Suburban Dammit

We must have been only 15 when we signed up for the Yamaha Band Competition. It was the same year Josh failed his secondary 3 exams in general and went into the normal stream.

To perform in front of judges and finding ourselves short of a full-sound without a rhythmist, we got Damien to join us. He was a good friend but he never knew how to play a guitar.

We went for the audition as a 3-piece, Damien not being able to play by that time. We got in. We were 'band No. 97', so we called ourselves 'Band 97'. I had bought my first bass guitar by then. It was a black Fender Jazz (Japan). It cost me all my savings...$700+.

I sprayed a blue 'Band 97' across the hardcase of that and totally destroyed its sleek look.

We performed for the first time in front of judges. There was a band who had one guy just knocking on a cowbell with a drumstick throughout the song. Damien, who was in the crowd, told me he would rather die than play just the cowbell. I agreed that he should die if he only played just the cowbell. And the cowbell fellow played so hard that the cowbell broke from its flange midway through the song...and he had to hold on to it while he knocked with his head bobbing in time.

We laughed our heads off but lost the competition.

I remember us (Josh, Aaron and I) caught in the rain whilst we were at East Coast and we walked and walked until we reached the 24-hr place famous for Mee-Goreng Pattaya. Next to that was a 3-story block of apartments at that time called Block 77 and one of us saw the silhoette of a naked (?) girl - or so we imagined - behind the cutains. That prompted Josh's original piece, 'Block 77'.

One flyer we picked asked for aspiring bands to come by for an audition, to play at some event. We answered and found ourselves in a warehouse complex at Alexandra Distripark, near the West Coast Wharves. It was dark and quiet, the corridors of the building barely lit after normal working hours. We sauntered along, axes in tow, trying to find the right place.

We stepped through a darkened doorway into a brightly-lit studio. Mirrors lined the panels on one side, this looks like a dance/ballet place. We hooked up and played a Nirvana (our most practised, I think its 'Come As You Are') for the...auditor. We never ever heard from him again but I remember very clearly the creepy alleyways and corridors of the building.

Weezer was a new band at that time. Their hit song was "Buddy Holly". We played it a few times one evening at Ah Boon's and when we came out for a break, a middle-aged guy came to us and excitedly asked whether it was our original composition. We said yes.

He looked like he was having palpitations. "Hey, record it! Its a good song, you will make alot of money!" he said. We smiled mysteriously, finished our cigarettes and went into the studio to play it again for his benefit.

There used to be a jamming studio in Toa Payoh near Josh's place. They claim to be 24hrs and is near and across the Exxon petrol station. We booked 12 midnight. That was the only time in my life we jammed from midnight to 2am. it was FUN!

We decided it was time to release a demo. To show the world our talent, we recorded our original compostions on a mini tape-recorder in the jamming studio, made copies of that and passed it off as a demo. We named ourselves Firebase Musket at that time. I was to find out from Aaron - a fan of war - later that firebase musket was an actual codename for an American base in the Vietnam War.

Update - 6th April 2010

The tracks on our demo, based on the scribbles on a blank cassette cover I found in my room, were:

1. Impromptoe
2. Grand 0' Grandpa
3. Crown
4. Dolly Wolly
5. Myself
6. Fighting Spud
7. Butterstars Land
8. Lodge 77

And guess what, I found the remnants of Fighting Spud recorded in my room 15 years ago. And just for a taste, here it is: