Music: Shirlyn Tan of The UnXpected

I first saw Shirlyn Tan at Wala Wala (31 Lorong Mambong). She was a slip of a girl with colourful streaks in her hair. She sauntered to the stage in slippers, slipped the guitar strap over her head, ohhh…how she riffed that guitar.

Her voice was earth and soul akin to Alannah Myles on Black Velvet. That night Rock (of the Jon Bon Jovi breed) wasn’t dead. And here’s hoping that it never does – at least when Rock chic Shirlyn’s up on stage.

Photo by Shirlyn Tan

This post contains additional material that I couldn’t fit into an article for CNNGo (5 great live music acts in Singapore).

How did you get started in the pub circuit?

I am a fan of live music and I used to follow a few bands for their gigs. I got the opportunity to start gigging in the now defunct Off Quay when I watched a guitarist play and asked him if we could jam together.

What’s the best thing when performing?

Getting the crowd to move with the music!

The worst?

A flying beer mug barely missed me when a fight broke out midway through my gig!

Walk Away by UnXpected

Your thoughts on your audience

What an eclectic bunch of people! Young or old, they really love the music we play, which is why we keep at it. The music that we play hardly gets any airtime on the radio but we choose the best that we can offer and love to share it.

Your fans say?

Mostly good things, I hope. It's nice when they come up and tell me the memories that the songs bring back, and how they relate to the music.

Where does she play?

• Thursdays & Saturdays at Wala Wala -- Shirlyn & The UnXpected
• Friday at Barstop (Devonshire Road) -- Ren & Shirlyn

All I wanna do is make love to you–UnXpected

Music: Chicken Shack Revival

“So long
It was so long ago
But I've still got the blues for you.”

- Still Got The Blues by Gary Moore

This is an unusual find – a band that plays old blues, jazz, swing and roots music.

The Chicken Shack Revival is comprised of four friends: lead man and multi-instrumentalist Louis Lam; bassist Chris Gomez; drummer Justin Teo; and guitarist Gregory Leow.

Photo by Chicken Shack Revival

Jammin’ the Blues isn’t the easiest road for the band. As Gregory Leow says:

“Pub owners feel that Blues doesn’t sell. It’s really due to the stereotype that Blues is boring, very samey and depressing, or too rockish and loud.

 

“Truth be told, it’s the sound for much of Blues music that’s out there. So I don’t really blame them for sticking to top 40s and established genres to sell their bar (Funk, Jazz, Latin and Bossa Nova) but hey, we try.”

And so they do.

This post contains additional material that I couldn’t fit into an article for CNNGo (5 great live music acts in Singapore).

How did you get started in the pub circuit?

We started by asking around for pub gigs through friends and family. Then it became a mailing list approach, and we got offers to play. We also sent emails to pub owners and showed them our gig list and YouTube videos with the hope that they’ll take us up.

We get quite a bit of repeat business from bar owners who have taken a chance on us and we credit them for being forward-thinking.

What’s the best thing that happened?

The usual applause, encore and dancing people. Personally as a guitarist, the cheers that I get from doing a conceived surf medley is satisfying.

The worst?

An unappreciative audience. On the whole, expats seem to get our music more than locals, which is a shame. We try our best to reach out to Singaporeans to show them that Blues music is not slow, boring or with droning vocals. :P

Oh Baby - Little Walter @ Prince of Wales (Singapore)

Thoughts on your audience?

The audience reacts to a band playing well and having a good time. It’s not just about the skill of the band but how entertaining we are. So we inject some humour into it by putting little Showtune licks that people might recognise – Pop Goes the Weasel, Sheik of Araby etc – to break up the Blues form.

What do fans say?

Aside from the usual compliments on our playing ability, people who haven’t seen our band normally say that they didn’t think Blues sounded like this, and that it is refreshing to hear us.

Where do they play?

Chicken Shack Revival doesn’t have a fixed gig list. Do check out their Facebook Fanpage for more information.

It’s been a long while……

…since I’ve last posted stuff up. I’ve been…busy working on websites (revamped maxa.sg), social-marketing for clients, falling ill and getting better.

I’m still writing for other clients and taking on other projects. But I realised that I’ve been neglecting this blog of mine which I’ve put a heck-of-a-lot time into building.

Now I’ve made a commitment to myself to blog at least once a week (pathetic, I know). But hey that’s the start of a long road ahead… like what Rod Stewart sang so long ago.

东风破

I’ve been listening and listening to this song by Jay Chou since 2006. It has helped me sleep when snores were sonorous and leavings were commonplace.

My Chinese isn’t great, but I admire how this song is layered with presumably old poems and older zither strummings.

一盞離愁 孤單佇立在窗口
我在門後 假裝妳人還沒走
舊地如重遊 月圓更寂寞
夜半清醒的燭火 不忍苛責我
一壺漂泊 浪跡天涯難入喉
妳走之後 酒暖回憶思念瘦
水向東流 時間怎麼偷
花開就一次成熟 我卻錯過

誰在用琵琶彈奏 一曲東風破
歲月在牆上剝落 看見小時候
猶記得那年我們都還很年幼
而如今琴聲幽幽 我的等候
妳沒聽過

誰再用琵琶彈奏 一曲東風破
楓葉將故事染色 結局我看透
籬笆外的古道我 牽著你走過
荒煙漫草的年頭 就連分手都
很沉默

Damn sappy I know. But it’s a memory.

Fourwallsofsound: Mixcloud’s top community member

Now this is almost fame for you.

My mate – fourwallsofsound – was interviewed by Mixcloud for their Best of 2009 series.

It’s the guy at the bottom right.

I’ve extracted a part of the interview where he describes himself as:

“Just a fella who grew up on music that I was exposed to in the 80s and heard it evolve through the 90s. The first time I heard the electronic sound at a club was at a John Kelley guest night at Zouk, Singapore circa 1996 and I was hooked. Many educational club nights later, I bought my Technics MK2s, a Pioneer DJM 500 (on hire purchase naturally), pulled out my dad’s knackered old Koss’ and figured out how to mix records in a way that would connect with a crowd in the same way that each track was connecting with me; along the way I’ve played some small gigs and parties as fourwallsofsound, but remain a bedroom DJ at heart.”

Head over to the full interview for more salacious details. And drop him a line on his profile.

30 Love .. Sometimes That's All You Got by Fourwallsofsound on Mixcloud

PS: Dude, I’m done my best to pimp you out… :D Keep the music flowing.