Queso are recognized as one of the most commercially successful Filipino Rock Bands in the 2000s. Their popularity, however, wasn’t the product of slick marketing or a producer’s conceit. During the band’s early years in the mid-1990s—a time when they still called themselves Cheese—their unpredictable brand of Rock music already attracted a dedicated following. The band’s founding members are guitarist Enzo Ruidera and bassist Tuts Calinawan, who both wanted to form their own Rock band in 1994. Paolo Rosal subsequently joined as drummer to complete the rhythm section. Vocalist Ian Irving Tayao only joined after the original Cheese lineup splintered and guitarist Ocho Toleran, a.k.a. 8, soon followed. Toleran joined the band as a fan. A sound engineer educated in Sydney’s Audio Education Center, Toleran returned to the Philippines determined to carve out a career in music. By 1996 the band’s classic lineup was completed and the band agreed to name themselves Cheese rather than s
