Aerosmith – I don’t wanna miss a thing

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
Far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Well, every moment spent with you
Is a moment I treasure

I don’t wanna close my eyes
I don’t wanna fall asleep
‘Cause I’d miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing
‘Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I’d still miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing

Lying close to you
Feeling your heart beating
And I’m wondering what you’re dreaming
Wondering if it’s me you’re seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we’re together
And I just wanna stay with you
In this moment forever, forever and ever

I don’t wanna close my eyes
I don’t wanna fall asleep
‘Cause I’d miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing
‘Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I’d still miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing

I don’t wanna miss one smile
I don’t wanna miss one kiss
Well, I just wanna be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just wanna hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time

Don’t wanna close my eyes
Don’t wanna fall asleep
‘Cause I’d miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing
‘Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
‘Cause I’d still miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing

I don’t wanna close my eyes
I don’t wanna fall asleep
‘Cause I’d miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing
‘Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I’d still miss you, babe
And I don’t wanna miss a thing

Don’t wanna close my eyes
Don’t wanna fall asleep, yeah
I don’t wanna miss a thing

Save tonight

It’s always a nice feeling to leave the studio feeling rejuvenated rather than taxed and burnt out, and its definitely a great feeling to jam with experienced and musicians who are willing to accept criticism and to learn from mistakes.

Musicians who cannot accept criticism and are unwilling to swallow their prides and ask for help shouldn’t be termed as musicians at all. They’re just fame-whores with minimal musical knowledge.

Changes

I’m playing for a chinese rock band… band name can’t be disclosed due to ongoing and pressing issues, but there’ll be recordings and photos up when the time’s ripe. We’ll be playing at Esplanade on the 16th August, so updates to come soon.

Dishwalla – Candleburn

on Vineland past the candle shrine that burns on every night
for someone
she lets herself go
like an angel in the snow
she lays down on her back
down on her back – she goes

take me over when I’m gone
take me over make me strong
take me over when I’m gone
will they burn for me

on Vineland past the candle shrine that melts into the street design
she waits – for someone
tonight she’ll give herself away
she’ll break apart all by herself
its so easy how we come undone

take me over when I’m gone
take me over make me strong
take me over when I’m gone
will they burn for me

she pulls me in – strips me down
she pulls me in – turns me out
she pulls me in – strips me down

take me over when I’m gone
take me over make me strong
take me over when I’m gone
will they burn for me
will they burn for me

Production 07/08

Before I completely forget (I’ve wanted to blog since it ended, honest to God!), great job to everybody who was involved in Kent Ridge Hall’s Production 07/08. We all left our hearts at Outram Park – instrumentalists, cast/ensemble, stage crew, audience alike.

20 practices, countless sleepless nights trying to rearrange the songs, 20 sessions of ear-shattering cymbals shimmers and trumpets/saxophones in enclosed areas, and at least 10 sessions of moving the damned drumset out into the MPSH, not to mention the torture of moving everything from the band room to the lorry, and into the orchestra pit in UCC itself.

Props (pun intended) to all the people in the background who made it a success, and props to ZP for making the music happen!

We left our hearts at Outram Park!

http://alvyn.blogsome.com til further notice.

Of self-confidence and cockiness

Reading through the email I just sent to my bandmates, I realised that it was actually very, very bloggable material.

In my email, I talked about self-confidence and cockiness in a performing musician. I’m sure that not many people will agree with me, but personally I feel that self-confidence, bordering on cockiness, is one the most, if not the most, important factor a musician can take on stage with him/her.

True enough, you need the skills and experience to perform live and in public, but confidence is an aura that you exude and people feel. A musician with average skills and experience level, but with confidence on stage is definitely more appealing to the public as compared to a skilled musician with no confidence.

I choose to think that my skill as a drummer, along with my gigging experience is definitely above average, and I do know for a fact, that my confidence level on stage behind the drumset is adequete, bordering (or rather, exceedingly) on cockiness. People have commented on the fact that they found my stage presence, together with my chops and groove, was definitely a plus point. However, some other people have told me that my stage presence and cockiness was a bit of a turn off at times.

Any comments on the various trains of thoughts?

Musicality

Too many people have been asking me what my influences are, what drumming videos I watch and where I get groove from.

Don’t get me wrong, its great to have influences from great drummers. Personally I really dig Dennis Chambers, Teddy Campbell and Gordon Campbell for their groove, Thomas Lang for his insane chops and Carter Beauford for being the most natural drummer ever.

But imo, that should end there. Just pure influences. Don’t imitate their style, or copy their chops… by all means, use their chops but infuse your own style into it. That’s where your groove comes from.

Groove isn’t about taking multiple chops and styles and hybridising it into one… groove is self developed. It’s when you create your own music, your own beat and your own style. That’s groove.

Groove on guys.

Role of a drummer…?

Stumbled upon this article that’s quite worth reading. Check it out guys

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First off, I think that I’ve just read some very good general observations of the drummer, but I think alot of them aren’t aimed directly at the question. The question was what is the purpose, not what does the drummer typically do; so what *should* the goal of the drummer idealistically bo?

I know there are many assumptions about the drummer, both traditionally (he’s supposed to be the one keeping time and ‘anchoring’ for the rest of the band..I’ll talk about that later), from other members (ex the bassist assumption that the drummer must line up the kick to almost every major bass note) and from the drummer himself (ex from above post, that we have to be cocky and egotistical). It’s easy to see how this can create alot of confusion for the band, the audience and especially us, the drummers.

Some of the drummer’s job description is standard and expected, however I think that most of it is up to the drummer and band. For example, I think the largest responsABILITY is to set the pace of the song. Ever double your highhat speed or cut it in half to the same guitar piece? I think of the drummer as the legs, the bass as the body, the guitar as the arms and hands, and the vocals are of course the face.

The non-standard optional part of the drummer’s job description is whether or not to be responsible for the abovementioned assumptions – will he be the anchoring, rhythm keeping stablizer for the rest of the band to platform from and return to? Will he be the cocky one or decide where to put his kicks based on the bassist’s notation? These depend on the rest of the band members as much as the drummer – yes they are necessary most of the time, but the responsibilities can be shared, and also like mentioned above, not everybody wants that sound.

Example: spag from Mudvayne (experimental math metal) infrequently lines up his kick to the bass guitar but it sounds amazing. Mudvayne’s guitarist is the one ‘anchoring’ – he keeps a simple constant pattern that allows the others to go off tangent and know how to get back, and it sounds tight. Their bassist is the cocky one, and makes it fit without being arrogant. The shares part of the responsibility in setting pace at times where the drummer adds to the feeling.

It’s a give and take between the personalities of the band, and although the members must reach an understanding of eachother before anything good can surface, its a sure safe bet that the drummer will be keeping the pace more than anything (not discluding the good observations from above, like transition accents). Frantic Bleep – Curtainraiser is the perfect example to any drummer of their goals, in my opinion

get the album LD-50 by Mudvayne, and if you’re like ‘im too important to hear a whole album i don’t already know about’ then just listen to any tool song you can get your hands on

Kenny Rogers – She Believes In Me

While she lays sleeping, I stay out late at night and play my songs
And sometimes all the nights can be so long
And its good when I finally make it home, all alone
While she lays dreaming, I try to get undressed without the light
And quietly she says how was your night?
And I come to her and say, it was all right, and I hold her tight

And she believes in me, Ill never know just what she sees in me
I told her someday if she was my girl, I could change the world
With my little songs, I was wrong
But she has faith in me, and so I go on trying faithfully
And who knows maybe on some special night, if my song is right
I will find a way, find a way…

While she lays waiting, I stumble to the kitchen for a bite
Then I see my old guitar in the night
Just waiting for me like a secret friend, and theres no end
While she lays crying, I fumble with a melody or two
And Im torn between the things that I should do
And she says to wake her up when I am through,
God her love is true…

And she believes in me, Ill never know just what she sees in me
I told her someday if she was my girl, I could change the world
With my little songs, I was wrong
But she has faith in me, and so I go on trying faithfully
And who knows maybe on some special night, if my song is right
I will find a way, while she waits… while she waits for me…

Beautiful love

Geek in the pink

Jubilation

There is no better feeling than pulling off a wicked sick groove or fill on stage with your band.

Thanks to all you mofuggers who came to support us again!

Shoutout to Fysh and Evie, who has been here for EVERY SINGLE ONE of our gigs.

PSA: drum lessons

Hi there loyal readers, its me again with a PSA.

I’m giving free drum lessons just to test the waters, and to see if my teaching method’s effective. I’ll start off with beginners, and I’ll cover stuff like:

1. Setting up/tuning drumset
2. Different stick grips
3. Basic rudiments
4. Basic beats
5. Keeping time

Since I’m just testing waters to see if my notes/teaching method’s are effective, lessons are free, but I’ll probably only try it out on 3-4 students. Let me know if you’re interested, drop me a line at alvyn07@gmail.com or get me on MSN.

光良 – 约定

说好的三年不见面
用我们的爱把时间留住
你笑着说这是我们的考验我们的约定
就这样三年又过了
我还是回到这个地方
闭上眼等你的出现
空气中吻你的脸
我还记得我们的约定
一辈子幸福的约定
为你写的那首歌
他也偷偷的掉泪了
我比以前还更爱你了
连那风都笑我了
我想他会告诉你的我更爱你了
我想他会告诉你的
你会记得我们的约定
听着风我也笑了
他一定会告诉你的我更爱你了

Super Mario meets Vadrum

Ok props to him for prog-metalling super mario brothers, but much love to him for his chops and his kit. Check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZqwvjwqwK4.

And while you’re at it, check out this Snare Solo for Pasic 2006, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PHf6QagV7k

Nostalgia

Nostalgia’s like emotional cancer. It hits you when you least expect it to, and it lingers in you for a while, decaying and turning your emotions into this pile of unrecognisable mush.

For one reason or another, Jason Wade’s rendition of You Belong To Me has been on loop on my iTunes since last night, and it has been the only song on my ipod playlist to and fro camp.

For one reason or another, everytime the song starts I get this sudden nostalgia attack and my mind starts to drift off back to my JC days.

And for some reason or another, I look back and wonder what possessed me to do what I did back then.

But nostalgic emo posts aside, the band’s playing at Ben and Jerry’s Cathay on the 15th Feb 2007 at 8pm. A few of the songs we’ll be playing are:
1. Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
2. Hinder – Lips of an angel
3. Lifehouse – Blind

And once again, the band (shakenotstirred) is made up of:
1. Rhythm guitar/Vocals – Peh
2. Lead guitar – Ivan
3. Bass guitar – Yu Hui
4. Keyboards – Charlotte
5. Drums – Me

Bob Dylan – You belong to me

Beautiful song, beautiful voice, beautiful lyrics.

Simply beautiful

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Bob Dylan – You belong to me
See the pyramids around the Nile
Watch the sun rise
From the tropic isle
Just remember darling
All the while
You belong to me
See the market place
In old Algiers
Send me photographs and souvenirs
Just remember
When a dream appears
You belong to me

And I’ll be so alone without you
Maybe you’ll be lonesome too

Fly the ocean
In a silver plane
See the jungle
When it’s wet with rain
Just remember till
You’re home again
You belong to me

Oh I’ll be so alone without you
Maybe you’ll be lonesome too

Fly the ocean
In a silver plane
See the jungle
When it’s wet with rain
Just remember till
You’re home again
You belong to me

Muse – Invincible

Follow through
Make your dreams come true
Don’t give up the fight
You will be alright
‘Cause there’s no one like you in the universe

Don’t be afraid
What your mind conceives
You should make a stand
Stand up for what you believe
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we’re invincible

During the struggle
They will pull us down
But please, please
Let’s use this chance
To turn things around
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we’re invincible

Do it on your own
It makes no difference to me
What you leave behind
What you choose to be
And whatever they say
Your souls unbreakable

During the struggle
They will pull us down
But please, please
Let’s use this chance
To turn things around
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we’re invincible
Together we’re invincible

During the struggle
They will pull us down
Please, please
Let’s use this chance
To turn things around
And tonight
We can truly say
Together we’re invincible
Together we’re invincible

Rivermaya – You’ll be safe here

Nobody knows
Just why we’re here
Could it be fate
Or random circumstance
At the right place
At the right time
Two roads intertwine

And if the universe conspired
To meld our lives
To make us
Fuel and fire
Then know
Where ever you will be
So too shall i be

Chorus:

Close your eyes
Dry your tears
‘coz when nothing seems clear
You’ll be safe here

From the sheer weight
Of your doubts and fears
Weary heart
You’ll be safe here

Remember how we laughed
Until we cried
At the most stupid things
Like we were so high
But love was all that we were on
We belong

And though the world would
Never understand
This unlikely union
And why it still stands
Someday we will be set free.
Pray and believe

Chorus:

When the light disappears
And when this world’s insincere
You’ll be safe here
When nobody hears you scream
I’ll scream with you
You’ll be safe here

Save your eyes
From your tears
When everything’s unclear
You’ll be safe here

From the sheer weight
Of your doubts and fears
Wounded heart

When the light disappears
And when this world’s insincere
You’ll be safe here

When nobody hears you scream
I’ll scream with you
You’ll be safe here

In my arms
Through the long cold night
Sleep tight
You’ll be safe here

When no one understands
I’ll believe
You’ll be safe,
You’ll be safe
You’ll be safe here
Put your heart in my hands
You’ll be safe here

Photos of my kit

Ok I just moved my kit out for a photo session to whore my new Phattie snare. Here’re some photos and specifications.

Driver’s seat view:

Front view (ignore the gay stickers pls)

Whoring my Phattie snare:

Specs on my kit:

- Tama Stagestar in Jet Black
- 14″ Sabian AAX Stage Hats
- 15″ Zildjian K custom dark thin crash
- 17″ Zildjian A custom crash
- 20″ Sabian AAX Stage Ride
- 13×5.5 Steel Tama Snare
- 14×5 Phattie 6ply Maple Snare in red satin finish
- Pearl Eliminator double-chained single pedal (black cam, medium tension)
- Evans G2 clears over Evans G1 clears on toms
- Aquarian attack batter for snare and some aquarian reso head

Shin – 死了都要爱

死了都要爱
不淋漓尽致不痛快
感情多深只有这样
才足够表白
死了都要爱
不哭到微笑不痛快
宇宙毁灭心还在
把每天当成是末日来相爱
一分一秒都美到泪水掉下来
不理会别人是看好或看坏
只要你勇敢跟我来
爱不用刻意安排
凭感觉去亲吻相拥就会很愉快
享受现在别一开怀就怕受伤害
许多奇迹我们相信才会存在
死了都要爱
不淋漓尽致不痛快
感情多深只有这样才足够表白
死了都要爱
不哭到微笑不痛快
宇宙毁灭心还在
穷途末路都要爱
不极度浪漫不痛快
发会雪白土会掩埋
思念不腐坏
到绝路都要爱
不天荒地老不痛快
不怕热爱变火海
爱到沸腾才精采

Practice Rig

This is my practice setup. From left to right:

Dave Weckl Signature sticks, 5As, 7ANs, Vater Josh Freese Signature Sticks, Promark Simon Phillips Signature Sticks, Zildjian Trilok Gurtu Signature sticks, Vic Firth Hot Rods, Vic Firth Peter Erskine signature sticks. (Not shown: Promark Yambu Jazz sticks, Promark 5Bs, Promark 5As, Vater Power Fusions, Vater 5As)

Boss DB-60 metronome, X-pad practice pad.

Gig updates

Okay Jason from Ben and Jerry’s has rescheduled us (very kindly!) because of various commitments that the band has, so all our Dec gigs are cancelled. We will be playing at BNJs in January instead. Hit me up on msn at alvyn07@gmail.com and I’ll update you guys when we’re playing.

Extracted from Goo Goo Doll’s cover of I’ll Be. With some luck, we might even do this song in January!

I’ll be your cryin’ shoulder
I’ll be love suicide
I’ll be better when I’m older
I’ll be the greatest fan of your life

Of purchases and of integrity.

I traded my 18″ medium crash for a 15″ K dark thin crash, and I realised that it was literally, the trade of the century. I had the better deal, or so I thought, until my phone rang this afternoon while I was in office, and the fellow who happily dealt his crash away to me, asked me to return it to him. I told him no, beceause a deal’s a deal, and I don’t do refunds or exchanges. He didn’t reply me after that.

Luckily for him, he didn’t reply me, or I would have spammed his motherfucking phone with my 1001 uber l33t fucking kanpua silan horrigible messages to make him 01 x fucking pissed off, but impotent to do anything because he only has my handphone number.

Which brings me to point 1. What’s the deal (lol pun) with fuckers who go back on deals that they’ve agreed on? I’ve said it more than once, if you can’t afford it, don’t offer any price, and don’t bargain the price down. Save up until you can get it. Why are people just so fucking stupid?

And now onto point 2. The band made it through the oh-so-fucking-vigorous BNJ auditions and we’re waiting for Jason to schedule us to play. If any of my dear wonderfully wonderful and loyal readers out there have any song suggestions to make, drop it in the comments section! But please do not that due to the nature of the place, I will definitely not play fucking Avenged Fucking Sevenfold or Iron Fucking Maiden and get myself thrown out of the entire complex itself. Top40s and rock would be nice. Have fun!

Last but not least, 52 work days to ORD and counting down before I say goodbye to this puabye army. PUI.

Of desktops and auditions

Ok so I finally got around to posting images of my desktop, and this is how it looks like now. Icons courtesy of pixelgirlpresents..

Right, now that I’ve got the hard part down, its time to tell you, my dear readers, about something really exciting. shakenotstirred aka my band, is having our “ceremonial” auditions at Ben and Jerry’s Cathay on Tuesday, at 8.30pm. We only have to play 3 – 4 songs, so I’m sorry if you were expecting more than that. We will, obviously, be playing more than 3-4 songs when we finally get about gigging there, but since we decided not to skip and bypass protocol and audition like how everybody has to, we have no choice but to stick to the audition “rules”, which means we will have to do only 3-4 songs.

Which means I’m in a little dilemma now. I’ll be playing on a 4 piece setup with 2 main crashes along with my hats and ride. I’m deciding if I should bring along my extra cymbal stand just in case they don’t have a spare stand for my 18″ Avedis Medium Crash. As it is, I’m already lugging my Pearl Eliminator pedals, my Yamaha 14×4 maple snare, along with all my cymbals down to BNJ. One more cymbal stand’ll either be worth it, or kill me. Comments, please?

If you decide to head down to watch us, do drop me a line at alvyn07@gmail.com or hit me up on MSN messenger at the same email address. I’ll dedicate our last song to all you wonderful people who’ll come down and watch us! (Yes, wonderful people, because you-who-do-not-turn-up-for-our-audition/show is a fucktard)

Of musicianship #2.

I’m going to bitch about something that has been on my mind for a very, very long time.

It started off with deals on a certain musical website. What pissed me off was the fact that wannabe musicians would be trying to sell off low-end cymbals with comments and phrases such as “Cutting sound, suitable for rock and metal!” or “Dark, washy tone”, along with a hefty price tag. The fact that morons like them were doing stupid things like trying to overprice their beginner cymbals pissed me off so badly that I refused to sell anything there for a period of time.

When I started selling/buying my cymbals/snare/pedal/hardware on the same website some time later, I faced another breed of losers. The kind who offer you ridiculously low prices for your item, citing various reasons ranging from, “I’m a student, thus my budget is very low” to “This cymbal is very old, its not worth the amount you want.” Firstly, I’d like to say that if you do not have a budget, either take a loan, or contact the person and ask if he/she can hold it for you while you raise the amount, like one off my buyers who actually confirmed his deal with me. I held on to his hats, and he told me that he’d be able to deal with me in 2 weeks time. I agreed to it because it’s a win-win situation. I get a buyer, he gets what he wants. If you are unable to raise the money to buy your equipment, then I suggest you start to learn how to save, because not having the money is not a valid reason for sellers like me to lower the fucking price to accommodate you. Either you accomadate my price, or you fuck off. As for the condition of the cymbals, I do believe that I’ve done enough research, and have been drumming long enough to know the value of individual cymbal that I possess. Certain cymbals maybe old, but lines like avedis increase in value over the years, provided there’re no cracks or dents in them. If you can’t appreciate this simple fact, then you don’t deserve to own an avedis cymbal. Similarly, you can fuck off.

After that, I realised that most people were going goo-goo-ga-ga over kids in tapered jeans with eyeliners playing really, really loudly, and trying to go really, really fast, with no chops and no licks to showcase. At the same time, the play as if the drumset pissed them offf and they were trying to kill it – no technique, no groove, and most importantly no feel. But that isn’t what pissed me off. The fact that idiots can come up to me and ask me why I don’t pull off insanely fast rapid fire rolls over my drumset, really make me want to tell them that, “If I rolled any faster and played any louder, you’d all die because I’m that good.” And then stab them with my drumsticks.

Apart from playing and chops, the attitude of musicians nowadays have also been on the decline. I’ve spoken to quite a number of musicians, ranging from drummers like myself to keyboardists, to guitarists. Most of the mature ones are really outstanding and committed, and I salute them. However, there’re always the few immature musicians who literally “worship” the ground their “idols” walk on. Their idols being other musician who appear to more pro than them. And how do they judge the musician? By how fancy his/her playing is, how loud and fast their playing is. Hello boys and girls, wake up your fucking idea. Music is not about speed. I don’t like doing rapid fire straight 16 or 32nds fill ins because I don’t think its nice. I’d prefer to play with dynamics, triplets and paradiddles around the kit. I like to play with ghost notes and buzz rolls. If you can’t handle me playing with the groove I have, kindly fuck of and do not tell me to “do a very fast roll around the drumset man!” Because I will stab you with my drumsticks and impale you on my cymbal stand as a warning to everyone else.

Last but not least, I cannot stand musicians with no discipline and no sense of commitment. Being a musician is what it is – fun and joy… When you’re jamming and gigging. Why? Because that’s when you bust out your chops, your grooves, and show everyone what you’ve been practicing so long for. But when you’re practicing and rehearsing, it isn’t all fun and games. Its about hours of sitting in front of a hard rubber pad practicing rudiments to a metronome. It’s about listening to the same songs over and over again, trying to figure out what kind of a fill in you could play to make it sound a bit different and a bit nicer, and for originals, what you could play to either spice up the particular part, or make your lead guitarist sound good. It’s about knowing what to play, how to play, when to play. It’s about having the discipline to practice, and the committment to do it well. It’s about having the self-discipline to manage your time, to juggle between school, work, friends, band and practice itself.

Being a musician doesn’t mean you pick up a guitar, a bass guitar, a pair of drumsticks, and randomly shred/roll about on the kit. It’s not about wanting to destroy stuff, playing loudly or playing as quickly as you can. It’s about practice, practice, and more practice.

Being a musician isn’t about having the stage to yourself. It’s about sharing the stage with your bandmates, making them sound good, and ultimately making the band sound tight, and rock the house down.

Endth.

Of new snares.

So I just picked up my newest toy… a 14″x4″ Yamaha Absolute Maple Snare in Natural finish. Words cannot describe the snare per se. You have to see it to know how classy it looks in real life under normal lighting. The finish has a pinkish reflection that makes it look amazingly amazing. I’m still thinking whether I should change the die-cast hoops to wooden hoops, and throw on a set of DW Puresound Snarewires on it. Comments on it drummers? I do know that I’ll be changing the heads to G1 clears over Evans Snareside hazy300 resos, or maybe I’ll make a trip down to Nigel’s and give Aquarians a shot.

Less talk, more photos, here’re the photos of the snare!

Shot of the badge

Shot of the snare

Of musicianship.

All I wanna rant about in this post is the fact that musicianship does not mean how fast you can go on your instrument, how flashy you can be, or how amazingly unique you think you can be. Musicianship is about fitting in with the music, making your other bandmates, especially the vocalist and lead guitarist, sound good, and most importantly, not sticking out like a sore thumb, unless you’re SUPPOSED to do so.

Less is more little boys and girls, less is always more.

SIBEI HOHSEH LEH

We can buy lottery. I mean it. I’m serious. We can buy lottery, and strike consecutive 1st prizes for the next 4-5 months. How lucky can we get?

We were just chilling out at Ben and Jerry’s at Cathay, watching Clarence gig with his house band. The band ended their set around 12am, and as they were packing up and we were preparing to leave, the MANAGER of BNJ came to us and asked us if we wanted to jam cuz it was “after 12am”. So we kinda looked at each other, tossed a coin (best of 5) and decided to go for it.

So us being the stupid kanchiong bananas we are, ran to Ivan’s car, grabbed my cymbal case, Peh’s guitar, Ivan’s guitar, and proceeded to RUN back to BNJ on the 2nd floor. We were sweating like mad shits under the stage light as we set up our stuff. I compromised and play on a crack-less snare, and a super uber tight bass pedal, Ivan’s guitar was insanely loud, and Peh’s guitar was insanely soft. But nobody’s complaining because we got to GIG at the most unexpected time, and the most unexpected place!

The most amazing thing was that after we finished and wrapped up, Peh and I spoke to the manager, who commented that Wideawake – Maybe tonight maybe tomorrow, was a very nice and moving song, and he originally thought that it was our own song. So Peh commented that we’ll play that again during our auditions on the 7th Nov, when the manager gave him the best reply we could’ve ever expected, “What auditions? No need to audition, just come down and practice, then play.”

So basically, I think we just did our audition tonight and we passed it with flying colours even though personally, each of us felt that there was something wrong with the impromtu performance itself, from me speeding up slightly for our first song, to Ivan’s insanely loud guitaring, to Peh’s minor slip up on stage.

But IF the audience didn’t notice any, and felt that overall we did a great job, WHO’S COMPLAINING?

I’m still fucking hyper and high.

Wishlist again.

Tis’ time of the year that draweth near,
Time of dwaves and trolls and evil gnomes.
Where magic runneth abundantly
And wishlists appear magically.

1. 14×6 10ply maple snare
2. 10×6 porkpie acrylic snare
3. roc’n’soc drum throne
4. yamaha flying dragon double pedals (direct drive)
5. 10″ hh splash
6. 14″ hh dark crash
7. 18″ zildjian oriental china trash
8. nissan skyline

Endth.

Of caek.

This is a photograph of indulgence and sin. It is called Starfucks Oreo Cheesecake. It owns because it is damn sinful. But since I can’t grow fat, who gives a rat’s ass! At the same time, Charlotte bought herself a Moccha Frappachino and added a lot of extra chocolate powder. Bliss is this my friend, bliss is this. The deadly combination of oreo cheesecaek and moccha frappachino with lots of chocolate powder. I can feel my blood turning sugary and sweet already!

Ok, onto a more serious topic now. Jammed with the band today at Alvron studios, and I must say that I’m very impressed with the band, especially Charlotte and Yu Hui. Charlotte, for re-picking up her piano where she left off (at grade 8 no less) and doing a great job indeed. Props to Yu Hui for improving so much from the start and showing really grit and determination. You go girl, and we’ll improve as a band. Experience and impromtu playing comes from well, experience, and the only way you’ll get it is to jam more regularly, and with different people, doing different genres of music. I’ll be waiting for you to jio me to trade 4s okay?

Updated The Band page, added link for photos. Will blog about top 10 things that irk me after I finish my 3rd cup of coffee. Yummy coffee.

Wideawake – Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrrow

I heard the news today. It came out of nowhere.
I wish I could run away, but where would I go?
Is this my destiny? Something so unfair…
What will become of me? God only knows.

And they say the road to heaven might lead us back through hell.
Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, we will win this fight and bury this sorrow.
We’re so alive, still holding on, not ready to die, so we livestrong.

My pride is left for dead, as my world gets shaken.
The thoughts inside my head are so hard to control.
I am staring down the unknown, but one thing is certain.
You could break my body, but you will never break my soul.

And they say the road to heaven might leads us back through hell,
but we’re holding on for more than stories to tell.
Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, we will win this fight and bury this sorrow.
We’re so alive, still holding on, not ready to die, so we livestrong.

Singapore Idle-no-more

The crowd went wild – screaming, jeering, some even crying. Emotions ran high among the audience, and there was more than one dry eye amongst them.

Well I’m sorry, dry eyes may have been a rather rare sight over at Caldecott Hill, but over here in heartlandy Choa Chu Kang, dry eyes were the norm.

It’s finally a singing contest now, and not just stage presence and popularity leading the way. I watched the “fan club” on TV shed tears of sorrow and sadness as Paul was voted off SI, and I wondered to myself, “What the FUCK made the n00bs so blind (deaf?) that they can’t even tell that he CANNOT SING, even if his NUTS depended on it. Urgh.

Well, I’m glad he’s out. It’s a sign, me thinks, with Joakim going out the week before, and Paul going out today. It’s a sign that the general population in Singapore has gone for their annual medical, and in the process have discovered the hearing defect that all seem to have. ENT departments at the various hospitals in Singapore have to be commended for their quick and promt action in handling, and successfully overcoming this aural problem. Kudos to you fellows hur hur.

Oh I just have to add the following:
The reason why Five For Fighting – Superman was such a popular song that DOMINATED the airwaves for a period of time is due to the fact that the lead vocalist’s voice is fucking MIXED to the maxed, and he can switch from his uber voice to his uber fasletto. By downtuning the song and singing it in 100% uber un-l33t voice, the song was completely FUCKED.

Ugh.

Unleash the cam whore within

Since I’m kinda bored, I’ll unleash the camwhore within and post photos!

Me and Charlotte	Me and Peh after mambo
Peh, rhythm guitars and vocals	asdf

Drunk drivers and b.n.j’s

We threw up a lot of wierd names for the band yesterday, and here’s a few just to show you how wierd they are. incognito, reconnaissance, drunk drivers. Haha. Any suggestions? If you think you have a queer name for our band, leave it in the comments and I’ll give you a lot of love.

Me and Ivan’s timing are almost impeccable, and I feel that both of our playing styles are in sync. Peh’s singing has improved tremendously too. Princess Xiao Hiao’s doing well on the bass too, but she needs bigger hands. I think she should try to water her hands more and expose it to more sunlight. The Ben and Jerry’s gig’s most probably a wrap. At the rate we’re going, we should be ready to move onto originals and rearranged covers.

My 13″ Zildjian new beat hihats are coming in next saturday, whereas my 14″ Paiste soundformulas have been sold off for SGD$270. New hats, new sound. Photos will be posted when I get the hats.