Filipino metal trio SKYCHURCH bassist and vocalist RUSSELL DELA CRUZ joins Joal for a chat on the Season 1 Finale of Buhay Banda Diaries.

Drawing from thirty years of experience playing music, Russell shares various stories throughout his career and the lessons that he picked up over the years. He discusses how music has always been in the family since the time of his grandparents and how this contributed to his and his brothers' musical upbringing, after which they eventually formed SkyChurch. 

He also tells the story of how he was inspired by the late great Teddy Diaz of The Dawn to pick up the guitar and play in a rock band. And he also touches on how he discovered that his music, which he initially wrote and released with his band as a form of self-expression, affected a number of people in ways that were life-changing.

Throughout his stories about SkyChurch as well as his former band Intolerant, Russell drops valuable lessons and insights from living the band life for decades, such as the importance of playing music with heart, understanding that your music can deeply touch listeners, shifting priorities as you grow older, the need to be professional when it comes to handling band matters, and so much more. 

Timeless and significant, the learnings that Russell shares as he talks about his musical journey ends the first Season of Buhay Banda Diaries on a significantly high note.