High Rollers

Here’s why your tito’s new favorite young band IV OF SPADES is also everyone else’s

- Denise Fernandez

IT’S REALLY, really hard to miss the boys of IV OF SPADES the moment they enter a room. Clad in color-coordinated, ’70s-inspired outfits (bandanas, round sunglasses, turtlenecks, checkered blazers—you know, the works), Zild Benitez, Badjao de Castro, Blaster Silonga, and Unique Salonga all look like they exited a time machine from four decades ago and found themselves right smack in the middle of the 2010s. Unsurprisingly, their funky, falsetto-filled songs match their entire getup. A week after releasing their charttopping track Hey Barbara, IV OF SPADES dropped by our office building for an Inq!Pop session livestreamed online.

“I love the new song,” I immediately tell bassist Zild after their set. He smiles with gratitude and points to the rest of the members.

“Thanks, our lolas love it too,” he answers, laughing. “We’re lolo and lola-approved!”

Once you place a vintage-influenced band into the modern era, there’s no denying that grandparents, titos, and titas everywhere are bound to fall in love with them. But do the kids love these guys just as much?

Fuck yeah.

In an era where both millennials and Gen Z-ers obsess over vinyl, analog photography, old cartoons, and retro aesthetics, IV OF SPADES couldn’t have entered the game at a better time. Playing at this year’s Scout Music Fest, the band emerged as the crowd’s surprise favorite performer, impressing both audiences and veteran musicians alike. Though some may easily dismiss them as an eccentric and manufactured pop band, the inevitable rise of IV OF SPADES is here and they’ve only just gotten started.

Like most struggling bands in the local music industry, the four-piece group was far from kicking off with a bang.