Where's the soul in rock and roll?

[guitarist.justin]

Hey dudes and dudettes, today im gonna start on an issue that i feel is plaguing the musician community in our sunny island. But first a lil' background.

rock music's been around for like 50+ Years? and Singapore isnt exactly the closest place to the birthplace of rock. We are not exactly a western country but rather a bunch of cultural nomads going through that awkward teenage phase of being misunderstood, and i feel that culturally, we are one heck of a confused country.

So guys i wanna ask, have we lost the soul of rock? It is beyond doubt that there is a considerably large pool of rock musicians in singapore but can we call ourselves creative artists if we remain entrapped in that vicious cycle of playing covers after covers or writing heavily-influenced originals? Musicians(myself included) aren't playing with emotion. maybe we're just too comfortable in our shells and in hiding behind our introverted eastern culture to fully embrace the intangible character of rock. or maybe it's time for a new genre of music that reaches the local audiences in ways that they can embrace. dont get me wrong, i love hard rock, post-rock, indie rock and metal. but when it comes to trying to be like our american or british counterparts i think we fall short considerably. we are different. Singaporeans have a culture, albeit in an embryonic stage, but many times we fail to embrace our uniqueness because we aren't sure of who we are, or whether our culture is something that is cool enough to embrace.

So shouldn't we push to inculcate a culture that we love? Shouldn't we start producing art that celebrates our differences and music that gives us goosebumps of pride?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

ok, noted. Lets do it

1) What is the proposal, pdf format will do
2) Targeted group
3) Expected spending
4) Duration
5) Sponsors
6) How to reach out to people all around
7) How to start
8) Advertising medium
9) Coporate partners
10) Your money or mine

 

[guitarist.justin]

hey man, cant tell if youre sarcastic or serious. but im talking from a consumers' point of view. like yknow how people always blame local audiences for not supporting local music? for me, i like local music, but i don't love it cause i dont feel connected. like i don't think "yeah i get how that feels" when i listen to a local song. yeah, so im sorry man. but i dont know shit about the music industry except playing and listening to music.

 

[AzNjT]

I don't particularly 'support' local music because of it's mediocrity.
I listen, but there's just nothing that makes a lasting impression.

This IS something I really want to discuss, because i just don't understand why the material seems stagnant.

 

[ridethetiger]

It all boils down to conformity vs. individuality,
Materialism vs. spirit-inspired
safe vs. adventurous
soft jazz vs. hard metal rock
cowards vs. lonely heros


Sad to say, most singaporeans tend to lean onto the left side of my examples above.

 

[xfigox]

Don't make music to cater to Singaporeans, period.

That being said, I feel that the underground scene in Singapore is pretty vibrant compared to the other genres, lots of support for each other. With the internet around, seriously why should you care so much about capturing attention from the locals here, especially when majority of the people are into the whole boy/girl band craze thingy.

 

[lester_music]

simple...when a chinese sings in chinese..it captures...when a malay sings in malay the same thing happen...when a chinese or malay try to sing in english..the soul is just not there...

just my thoughts..u may disagree....hehe

 

[EugeneSmasher]

...deleted post, sorry...

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I don't particularly 'support' local music because of it's mediocrity.
I listen, but there's just nothing that makes a lasting impression.

This IS something I really want to discuss, because i just don't understand why the material seems stagnant.

To be honest, I have to agree with you. Often there's something lacking, or the music is too similar or somehow like an inferior copy of what we're hearing from the US, UK, etc. That said, there are hidden gems in our music scene, they just need more exposure and the sad thing is that most of these tend to appeal to a very small niche of people, hence they just get buried under the not-so-special acts.

 

[drumsolo86]

Out of curiosity, what local bands have you caught in action? You whine there's no soul left in rock and roll and Singaporean bands are cheap covers of overseas, I say otherwise. For your information, do check my channel: www.youtube.com/drumsolo86

I reserved all that thoughts until I really went down to catch our local acts live. Perhaps you might want to re-think about what you just posted again. Off head, I can you tell I'm already converted fans of Typewriter, Cheating Sons, Jocelyn Ng, West Grand Boulevard.

What local live acts have you been to bro? If you're wondering where to catch them next, there's Ignite Music Event coming on 1 Jul. Highly rated indie local live acts gonna be there: PlainSunset, Fat Skunks, Caracal, Typewriter and plus it's free. Its at Republic Poly. Hope to see more positivity in your future posts.

 

[AzNjT]

Who were you responding to ?

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, soul is abstract thingy, which we cant touch, cant see, cant make love to. Some called it stray frequency imprint left behind by those who died, some called it ghost, spirit or entities etc.

How are we supposed to improve or get back what we cant see, touch or talk to? Its difficult to talk to ghost liao, let along the soul of rock and roll.

Anyway, soul and ghost aside, hehe, i guess no one(me included) still have the answer to what TS mentioned.

So shouldn't we push to inculcate a culture that we love? Shouldn't we start producing art that celebrates our differences and music that gives us goosebumps of pride?

I did my part by trying to have a direction to it liao, lai lai, anyone wanna do something if really believing in what TS mentioned?

1) What is the proposal, pdf format will do
2) Targeted group
3) Expected spending
4) Duration
5) Sponsors
6) How to reach out to people all around
7) How to start
8) Advertising medium
9) Coporate partners
10) Your money or mine

 

[AzNjT]

what are you going on about.....

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

hehe, Iam just trying to respond to the thread according to what the threadstarter is talking about and not steering it in the direction of having my own view without looking at the context of the origin of the thread.

 

[skipper53]

@path: lol bro, do you work for some consultancy firm?

Out of curiosity, what local bands have you caught in action? You whine there's no soul left in rock and roll and Singaporean bands are cheap covers of overseas, I say otherwise. For your information, do check my channel: www.youtube.com/drumsolo86

I reserved all that thoughts until I really went down to catch our local acts live. Perhaps you might want to re-think about what you just posted again. Off head, I can you tell I'm already converted fans of Typewriter, Cheating Sons, Jocelyn Ng, West Grand Boulevard.

What local live acts have you been to bro? If you're wondering where to catch them next, there's Ignite Music Event coming on 1 Jul. Highly rated indie local live acts gonna be there: PlainSunset, Fat Skunks, Caracal, Typewriter and plus it's free. Its at Republic Poly. Hope to see more positivity in your future posts.

Some good local names are mentioned here, I'd say please attend the 1st Jul gig *thumbs up* consider making a trip down to timbre outlets and/or wala wala (to name a few) on a friday night, those places arent crowded like that for nothing.

I think you will agree that rock and roll and even blues rock are universal as a genre, so in saying that, you cant not sound/look/sing like the ppl who invented the genre and the lifestyle in the first place. i dont think anyone is trying to sound/look american with their music, it's more a matter of staying true to the genre and it's origins. unless your proposing to start a new genre? singapura-roll? i aint no teenager, but i'm certainly not confused about my identity as a singaporean musician. here's some flava for you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w52AIhNSiGU (bro fgl, i hope you don't mind)

and yes i'm quite offended that you would question the soul of the music in local musicians (even yourself). ever walk ard basement of peninsular plaza or the sweelee stores and see kids and adults walking ard looking and trying the gear on display longingly with desire? there's soul right there for you.

if you're talking about the generic "rockin-out" look on musicians' faces then, that's more a question of style of performance rather than the music's "soul." Ever see Liam Gallagher sing? guy stands stiff kinked to one side with his hands behind him song after song. try telling him he's got no soul.

 

[fgl]

i aint no teenager, but i'm certainly not confused about my identity as a singaporean musician. here's some flava for you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w52AIhNSiGU (bro fgl, i hope you don't mind)

.

of course I dont mind bro ... hahaha I just wished I got royalties for U tube views of my songs rather than just from album sales

As a 'semi cari makan' muso who has had the safety net of a day job (thus far) .. I can tell you that the majority of paying patrons in most pubs & clubs wanna hear covers - same of shyyte sometimes - hotel california, smoke on the water, love me and other top 40s ...

The newer bands you mentioned already have their own fan base - power to them. Ultimately its the youth of Singapore that needs to have its own perception of local music ... "re-mindset". If we stay the course, we are dead (rock & roll spiritually). We are all dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfZGAhQMKho - here's a "Singapore" song written by my sax player Dan. He had passion when he wrote this song & it made it into the Sing Singapore Songbook.

The future is in the hands of our youth

 

[ridethetiger]

The future is in the hands of our youth

I don't agree that the future is in the hands of the youth here. The future of music is in the hands of BRO FGL! seriously, what do kids know of the 70s and 80s music? Look at you at RETRO GROOVE! u completely owns the stage and kick ass, u are not scary, u are brilliant!
All the youths knows only late 90s music or 00's music, but u bring out the soul man, the soul of Rock n Roll! FGL FGL!

If the batch whose been thru the happening scene don't guide the youth here, it will be forever like this, dead! they can pose for a few good years,but they r not musicians at heart. Don't let it die man, please guide them.

 

[centralcatchment]

For the record, I am almost 35. That means that very soon I will lose the notion of what the real meaning of rock and roll is. I will have to depend on my memory of what it felt like in my youth.

The problem with Singapore's system is not the musicians. I think we have the musicians and the talent. But we lack the fans. We don't have the star system to sustain the elevation of musicians. We don't believe in our own culture. Your comment says it all, "maybe we're just too comfortable in our shells and in hiding behind our introverted eastern culture to fully embrace the intangible character of rock."

It's not that I agree with your comment. IT's that your comment reflects how, by and large, Singaporeans have a very fucked up attitude about their own culture. We don't believe it exists, and if it exists, we don't believe in being proud of it. Since we can't articulate it, we can't forge a self identity, and therefore we can't produce stuff that Singaporeans will be proud of. We will forever be inferior copies of our western counterparts. Suppose you were to get people to rap in Singlish? Well the knee jerk reaction would be that people will tell you it's a joke, no good for anything more than a novelty record.

It is very sad when you compare us to Jamaica, which is another small English speaking country like us. They have produced at least 1 legend, and a few well respected artists. But they have succeeded where we have failed because they have people believing in them.

There are only 2 things to do. There is good Singaporean music out there. As a fan, you just have to go open your eyes and find it. Or if you are a musician, you have to create something that is original, and not worry that it is "internationally recognised". But by doing so, you would be disregarding what your fan base thinks. Therefore you have to be a part time musician.

Pls note that I'm not saying it's your fault. I'm saying that it is the fault of the general public in Singapore.

 

[AzNjT]

Lol. I would not want to make "music" with a Singaporean "identity" and "signature" with references of the "culture" here.
just look at what's out there right now.

 

[ridethetiger]

IT's that your comment reflects how, by and large, Singaporeans have a very fucked up attitude about their own culture. We don't believe it exists, and if it exists, we don't believe in being proud of it. Since we can't articulate it, we can't forge a self identity, and therefore we can't produce stuff that Singaporeans will be proud of.

Fully agreed. We need to really trust n believe Singaporeans are unique no matter if u are malay or chinese or other races. Then will come self-respect.