Miguel Escueta on Rock and Roll, Parenthood, and a Damn Good Brew
He swapped the tour bus for a coffee bar. Now the alternative rocker is hitting play on a new chapter.
Published on Dec 9, 2025
Six years ago, alternative rocker Miguel Escueta gave up his thriving music career to focus on raising his family. But he’s now back in business. He’s recorded two new songs, “Summer Dream” and “Pangako sa Bukas.”
But he isn’t back with a vengeance, he clarifies. “I’m not keen on doing the heavy gig and touring circuit again. My family remains to be my number one priority,” he said at a press conference. “But any licensing deals are more than welcome, along with select show opportunities.”
Happily married since 2014, he’s a devoted spouse to his wife, Laia, and a doting father to his eight-year-old daughter, Callie. Looking fit and athletic at 41 years old, Escueta now looks less a teenybopper idol and more a youthful looking businessman. Yet earlier this year, he said he found himself “heeding the call of his muse.”
“I just had to write music. It was so therapeutic at the time it happened. I wrote ‘Summer Dream,’ which snowballed to recording, releasing, and more writing,” he said.
He later got together with his “old buddy,” Hale’s frontman, Champ Lui-Pio. They wrote “Pangako sa Bukas." With its message of hope, Escueta said the song is their heartfelt tribute to mental health advocacy.”
Both “Summer Dream and “Pangako sa Bukas” present a more sentimental and less edgy Miguel Escueta. The songs have a serene vibe that’s congruent with the scenic beach being showcased in the music video. They reflect a more mature artist, a father, and husband. Footage of daughter Callie and wife Laia are included in the music video, a testament to his commitment to his family.
Yet listening to the songs carefully, rock music fans may notice a few telltale signs of Escueta’s earlier influences such as Coldplay and Foo Fighters. His new material is actually piano-driven but they do eventually build up to a heavier rock impression.
Escueta has been friends with Lui-Pio since he was in his early 20s. They toured together under the management of ALV Talent Circuit. Their paths crossed though the years even as Escueta was swarmed with his own tours. He was also part of the cast of performers of the Sunday noontime show Party Pilipinas.
By that time, Escueta had recorded two albums. A major highlight was fronting the concert of Kelly Clarkson at the Araneta Coliseum. He was understandably nervous, he recalled. More than 4,000 of Clarkson’s fans flocked to the venue. There were also problems with the sound system. He was almost on panic mode. Lui-Pio tried to calm him. Relax, he told Escueta as he handed him a bottle of Red Horse beer. It turned out to be the ideal antidote. The nerves disappeared, the confidence returned. Escueta seized the stage and conquered the coliseum.
From Rock to Roast
For a rock star, beer is a comparatively mild relaxant. A few other rockers rely on stronger and mostly illegal remedies and this sometimes leads to addiction and ultimately their downfall. Escueta isn’t even much of a beer drinker. He’s more into coffee. When he married and had a daughter, he gave up the career and opened his own chain of coffee shops at BGC called Frank and Dean Coffee.
Escueta says he started drinking coffee during his college days. “That was when my sisters moved to the US. They were very much into coffee. When we’d visit them, we would go to various coffee shops. It came to a point when I’d by my own quality beans and brew them myself. I wrote a lot of music in the morning over coffee,” he shared.
Frank and Dean was named after legendary crooners Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Escueta says he’s familiar with the work of the two singers who were lifelong friends. They called themselves (along with other buddies like Sammy Davis Jr. and actor Peter Lawford) the Rat Pack. They were the epitome of cool Hollywood in the ‘50s and ‘60s. This Rat Pack starred in the original version of Ocean’s 11 (1960).
Escueta explained that Frank and Dean was originally a bar with a second floor. “The concept was based on Sinatra’s ties with the mafia. Sinatra usually met with them at a restaurant or bar in a VIP room on the second floor,” he said.
“From what we learned from the bar scene, a bar would be popular during the first few years. After that, medyo hihina na. The one part of the business that kept it going was the coffee. I realized that this was what we’re good at, so we doubled down on coffee.”
Frank and Dean thus became a full blown coffee shop when Miguel established a new company, Frank and Dean Coffee Corporation. This was in 2019, just before the pandemic happened. Happily, the coffee shop chain survived the world crisis, thanks to Miguel’s effective management methods. “I’ve always had this mindset which is we do what we can. So whatever my mindset was in creating and promoting my music, I translated to my business,” he said.
Back in the Music Game
Even at the white heat of his fame, Miguel seemed to remain truly grounded. He still lived in the sprawling Parañaque home he grew up in. The house had a music room that was well equipped for a complete band to rehearse in (Miguel’s brother also happens to be a talented musician).
He also never gave in to the many sordid temptations the entertainment scene offered. He never had a celebrity girlfriend nor was he ever linked with any star. He was already going steady with his future wife. The birth of Callie certainly changed his mindset on what having a music career would entail. It would have meant being an absent husband and father, which he refused to let happen.
Escueta said he has no regrets over retiring at the height of his career. “How my musical journey panned out was how God always planned for it to be. I truly believe that,” he reflected.
Meanwhile, as part of his comeback, Escueta has again signed up with the management team of ALV Talent Circuit. He says he’s open to composing for film or television. “Aside from the new songs I’ve been writing, Arnold (Vegafria, founder of ALV), has also encouraged me to do renditions of a few old Filipino classics, so I’m looking forward to working on new material in that direction,” he said.
Yet even with his foot back in the music scene, Miguel admitted that he has no further ambition for fame and fortune. “I just want as many people to listen and hear the music. I’m just hoping my music will move them in whatever way. If I can achieve that, then anything else is secondary,” he said, obviously content with where his journey has led him.
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