 He started playing with "Tungaw", a four-piece band which frequented Club Dredd in the heyday of the Filipino alternative music explosion in the 1990s.Villena was also a founding member of Brownman Revival (played keyboards), did session percussion work for Tropical Depression, and drummed for Romeo Lee and the Brown Briefs (with ex-Tungaw mates bassist Jing Gaddi and guitarist Mark Villena ).Tungaw disbanded in 1998, when Ryan formed "Lilian" along with college friends from his Tanghalang Ateneo days, (which included Pupil's Yan Yuzon, Xander Angeles on guitar, Patrick Tuason on keyboards and Mimi Chu on vocals) in early 2000.