Knee-deep

This is pretty FUBAR (fucked up beyond all recognition).

Over the weekend, I tried to finish up recording my parts for The Lard Brothers' cover of 'Enemy'. However, I kept dozing off at the laptop during the playback of the tracks. Okay, it might be like 430am on Saturday morning and 230am on Sunday morning. I found myself head down on the laptop. Thank God, I didn't drool or I might have short circuited the fucken laptop. Strangely, I found myself much more energetic recording during the afternoon which was never the case.

On Friday, I was talking to Liang of muxu about how playing live shows is not as fun as it used to be. Recording is. He said, "You know, that's a sign of old age." Fuck, that and dozing off at your laptop as well.

Underneath A Blood Red Sky

Starts tomorrow. Will have quite a couple of friends performing. Chingz and Adlin of Alaling will get around with their shennigans on Sunday. And with Sham and Joseph of ShameJoannShame as well, it's going to be a riot.

Lied - Binky

From my friends in Kuala Lumpur, Lied. Adlin (and that's him in the video too) used to sing for the band but his brother Faiz has taken over as lead singer. Weird, I know. This song is nice. Me likes...

The Verve

Billy sent me this link. Sign up with NME and get to download a jam session which the reformed Verve did. Like what Billy said, "It's good to see Nick McCabe back in action."

Joe Ng... part 1

To many, Joe Ng is like the Godfather of Singapore rock'n'roll. I dunno about that but he's one funny dude and a very passionate one as well. Usually, drunk too.

I had a conversation with him on MSN recently. It's heartwarming to see someone so full of zeal for music made here.

Ah San says:
hey damn shiok. esp this last 1.5yrs.. every weekend is pack full of local gigs

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
yeah...

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
sometimes a bit too much

Ah San says:
tts wat some ppl say too. a bit too much.

Ah San says:
but i disagree

Ah San says:
when u go melb, london, tokyo, or even bangkok.

Ah San says:
n u go for local gigs there.... is it consider too much?

Ah San says:
so why the special scenario for sg?

Ah San says:
cos the audience/fan base is smaller? yes i agree

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
Frequencies of gigs here are seasonal.. sometimes 1 sat can have 6 gigs

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
but sometimes nothing also

Ah San says:
but tt is a poor excuse

Ah San says:
in the sense, tt it's seasonal.. sometimes 1 sat can have 6 gigs<-- tts why i love it

Ah San says:
to the pt i duno which one to go anymore!!!! n tts amazing

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
hahaha

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
tt's true man

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
very stretched out

Ah San says:
compare tt to 1986-1988..... ONE fucking gig in 1 yr

Ah San says:
if u ask me which i prefer....

Ah San says:
i prefer sg not to ever evr ever ever have tt kind of scenario again--> comapre tt to 1986-1988..... ONE fucking gig in 1 yr

Ah San says:
note: my definition of those kind of gigs r - predominantly english language ORIGINAL music

Ah San says:
by predominantly local born citizens or PR

Ah San says:
86 to 88... once a yr....

Ah San says:
arts fest fringe music fest.

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
tt's really quite steam

Ah San says:
in the early 80s, there was a club called Rainbow at cuscaden. it was hardrock club featuring top 40 covers band. but Chris Ho's zirconlounge had a couple of gigs there b4.. but sporadic . like once or twice in over many mths

Ah San says:
tts it... no gigs

Ah San says:
now its wonderful, sometimes can be moved to tears. heh
Ah San says:
noeing its growing n growing

Ah San says:
i cant stand it cos im singaporean and i dun get to lhear singapore music on a singapore radio station.... what a fuckus is that

Ah San says:
when u go to england, america, japan, thailand, or even so called 3rd world ctry tt many singaporeans look down upon like Indonesia..... do u get a one hr special programme tts dedicated to local music only?

Ah San says:
n the rest of the 23hrs is spent on international hits?

Ah San says:
its afuckus

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
true true

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
but if u ask me, we were groomed to look down on ourselves

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
when did tt even start in the first place?

Ah San says:
when did tt even start in the first place? <-- when in the start of the 70s when the govt cramped dwon on local popular music

Ah San says:
shut down rock clubs/venues

Ah San says:
clamp down on ppl wif long hair (mainly musicians and fans)

Ah San says:
I'm not sure whether u seen those signs b4 when u're a kid

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
i can't rem those things... i've only heard abt it

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
i'm referring to the fact... why do singaporeans look down on themselves so much?

Ah San says:
at every govt office (post office, passport immigration office, etc etc) theres a sign board wif a pic of a loud hair guy n a cross on him. and a caption below saying "anyone wif lpong hair will be served last"

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
serious?!

Ah San says:
i'm referring to the fact... why do singaporeans look down on themselves so much? <--- cos we follow . we were trained to follow. in the 70s, 80s, 90s...

Ah San says:
yes..... i kid u not.

Ah San says:
i was in primary sch in the 70s (Real age not revealed)

Ah San says:
theose signs were everywhere

Ah San says:
wat happen is this

Ah San says:
willy tan have long hair.... hes at the back of the Q

Ah San says:
in front got 3 persons

Ah San says:
one by one .... the Q is cleared

Ah San says:
then finally u're the only one left in the Q and u're up next

Ah San says:
then suddenly one person walk in and join the Q behnd u

Ah San says:
"sorry willy tan, u have to go behind and let the new person b served first. cos u have long hair"

Ah San says:
tt's how it works n the stipulation of long hair is cannot touch yer collar

Ah San says:
btw tt law is still around. it was never removed. just tt its not enforced only.

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
it was a fucken law?!

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
oh yeah, it was... but i tot it was...

Ah San says:
yep

Willy says, "You suck more blood than a backstreet dentist..." says:
i thk we need to start a repeal long hair movement

Ah San says:
LOL

There's still more but some other entries eh?

Crying over split milk

We've a new song 'Cry' out here. It features Max on vocals and Bryan on electric guitars. Have fun.

Cease or desist...

As with the copping of the whole Mark Ronson idea, The Lard Brothers finished up our first cover: Phorous' 'Shadowgraphs'.

You can download the original tune (not our cover) here (right click to save as). It features our friends Eswandy and Linda on vocals. I personally love the song a lot.

We've gotten TBFKAS (which is Yeeyong and Bryan) and Billy to help us out. I thought Yeeyong did an amazing lead vocal today. Bryan and Billy did backing vocals. And we all did handclaps.

Handclaps. Very important.

I think the Phorous guys (Fuzz and Vijay) will probably flip when they hear our version. Hopefully, they won't send us a cease-or-desist letter. If not, it will be the start of quite many.

Nice... part 5

Sidney Silin Magliari. She's Roxanne's (Linda and Johnson's friend) little girl. And she's the cutest thing I've seen in a long while!



Hahaha, so funny... She's got her own blog. Apparently, her favourite band, besides Daddy's, is Lunarin. Any metal-loving toddler is a friend of mine! C'here, let Uncle Willy pinch your cheeks. Sooooo cute!

Park your heart inside with me...

The B-Quartet album Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address is coming back home from mastering in NYC!!! Woo hoo!!!

Can't wait to hear how it sounds like!

Hmm... part 11

Not in the best of moods these days.

The only thing is getting me pumped up now is doing the Mark Ronson-like project for The Lard Brothers. So far, we've asked quite a few friends for help. And we are getting Yeeyong onboard to help out. It's not like The Love Experiment recording is progressing very fast anyway. And who cares? As in seriously.

Anyway, we've selected a few tunes, based on the tunes we love. I just finished prepping Humpback Oak's 'Circling Square', waiting to send to Weiyuan and Yeeyong. We are getting Haykal of B-Quartet to sing on this. Hopefully, Leslie doesn't get his lawyers to send us a cease or desist letter. Going to start on either The Padres' 'Radio Station' or TypeWriter's 'Enemy' soon.

If this doesn't keep my ass occupied, I think I better start taking up knitting soon.

The world's longest makeout session

Got it from Nat.

Enter The Wu-Tang

Keeping it real and all about the Benjamins are The Wu-Tang Clan with their new jam, 'The Heart Gently Weeps'. It features quite a fair number of collaborators, John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Erykah Badu (doing the choruses) and Dhani Harrison playing a couple of licks off his dad, George's (Y'know, that guy who was in that little-known 60's band) most famous song 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'.

The new album The 8 Diagrams will be out in December.

The Tattoo Boutique

My good friends Noel and Ant have started their own online business. Since tattoos are their life-long passion, they've started an online retail shop here. Go and sapport sapport a bit. I'm thinking of getting this.



But the Singaporean in me says, "If only gotch sale... or discount." Hurhurhur...

Loco Roco

Weiyuan showed me a demo version of this game on PSP a few months back. I'm sold on it lah. I think I should be getting a PSP and this game pretty soon.

My Version...

I had one of those of my many hare-brained ideas as usual. I've been listening to Mark Ronson's Version for quite a fair bit over these few months. How about using The Lard Brothers' moniker to do one of only Singapore covers?

Hmm...

Head music

A friend, Darren aka SonicBrat posted some new tracks on his blog.

Here's the link to the tune 'City Of Glass', an ambient sound art piece made up by sampling kitchen wares, faulty cables, synths, guitar drones and piano.

Ah-la-la-la-lon!!!!

2 of Kuala Lumpur's sexiest men used to play in this band. They have both left the group. Well, one of them is romantically involved with the singer while the other guy has quitted his band (one he founded) which the other guy is still playing in to rejoin this act. Complicated? Yeah, I know.

Well, my good friend Chingz just released her debut EP Fried Spam + Dry Hands, a live demo EP online. Download the debut Alaling EP here. Chingz was our first choice when we were shopping for a female singer for the post-The Love Experiment project. But then geographical constraints pulled a plug on the thought.

So we thought of 1) cloning her or 2) convincing her to seek greener pastures in Singapore to advance her career and spend her weekends/ free time with 4 sweaty soon-to-be thirty-year-olds to be a Depeche Mode/ Lamb/ Portishead/ Nine Inch Nails tribute band. But somehow I figured Sen Kiat will never forgive us if we did option 2. Hmmm...

George Clooney and his sex pillow

Here. Buy it here.

The Arcade Fire new site

Got it from Dan Electrico. I'm no fan but the site is pretty cool.

Paris Hilton vs. David Letterman

Got this off Linda's blog too.

Hmm... part 9

Got this off Linda's blog.

Motorola Razr v.2 advt

Got it off Grace's blog. Directed by Michel Gondry. Great stuff.

Nice... part 3

I've told Adlin that I will be up in Kuala Lumpur in November to accompany both Documentary In Amber and B-Quartet up to KL to play a show.

Kim, Adlin's bitch just dropped me a message.

Kimberly De Silva
Today at 2:53am
eh willy ah
when will you be officially done with work in november
cos right i have a genius plan that if we head home to kl on THURSDAYYYYYY - (8th) we can take u party in maison
 
Willy Tan
Today at 9:48am
Yeshhhhhh, and so you have clearly explained!!! And I is cannot wait!!!

Apparently, Maison is a club in KL where most of the 18-year olds hang out and grind to R'n'B. I dunno what the hell Kim is going to do to me there but I feel like a deeerrrty old skank already. And so, she'll be hanging out with Nat before we adjourn up to KL. I'm sure Nat will bring her to all these boring places where people dance to awkward indie rock. Ha!

Give me a call when you are in town, babe... and I'll bring you to roll with my gang at our local Ah-Beng trance/ Cantopop joints. But no "feng tau" please, we are Singaporeans.

Samwell - What What (In The Butt)

Billy and I started a 'Straight Guys Who Love Music By Gay Guys' Facebook group yesterday. Natalie added the above video. The singer's facial expression and lyrics are so damn disturbing that they are fucken good!!!

Love love!

Was out with Ah Jun, Ah Boon and Ah Bui last night drinking at Indochine Club St. It was nice to catch up with them since I've not seen them for a while. Bracey Gracie was there as well along with Ah Boon's "bu" (Hokkien: woman), Eleen.

Need to take note that I'm not getting any younger and drinking on an empty stomach. 3 pints, to be exact.

It's nice to see Ah Bui getting much love these days. And watching the sexual tension unfold between Ah Jun and Ah Boon was pretty funny and reminds me how they need to get a room. Well, like the latest catchphrase they came up with: "Love love!" - must be said as chirpily as possible. The air's filled with it...

Love love!

Nice... part 2

Nutella Natalie just sent me this. More brewtal than death metal!!!

Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address

Akan datang. Yeah, I might be biased but this is gonna be the best album of the year for me. Okay, maybe with the exception of Rihanna, Wilco and Radiohead (but we'll see...).

Futon - Strap It On

The song is great. And there are like 2 more good ones on their latest album Pain Killer. That's about it. Ah well...

In Rainbows

Not in the best of moods these days. This week's gotten off at a bad start, really.

Billy sent me this. This piece of news will cheer me up. A new Radiohead album is always something to look forward. OK Computer still ranks as my favourite album along with Suede's DogManStar. The ever-forward-thinking band is releasing its album in only 2 formats: a discbox (which includes 2 or 3 CDs, 2 vinyls, digital downloads and some other good stuff) for a whopping 40 pounds or just downloads (as a pay-as-you-like format). Get the new album In Rainbows here. The downloads start 10 October.

For a whiny vegan, Thom, you still rock my world! \m/ -_- \m/