Suburban Dammit

The memories start getting seriously sketchy right about here.

I remember us playing a gig at a place called Area 51. It was a pub in one of those shophouses in Little India. We got there around 7 in the evening for our 8pm slot - we opened. A construction barrier with a crudely sprayed 'Area 51' on it was placed in front of the performance area.

The place was dismal. Very few people in there. Small pockets of 2-4 at were sitting at the tables dispersed around the place. Well, we gotta do what we gotta do. We told oursleves heck, just treat it as a jamming session. So we jacked in and started hollering.

The number of people in here barely changed after we ended our set half an hour later. Sweat dripping off our hair, we gathered at one of the tables and ordered some beer. Might as well since this place blows. We were surprised we had to pay...we were already playing this one for free!

As the next band got on, a sudden realization struck us. The other people in here were the bands in tonight's lineup accompanied by their girl/boy friends! It was a band-watch-band situation! Not funny. I am pretty sure that the pub knew we bands wanted exposure and baited us to play for free. Then charged us for the drinks while we waited or watched the other bands. We were in fact the bloody customers!

The first time we ever got paid for a gig also happened at a pub. I can't remember where it was but I remember scenes of it. This one rocked.

Joe from the Pagans was there that night and he came right up to the front to watch us while we played. During our last song, I noticed he had a real weird look on his face as he stared at me, like he was trying to figure something out.

After our set, I passed him by somewhere in that pub and he said 'Nice set'. I thanked him and carried on, suddenly remembering his look. I kept wondering what he was puzzled about. I traced my mind and realized something. During that last song, I skipped a verse and while Justin was playing the tune for the verse, I was playing the tune for the chorus! I never realized it then! It must have sounded like gargle coming out of the speakers.

...and thats why sound balance is important.

Aaron collected the money and I remember the three of us huddling up in a religious silence and staring at the 2 $50 notes with wide eyes, as if we have never seen money before.

We played at Lasalle twice. They were a couple of years apart. The first time was during Aaron and Justin's foundation year where some students decided to organize a gig for whatever. There was always some cause or theme associated with a gig event. Most times, there is no link at all between the bands and their material to whatever the cause/theme. Sometimes they don't even make sense to me.

The second time we played Lasalle was the first time I met Jeremy. The gig was held in the Cultural Centre (I think) and his band was called Jade Adversaries. I was pretty impressed with his playing and one of his songs I heard there. I thought it was called Classic and that he was singing about groping a chick in the backseat of a car. Jeremy later clarified vehemently that it was called 'Carsick' and it was about SOMEONE ELSE groping a chick in the front of a car.

I like the 'grope-a-chick-in-the-backseat' idea and so I wrote a song called "Get in the Backseat". You can hear it on We Nearly Killed Each Other and the better bits of it in the short local interactive movie, Bah Zhang Joe.

By 1998, we had enough of what we thought was good material to go record them and make a demo.

Ah Boy charged some $35 an hour for recording and mixing. We carefully budgeted the hours we thought we needed and started finding ways of raising the money. I can't rememeber how we raised the money for this but it must have been some combination of borrowing from folks, saving allowances, ang-pow money and working part-time.

Once inside the studio, we had no clue what we were supposed to do. For the first time we had to play the same thing over and over and over and over again because we were nervous and kept making mistakes. Recording in layers felt very alien to me. The drum tracks get laid first, then the bass goes in and listens to the drum track already laid on the headphones and records to that and so forth.

It took quite a few more hours than we anticipated to finish recording and mixing. This also meant it took quite a few more dollars. But it got done.

Update 16th June 2010:

I found this, along with several other band passes, in a previously forgotten corner of my desk drawer.

I think the aforementioned pub/club we got paid to play for the first time is called Core Club.

Update 23rd June 2010:

Freshly found old photos.

Turns out we were not at Roswell after all, the place we played is named Area 22, not 51.