Global (War)ming

A little off for a writer's blog but i wanted to share this with everyone. Presenting.. my directorial debut! Well, to be honest, I didn't direct the whole thing myself. It was a group effort. It isn't perfect but I'm so proud of it.

If you think this signals me ditching journalism for directing, well..I'm sorry to disappoint but you'll be seeing more write-ups from me! Tragic tumbles and downfalls didn't discourage me, it only made me stronger. :D

Enjoy this little production brought to you specially from SO MUCH DRAMA~!.

WATCH. LEARN. MOVE.

Taste of Chaos Singapore

An interview with As I Lay Dying was promised on this blog and on the HMTV E-zine but due to some misunderstandings at the show (i hope), Hollywood Music Tv Asia was unfortunately denied press coverage for the show. Being me, I got all emotional and pissed off. However, as the situation called for me to be professional, I did my best not to beat the crap outta anyone that night.

And I didn't.

..

Things I do inside my head doesn't count.

I get that things like this DO happen with the chaos of organizing shows. What I DON'T get is how one can be approved directly by the band's manager, have their name on the band's guest list (I clearly saw that mine was the only one on there), and STILL be denied entry to the show. It made no sense to me. In fact, it continues to make no sense to this day.

I have yet to get a proper explanation about what happened but from the way I see it, I'll be damn sure to do things differently next time around. I've contacted the manager once again to fetch some kind of reasoning. He said he'll look further into it. Although he had very little to offer, I'm thankful he's coherent unlike some people I had to work with at the show. For that, thank you Dave. And no thanks LAMC Productions.

Taste of Chaos Singapore = Epic Fail

So now, I'm on a mission. It's all gonna be under wraps until mid next year but hey, it will be sure to FUCK YOU UP. Seriously.

Till then..

PEACE!

P/s: To AILD's Tech guy/band crew, I'm sorry i wasn't very nice to you. You made me nervous.

Lost in Translation with Hydrophobia

Abstracted from Shout!'s Interviews archives

The crowd was insane and the band was spectacular. Hyrdophobia’s set at their recent gig in Singapore, did not disappoint the fans one bit. This Japanese band adds friendliness and smiles to the brutality that is metal. They came outside to mingle with everyone before the show and were the biggest sweethearts. I was incredibly surprised at how nice and adorable these bunch of guys were. The organisers had set an interview for me with their guitarist/vocalist Rin. Unfortunately, due to the barrier in language, I had to cut our interview short. Thanks to Defiled’s guitarist, Yusuke for helping us translate during this interview.

Shout!: Why did you choose to play Death Grind?

Rin: [long pause] We love extreme metal that’s why we decided to play deathgrind. It started from our love for fusion music.

S!: How is it like touring with Defiled?

Rin: Awesome! They are like our big brothers and we look up to them.

S!: Why did you decide to do an Asian tour now?

Rin: The underground music scene here in Asia has been constantly evolving and has been getting better day by day. Thanks to the internet, this type of music has had plenty of exposure. And there is so many new good metal bands rising these days. That’s why we decided that touring Asia now, while the scene is rising, was a good idea.

S!: You’ve recently released your first album after forming the band 12 years ago. What challenges did the band face while recording this record?

Rin: Hmm…We wanted to be as original as possible and do the record exactly the way we wanted. We wanted it to be technical but simple.

S!: What is the metal scene like in Japan?

Rin: There’s so many young bands rising up now but it takes a lot to succeed as a great band. If they keep their faith for their music strong, they’re bound to get far in the future.

S!: Which band got you into metal?

Rin: Hmm. There are many to choose from but to name some would be Napalm Death and Testament. Great grindcore and metal bands.

S!: What other types of music do you listen to other than metal?

Rin: There’s too many to list down. I enjoy various types of music. I try to keep an open
mind to all types of music. My favourites would be fusion and celtic hardcore.

S!: Any rituals you perform before going on stage?

Rin: I do some warm ups to prepare my fingers for the show and hit my chest to get my heart pumped up.

S!: How much wasabi can you consumed before you internally combust?

Rin: I love wasabi! I am Japanese afterall. There’s no limit of consumption for me. [laughs all around] We’re very proud of our culture!

S!:Thank you so much for talking to us! Arigato!

Rin: Arigato!

* Photo Credits: Sya Hysteria Photography & Shout Music Webzine
* Official Site: http:// hydrophobia-jpn.com
* MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/hydrophobiajpn

The UnderDogs: Lepak

Abstracted from Shout!'s Interviews archives

Being as young as they are, it was no surprise that the crowd was a bit agitated at the decision the organizers of the event made when they slotted new local metal band from Singapore, Lepak into the bill to perform with Death Grind/ Black metal heavyweights Hydrophobia and Defiled from Japan. Some weren’t too thrilled at that fact whilst others, such as myself, were intrigued as to what this band was all about. Knowing they weren’t completely supported by everyone in the crowd, they went ahead and gave it all they’ve got. For that, I give this band big kudos for not giving a shit. And to be honest, I don’t think they’re all that bad either. After their slot, I got together with the band to have a little chat about their music. The experience of interviewing Lepak was quite an entertaining one. Shiv, Keith, Mike, Bran and Mark, ranging from the ages of 16 to 18, are pretty much as laid back as their band name suggests.

Shout!: For the convenience of our international readers, can you explain to us the meaning of your band name and why did you decide on such a name?

Shiv: The word Lepak basically means “chill out” or “relax” in (Bahasa Melayu).

Keith: We didn’t want people to take us too seriously. We felt it suited the band and our nature.

S!: Tell us more about the band.

Shiv: We have a wide range of influences. We’re obviously heavily influence by black metal. All the hardcore, death metal..

Mike: ..dark, dark shit

Shiv: yeah, dark shit. [laughs all around]

Keith: We try to incorporate them in all of our songs.

S!: Do you think you’re similar to any bands?

Shiv: We definitely listen and look up to a lot of bands but hopefully we have our own unique sound.

Keith: We just wanna sound like lepak.

S!: I went to your MySpace page, and you guys are really young! How do you cope with being in a band and being involved with the heavy schedules of school and such?

Keith: That’s the big problem we have. But we made the commitment to meet up every Saturday to jam.

Shiv: It’s all about commitment.

Keith: We try to keep to our schedule but someone always chooses to be late for jamming…[everyone turns to guitarist Mike and laughs]

S!: You guys are considered to be new in the scene. What was your first reaction when you were called to perform with huge names like Defiled and Hydrophobia?

Keith: Honestly, we were really intimidated. We actually had the thought of not performing today but we decided to give it a shot. We thought that maybe if we just express ourselves musically, they might just like us.

Shiv: We’d like to thank Subash from “Truth Be Known” for hooking us up with this gig. It really means a lot to us.

Keith: And playing with them is amazing by the way. It’s a great honor.

S!: How do you think your slot went?

Keith: It went better than expected. We were quite nervous at first because we thought no one was going to appreciate our music.

Shiv: Quite a number of people turned up so we’re grateful for that.

Keith: We really didn’t expect that many people to be there.

S!: What do you think of the Singapore metal scene?

Shiv: Honestly, I think the true local metal scene is pretty dead. They’re not many kids that are into metal these days.

Keith: We don’t really want to say anything bad about the kids in the scene. I mean, it’s their own personal choice to listen and do whatever they want. What goes around comes around so we’re not gonna say anything bad about that.

S!: Tell us about the track, Eclipse Of A Devil, your demo that is up on MySpace.

Keith: The song came about before I came in the band actually. [laughs]

Shiv: We were just chilling and decided to jam because we were bored. All of us went into the studio and came up with the riff.

Keith: We’re all actually from different bands and just decided to go jamming one day and realised that we kinda had that particular connection as all of us have a wide range of influences.

S!: So you guys actually wrote the song even before then band was ever formed?

All: Yeah yeah sort of.

Keith: Things all started to fall into place when I joined the band.

S!: So when can we expect more music from you guys?

All: Soon soon.

Shiv: We’re probably going to record our EP at the end of the year, when we’re all done with our exams and shit.

Keith: But of course, cash is a bit of a problem for us, cause someone is ALWAYS late..
[turns to mike]
[mike laughs]

S!: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Keith: [turns to band members] Do we ever think that far?

Mike: No way man!

Keith: We pretty much have high expectations but we don’t really think we’ll ever get there. [laughs]

S!: So no plans to tour the US?

Keith: That would be a dream. A HUGE dream.

Shiv: We’d be psyched to just tour Japan probably. And with so much shit coming up like National Service, there’s definitely going to be a strain in the band. Hopefully not too much. [band laughs]

S!: Any last words?

Shiv: We just want to everyone to chill and have fun. Check out our music at www.myspace.com/lepaksg

Bren: And I just wanna say to all the kids that play metal. Keep it real and old school. Don’t do all that weird stuff. [everyone laughs]

* Photo Credits: Sya Hysteria Photography & Shout Music Webzine
* MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/lepaksg

Truth Be Known Spills

Abstracted from Shout!'s Interviews archives

Luckily for me, I got to talk to Truth Be Known, way before their set. Having a myspace headline that read “Most alcohol induced band in Singapore”, I was excessively worried and had no idea what to expect. But fortunately, these guys were so easy to talk to. Not only were they sober and cooperative, Subash and Gene might just be some of the most decent and nicest guys I’ve ever met.

Are you guys nervous at all for your upcoming slot with defiled and hydrophobia?

Subash: No.

Gene: No, we're sorta already used to this.

Subash: It's just that we're sober right now. We've never been sober for any of our gigs. And this one will be no different.

What do you think of the crowd today?

Subash: It was surprising, to be honest. We were very worried about the turn out as it's the festive season like Hari Raya (muslim holiday) here but the metalheads did us proud!

We heard the song Build The Hate, on your MySpace page, it's pretty intense. How did that song come about?

Gene: Usually for most of our songs, our guitarists will start out by producing the riffs and I'll follow up with the drums.

Subash: Lyrics will usually come last. After the composition of the guitar and drums, I'll come in with the lyrics. It also depends on the song structure. Sometimes, if neccessary, I'll do abit of research to get the lyrics together.

Research?

Subash: Yeah. I'll carry out research on certain subjects or people to get inspired. For example, we have a song based on a philosopher called Frederick Mitchell.

So lyrically, what are you songs usually based on?

Gene: For this album, most of the lyrics are based on religion.

Subash: The material on this album are mostly against all religions.

So you guys are Atheists?

Gene: Uhhh..

Subash: For me, I don't believe in any God. My own personal belief is that the evolution of men started from the apes. [laughs] Of course, my other band members do believe in God. We're not atheists. Agnostic maybe.

[Gene leaves interview to attend to some equipment mix up]

You just released your album, Just Another Lamb about 2 months ago, tell us how you arrived the album title.

Subash: Intially, we wanted to name it "Just another sheep" but that obviously didn't sound right at all. [laughs] The meaning is pretty generic. Noone is leading and everyone is a follower. Sorta like lambs to te slaughter you see. [laughs]

You guys have been around for three years now, and you have not only performed locally, but also in Thailand and Indonesia. Are there any differences in performing locally and overseas?

Subash: It depends on the genre of the whole gig and where we’re performing. For example, the Thais and Malaysians in the scene are very much into and hyped up about death metal and metalcore. I think we are more suited to the Indonesian and Malaysian crowd as our sound is pretty much old school and they seem to dig it. But we do try to accommodate to every crowd we play for.

How about the response you get from these crowds?
Subash: The response has been amazing. When we were in Thailand, there were a couple of white guys who were surprised at the type of music we were playing. They were like “Where the fuck are you guys from?” and when we told them we were from Singapore, they were shocked that there’s actually people playing metal over here. [laughs] And I also have to add that the bands in Thailand, or just Southeast Asia in general, are awesome.

How has the band changed musically?
Subash: Well, as of most other musicians, we’ve evolved from gaining experiences all these years. I think for me personally, I’ve also changed as a lyricist. We try to maintain and not change our sound too drastically but we do try to keep improving in terms of band tightness, which is important in every band.

We heard that you are going to be part of Truth Corroded's Asian Tour. Are you excited?
Subash: We’ve actually played with them before when they were here in Singapore. Those guys are a pretty intense. They were also surprised at our local scene. So it’s kind of like a reunion for us.

Any last words for the readers of Shout?
Subash: Keep listening to metal, buy our CD and support the local Singapore scene!

* MySpace URL & Photo Credit: http://www.myspace.com/truthbeknownsg