Rare picture of Justin and me, late 90's.
I think we are at Ah Boy's.

Justin and Aaron were my first passengers the day I got my driving license. Test in morning, jam in evening. I couldn't wait to borrow my dad's car out for a spin with them that very night.

For some weird reason, we were actually jamming at Ah Boon's in Potong Pasir that evening.

With wheels, it was much easier to go further out now. Who cares why bass guitars are always so damn huge and heavy.

There was a place out at Macpherson named Room Full of Blues. It had a very interesting concept - it was a jamming studio and cafe. The logic is that you can play and others can watch, and El Dorado's right round the corner if you happen to rock that night and someone from Geffen Records was having a beer there. I still think El Dorado's a myth.

But the idea was good.

1. You pay to become the live band.
2. Thirsty after jamming? You pay for your beer.
3. Patrons get to see a live band.
4. Patrons pay to drink more and more beer to ease the assault on the ears.
5. Patrons can't complain if the live band sucks - its a jamming studio, its practice!

Its all good - for shareholders.

We jammed there once and never went back.

The year between the demo and first album flew by quickly. In our own ways, we got caught up in various school stuff. Lots of mugging for me and lots of grand art projects for Justin and Aaron.

By 1999 our arsenal was a boom-full of rock again. We huddled together to work out which ones would be immortalized. We counted 16 chart-toppers ready to go.

Considering the burst budget experience on the demo, we had to carefully map out our costs.

Aaron had the good idea to buy a button making machine for $100 and make buttons to sell at our gigs. Each button costs a dollar and I am sure you have seen them elsewhere here before.

These sold for a dollar each. Somehow I get the feeling we didn't even manage to sell the 100 breakeven buttons we needed to.

Nevertheless it was fascinating learning how buttons were actually made.

No worries, Aaron had another economic weapon with sleeves up his sleeve. T-shirts!

The T-shirt design came in both black and white shades. I am not too sure how many of these we sold. I have only ever seen this shirt on the backs of 2 people - Aaron and the gal he had a crush on. You know, the shirt she was wearing, might even be the same one I saw Aaron in.

We practised alot before going into recording and we were surprised that we were pretty efficient this time around. Our budget almost matched our hours in there.

Except we forgot all about costs for pressing CDs and making album jackets.

The minimum quantity for the cheapest pressers in town to take us seriously was 1000. What the hell are we going to do with 1000 insane copies? Granted the demo sold out...but thats like 100.

However, what passed through our minds was something like: "Hmmm..1000 CDs sold at $10 each. We can go tour Europe."

I guess greed has a way of making people see chicken where there is only egg and start buying huge refrigerators to keep all that chicken they are going to have.

In any case, it was 1000 pieces or nothing; or bootlegging ourselves on cassettes.

Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the road that wasn't high - I borrowed an evergreen $700 from my dad to help complete it.

The hiccups on this one are absolutely fantastic. And as a band known for hiccups, this one is pretty awesome.

Despite its plain descriptives, these are some some of the most heartfelt lyrics to come along in a long time, let's cut the fucking bullshit.

A nice way to wrap up the demo.

And ladies, guys don't wait.

I'll wait for you (Justin)
Got your number from your friend...
Call you straightaway the next day but I just couldn't get through for the first time...
Took my 10-cent out from my pocket, call you again and then ok that was when I talked to you...for the first time.

I don't know why, everytime the first time is always the best.
And the rest, is just a mess.

I'll wait for you...I'll wait for you.

Everytime I see you with your guy, my mind just go blank, I stare into the sky.
I just can't put that thought, behind.

I'll wait for you...I'll wait for you.

Before you get too anti-homophobe:

1) I keep giving her the eye.
2) She ignores.
3) She also ignores everyone else.
4) She, therefore, must be in love only with herself.
5) Ergo, since Geraldine, who is a girl, loves herself - who is a girl -
6) Geraldine's a Homosexual.



Geraldine's a Homosexual (Louise)
You're beautiful, but you're nuts.
You're beautiful, but you love yourself too much.
You always have something to say
But you don't have the balls to admit you are gay.

Oh my...Geraldine!

I can see you clearly now,
Your anatomy's so unsound.
You want to drink your beer, you love to be a queer;
Survive the ridicule - you're homosexual!
You're gay!

I look at you - you turn away.
Oh my dear, this happens everyday.
Now I know the problem -
You're simply a lesbian.

Are you coming home tonight?
Are you giving me a fright?
You really have the nerve.
But hate can only mean you love.

My absolute favourite of this demo.

Succinct, to the punch and with the spirit. I love the opening line, the whole thing's a poem itself!

Aaron's early voice certainly gave this one the sharp edge. Hearing it again, I am impassioned to shout this in some Ah-beng's face. In fact, I already know who to.

Shitface Guru (Aaron)
Look at the Fucking hairstyle you got!
You're a Goblok!
Spent enough hours combing that shit!
You're a Goblok!

I am gonna cut it off, pull out my knife in the mirror,
and throw your fucking face to the floor!

I am gonna stuff your comb up your ass!
You tell your fucking friends to go to hell!

There will not be any compromise.
You'll find out, go suck your mother's tits.
If you wanna stand around, posing in front of us -
WATCH YOUR ATTITUDE
We're gonna smack you, we're gonna hit you hard!

Note:
Towards the end, there is some backup-singing idiot shouting very loudly into the mic "And throw your fucking face to the floor!"

That's me. I got so caught up in the intensity that Ah Boy who was recording for us tuned the backup vocals down immediately in case I got crazy and started shouting again.

You'll realize that backups after that outburst is very soft.

Update 11th April 2010

Humming to myself, I realized a nice second chorus alternate could be:

"I am gonna cut if off, pull out my 9 millimetre,
and blow your fucking face to the floor."

Few realized that we're singing to ourselves.



A Punk Like You (Louise)
Don't look tough, girls won't like you,
You know as much as we do:
Girls'll never like a punk you...a punk like you!

A punk like YOU.

Don't look so concentrated, she'll say: "GET LOST! GET LOST!"
Don't be so broken-hearted, she'll say: "GET LOST! GET LOST!"
You don't have any 5Cs, she'll say: "GET LOST! GET LOST!"
A punk is a punk like YOU.

A punk means: "GET LOST! GET LOST!"

Steph reminds me of a bopper 70's-type regimented 4-line verse/chorus song, something the likes of..The Quests would play.

But quite a bit harder in character of course.

Local-flavoured song in local English!



Steph (Justin)
First day of school, attracted to you
like to get to know you, but so hard to do...
Everytime see you, smoking at school
try to smile at you, but so shy to do.

The way you talk, the way you smile,
Make my heart pounds, around and round
I always wish and always hope -
This fairytale will come out true

Oh Stephanie, baby you're my queen
Oh Stephanie, you're the girl of my dreams
Oh Stephanie, you're the girl for me
Oh Stephanie, baby you're my queen

There is something in you, make my love for you grew
And I don't know how to, (make me) say it to you.

This is one of the songs whose lyrics I really can't make out despite hearing it again so many times now.

You're a Loser (Justin)
...You’re a fucking bozo with an attitude...

…a girl like you, go back home and drink some milk…

…what the hell are you trying to do?

You’re just a loser. You’re a loser.

You are stupid, you are moron…you are just a loser.

This was our signature tune back when we were impulsively named Yank My Crank.

We always opened our sets with this song.

Yank My Crank (Justin)
We are the Yank My Crank.

(I can't remember or make out the rest of this verse)

Bloody Louise is a big fat ass
Smokes only Marlboro, likes to slack

Kao Feng Jun my skinny drummer,
Starwars Craze and a beer drinker

Together we form this band, call ourselves Yank My Crank.

(I can't remember or make out the rest of this verse)

We are Yank My Crank.