Sometime after we released We Nearly Killed Each Other, we were contacted by a journalist from BigO requesting an interview.

BigO, at that time, was a music magazine that was very partial to the local scene and bands. They tried their best to get as many local bands and reviews onto its pages, although they also covered music internationally.

I heard a rumour that BigO is a contraction for bigot. There was a local band that had a very catchy song named BigO that I liked. Our interview appears in this copy.

We met with Shubin one warm Saturday afternoon at the S-11 across the wall from The Substation. Yes, this was the artists and musicians' kopitiam of the times and you'll find the sorts there at any hour. Unfortunately it is today an empty plot of land.

We organized coffees and teas and sat down to make this fruit of her labour.

Click to enlarge?

Once upon a spoilt-kitten.



Commander Kitten to Herr Carpet (Louise)

I stood right outside of your house
But you don't recognize me now.
Your little smile is still there
I still remember the scent of your hair.

The rain is falling in great drops,
No more buses go through the bus-stop
So I guess I'll slug it out
I'll wait to see you at the closed-down shop

I sneaked to your house at night
Just to see you turn off your light
I waited outside since two
Just to be real close to you

And now I stand before your eyes
So different from the last time
If I looked you in the eye
I'm sure to break down and cry.

A continuation of The Queers' cover, Mirage.



Mirage 2 (Louise)

I see you walking through the alleys and the hallways
I wanna catch you but you vanish through the doorway
I never got the chance to talk to you.

You vanish through the hallway.

I asked around but no one seems to know you
But I always see you walking around in school
I never saw you face to face before.

This time I hid and I waited for you.
I heard your footsteps in the doorway walking through.
I peeked my head out right through the doorway;
Just in time to see you vanishing through the hallway.
I never saw you face to face before.

I saw you vanish through the hallway...

Jon from Plain Sunset told me he really likes this one.



Cheesecake Pufface (Louise)

Well the...

Cheesecake Pufface is running down the stairs
With the silicon all stuck in her chest
I don't know where she lives.

Cheesecake Pufface always criticise
When people and her don't see eye to eye
She's such a loser, I don't want to fuck her.

Cheesecake Pufface don't give a damn
To anyone who can't understand
What she's talking about - she's apt to scream and shout

Cheesecake Pufface is just a talking butt
Who doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut
She's such a loser and I don't want to fuck her.

Cheesecake Pufface, call me Louise.

This one literally came to me in my sleep.

I jolted awake at something like 7am, with the tune in my head. I grabbed my guitar off the stand and made sure I had the tune and first lines knocked down.

Why Aren't They Deaf (Louise)

Why do they listen to all that noise?
As well as that illegible voice?
They think its cool, they think its great;
That the loveliest gift of all is hate.

This is a question I have to ask,
To go into the past
And see what they have;
And why aren't they going deaf?

It's time to take a look at the scene
Of deafening noise and senseless beings
They bring it from home, they bring it to school
All of a sudden being deaf is cool.

One of my personal favourites.

(She's Got) Something Wrong (Louise)

There was something wrong in the way she was looking at me (can't you see)
She's in love and I bet you ten bucks its with me (she's so pretty)
All the guys are pissed cos' she wouldn't want to be with them (they look like phelgm)
So it was with me that she went with to summer camp (she's so pretty)

Can't you see
We're in love.

In the half-light she looks like a super flirt
She fights with me for the last stick of cigarette
She used to keep her hair really straight without a curl
Now she's gone and she's still unforgettable.

Justin in studio.

Calvin was someone who appeared out of the blue.

Short and plump, it would be cruel but not inaccurate to describe him as somewhat stumpy. He sported a very curly mop of hair that rested between the boundaries of natural and permed. He is very fair and always wore his purplish-red sunglasses whenever he went outdoors and had them on most of his time indoors too. You see, he has a condition known as compound eyes (or something like that) and cannot look at strong sunlight or bright lights.

When we met Calvin, he was the owner of a record shop named Wax Records. It was located at Peninsular Plaza, a common hangout for the bits and pieces of society’s fringes, which we were a part of.

Calvin managed to trace down Aaron, whom he called and planned a meet with us. Apparently, someone had passed We Nearly Killed Each Other along to him and he must have liked it sufficiently to smoke us out.

We trooped into the then Wax Records, which I vaguely remember was painted in a dull pink, with the rest of the furnishing in black. Of course the lighting was dim. Wax Records was basically a music shop and it had CDs, tapes and even 7”/12” vinyls. Its niche was in the obscure bands and genres not normally found in neighbourhood music stores.

“When I put the disc on in my car and heard the first track, it immediately reminded me of the Stray Cats.” Calvin said. Obviously he was a fan of Stray Cats and apparently we sound like an 80’s band. “Furthermore, you’re a 3-piece, just like them!”

Calvin made his proposition plain and simple. He wanted to groom us, whatever that means to a punk band.

Aaron in studio.

It was interesting, what I learnt from Calvin.

He took a special interest in spending time with the songwriter and since we all write, he naturally gravitated to the one who wrote the most. And that was me. I do remember Calvin trying to prop Aaron into becoming the super-cool eccentric drummer as part of the act.

Calvin pointed out the chaos and indiscipline of how we wrote. No unifying theme, he said, and pulled out an album by I can’t remember who and showed us the song progression – it was uncannily interconnected. Each song was a story on its own and when the album was threaded together, each song was a part of an overall epic.

Also, Calvin pointed out that we didn’t have anything stage-special. No punch. Slim Jim of the Stray Cats played drums with only a snare, kick, high-hat and one cymbal. And he plays standing! And instead of a normal bass guitar, the bassist plays with a double bass, something which is of the look and size of a cello! These are stage things that would give a band the oompf. I told him quite firmly that I am not going to play an oversized violin standing upright.

And of course there was song content. We were writing stuff only we can relate to. It is not uncommon to mask our stories with ambiguous lyrics and often, we had no clue what each other’s songs were about.

I didn’t quite agree with everything Calvin said, although he made sense. Stage sense, that is. I silently preferred to write whatever I want to write.

Soon after, Calvin invited us to his home to get further acquainted with what it means to be a rock star.

We arrived at his Punggol flat in the mid afternoon. The balcony overlooks a soccer field and as the estate was in its infancy at that time, it was all quiet and trees and sterile-looking blocks. Calvin showed us his record room and there against the walls were rows of shelves containing what must be thousands of music media. In addition to CDs and tapes, I am talking about loads of 12” and 7” gramophone vinyl records packed tightly together.

Calvin pulled out a Stray Cats video and we proceeded to watch the 3-piece on TV. The first time I ever saw a drummer playing standing. Amazing. The music wasn’t exactly my cup of tea but nevermind that. Then we watched some rockabilly band play in a mental hospital.

I had thought it was staged but Calvin told us that the band wrote to the institution requesting permission to play for the unfortunate inmates for free. The band then came in with video cameras and started to play their psychedelic tunes as the cameramen went around capturing the expressions of these mental patients on VHS. We shouldn’t laugh but it was crazy-funny seeing the mad-eye rolling, hair grabbing and insane screaming of the patients as they got caught into a gig frenzy amidst the loud music and wildly changing multi-coloured stage lighting.

Having shown us what showmanship is, Calvin proceeded to explain his plan.

He is going to take 100 copies of our album and in his words, ‘dump’ them all over record stores. Not just in Singapore, he was thinking places like London, New Zealand, Australia and wherever there are people who didn’t just listen to cantopop.

We listened with mouths agape as he continued telling us that after spreading our album all around, he would take us on a roadshow to New Zealand, to keep the momentum going as well as get us seen and heard where the market was better for our sound.

We left Calvin’s place brimming with excitement. Wow! New Zealand! Next stop, Beverly Hills! And maybe we wouldn’t need to pool money for cigarettes anymore.

Time passed since we passed the 100 CDs to Calvin. Wax Records closed down and we never heard from him again.

As far as we are concerned, at $10 bucks a copy, Calvin still owes us a thousand dollars.

Louise in studio.

P/S:

Another guy that appeared out of the blue was Adrian. He wasn’t a musician but I think he deals in local/underground band music. Aaron had let him have several copies of the album and Adrian managed to get them sold…in Japan no less!

I remember Adrian dropping by so we could autograph on a few copies – special request from some of his Japanese customers.

Once upon a time upon the airwaves was a Simon, also known by the rank and title of 'Captain of your Heart'.

In a rare instance, we wrote this song together, right there in the studio one day.

A response to the BoredPhuck's Zoe Tay.



Simon's the Captain of Our Hards (Justin, Aaron, Louise)

Late at night, listening to Simon
I love him, because he's my captain
We're just a frequency apart
He's the captain of my hard

I know him and he don't know me
He taught me all my ABC's
I can't just let him be
'Cos he's the one, he's the kind
He's the DJ for everyone

Simon's the captain of our hards

You wouldn't know what he means to be
Without his voice I won't get hard
So now you know or can't you see
Why he's
The captain of my hard.

Katy is a recurrent theme, and in this incarnation, someone I actually know.



Katy Wants to be Everybody's Best friend (Aaron)

Katy wants to be, everybody's best friend
It makes us so sad that she's not succeeding.

Katy wants to be a pretty girl
but she overdid it
What a stupid smile that she has.
Katy gets so horny everytime
When she touch her tits
What a stupid smile that she has.

Greeting everyone with an oversized smile
Pleasing everyone with an oversized bra
She can't hold her drink
So you better not buy, please

Katy wants to be everybody's best friend
Katy is a psychopathic

Katy wants to be everybody's best friend
Katy's a sicko, she needs a psychiatrist
We're gonna miss her disgusting habits
There she goes, looking for another friend.

I had better not comment.

But I sure as hell like the tune.



Tripping (Justin)

It was a boring Sunday afternoon and I've got nothing else to do
Except tune in to the Baywatch and I drool.
Waiting for that asshole to call me, made me waited like a fool so I decided to drop by with no clue.

Upon reaching his house I saw an old friend of mine
He asked me, I wanna do some hack.

Without hesitation, I bought twenty cents from him, rushed back to his house and rolled the rest, we lit, we smoked...

We saw a guy got tripped over a mike
The wires were danglings on his thighs
He stood again and fell backwards again...

I am wasted at that time.

Initially misunderstood and subsequently inspired by Jeremy's 'Carsick', when he performed that one at LaSalle with Jade Adversaries.



Get in the Backseat (Louise)

Get in the Backseat (yeah yeah she knows me)
Your beautiful teats (beautiful tits)
Don't listen to her shit (get in the backseat)
Touch my lip (get in the backseat)

I don't know whats happening to me;
I owe you, cos' everything ain't free

Shut her trap, you know that
She's a pose, way to close

Get in the Backseat!

We had a list of songs and no clue what order they should be presented in.

Tamourous looked at the list and said we should start with 'From the Moment'. Because it is from this moment that it starts.

Who are we to dispute what appears to be logic?



From The Moment (Louise)

From the moment I saw you, I knew I would never let you go.
Every other day I follow you secretly home.

Waiting at the bustop for you, wonder if you'll do it too
The funny thing is

You don't know that I,
I'll never ever let you go
I'll think of you
And I'll never ever let you go.

Even though you don't ever really want to know my name
It's ok cos' there's no one I really blame.
Even if you won't never ever really get to know;
I'll just tell myself that I'll never ever let you go.

You don't know that I will never ever let you go.
I'll think of you (and I'll never ever let you go)

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