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I was still soaking in the realization of having completed my first interview. I know not for sure this unfamiliar feeling but I relate it to what an overachieving bookworm of a teacher’s pet must feel like upon completing an Everest of ten-years ‘O’ level series in a day.

Before I could soak any more, I was summoned to chase another interview by my editor. Not one to sit back and relax (Ha! A joke!), I hunted down Singapore’s very own West Grand Boulevard for an interview and they graciously complied. With a wicked sound and attitudes to match (which I soon found out), it’s no wonder this band is synonymous with good Indie rock

Varian: Whew! Big thanks for doing the interview guys. Alright, let’s get down to brass (heh heh, bras-s) tacks.

Dharma: I play some geetar and sing backing vocals.
Jude: I play some bass and kick everyone’s ass in the band.
Syed: I play ze drums.
Erik: Guitar.
Bryan: I’m the main vocal-er and the guy who suffers serious convulsions on stage.

V: Hmm, you should see a doctor for that. So how was West Grand Boulevard formed?

Jude: Well I was in another band called Dead End and Erik, the other guitarist, formed, well yeah, West Grand with Dharma. And they kinda needed a bassist so he asked me and I joined.
Syed: I came in much later into the band.
Bryan: We’re a collaboration of many bands that started out in the humble abode of a mama shop/studio at Leng Ann’s in Commonwealth Ave. Played drums and backing vox with both Erik and Jude in our pop/punk band Dead End. Erik asked to try out for fun and it took off from there onwards.

Varian: Perfect timing eh? How would you express your brand of music definitively?

Dharma: Country ballad.
Jude: Sound of sex from dusk till dawn.
Syed: Like Thai green curry. Spicy, but sweet at the same time.
Erik: Different.
Bryan: Power-poppy-metal-indie-groove, and that’s one word.

Varian: Way groovy, man. So why is West Grand Boulevard performing for Love is Indie Air?

Erik: Great line-up.
Syed: Art and music together. What better combination is there?
Bryan: I’m with Erik and Syed on this one.

Varian: I’m siding with you guys too. Amen. What’s your cause of choice to promote during the event?

WGB: Cross-genre, cross-cultural, cross-medium love. Support creativity, passion and hard work.

Varian: Love! Just like the event (Love Is Indie Air) is named! Speaking of which, what is your biggest love?

Erik: Music….second only to love for girlfriend and family.
Jude: Friends, music, family, DOTA, DOTA, DOTA.
Dharma: Good music and great friendships.
Syed: Friends, family, music.
Bryan: Friends, family, music, cooking good food, eating good food.

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.

Hiya folks check out the pictures on facebook & the gallery…

http://www.space-to-party.com/gallery

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19970832232

HUAT Ah!

Times ticking and shit is changing.
Gone are the times when I used to be young. Gone are the times when 2 dollars and 40 cents could buy you a pack of smokes. Gone are the times when bell bottoms were in fashion, the bigger the bell the better.

With the passing of time many things have either changed or have disappeared completely. I have a problem with regards to this.
A problem which bothers me deeply.
What ever happened to the Ah Bengs?

Where did they go? Because there used to be one squatting at every sidewalk, long sideburns swaying gently in the midday breeze. But it seems they have moved somewhere else. Somewhere I don’t know about. I search my urban jungle of steel and concrete but to no avail.

I love the Ah Bengs. There will never be another culture more iconic of Singapore compared to them. I had a pair of orange converse slippers myself. The slipper was made with material similar to that of a car mat. Shit used to get stuck inside. But care less! Those were some awesome slippers. Ah Bengs like orange. Orange and white.

I don’t believe they died. They couldn’t have all died. Maybe a few got into gang fights and died.
But not all. Where are the Ah Bengs?

I pondered this for days. I studied their trends and movement. I related my research to social structures. I propose a theory.

They did not die. The ah bengs have in fact become the act-japs. If you stare at an act-jap hairstyle for long enough you will see similarities to long bleached sideburns, swaying gently in the midday breeze.

“Why?” You may ask.

Blame it on the changing of ideals in Singapore.
In the past people just beat everyone else up. I guess there was nothing much to be said. People smashed each other with things like poles and chains and shit. Basically anything they could get their hands on. Maybe even dirty orange slippers.

Today there is a lot to be said. People don’t beat each other up anymore, they just stand around and talk. This makes me want to move my fists. If people don’t win the talk, they go back to the office, earn some money and hire a lawyer. Those bastards are the real gangsters man. If Ah Bengs had weapons, lawyers would be the machine gun.

HUAT AH!