My opinion of what's wrong/needs to be improved on with SG music scene.

[dir]

I'm sorry, I just love reading your essays and such, please don't mind me. I love reading opinions (especially biased) and there's a tremendous amount that have been generated so far in this lovely thread. I wish people would post more of what would make local music better and suck lesser!

also, @dan: I agree with your views on IP but I was more interested in your stance on it. Are you totally pro-IP or do you dislike aspects of it, or are you a firm supporter of the copyleft movement and the free culture? How do you see IP as limiting or supporting local bands here? Though astroninja is a good example of how internet can really push the envelope for marketing your band, it really remains to be seen how much impact they can make for the moment. I posted here because I would others to comment as well!

 

[blank]

I'm sorry, I just love reading your essays and such, please don't mind me. I love reading opinions (especially biased) and there's a tremendous amount that have been generated so far in this lovely thread. I wish people would post more of what would make local music better and suck lesser!

Whatever makes you sleep better at night!

 

[dir]

thanks, I'm glad we got that out of the way and can be friends now!
fake edit: why do you keep editing your posts!!

 

[soft]

blank, I need you to help me edit your posts. You do not need to QUOTE other's post wholesale in your replies.

http://soft.com.sg/forum/message-us/5310-please-do-not-abuse-quote-button.html

 

[blank]

thanks, I'm glad we got that out of the way and can be friends now!
fake edit: why do you keep editing your posts!!

yes we can!
my thoughts change quickly, unlike the weather!

 

[snuffleupagus]

But blank, I don't mean to be patronising but; we do not live in an ideal world where everything can be created equal. There will always be bands that "suck" and bands that don't (like the few you mentioned so far). Singapore is small with the same participating pool of bands playing the same gigs week in week out, so perhaps the lack of wholesomeness of the scene can be easily misconstrued in a generalised manner.

The Scene- what type of supporters define it? The lay man on the street? Or the pseudo-initiated ones who are already related to the bands in some way or are just happy to be enjoying themselves at free/cheap gigs?I believe the 3rd type of supporters would be the ones who truly appreciate the technical showmanship of the bands and would love to check out the latest LIVE drum solo or what not...for personal musicalreasons.

I agree that the argument on what needs to be improved on the whole is not based on the quality of the bands only, but collectively as a whole industry here, from the ground up. A lot of valid points on the need for a proper infrastructure for the music scene were thrown about and I agree wholeheartedly with danelectico.

Blank- don't get me wrong, I appreciate your ideas and your concerns, and I think perhaps in a way, the industry needs people like you to give them a dose of reality. If there were more people like you with a more direct voice to the local bands, I believe the bands will push themselves even harder and maybe one day MOST bands from Singapore will be of higher quality.

I feel that there are many good bands in Singapore that suffer the fate of generalisation. The layman on the street who may happen to attend a so-called high profile band concert(Baybeats?etc etc) may be put-off by the bad quality of a few bands and they probably won't be around long enough to care about the passion or what-not of that particular band. The general impression would be " Is this what the Singapore Band scene has to offer?Really?" And that impression will stick for a long time.

For the initiated fan boys, they don't really care- "Hey as long as they are local blah blah I can mosh and soak in the concert atmosphere, I'm happy"

Perhaps we need to understand what defines the scene as a whole and to properly identify the synergy of it all. I feel that each dynamic of the scene has to evolve at the same pace with maturity as its catalyst because they are all tightly related.

In conclusion I feel that we should just let things be, and let the music scene evolve slowly at its own pace.

These debates, these demography of supporters, these critics, these bad bands/good bands will always co exist forever. Singapore will remain small but globalisation will help us hopefully in years to come and when the scene properly matures, the next step is probably up.



Oh well.

 

[blank]

I agree with you. I acknowledge the fact that there will always be good and bad bands, but the standard is way too low right now. Whoever judged baybeats this year seemed to put the bands names in a hat and choose whichever one they got.
I feel Singapore has a lot of potential, and also the scene is definitely getting bigger, better and more interesting.
As for letting it be, and let it organically grow. Well, I think that we can speed up the process. I'm not saying it would definitely work out, but why not try?

EDIT: Something else, we need more people/organizations/labels like Aging Youth, all their bands are of good quality. More QC!

 

[shinobi]

i think the problem with the local music scene is that it doesn't even exist

are there any bands who have a sufficiently professional attitude towards music? are there gig and venue operators who can actually profit from these bands? if it's yes to both, we have a scene. from day one i have said that we need to work from the grassroots level. we need to build from the ground up. so this is the GROUND: the STAGE.

not myspace, not soft, not all this smoke. these are places where people find your music, when in actual fact it's your music that needs to find the people.

right now we only have a handful of venues, featuring the same bands, playing the same evergreen genres of music. however, full credit to these people, they are real patrons to local music.

we need young and talented people to do this. but few are willing to put enough commitment or sacrifice. i think it could be due to an identity crisis; few identify themselves as musicians, artists. most consider themselves mere salarymen with a 'hobby' or 'passion'.

you want the scene to prosper? ensure that individuals will profit. because fortune is a residue of design, or a dividend of sweat.

 

[empihsrow]

are there any bands who have a sufficiently professional attitude towards music? are there gig and venue operators who can actually profit from these bands? if it's yes to both, we have a scene. from day one i have said that we need to work from the grassroots level. we need to build from the ground up. so this is the GROUND: the STAGE.

I agree with you. There are only that few local band which can really do that. Perhaps the biggest example is Electrico. But it isn't a very big problem. Cos I believe one day, bands with good potential might be able to earn profits as the upcoming generations mature.

Besides guys, I realize that our nation is only 43 years old. To explore the idea of a music scene, we will also have to explore our history and Singapore was a colonial nation. Whatever musical influences we had in the past to establish any roots of a musical scene, I'm sad to say there was none or too little. The British did little but actually there were. Remember those old Teochew/Cantonese operas? But they're dying out and I can't see any of the young generation learning to appreciate them. Thus, we do lack a foundation.

Throughout the 43 years, I believed Singapore's music has evolved significantly for its size and, really, we only have 43 years of music development. It's incomparable to what other nations/cultures have. Also, I realize that many people have left out mandarin pop. Because if people put mandarin pop into account, I guess our music "scene" or whatever-you-think-it-is, is much bigger.

And don't complain with what we have or what we don't have. Cos I think Singapore has sufficient resources. There are good recording companies in Singapore. There are labels pursuing talented youngsters. It's just that we don't see it in other context and we only go to the same old venues every week. Just because other people do not appreciate your music or support your gigs doesn't make them non-existent.

I used to believe Singapore's music "scene" was unexcitable and quite mundane, but after I have enrolled in SP's music and audio technology, my whole mindset has changed.

So if you think there's definitely something we need to improve, why not do something about it with actions?

 

[MarkDrumsYou]

No, actually it does. I'm making a general statement. If you don't understand then too bad.
Also, if I annoy you, how sad, this is the internet and if you get annoyed enough to insult me considering how my posts have been you should simply learn to be more relaxed.
We've had quite a civilized thread, I don't see why you're resorting to personal attacks.

haha i'm really relaxed. my point is i think you've no idea wat you're saying. You said that the whole point is stereotyping and generalizing the scene, and den in the next breath you said that your ignorant criticisms do not apply to "every and any local band". You're being contradictory and senseless imo, and when i read that statement i did have a good laugh. Anyways, to reinforce, my point is your poor assumptions are not doing justice to those bands who are good, solid and not guilty of your criticisms, and you group all the good and bad bands together and insult them? that's invalid to me.

 

[blank]

haha i'm really relaxed. my point is i think you've no idea wat you're saying. You said that the whole point is stereotyping and generalizing the scene, and den in the next breath you said that your ignorant criticisms do not apply to "every and any local band". You're being contradictory and senseless imo, and when i read that statement i did have a good laugh. Anyways, to reinforce, my point is your poor assumptions are not doing justice to those bands who are good, solid and not guilty of your criticisms, and you group all the good and bad bands together and insult them? that's invalid to me.

What you referred to, the points I made. Were what I felt was bringing the scene down, obviously the good bands aren't doing so, so I wouldn't have mentioned them. I wasn't grouping the good and bad bands, I was talking specifically about the bad bands, which I felt were too many in number, if you would have just READ the thing properly, you would have realized I wasn't talking about any and every local band. People should really slow down and learn to read properly.

we need young and talented people to do this. but few are willing to put enough commitment or sacrifice. i think it could be due to an identity crisis; few identify themselves as musicians, artists. most consider themselves mere salarymen with a 'hobby' or 'passion'.

yes, i agree!

 

[Danelectrico]

Just to clarify, in my posts when I refer to the scene it's some zeitergiest of the music we create out of and within singapore, including the intangibles associated with it - like each participant is helping to shape it. i guess original music plays a large part in it; however there's no denyingthat any band playing live music in any venue or capacity (covers or originals) would influence the outcome, so if people went to prominent gigs or shows featuring lots of cover bands, then there'll definitely be that perception that all we're producing is cover bands.

OK, now back to tearing blank a new one I keed, i keed.

Blank, I sense you're backpedaling and contradicting yourself. Let's take what you've said so far:

About bands:

Leeson: bad pop, bland, caucasian lead singer in oriental context, guitarist rips off Pete Doherty
Caracal: vocalist ruins everything, predictable melodies
Allura: decent songs, live show lacking
GSE: okay songs, anglophile frontman, ripping off the killers, filleresque [wow, and this is a band you said you DO like! )
I Am David Sparkle: thieves of Mogwai's precious identity
Midnight Marvel: horrible to the power of 20?

You said "The good bands here, well honestly I'd say if they were from somewhere else I probably wouldn't listen to them at all. Except maybe one or two." "I really couldn't say that any SG band really... engages me, though Fire Fight and B-quartet are pretty impressive, in time to come maybe." Still far off your high standards!

Elswhere you also praised Aging Youth for having all good quality bands and good QC, though your comments about 2 of their bands, YAWA and Allura, seemed less than enthusiastic. Besides B-quartet, is there anything you actually like from them?

You've also said that technicality doesn't bother you, "most of the bands I enjoy probably aren't technically gifted" - I take this to mean that you are not concerned with recording / production standards or occasional pitching issues / tightness / mistakes live. Considering the bands you listed like The Shins, Bright Eyes, Smashing Pumpkins, Modest Mouse, Cap'n Jazz - the vocals are at best unique and quirky, and we all know in particular Tim Kinsella couldn't hold a tune if it came in a plastic bag. Many people would deign to say they have terrible singers. You don't have an issue with this but you single out the Caracal singer (i assume for being pitchy at times during live sets?). indie rock is fraught with less than stellar vocals - listen to any Dinosaur Jr, Superchunk or Built To Spill album from the 90s. I'd say it's the same with current indie rock bands, only nowadays everything's processed to the frickin eyebrows with Auto Tune plug ins so most people wouldn't notice. Till the live shows at least.

And ok, this is classic. "I've checked out i am david sparkle's myspace and they seem to have evolved. Though I think it sounds worse now. I'd say they stole from different parts of mogwai eras. Most from young team and mr beast, those are the two albums I listen to the most from mogwai, so maybe they've taken some from other albums i wouldn't know." So you're basically saying you singled out IADS in your first post without even listening to This Is The New, which was released late 2007 I reckon. And aside from vague points about stealing their sound from different eras and copping their identity - you've nothing more compelling to support your case? It seems that you've written them off based on barely listening to some early myspace tracks. You've not mentioned anything about them playing live so I guess you're not familiar with that either. Seems to me you don't know much about either Mogwai or IADS and your comparison is tenuous at best.

Leeson are purveyors of bland pop, have boring shows, and god forbid, a white guy singing in an asian band (or should i say "oriental" - love the gu zhengs and pipas they use). Again, not much with the analysis. Needless to say, Midnight Marvel don't even get the benefit of your patchwork reasoning.

You say the scene needs "something more interesting and being more engaging" and that it would grow "if bands that are willing, to start moving on from just making generic or unoriginal music."

On the other hand you say that you have no issues with bands making straightfoward rock n roll or pop, and you - although wouldn't that all fall back under creating "generic and unoriginal" music?

At the end of the day all i see is someone who doesn't like local music, and fails to articulate cohesively why. whatever commendations that you claim you've bestowed is at best marginal and damning with faint praise. You claim to have the answers but not everything can be solved by listening to more music or distributing free CDs to people at polys or art institutes (i haven't figured out how that'll help). You tick off baybeats for showcasing new bands, implying they're not good enough for those stages yet - but what's wrong with giving them that platform and letting them try their best? Conversely, would you complain if each year baybeats featured the same established bands over and over again? What about small independent gigs, which ones have you been to and which upcoming bands would you support, or are they not good enough for you yet? Then at which point does a band cut their teeth and garner enough experience to rise through the ranks and hit a level of professionalism that you'd be satisfied with?

I have a suggestion. Get involved. Go learn something about our local bands other than those you've mentioned. Buy some local releases, borrow some old ones if they're out of print or get them from the bands themselves. Do some homework. Go watch more shows, not just baybeats once a year. Better still, form a band, write some music, try to get some shows, release stuff and put it out for all to hear. Maybe you'll get some insight about the entire creative process that goes into songwriting and recording. See whether it really is easy to come up with something you think is original sounding and unique but that at the same time is engaging and not a bunch of pretentious art wank, without falling back to traditional songwriting cliches. Put on a good show that entertains people. In other words, I'd really like to see you help contribute in actual fact, put your money and time where your mouth is. If you're so full of ideas, translate them and do something about it. It's easy to find fault if you set your mind to thinking that way.

Don't claim to know what's wrong with the scene when all you have done to date is just clicked on a few local band's myspace pages and gone to a couple gigs once in a blue moon.

 

[daryl]

ok markdrumsyou chill the hell out you're looking stupid here.

So if you think there's definitely something we need to improve, why not do something about it with actions?

what do you think we can do?

personally, as musicians, i think we should be more self critical and not be complacent in our songwriting/playing and always strive to improve. we shouldn't let what little compliments we receive get to our heads. no carebearing.

as people who appreciate music, i think we should really put our money where our mouth is and support the bands we like in terms of buying merch, cds, going for shows. that is, if we can afford it. i know people who claim to LOVE a band so much but don't bother to buy any merch or cds or anything at all for that matter. i know it's an asian mentality to scrimp and save but come on, they don't cost that much. if the fans don't support the band, it'll never ever be a viable option for people to be career musicians.

also, try and influence your friends or classmates or whatever and open their eyes. for example, i love the Fire Fight. introduced them to some of my friends and they loved them too. if your have a blog and you really like a band, well, feature them! even small things like this help.

everyone can do their part. if you work as a member of the press, or any form of media, and if you really like a certain local band, you should try and pressure your colleagues or offer suggestions to your superior to maybe feature them in some way. like what Levan did with the LIME compilation cd, i thought that was very commendable.

if you're the owner of a bar, or if you work in one, and you're looking for live acts, perhaps you could try and feature local original acts, or have an open mic night or something, in place of the usual top40s cover bands. i figure there might be lack of support but that's another issue.

there are so many things we can do. imagine if all of us did this concurrently, instead of just remaining passive, things would be so much better!

 

[teokiatuan]

Just looked at numerous bands/artists in the SG music scene and one word comes to mind to describe my feelings about it all:

GENERIC

The songs that I listen to usually relate to common themes such as teenage angst, love, life, death... The lyrics are usually the "first thing that comes to mind and oh i hope it rhymes"; there are essentially no hooks whatsoever; chords are usually the same ol same ol Am Em...

Another note, the scene needs more ATTITUDE.. Inject some attitude into yourself. I look on all the Myspace music bands in SG, and the background picture is 99% of the time, the band standing together OR with their instruments.

The problem is theyre just standing! Cmon make and effort and smile or make a crazy face or punch your next door neighbour...

Oh yeah, and HAVING A GIRL in your band playing the keyboards doesnt differentiate you from the 100s of other Blehs like you. Unless she can actually play...

OK bi for now. and go improve yourselves...

*btw this was meant to be constructive criticism not some sardonic lambast... okie?

cool thread!
quite good comments, but do you have a band? punch my neighbour? you punch first la LOL


end of the day what im saying is..

Lead By Example...

 

[Danelectrico]

digressing into IP territory

also, @dan: I agree with your views on IP but I was more interested in your stance on it. Are you totally pro-IP or do you dislike aspects of it, or are you a firm supporter of the copyleft movement and the free culture? How do you see IP as limiting or supporting local bands here? Though astroninja is a good example of how internet can really push the envelope for marketing your band, it really remains to be seen how much impact they can make for the moment. I posted here because I would others to comment as well!

In a music context, am definitely not pro IP all the way. IP has evolved from the intention to reward and protect authors and promote creativity, to protecting corporations that own the rights of musicians and songwriters, who in turn have assigned these because of either ignorance, or being made to feel there was scarcely any other way to succeed other than going down the major label / publisher route. The actual creators - musicians and songwriters - have been exploited for years and told they should expect it as the norm because the label's taking a chance on you, only 1 out of every 500 succeed etc so it's only fair for us to tie you to onerous contractual terms and basically earn all your money while we pay you recoupable advances which you'll need to cover your rent, pay for your gear, and the recording your albums at inflated rates (because of tie ins with the studios) and pay for gargantun production costs of useless music videos - so don't expect to earn anything until you sell millions of copies.

Also IP never remotely contemplated near-perfect distribution on a large scale (the printing press, photocopier and betamax tape recorder got rights owners all flustered up!). So does IP work in this day and age? Not effectively.

When corporations hold IP rights, their priorities and obligations are purely to their of stockholders rather than the original creators.

The net has taken the first babysteps in divesting control out of the hands of middlemen, and giving creators an option to effectively control their works and their destiny. However, in many ways the infrastructure is still largely in favour of corporations (and many of which have ownership in yet other corporations) and established players. radio stations, tv stations, film studios, collecting societies, magazines and media and even websites (guess who owns myspace), venues, booking agencies etc - all the synergies are interrelated, and their interests are far from an arms' length basis. the grave misconception is the net has leveled the playing field - in truth, it's far from being the case. it's only offered a small window to a handful of players and smart participants who can stay independent and survive, but independents basically don't get rich until they cash out.

I think some form of sui generis licensing must be able to happen. Artists and composers must be able to be fairly compensated. But until the tangle of rights ownership and licensing has been sought out from owners who want them back, and the (to me, largely anticompetetive) web of relations between all the interested players in the music industry unravelled, it's gonna be a long hard ride to actually see local bands succeed on an international stage.

 

[daryl]

danelectro: you're making suite a few assumptions about blank.. but i'll leave him to speak for himself. basically, i think he has raised quite a few good points, although he may be wrong about some of the local bands he criticised, the truth is

1) flower show riots has a lot of filler, though some tracks are good
2) midnight marvel is really bad
3) the problem with baybeats is they are sacrificing quality for the sake of giving new bands exposure. what is the point of giving a band who isn't good enough exposure? if they run out of good acts to play, just cut the show short. the schedule every year is so packed anyway. i think that would be better than promoting bands which aren't good.
most mainstream kids deem baybeats as THE show to go for local music. and it is also the largest free for all music festival in singapore. shouldn't it be an avenue for good music instead of for showcasing amateur bands?

baybeats is probably the place where kids get their first look at the local music scene, judging by it's massive turn out and popularity. imagine a scenario where the bands are all awful (but esplanade put them in for the sake of exposure anyway) and only somewhat decent. wouldn't it be a turn off?

 

[blank]

You said "The good bands here, well honestly I'd say if they were from somewhere else I probably wouldn't listen to them at all. Except maybe one or two." "I really couldn't say that any SG band really... engages me, though Fire Fight and B-quartet are pretty impressive, in time to come maybe." Still far off your high standards!

Elswhere you also praised Aging Youth for having all good quality bands and good QC, though your comments about 2 of their bands, YAWA and Allura, seemed less than enthusiastic. Besides B-quartet, is there anything you actually like from them?

I like Fire Fight and B-quartet, especially the latter. I take back what I said about how no SG band engages me, those two bands do. Only those two, unfortunately.
I like Allura, never said anything negative.
I can respect the other bands, though their not really my thing, Zero Sequence, Documentary in Amber, Lunarin.
YAWA isn't on aging youth the last time I checked, regardless, I still think they aren't good.

You've also said that technicality doesn't bother you, "most of the bands I enjoy probably aren't technically gifted" - I take this to mean that you are not concerned with recording / production standards or occasional pitching issues / tightness / mistakes live. Considering the bands you listed like The Shins, Bright Eyes, Smashing Pumpkins, Modest Mouse, Cap'n Jazz - the vocals are at best unique and quirky, and we all know in particular Tim Kinsella couldn't hold a tune if it came in a plastic bag. Many people would deign to say they have terrible singers. You don't have an issue with this but you single out the Caracal singer (i assume for being pitchy at times during live sets?). indie rock is fraught with less than stellar vocals - listen to any Dinosaur Jr, Superchunk or Built To Spill album from the 90s. I'd say it's the same with current indie rock bands, only nowadays everything's processed to the frickin eyebrows with Auto Tune plug ins so most people wouldn't notice. Till the live shows at least.

No I wasn't talking about the pitchy caracal singer, I don't find him pitchy actually, I think he's a pretty decent singer, technically speaking. I just think he's a pretty dull musician compared to the rest of the band.
I don't have any problems with singers that are slightly off, probably just me though.

And ok, this is classic. "I've checked out i am david sparkle's myspace and they seem to have evolved. Though I think it sounds worse now. I'd say they stole from different parts of mogwai eras. Most from young team and mr beast, those are the two albums I listen to the most from mogwai, so maybe they've taken some from other albums i wouldn't know." So you're basically saying you singled out IADS in your first post without even listening to This Is The New, which was released late 2007 I reckon. And aside from vague points about stealing their sound from different eras and copping their identity - you've nothing more compelling to support your case? It seems that you've written them off based on barely listening to some early myspace tracks. You've not mentioned anything about them playing live so I guess you're not familiar with that either. Seems to me you don't know much about either Mogwai or IADS and your comparison is tenuous at best.

My judgement on them was based on their earlier myspace tracks. Maybe I don't know everything there is to know about them, would you follow and buy the new albums of a band you didn't enjoy? No I don't think so. I never mentioned anything about their live performance, seems irrelevant to me about me criticizing their abilities as songwriters and not as live performers.

Leeson are purveyors of bland pop, have boring shows, and god forbid, a white guy singing in an asian band (or should i say "oriental" - love the gu zhengs and pipas they use). Again, not much with the analysis. Needless to say, Midnight Marvel don't even get the benefit of your patchwork reasoning.

Yes, not much analysis. Please take into account this is a forum thread, and to post a detailed description of each and every single band criticizing each word and note they use wouldn't be practical.

You say the scene needs "something more interesting and being more engaging" and that it would grow "if bands that are willing, to start moving on from just making generic or unoriginal music."
On the other hand you say that you have no issues with bands making straightfoward rock n roll or pop, and you - although wouldn't that all fall back under creating "generic and unoriginal" music?

I have reasoned all of this in my previous posts, it seems you love to skim through my posts vaguely.
The scene does NEED something more interesting if it wants to move on.
I have nothing against bands who want to make generic music, it's their choice to do whatever they please. I was saying what I think was needed in order to move on. I never said "Burn all the generic bands in a pit of fire!"

I just think they don't help the scene as much. They do, but not that much. And when there are alot of bands like that, not only that, they don't even do it well, they do bring the standard down.
That being said, if generic bands did what they did well (which over here I don't think they do), they would help alot more.

At the end of the day all i see is someone who doesn't like local music, and fails to articulate cohesively why. whatever commendations that you claim you've bestowed is at best marginal and damning with faint praise. You claim to have the answers but not everything can be solved by listening to more music or distributing free CDs to people at polys or art institutes (i haven't figured out how that'll help). You tick off baybeats for showcasing new bands, implying they're not good enough for those stages yet - but what's wrong with giving them that platform and letting them try their best? Conversely, would you complain if each year baybeats featured the same established bands over and over again? What about small independent gigs, which ones have you been to and which upcoming bands would you support, or are they not good enough for you yet? Then at which point does a band cut their teeth and garner enough experience to rise through the ranks and hit a level of professionalism that you'd be satisfied with?

No.
You're wrong. I do like local music, it's just that I don't like most local music.
Did you actually go and watch Baybeats this year? If so, can you honestly tell me that those bands were good? The local ones of course.
I heard somewhere that Amateur Takes Control applied, and they got rejected over Midnight Marvel?
And believe me, I'm just one of the many putting Midnight Marvel down.

And finally yes I'm trying to do my part, so stop using that "go do shit boy" argument.

 

[blank]

One thing, I never said bands had to be totally groundbreaking or anything, example:Nirvana. They weren't that groundbreaking musically, but they did something that deviated from what everyone was playing at the time, they did it well, and without backtracking 10 or 50 years.

 

[AvonRellets]

EDIT: Something else, we need more people/organizations/labels like Aging Youth, all their bands are of good quality. More QC!

Hi!
Just to state for the record, we at Aging Youth don't exactly "QC" the bands. The bands who came under our label all started out as friends, going for gigs, drinking lots of beer and then realising "Hey I think we can trust these guys to distribute our album for us!"
I think we're just lucky that all our friends are way more talented than us.

blank, if you're keen, would you like to help out Aging Youth for our Spread the Love gig? 23 Nov at the Substation. Lemme know thru PM ok? Oh btw, this invitation is extended to all who are keen to give us a hand as well

Oh yes re: Midnight Marvel
I suppose if you're seeing them thru the eyes of the public, yeah I would agree the music is abit ... unusual. But if you take a look at who they are influenced by, maybe you will start to "get" the music.
What I do like very much about Midnight Marvel is their work ethic. Hardly a year since its inception and already, they have a website, merch to sell and good gigs. If you have the chance, talk to them, you will find that "rock out with your cock out" fire in their eyes.
How do I know that much? Well I'll be guesting as the bassist along with Terence on guitars (aka ZoRT) for Midnight Marvel for their Esplanade show on the 27 Dec along with a host of other bands! Do come down if you're free. Hopefully my playing will up their points abit.

 

[hay88]

i wanna play in a rock band and get fanboys & chicks.