The Heads Behind The Eraserheads: Combo On The Run Documentary

In one of the earlier scenes of Eraserheads: Combo On The Run, co-writer Aldus Santos asks Ely Buendia, Raymund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala, and Marcus Adoro a crucial question during the newly reunited band’s first meeting: “What’s the most difficult thing you have to overcome for this (the 2022 Huling El Bimbo reunion concert) to happen?”

The four were visibly stumped; it was the first time they were all together in a room in years. But in the next two hours, they unravel — baring true feelings, admitting past shortcomings, regretting how things transpired, and so on — not only answering Santos’ question, but also displaying a genuine maturity and willingness to move forward as a band.

I asked the same question to Combo On The Run director and writer Maria Diane Ventura a few weeks before the documentary was released in cinemas nationwide last March 21, 2025. Back then, there was no indication of how well the movie would be received, but given that its theatrical run would be extended to another week, many Eraserheads fans definitely went out to see it.

“Getting them together for the first time,” Ventura admits, was one of the hardest things that had to be done for the documentary to happen. While this may seem obvious, there were many layers to it besides just getting all four to agree to play together. “That first interview that we had with them was the first time they saw each other in years,” she narrates. “You could really see the awkwardness and the tension between them. And to ask them such hard questions at the very start of shooting was also interesting to see.” She likens the scenario to a couple of exes who, after being apart for years, are suddenly asked the toughest questions about their relationship.

But it all worked out in the end, which she credits to the band’s “maturity level” that allowed them to be more honest, more vulnerable, and confront unresolved issues of the past, something that “I don’t think they would have been able to do five years ago, or would have even consented to doing just a few years back,” says Ventura.

The right time (and team) for a documentary

With a momentous reunion show coming up, it was decided then that the time was right to create the most definitive document on the iconic Pinoy rock band thus far — covering their formation, their ‘90s heyday, their controversial breakup, and everything else that has led up to this point — aiming to shed much of the band’s mystique and address many of the unanswered questions that fans might have, especially regarding Buendia’s abrupt departure in 2002.

“This is, I think, the first time that the members have looked back with fresh eyes on our career,” affirms Buendia, who mainly served as Ventura’s “cheerleader” and technical advisor on the project. “Because it’s been more than 20 years since we’ve been interviewed [as a band] and asked to express our own feelings about the band and the unexpected turns of our careers. So this time, I think we bring some sort of sobriety and maybe a little bit of wisdom to the proceedings. It’s something new, especially for the fans who have probably seen the MYX documentaries or the other network documentaries out there. There will be a lot of new stuff that they haven’t heard before.”

While Ventura admits to not doing much pre-production (“With documentaries, you shoot it and you could go a million different ways,” she explains), she knew that a band with a legacy and status like the Eraserheads had to be documented in the best possible way. She handpicked her team from people she had worked with before (co-writers Santos and Chuck Gutierrez, cinematographer and co-editor Hilarion Banks, composers Earl Drilon and Atlas Glaas, and sound engineer Jason Abell, just to name a few), shot footage with top-of-the-line ARRI cameras with anamorphic lenses, did color grading in Austin, Texas, worked on sound design at Funkhaus in Berlin, and — as Combo On The Run would be the first Philippine documentary in Dolby Atmos — mixed the audio at the same soundstage in Los Angeles where the Dune soundtrack was done. “This film was made in three countries,” she says.

Longtime Eraserheads concert and tour promoter Francis Lumen (who produced the 2022 Huling El Bimbo reunion show) also came on board the project early on as executive producer. “I just work with people I have a deep admiration and respect towards,” the director adds. “So I made sure that the people that I worked with were people whose values and perspectives I trusted.”

Shooting continued well up to the band’s subsequent US tour, while gathering archival footage and piecing everything together, and what was initially planned as an episodic documentary evolved into a full feature. “We’ve had more than 60 versions of this film, which we worked on for two years,” Ventura shares.

A cinematic experience for generations of fans

All it needed now was a distributor. As it turned out, Warner Bros. Philippines had been on the lookout for deserving homegrown films and projects to attach its logo to as a goodwill measure for local producers, “especially those with no established distribution arm in the country,” says Rico Gonzales, the company’s Distribution Director. “We’ve been looking for specific titles that we can attach the Warner Bros. logo to,” he explains. “And when [Combo On The Run] was pitched to me, I got very interested — although it’s not really a movie, but a documentary.”

“The story of the Eraserheads is quite interesting, and I’m a big fan,” he continues. “When Diane showed me a non-final version of the film, it was so easy for me to recommend [it] to my regional and head offices.”

While not the first Filipino-produced music documentary to premiere in local cinemas, Combo On The Run was the first one rendered in Dolby Atmos, giving its viewers a full, immersive, all-access experience into the band and their behind-the-music stories, and of course, their iconic and much-loved songs.

Lumen recalls that the 2022 reunion concert “was a family affair,” and that Combo On The Run should be as well. “The parents are the primary fans. Now, they’re happy that their kids are familiar with the songs,” he affirms. “I really think [the Eraserheads are] the only [Filipino band] that has that kind of pull [that spans] three or four generations.”

Furthermore, Gonzales hopes that Combo On The Run’s nationwide distribution helps Filipino moviegoers appreciate different types of films, so that more documentaries — or future Eraserheads projects — get similar treatment. “Warner Bros. has always championed a diverse lineup of movies in all types of genres,” he explains. “We’re trying to open up the mindset of our moviegoers to [add] different types of genres into their viewing habits.”

“[Warner Bros. Philippines] hopes to open the audience to appreciating more documentaries about Philippine art, music, and all that,” adds Ventura. “So I felt like I was very lucky enough to be part of all this. Or not just to be part, [but] to be a witness.”

From Combo On The Run to Electric Fun

For Ventura and the rest of the core team behind Eraserheads: Combo On The Run, telling the band’s real story in a no-holds-barred manner is just one of its goals. What it aims to accomplish, really, is to elevate people’s perception of the best of Filipino creativity by giving it a nationwide platform. “My intention was always to revolutionize and elevate the local creative industry [through this work],” clarifies the director. “I wanted producers — and the audience — to start treating our local artists in the same way that we revere international acts.”

For the Eraserheads themselves, the documentary ushered in a new era for the band, rekindling their relevance over three decades after their debut, to a new generation of listeners. Buendia has since announced that they’re “here to stay” for the foreseeable future, and a festival curated by the band themselves — dubbed The Electric Fun Music Festival — is set to happen this year at the SMDC Festival Grounds in Pasay City. Brought to you by Dvent Productions and WEU, it shall serve as a prelude to the worldwide release of Combo On The Run. 

“The level of artistry that [the Eraserheads] have, it’s extraordinary. And Ely’s songwriting is up to par with the greats,” Ventura closes. “And I believe that treating any kind of endeavor or project with these kinds of artists in a way that befits their legacy and status is warranted. They changed the game in OPM, and that alone is history worth documenting. It’s time for us Filipinos to take the spotlight and to own it.”

_{Photographed by Borgy Angeles. Art Direction by Nicole Almero. Glam Team Nix Institute of Beauty: Make up by Nix Soriano (Ely and Diane). Hair by Jessey Miranda (Diane). Make up by Jedz Vidal (Francis and Rico). Hair by Jessey Miranda & Mickoy Robles (Francis and Rico). Styling by Gee Jocson assisted by Jason Mago & Neil. Photography assisted by Pao Mendoza and Rojan Maguyon. Produced by Mika Cruz. Story by Jason Caballa.}

_{On Ely Buendia: ORIAS STUDIOS Tailored Teracotta suit. SYNDROME SUPPLY Atelier de Syndrome Polo. A.KIN The A.S3701 Eyewear. ITAG The June in Two-Tone. On Diane Ventura: ORIAS STUDIOS Tailored Blazer. CHRIS DIAZ Wrap halter vest. On Francis Lumen : ORIAS STUDIOS Tailored Wine Suit. AB CLOTHING Monogram Mockneck tee. A.KIN The A.CS13 Eyewear. MERANIEL The Blake Clogs in Emerald Suede. On Rico Gonzales: AB CLOTHING Knitted Thick Wool Oversized polo. A.KIN The A.S3702 Eyewear. MERANIEL The Blake Clogs in Fog Suede.}