Saturday, November 13, 2010

This one never had a title.

Aaron just started calling it fierce song and so it stuck.



Fierce Song (Louise)

I am stuck inside the Alamo
Davy Crockett's beckoning me to go
Guns and fire surrounding on all sides
This might be my last breathing night

I've got to get this off my chest right now
Cos' tomorrow I might not even be around
I never had the guts to say this until
Now I am going: I can't stop loving you

This night is short the dawn is coming
Very soon I will hear myself screaming
I wonder why I never made it clear
Until this moment my death is near

Mamamamamama Lemon Lemon......

Friday, November 12, 2010

Also known as Kathy II.




The Day They Forgot to Lock Kathy in Her Cell (Aaron)

Kathy's back, oh no!
That psychopathic girl, she ran away from the asylum today

They forgot to lock her in the cell
Letting her run around in the flower garden
They forgot to lock her in her jacket
There she goes storming through the streets

Its gonna be...the end
For everyone, including
Suburban Dammit, who is
Kathy's most hated punk rock band

Taking time looking for an adversary
Everyone is staying out of sight
On pretext of being a punk rock girl
Where she can hide that stupid oversized smile

Oh no, nobody's gonna leave here alive
Psycho-Kathy oh...
Irony.



Sally Used to be the Girl I know (Aaron)

Sally - she used to be the girl I know
But now she's fallen for the dope
Sinking deeper in the abyss
Scratching at the back of my memories

Sally - I used to sing her pretty songs
But it didn't last too long
Sinking deeper in the abyss
Scratching at the back of my memories

Drugs are not for me, drugs are not for free
You must never be, a slave of your own dignity
Sally's wrecked her fucking future
Sally's gone now, gone now, gone now

If you love me then do hear me:
STAY OUT OF SHIT

Sally be happy.

Sally, she used to be the girl I know
But now she's fallen for the dope.
Aaron had co-founded a performing arts group and for some years now this group has been doing shows all over Singapore.

The name of this group is called Kill Your TV, KYTV for short. KYTV started from just 2 or 3 guys 'mixing it up together' but had attracted alot of interest and soon, there were some 12-15 serious members. Jeremy had also become a part of KYTV.

KYTV did all sorts of stuff, from tabla performances at the Substation - Aaron and Jeremy both attended tabla classes for this - through weird artistic theatre. I got an invite to one of KYTV's early performances at Zouk, where large styrofoam cut-outs resembling skyscrapers of a cityscape got torn, knocked and bitten apart by someone in a godzilla costume; amidst the chanting music and pyschedelic blue/intense-white flashes of lighting.

Despite the Ministry of Education having hammered incredibly complex stuff like calculus and moral education into me, I guess there are still things I will never understand.

There was a resident band within KYTV itself, made up of its own members, and this includes Aaron and Jeremy. Tiramisu performs regularly at gigs too and there must have been several instances where Aaron and Jeremy had to play for both Subdam and Tiramisu at the same show.

All eyes will be on Tiramisu whenever they take the stage because their frontman, Riz, incorporates alot of shock-theatre elements into the songs and it is not unknown for him to go running and screaming into the crowd and dangle himself with all sorts of props like plastic chains and fake blood as the song progresses.

In just about two years since its formation, KYTV had built up a nice little piggy bank of cash from the various shows. KYTV then decided they wanted a space of their own to get dirty in and started looking for a place - no more working out of each individual's tiny rooms.

I was surprised to hear from Aaron that they converted a section of the place they leased into a jamming studio.

I drove gingerly through the back lanes of Macpherson area looking for Shaw Road and the building which KYTV now calls home. It was night and deserted. Afterall, this is an industrial area. I got out of the car with my bass slung across my shoulder. A large dog came wandering out, no doubt disturbed by the noise. Gulp.

Fortunately, a security guard turned up and told me where to go. Obviously he had gotten used to KYTV's guests and members coming through at all hours of the day and night. I rode in what looked like a cargo lift and wandered through the dusty corridors. It certainly was creepy wandering around this very quiet building on my own. Every door looks the same, and industrial lighting adjusted for maximum efficiency - which means minimum illumination.

And then I found KYTV, nestled in between a woodwork company and some aluminium girdle distributor. Dimly lit interior, it had lots of props and arty things all over the place, there were some guys smoking and talking quietly in the corner. The place smelt of sweat and stale cigarette smoke. But come on, all studios smell like that. The guys were bare-bodied and lounging around in shorts. I was told that the members tend to stay overnight here alot. In fact, there was always someone staying overnight on any given night.

And for the next 3 or 4 months, this was where we jammed. I wasn't too happy with the sound but its free so what the hell.

For some reason, KYTV was given the boot a few months later.

They then found a place in little India and I was even more amused when I got there. The rented area consists on an upstairs, which had been turned into a jamming studio by virtue of egg-holders plastering every inch of vertical wall. KYTV also rented the back section on the ground floor of the unit. I couldn't believe I was at the right place when I stepped through the front section on my first visit.

The front section is an actual fruit stall.

I remember a scene when we were done jamming and I was leaving when I saw some 6 to 8 people huddled in front of a small TV set perched on a tiny console. They were captivated by whatever was on the screen and the room was eerily silent except for the TV. The lights were off and all I can see were their silhouettes crumpled all over the rug and sofa and the soft cigarette smoke hazily rising from their lit ends.

This is what I had imagined to be an Asian's vision of Bohemianism.

Fast forward a couple of months and again KYTV was looking for a new space.

They found a nice bungalow.

Overlooking an old Malay cemetary in Siglap, I was told that the rent for the entire place was incredibly cheap. Something like a thousand or so. Split between Aaron, Jeremy, Kar Fai, Dovan and a few others, it was really affordable for such a big space. No more jamming here, but at least the permanent 'residents' had their own rooms and more than enough space in the living room for all sorts of projects.

By this time, KYTV was getting noticed by the mainstream media and found themselves terribly busy with the many shows they have been asked to put out. As a result, Subdam jammed less and less and we hung out less and less too. In fact, only when we have impending shows would we see each other.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Wendy sits in the corner cubicle, right by the door and framed behind her is a large glass window. Slightly plump, thin-frames bespectacled and obviously extremely introverted. She hardly says a word to anyone, even when people try to have a few words with her. She has her lunch at her desk every single day.

She's pretty.



Wendy Come Along with Me (Louise)

Oh my Wendy don't you want to be with me?
Get in the car; we could drive to Arizona
You - could pay for the petrol
And purify my soul
You can be the One
And I will be a rock star

Wander aimlessly...
Only you and me.
(Oh my Wendy, don't you want to be free?)
We could watch the stars
From the bonnet of the car.

Oh my Wendy, don't you want to be with me?
Get in the ship we could take a little sea trip
You - could put out all the sails
And hammer in the nails.
You can be the captain
I will be the dumb Flip

Slowly sailing by, underneath the orange sky
(Oh my Wendy, watch the sunset with me)
Slowly sail away, together with the fading day

When my Wendy says its fine
Then I know my Wendy's mine
When my Wendy looks at me, she is everything I see

Oh my Wendy!

Oh my Wendy don't you want to be with me
Walk by my side, we could stroll along the seaside
You - could hold on to my hand
And I will be your man
We could leave our footprints in the slimy wet sand

Hear the waves crash
See the sea splash
Kiss me with the tip,
Of your luscious lips
I have a real soft spot for this one, a punk's dance song at a ball.

This is the song we spent many evenings in the Padang practising its tricky harmonizing.



I Wanna Dance with Her (Aaron, Jeremy)

I wanna dance with her!
I wanna feel her body close to mine!

She is my battery pack
Oh wouldn't you keep me warm in the sack?

Woooo!
As close to a duet as we can get it.



2 Drunkards at a Karaoke Bar (Louise)

(A's drunken mumbling)

A:
Hi, do you still remember Karen?

B:
I will never forget even if I've got
One million phone numbers of the prettiest models
Karen is something stuck inside my mind

I can't help but not deny
She is something stuck in my mind
She's the loveliest thing I've ever seen
She's the sweetest moment in

My ugly teenage life
She is the dream of mine
She is my inspiration
As well as my adoration

I will not
forget
forever.