Reg Rubio has spent more than two decades as one of the recognizable voices in Philippine heavy music. As the vocalist of Greyhoundz, Rubio helped bring the band from the smaller shows in Club Dredd into the big rock festival stages with songs like “Pigface,” “Mr. P.I.G.,” and “Shoot to Kill.” But for Rubio, the band’s success was never something they expected, as he reflected in the latest episode of Rolling Stone Philippines Greatest Hits. Their breakthrough came after their demo was submitted at legendary rock radio station NU107, eventually opening the door to a career that would take Greyhoundz through multiple albums, lineup changes, and major shifts in the local music industry.
Rubio joined Greyhoundz as a replacement for the band’s original vocalist Alex Dinoso. He remembers bringing their demo to NU107 around 1998, where music director Myrene Academia, who is also the bassist from Sandwich, received the CD and played it almost immediately. The exposure eventually helped Greyhoundz reach a much wider audience.
“The impact of ‘Pig Face’ on my career and our band’s career [is that] it opened the gate. It opened everything for us,” Rubio tells Rolling Stone Philippines. “Like any other band, we were never expecting to succeed.”
Navigating The Rock Scene
Greyhoundz eventually reached one of its most difficult periods when the band lost guitarist Allen Cudal in 2004. The loss came around the making of Apoy in 2005, forcing the remaining members to ask whether they could continue without one of their own.
“Bigla kaming nagkaroon ng tanong kung itutuloy pa ba namin?” Rubio says. The album became an important record for Rubio, who drew from the loss of his bandmate and from people around him who were struggling at the time. While some listeners interpreted Apoy through its imagery of fire, Rubio says its message was about pushing through difficult moments without destroying yourself.
The meaning of the album became even clearer when Rubio met fans who told him how the record helped them through illness. In one of Rubio’s anecdotes, during a show in Bacolod, a cancer survivor approached him in tears and told him that Apoy became his “soldier” while he was in the hospital. He calls that experience “priceless.”
The band also had to navigate an industry that was changing around them. With record labels slowly disappearing and distribution deals becoming more common, Greyhoundz decided to make their next record themselves. One of their greatest hits, “Shoot to Kill” from Execution Style back in 2009, was self-recorded. They entered the studio with only two songs and wrote eight more, recording the entire album live in a month.
Why Reg Rubio Is Going Solo With “505”
After years of sharing songwriting responsibilities with Greyhoundz, Rubio is now exploring what he can do on his own. His solo single “505,” in collaboration with rapper Ron Henley, became a taste test for the new direction he wants to pursue. Working solo also means taking full responsibility for every decision. There are no bandmates to blame if something does not work, but Rubio says that freedom is part of the appeal.
“With the bandmates, all of you may say sa lahat, lahat kayo may accountability when writing. ‘Pag solo, salo mo lahat,” Rubio says. “So kung panget siya, kasalanan mo kaagad ‘yun. Wala kang madadamay na iba. ‘Di ko pwedeng sabihing, ‘Kasalanan nila Auds [Avenido].’ ‘Di ko rin pwedeng sabihing, ‘Kasalanan ni TJ [Brillantes].’ ‘Pag may panget na gawa, kasalanan ko kaagad ‘yun.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Alex Dinoso was the original vocalist of Greyhoundz before Reg Rubio took over.
Allen Cudal, one of Greyhoundz’s original guitarists, died in a car accident in May 2004. The band continued as a four-piece after.
Greyhoundz’s greatest hits are “Pigface,” “Mr. P.I.G.,” “Doble Kara,” and “Shoot to Kill.”
Reg Rubio collaborated with Filipino rapper Ron Henley on “505,” the lead single from his forthcoming solo album.
Greyhoundz recorded the Execution Style album at bassist Niño Avenido’s studio.
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