The band members of Campo Xanto are remnants of the first and second wave of Tacloban indie rock upheavals in  94 and then later on in 97. Originally the band was called  Santo Trio. Jerby, vocalist of the emocore/worldmusic band Rain Eternal made some songs that didn’t fit  Rain Eternal’s  sound. With him doing the guitars and lead vocal chores, he asked Papam (Rain Eternal’s drummer) to help him have the songs performed by a band. Papam then asked his bassist friend Raymund to join who incidentally was just reeling off  from his band’s (Sangkay) decision to halt playing as a band .    

The faces at Net's circa 1996

When Rain Eternal recorded their "Waiting Songs album" , the trio  managed to record  4 demo songs during breaks. More songs were created and finally Santo Trio begun performing in the city’s only weekend underground gig venue called Net's. It is a turo-turo (traditional pinoy fastfood) that transformed it self into a bohemian enclave every weekend.  

Kevin with the Skunk Cabbage also at Nets in 1996

Rain Eternal  disbanded in 96. So Santo Trio became the only stable band for the three. Since Jerby is a lousy guitar player (he bitterly agrees), the band’s guitar sound suffered especially during live performances. He finally gave-in to the silent pressure of the rest of the band to quit playing the guitars. Gilbert the bassist of Rain Eternal was asked to do the fretworks. This line-up then recorded 10 more demo songs. After a while, Perry a young keyboard player was asked to join. This time the band experimented beyond the usual guitar based music they got used to. With the change in music the band decided to have a new name..... Campo Xanto. 

Campo Xanto in Dulag from way back 1997

Gilbert then left the band to concentrate more on his career as a web consultant. Hector, a bassist of the late 97 stalwart prog-rock/hard core outfit called Tea Shirt took the guitar chores from Gilbert.
After 4 years, the band's drummer Papam had to leave the band for very important reasons, part of which was his plans to leave for Australia. Taking his position is Kevin Palaña. Kevin has also been a fixture of the city's indie music since the early 90s.The band then added another guitar player in the person of Jean Paul, a former band mate of Kevin who used to play guitar for BlakSun and other active bands in Tacloban.

One of Campo Xanto's earliest posters