no one was more enthusiastic about the new material than the newly merged Sony BMG. Incidentally, Ely left BMG Pilipinas in 2002 in the wake of his falling out with the Eraserheads. However, BMG accepted Buendia again like a "prodigal son" as he himself describes it in their debut album's insert.
The band admits that there is a distinct challenge for them, coming out of their past bands (Eraserheads and The Teeth). The challenge is particularly pronounced on frontman, Ely Buendia, since older fans tend to compare him and his new band with the huge popularity of The Eraserheads before. In an interview by Y. Losorata he says, "I just want my fans and hopefully, my fans to be, to appreciate my music. I’m lucky to still have my career in music as a job and as part of Pupil wala akong (I don't have) delusions to become as big as my previous band was." In fact, the band itself describes their music as actually "one foot in the past, one foot in the present and both eyes dead set at the future." According to Buendia, it's not being there but getting there that's exciting for him, no matter how many times he tries to get there. He later added in a different interview, "Let’s just say that the Eraserheads is about escaping reality and Pupil is about accepting reality."