Why the local scene sucks...

[The Roses]

=centralcatchment

i see where ur coming from. but there are bands who have quality songs. have u heard of etc? their song adolesce is what i call groundbreaking material. its just so awesome to listen to. and im a rock and rol fan. one who listens to led zep, sonic youth, ac/dc, u2 bands like tt. i have a band myself. and we feel. so what if u make a good original song.its not like ppla re even gonna buy ur cd.. wtheck.. ppl in our school download songs from no line on the horizon. haha. another great band in singapore is suicide solution with their song i would call groundbreaking "drugs and kisses" but not many ppl know. another band i would like to commend is muddy banks whom i think have broken up coz "grunge is dead", their song "class of 89' was amazing. and their other song "idiots" just brought me back to nirvana's lounge act.

 

[AzNjT]

with that said, i've watched the videos that soft does for the music events, PJ's and whatnot.
None of the band's performances excite me one bit, theres just a lack of quality in the performances. either one of the following. instuments not tuned, everyone doing their own thing, timing off, sloppy vocals, robot emotions.

I have one philosophy, "DONT PERFORM, unless everything is Perfect"
I like to see music played towards perfection, not Petrucci perfection or whatever, but material and showmanship that will just make you go "kick*ss performance"

i've seen 1 or 2 that are not bad, but fail to leave a lasting impression.
I want so much to support the local scene in general but i have yet to find something motivational to keep me interested. Its also very trying on the ears to attempt to find the good in something.

bands that have made it are far from what i would call "exceptional", yes i know its the genre or whatever but its very bland. it doesnt stand out from anything in the 1990's

its pretty sad tho :/
who knows. maybe someday some people will just not Give- and do what they want.
or maybe its just the way we're brought up here. play safe.

 

[blueprintstudios]

actually I'd like to say, for all the gigs I've filmed @ gigvideos.com and new bands I've heard of. the standard is gradually improving, but what I REALLY noticed is the age. it's getting younger which is a good sign. that means it used to be in the early 2000s that new-heard-of bands on average are only starting to be considered good/ok/canpass when only AFTER they've finished NS which is age 23 onwards when they start to truly commit. but what I see now 10 years later is that kids.. ahem, young-adults aged 16 - 18 are much much better/tighter and more talented.

so I'd say we need about another 10 to 20 years. give them.. I mean, US time.

as for the comparison with the 90s and present. one fact is that music is always "evolving", it's become some kind of rojak. but in commercial levels, when consumers are sick of the same ol crap, they will bring back the old school. Or the present-musicians will cover/remix and try to rewrite the old version. so what's left that's important is for us to enjoy music in general rather than debate on the popularity/the acceptance/the debate (debating the debate?). cos good life is about the good music, good food, good se.. sensual wrestling and abit of a good money.

 

[andr]

" why the local scene sucks..."

can i just make this statement, that, MOST singaporeans, simply dont know what is good music?

 

[soft]

" why the local scene sucks..."

can i just make this statement, that, MOST singaporeans, simply dont know what is good music?

wow andr, your statement is hurting all the musicians/bands leh?

For the passed week, I have the opportunity to attend 2 very interesting events - Asia Television Forum and Music Matters. Honestly, we in Singapore are not doing that bad. It is a fact that the state of music business now is in a "don't know what to do era".

As long as the musicians/bands enjoy playing music, I think that should be ok.

Top 1% will attain star status
Top 10% will be able to make a living in the music industry
The rest will just have to play music as a hobby.

 

[voxes]

" why the local scene sucks..."

can i just make this statement, that, MOST singaporeans, simply dont know what is good music?

i totally agree 90%,they just wana play it safe.well i have total respect about it if it's what they want,but apparently that is not for me,one of the most important reasons why i HAD to break with my former band..
i think people are just going to have to be brave enough,if the scene is to go on and thrive, doesn't matter what bloody genre u go into

 

[EngelFaeuste]

There is no metal scene here. I'm only going to push Oshiego's music really seriously once I get to Australia. It's really painful to put in so much effort here, and nobody cares. I'm so sick of the local attitude towards metal that I simply don't bother supporting people from other genres any more.

 

[soft]

Hey morgan, when are you going to Australia? Is the whole band going to move over there?

 

[voxes]

There is no metal scene here. I'm only going to push Oshiego's music really seriously once I get to Australia. It's really painful to put in so much effort here, and nobody cares. I'm so sick of the local attitude towards metal that I simply don't bother supporting people from other genres any more.

no metal scene?well what about those in the underground?those cheered you on don't they?

 

[The Roses]

15 yo

actually I'd like to say, for all the gigs I've filmed @ gigvideos.com and new bands I've heard of. the standard is gradually improving, but what I REALLY noticed is the age. it's getting younger which is a good sign. that means it used to be in the early 2000s that new-heard-of bands on average are only starting to be considered good/ok/canpass when only AFTER they've finished NS which is age 23 onwards when they start to truly commit. but what I see now 10 years later is that kids.. ahem, young-adults aged 16 - 18 are much much better/tighter and more talented.

so I'd say we need about another 10 to 20 years. give them.. I mean, US time.

as for the comparison with the 90s and present. one fact is that music is always "evolving", it's become some kind of rojak. but in commercial levels, when consumers are sick of the same ol crap, they will bring back the old school. Or the present-musicians will cover/remix and try to rewrite the old version. so what's left that's important is for us to enjoy music in general rather than debate on the popularity/the acceptance/the debate (debating the debate?). cos good life is about the good music, good food, good se.. sensual wrestling and abit of a good money.

hey we're all 15 years old. chcek out our band playing slowride by foghat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji3Ldj33HUU
we also got a gig up on the 23rd december at the blackhole. do check us out if u're free, we'll be playing our originals

 

[zxvc]

a little thought that may help with this discussion.

the root of all problems is that we are asians, not being racist, especially the chinese. what's more, majority in singapore are chinese. (i'm one too, and no it's not a rant) we lack in the social department. we are sensitive people. we take the cautious approach. singaporeans are actually a bunch of dreamers. we get influenced by the western media because we are exposed to it. we hope to be like them but in reality we are asians. we want to be like them, but we are in fact not. of course, there will be a gradual change in attitude as singaporeans get more and more influenced since now it is the internet age. singapore is a complex society, with plenty of influences everywhere. there is no real passion for anything. except for a few good individuals. so what to do? stick to our mathematics and science as we are very good at that.

 

[hifi_killer]

i think thats a quite big generalisation. Yes, we are constantly bombarded with western media/culture. But not everyone embraces it.

If being Asian is a problem, how would you explain the successes of the hong kong, taiwanese, japanese, indonesian music scene?

 

[andr]

wow andr, your statement is hurting all the musicians/bands leh?

For the passed week, I have the opportunity to attend 2 very interesting events - Asia Television Forum and Music Matters. Honestly, we in Singapore are not doing that bad. It is a fact that the state of music business now is in a "don't know what to do era".

As long as the musicians/bands enjoy playing music, I think that should be ok.

Top 1% will attain star status
Top 10% will be able to make a living in the music industry
The rest will just have to play music as a hobby.

actually im lookin at things from a " fan " perspective.. how do i explain it.
MOST people(ok la...people i know of), they simply take what the radio plays, or whatever that is hot out there. i think MOST of us here agree that, MOST of the things on radio nowadays are pretty crappy.

So... when somebody comes out and do something good... people dont really appreciate, cause in their minds e.g (good = lady gaga)
it seems to me, MOST ppl in sg, listen to kiddy pop, seems..

Now... the "community" that listen to 'good' stuff, is rather small.
so from these people, who knows whats 'good and whats 'rubbish', we need to get em to support e local acts.. now even smaller group of people.

u know in economics we always talk about Sustainable growth.
IMO, the only way, for us to get our local acts better, is "educating" ( i dont know if its the right word to use) people, to know whats really Good music, and whats rubbish.

With the right influences, then we can start making our own, good music, singapore style or whatever. right??

 

[Revelt]

no metal scene?well what about those in the underground?those cheered you on don't they?

I know a lot of these "fans". Clad in skinny jeans and wearing undersized pasar malam CoB tees. They cheer and scream and mosh, but seemed to be severely allergic to the table where the CDs were being sold.

 

[zxvc]

i think thats a quite big generalisation. Yes, we are constantly bombarded with western media/culture. But not everyone embraces it.

If being Asian is a problem, how would you explain the successes of the hong kong, taiwanese, japanese, indonesian music scene?

aha yes it's a generalisation. but for me, i think it holds true.

but well, it could be a lack of self-identity for us. i mean we don't really have a strong sense of culture. like i said, we have many influences from all over the place and what's more we have different races in this country. the successes of japan, china and indonesia are mainly, other than population which contributes to a greater industry, because i feel that they have a strong sense of belonging to their own country and their own values. this gives them a greater respect for their own local products and therefore endorsing it.

 

[FluxUs]

I know a lot of these "fans". Clad in skinny jeans and wearing undersized pasar malam CoB tees. They cheer and scream and mosh, but seemed to be severely allergic to the table where the CDs were being sold.

fact there are so many of these homos is a major reason why the seensceneobscene here sucks to da maximimus

 

[soft]

andr

Saying music that we don't like as 'bad' music is kinda shallow.

Bear in mind, all music are made by musicians.

We are living in a very connected world. Just like how we choose what we want to eat at the hawker centre, consumer have the rights the choose what music they want to listen to.

If the bands are not able to produce something that attract listeners, then it is the bands' fault. And I am not talking about the 3+ million listeners in Singapore. With Internet, any Singapore band can have a worldwide audience. It is really a matter of them competing with the tens of thousands of bands out there.

 

[andr]

im not exactly saying music we dont like is bad music.

my point is, if we dont have the " environment " to create good music, then its very hard to compete w e world.

 

[kongwee]

I could only say that traditional media like TV station,Radio Station... still hold big influence in music industry. From a DJ, TV station and radio station don't like to support local music from the higher management. It does not bring much income from them by supporting local music. You could say you have many sing competition hold on TV. But if you really talk to one of the contestant, the producer is focus on bring more viewer rather than the contest itself. They will do anything for that.

 

[MaCcA]

Zakk Wylde said something very true when he met his fans here in Singapore..."Go to where your type of music strives"...that's where it becomes difficult for our culture...we do not strike out on our own but sit within our comfort zone and whine about the environment