ON AUG. 7, Filipino indie folk group The Ridleys took the stage at the Thomasian Welcome Party for incoming freshmen at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion, performing crowd favorites like “Aphrodite,” “Love Is,” and “Be With You.”
For the band, the show was a homecoming to the University where, a decade earlier, The Ridleys had debuted as a group of student musicians joining a rock-off.
In 2016, Bryant Ayes, then studying at the College of Architecture, invited fellow musicians Benny Manaligod, Jan de Vera, and Joric Canlas to join the college’s Architecture Week Battle of the Bands.
They didn’t win the contest, but the moment sparked the beginning of something greater.
“I remember na we’re just really happy to be able to have a stage to perform ‘yong mga compositions ni Benny, and to be able to share them with a crowd,” Ayes told the Varsitarian. “Like I said, we weren’t really there to win.”
The group’s name was the result of a rushed decision. With the contest deadline looming, Manaligod — who then had a crush on Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley — suggested “The Ridleys.” The name stuck, and nearly a decade later, it has become synonymous with their rise in the local indie music scene.
Since then, the band has put out six albums and nearly 40 songs across streaming platforms. They began by playing open mics and small university stages, later juggling the realities of school, day jobs, and the financial risks of eventually going full-time.
A milestone came in November 2024, when they headlined their first solo show, “Someday We’ll Make a Home,” at the Music Museum in San Juan.
The two-night, sold-out concert traced their eight-year journey, from early songs like “Aphrodite” to their latest album, “All These and More.”
Ayes, who obtained his architecture degree from UST in 2019, said he never envisioned going full-time in music, treating it only as a passion and a breather from his academics.
Although his original plan was to pursue engineering, he listed architecture as a fallback — a choice that unexpectedly grew into a calling.
“I wouldn’t call it an accident because I do believe that everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine not being in architecture, kasi if I didn’t go to architecture school, I wouldn’t have met my wife.”
Architecture, he added, instilled in him discipline, problem-solving, and creative habits that later shaped his approach to music.
“‘Yong creative thinking that I learned at school, surprisingly, I also get to apply it to music, ‘yong problem solving about how to approach things in a very ‘out of the box’ kind of way,” he said.
But balancing school and gigs was far from easy. He recalled rushing from classes to late-night shows, taking quick naps in Grab rides, then heading home to finish design plates.
“Doing music was really just a way for me to de-stress from the academic load,” he said. “I loved what I was doing in school, but sometimes you need that kind of rest — not physically but mentally.”
Perseverance eventually brought them to bigger stages. In the past year alone, The Ridleys has performed at three major UST events: College of Science Week, UST Senior High School Week, and the Thomasian Welcome Party.
“It’s a blessing and privilege for me to be able to perform and be part of the college journey of Thomasians,” Ayes said. “I get to be part of freshies’ journeys, much like the bands who I witnessed perform before sa UST during my college days were (also) part of my journey.”E.H.B. Cortez
