When we arrived at the Dolphy Theater inside ABS-CBN for the Eraserheads press conference, there was an air of excitement and anticipation in the air. The p.a. system was playing what was presumably outtakes from the rehearsals of the Heads’ much-anticipated Ang Huling El Bimbo 2022 reunion concert happening December 22, 2022 at the SMDC Grounds.

Well, nobody confirmed that those were indeed outtakes from the rehearsals, but it didn’t sound like any of their other recordings, and songs certainly sounded a lot better than their performances of the said songs from the previous reunion shows. Without spoiling them anything, I can tell you that hearing those favorites with the four members playing backed by an orchestra, it was a glorious experience that gave me goosebumps and made me more excited for the concert.

The conference started without the usual fanfare and bombast, the four members - Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, and Marcus Adoro - WEU Events head Francis Lumen, director Paolo Valenciano, and the moderator all arrived onstage at different points. Lumen made his opening statement, then the floor was opened for the press to ask their questions.

"I would have thought that I'd be sick of the (Eraserheads) journey by now, but so far it's still full of surprises," frontman Ely Buendia said when asked about the Eraserheads journey and about working with a full orchestra led by Mel Villena. "Even though we're a small band from Diliman, we had our punk roots to begin with. Most of our songs kasi, super-layered talaga, lots of guitars. Of course, being true blue music fans, we also dabbled in orchestral arrangements. I think this is the first time that we are able to play our songs as we intended.

Adoro admitted that he was in awe hearing the orchestral arragements during the rehearsal that he couldn't help tuning down his guitars so that he could hear them more.

"The past 30 years have been full of many, many detours for each of us individually. I think that the stuff that we learned the past three decades on our own...We're gonna bring them and apply the stuff that we learned this December 22. I think we've grown as musicians and matured as performers," Buddy said. "Pagdating sa orchestra, you can't say no to real violins, or real cellos, or a real horn section, 'cause nothing can really take that. I've experienced it this afternoon, medyo tumayo balahibo ko, 'cause real instruments would do that, it's a really great orchestra led by an awesome conductor."

"Rehearsals were weird, because we haven't played in a long time, but we're getting the hang of it," Marasigan said when asked about the band dynamic in the rehearsals. "It's different because when we started we were just in a little rehearsal studio in our dorm in Molave in UP Diliman. It's a studio we probably paid P80 an hour, and it was just the four of us. But now, we're playing with real sound systems, a real crew, real amps, a really wonderful theater. We're really working with really professional people."

"Have you ever seen the Eraserheads jump onstage (Laughs)?" Raimund said when asked about the physical toll of playing music. "We get excited with the music. Hindi nakakapagod, pero napapagod kami physically because we are not as young we want to be, but we can't help it. We play rock & roll, we can't just play, like, 20 percent, it always has to be 110 percent, or it's not rock & roll, right? The crowd gives you something, the band gives you something, the music gives us something, so it's a lot of good energy."

"There'll be hidden nikkis throughout the whole show na only yung mga pinaka-hardcore fans ang makaka-decipher," Marcus bared when asked what else to expect in the show..

"We didn't find the feeling out process to be difficult, the biggest challenge was how to integrate the new toys," Ely said.

"Playing together is like riding a bicycle," Buddy added. "You just get on a bike, you just keep going at it until you build that momentum, then you'll be okay. You'll fall a few times, then you cry a bit, then you get back on that bike. We're getting faster, we're getting in the right direction."