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Recently, I managed to catch up with Giants Must Fall, one of our most promising local Indie bands. I took a swig from the emptying-way-too-fast Chivas bottle within reach to steady my nerves. The band was busy revving up for Love Is Indie Air but I did get in touch with the effervescent Jean Low. Here’s how it went:

Varian: Thanks for doing the interview! Right then, who plays what?
Jean: I sing and play guitar, Gab plays the bass and dances like Mr Bean, Gerald plays the drums and triangle, Kelvin (who has replaced Jon Leong) on lead guitar and his low, low voice.

V: Sorry, another unavoidable question. Why the band name?
J: Derived from a sermon we heard at church. It circles around the concept of having giants in our lives that hold us back, that keep us tied down, and to release ourselves so that we may achieve our intended purpose. Those giants must fall, thus the name!

V: Very interesting. How would you describe your sound in your own words?
J: Our music is…a message. It’s messages in every note, every tone we play. Not just tunes, not just melodies but always something deeper infused in.

V: As simple as that huh? –laughs- And which cause will you be pushing for the event?
J: Probably To Write Love On Her Arms. Can’t really call it a cause but it’s a really cool movement we support even though it’s not local but applies to everyone alike.

V: Love is indie air indeed. Are Giants Must Fall performing (regularly) anywhere at the moment?
J: Nope. We do a couple of gigs a month unfortunately. Too many regular gigs here involve top40 songs which we aren’t that good at playing.

Marathon runners. What stamina. What determination. What sweat. How do they do it? I ask this because at the exact (I use this term broadly of course) moment I hit “send”, yet one more interview plopped into my lap. “Get the interview”, the booming voice suddenly erupted. “Get it done and get it done NOW”, the voice commanded and the heavens rumbled. I nearly shat my pants. Lucky for me, colourful and funny frontman Rizman Putra of Tiramisu had just enough time for a quick Q & A bout. In next to no time, I saw why Tiramisu is becoming, if not already, a staple for local music lovers:

Varian: Just what exactly is a Tiramisu?
Rizman: Tiramisu is Noorazlan Misnan aka Lan Cum (bass), Keith Su aka Dr Soos (vocals, guitar), Syed Ahmad aka Bobo (drums), Athif aka Gained Tail (guitar), and Rizman Putra
aka Woom-ber-the3x (vocals).

V: This one’s a standard. How did all of you come up with the band name?
R: Most of us are half-Italians and we love the dessert so much that one of the band members got choked on the cocoa powder while eating it. Hence, the name.

V: Ah, good ol’ friends. Describe Tiramisu’s musical style.
R: We sound like a mutated animal with 2 legs, a hairy tail, a mullet, one eye and a broken banjo.

V: That sounds like something out of a Mary Shelley book. I understand that each band is voicing out a cause for the event. What cause will the group be promoting?
R: Love is real, real love, and love is in the air. All we have to do is breathe…

V: -inhales deeply- Yup, it’s unmistakable that Love Is Indie Air. Of all the gigs, which one tops the list?
R: Our London gig in 2005 because it was in London. It was a dream come true.

V: Tell me something about this “bad side of the music business” that we (everyone outside the music scene) so often hear about.
R: Organizers paying peanuts to local bands and paying triple for foreign bands.

I recently sat down with nightsound+ for a look at this band’s stuff, this is what they had to say:-

TAI: How did you come up with the name of your group Nightsound?
NEIL: Nightsound was just a catch phrase back in school that we used for a school project. Not anything meaningful, but we just needed a name. Stuck with it since?
EUGE: Sorry, no comments. I’m only the cool bass player. *smile*
K: cuz we be nocturnal creatures of the night that function dependently on post-supper coffee.
ALAN: “Daysound” just doesn’t sound right.
XR: I think it was at night.

TAI: Tell us a memory of one of your live performances that you just can’t forget.
NEIL: Performance? Arts House Playden where we were playing with all kinds of musicians like Edmund on sax, Luke on percussions, the Fritz Quartet, and guess what? Taisuke Yamamoto, all the way from the Indian Ocean island of ChaCha who did a rap for us!
EUGE: I would have to agree with Neil on this. The Arts House Playden gig rocked! With all the talented people working on this show? It would have definitely made the republic of the “red dot” proud.
K: err…read the above.
ALAN: Yep it was one hell of a show with all the participating musicians rocking just above a restaurant.
XR: All the happiness, we’ll soon forget… all the promises…that we break…it comes around in time…

TAI: If you had to force Gandhi to fight you, how would you taunt him?
NEIL: Ow… Your last sentence nearly got me lethal…
EUGE: Knuckle his head.
K: use his bald head as a mirror whilst I brush me teeth.
ALAN: Pronounce his name as “Ghand Hai”?
XR: Why would i want Gandhi to fight me??!

Good morning, Good evening, Good hangover

Today, I am sitting with UK Asian Hip-Hop artist: Concept from the up and coming independent record label Shlepp Records. Concept was born and raised in London, and found rapping a way of solving his troubles, as he was constantly getting into fights and hustling. He is now focused on his music, taking the independent urban scene in England by storm, targeting an Asian audience and creating songs such as ‘Million Miles’, and party songs such as ‘T-shirt’ which he has just finished shooting the video for. I sat down with the talented rapper and although he was a bit of a loose cannon… I managed to get some answers:

Taisuke: Wassup Concept , how are you today?

Concept: Ha Ha, JOLLY GOOD.

Taisuke: That’s good to hear. Over here in Singapore, we don’t have much of a clue regarding the urban scene out in the UK..Could you give us some insight from the front line, and hand us 3 words that describe what the urban scene is like out there?

Concept: 3 words ay, hold up my phone ringing..( picks it up..mumbles some gangster words that I cant print in here, hangs up and comes back) ok, ok, 3 words that would describe the urban scene here is: Cold( because it’s Britain), Imitated ( music wise) and Weaker..but there is a minority that create ok music..

Taisuke: I see..well that all seems kind of negative, especially for us in sunny Singapore, If you could lighten up the mood for everybody over there, how would you do it?

Concept: - I would go around handing out Belgium Chocolates..ye belgium

Taisuke: Hmm, good choice.. Ok, now finish these sentences for me:

Taisuke: I would most likely get arrested for:

Concept: Mooning the Queen of England

Taisuke: When I rap I sound like:

Concept: Jesus. haha.. nah just a rapper

Taisuke: Ok, who’s got a better beard, Bin Laden or Santa?

Concept: Santa’s, It keeps growing back

Taisuke: I didn’t know it grows back/got cut off?

Concept: Well he stays way he is forever innit.. so if you cut his beard off it’s gonna come back for more haha

Taisuke: I see..wait let me scratch my head…Ok Ok.
So explain to us your style of Hip-Hop music, what kind of topics do you talk about in your raps?

Concept: I just rap about shit that I been through, shit I’m feeling whether it be about feeling good wit bitches all around me or in a bad mood,. I try to avoid talking about the same shit as everybody else, but if it plays a part in ma story I would mention it

Taisuke: So as far as rappers go, which rap artist would like to kill, and what would be your weapon of choice?

Concept: Ha Ha, err my weapon of choice would be a sword, and the artist would be benzino.

Taisuke: Ha Ha, Ok Concept, thank you for the interview, hope all goes well with the music, Where are you heading next?

Concept: Straight to the studio man, you gotta work hard for it..

Taisuke: Enough said.

Concept’s music can be purchased at www.Tunetribe.com
Check out Concept’s music online at :

http://www.myspace.com/loveyourmind

and also, check out his fellow label mates at:

http://www.shlepprecords.com/
http://www.shlepp.co.uk/