Wicked Interview!

Post by: Joel Conceicao

Article by: Rachel Ong

Radio Heatwave recently caught up with the notable cast of hit musical, Wicked! We sat down with Patrice Tipoki and Suzie Mathers who played Elphaba and Glinda respectively as they spill their wicked tales on tour and on stage.

(L-R: Rachel, Suzie Mathers, Patrice Tipoki, Joel and Kevin from the new Radio Heatwave management)

1. How long have you guys been preparing for this musical?

Patrice:We've been with the company since it started in Melbourne, Australian about three and a half years ago. The original rehearsal process about four to five weeks full-time Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm. So it's full-on rehearsal once it's up and running! We've been doing the show on and off for three years.

2. How was the audition like? And how did each of u get picked?

Patrice:We've got to come prepared with songs and come in to sing and dance. Then we got picked and chosen by the American creatives from the Broadway production of Wicked and so they were the ones who directed us. It was quite intense.

Suzie: It was full-on. If they want to see you again, you get a call back. I actually got seven call-backs before I managed to get a spot in the show. But even so, three years on having the role of Glinda, for the Singapore production, I still have to go through the same process of audition by sending videos to the States and showing my singing, acting, dancing ability. It's a tough process but once you get there it's totally worth it.

3. How do you guys work on your chemistry together on stage?

Suzie: Well, I mean, the girls, Elphaba and Glinda had a real great friendship. Our dressing rooms were just next to each other. We spent a lot of time together, the girl who was playing Elphaba now, Jemma Rix, and myself who'll be taking the Asian Tour, we were actually in the dressing room originally in Melbourne and we've been friends for year so it's great!

4. Are there any routines you guys engage in before you perform?

Patrice:It's different for both of us. For my character, Elphaba, she has great skin, and so I had to spent an hour to paint myself green, whereas for the rest of the cast, they get to do things together.

Suzie:We have warm-ups physically and vocally before and after the show, and half an hour to get made up and wigs on. I supposed, I make sure that I have a minute to sit down and have some me time before going on stage.

5. What do you want your fans or audience to take back?

Suzie:For the show itself, it's a spectacle, it's amazing with costumes and the lighting, it's a great night out! But I supposed, what the audience kinda takes away from the show is that friendshsip kinda transcends all. These two girls... This girl who's green and this girl who's popular, blonde and bubbly... They are the most unlikely friends but through out the show, they go out on a huge journey and their friendship blossoms, and it kinda shows that two people from two completely different backgrounds can have a wonderful friendship together.

6. Are there any memorable moments during your journey in the musical? 

Suzie: Plenty! One of my fondest memories in one short day was the tricycle. One of the members in the ensemble in the Melbourne season has to ride the tricycle on stage and one of the wheels one night got caught in a piece of the floorings and he toppled over! The tricycle was completely flat on the floor and his costume was intertwined throughout the wheels so he couldn't get out and so we were all killing ourselves laughing! We couldn't help beause the show must go on. He was trying to get off the stage and he was dragging the tricycle by his costumes and ran into the set, and our musical director at that time was Kellie Dickerson is very good at keeping a straight face when something happens but she completely lost it. Once we saw her losing it that's it, we were all gone, and so we all try to sing and laugh and keep it together all at the same time.

Patrice:One of the first times, I went on as Elphaba, she has a huge second-act dress, it has about 40 layers of material in it all hand stitched and I was singing one of the big numbers in the second act then I went to turn and walk stage right and there I stepped on the dress and disappeared out of the spotlight for a second but jumped back on stage! It's very embarrassing to ever fall on stage in front of everyone.

I had a similar thing that happened in Adelaide because I was the understudy for the Australian Tour, my costume was slightly too long for me so I turned around and tripped out and went flying into the wings but thankfully kept my balance! It was enough for the entire audience to gasp out loud!

8. Are there any differences performing in Singapore and Australia?

Patrice: We love the humidity in Singapore because for singers, it's really great as the moisture in the air really helps us.

Suzie:Wicked Worldwide prides itself that the show you see in Broadway will be the same as the show that you'll see in Singapore. We are directed by the Broadway directors and music directors, and we have directors all over the world to come help us. So the show itself is the same quality, we have the same intense rehearsals process that they have in Broadway and West End.

9. How has participating in Wicked changed your lives personally?

Patrice: For both of us, these roles are dreams roles for women, it's something that when you first hear the show, you hope that one day before you die you'd be able to sing these songs on stage or act these shows on stage. For both of us being able to do these sets at our age at this point of our career is just a dream come true.

Suzie: For both of us, these roles are dreams roles for women, it's something that when you first hear the show, you hope that one day before you die you'd be able to sing these songs on stage or act these shows on stage. For both of us being able to do these sets at our age at this point of our career is just a dream come true.

10. Green make-up is really hard to come off, how do you remove it every night?

Patrice: We are very lucky to be sponsored by M.A.C, it's a wonderful product, it's so easy to wear even though it doesn't look that way. Just because it's green, it does have a tendency to stay and is harder to remove every single trace of it. I'm a victim of that, knowing that when I walk out of the theatre and still have a bit of it stuck on my face.

11. Does your skin react after nightly perfromances upon the harsh glare of the light? Does it affect your skin or does M.A.C gives you their higher range of skin care solution?

Patrice: I think your skin adjusts, you know you're in the air-conditioned theatre, you sweat and you keep touching up but your skin will adapt to it.

Suzie:And I think you find what make-up works for you. The hardest thing about being on tour with the Australian Tour especially, is that Australia is so huge, everytime you move to another city, you are in a different kind of climate, a different kind of humidity, and that takes a toll of your skin than the show make-up does.

12. A lot of Singaporeans travel and they are very exposed at the same time. A lot of them have not seen Wicked, so I think it's a very good place and time to reintroduce Wicked. I want to know if it's better to read the novel first or watch the show first to get a better understanding?

Suzie: I actually think it's more beneficial to watch Wicked before reading the book although the book is fantastic. Wicked is based on a book, it's not a reincarnation of a book. By reading the book, you get to understand the set designs and the costumes, but really for the story, it's not a pre-requisite, you don't need to read the book to know.

Patrice: The moral of the story is also to not judge a book by its cover. For this instance, do not judge the Wicked Witch of the West.

14. Where do u personally come from this? How does this whole concept of judging a book by its cover resonate with you?

Suzie: I have to say that I live my life with that in mind. I'm not the kind of person who judges people by its cover. This show instilled that more in me and in us. I'm positive and am just living a good life, and trying to give a great message to people who tend to put their judgement too quickly

Patrice:Definitely, in a similar way, I think it's hard when people don't really understand where you're coming from. Like Elphaba, despite her good intentions, things just go wrong and she's misunderstood. Yeah, we all have that experience of trying our best especially in this industry. We have to audition and prove ourselves for our job, we are put into a lot of pressure in that way so we are always trying to make our mark in that way and hopefully be judged by our works.

Suzie: Unfortunately, we are working in a business where we are judged by the way we look, as much as we'd like to live by that philosophy. For specific roles, I'm sitting here playning a blonde and I have blonde hair. That's not a coincidence, that's just how we're casted.

SURFING WITH THE DRUMS!

Post by: Rachel Ong

Surfing the night can't get any better especially when you're chilling with three pop cuties under the starry-lighted stage at St. James Power Station! The New York hipster trio psyched us up with their early appearance and began the show by playing their thrilling new track, What You Were
.
The stirring display of their knock-out show satiated my pre-Vesak day holiday spirit, even after a long day at work, my mood was instantly lifted up! The indie pop band spent a good 40 minutes just prancing around the scene as vocalist, Jonathan Pierce, tuned us into their trippy light tracks from their successful studio album like Book of Stories, Best Friend, and Forever and Ever Amen.





I was a little sore for being out of touch within the mosh area but I decided to make the best out of it with the complimentary drinks and sync my mind and body by bopping to the bubbly and surreal sounds by the nearest bar stand.

One with Ling fron Klix Photography and Fran from TheUrbanWire!

Just when they were ending their short and sweet performance, The Drums was determined to charm the audience one last time with their encore performance of Skippin Town, Down By The Water (the crowd's favourite lullaby) , and The Future!

They could have ended it with a nice supper with me actually...

Photos courtesy of Chugg Entertainment Asia, Ryan Chang and Aloysius Lim!

ITS THRILLER NIGHT

Post by: Pearlyn 

After years of successful shows across the UK and Europe, the Grand Theatre at Marina Bay Sands is proud to be the first venue in Asia to welcome.. Thriller Live! And lucky us, we had a front-row view of this spectacular presentation.

A tribute to the undisputed King of Pop,



the show features the popular songs that have made Michael Jackson one of the world’s most prominent pop icons today. Featuring tunes from his 40-year career, we were blown away by the breath-taking performances of songs that include Can You Feel It, Smooth Criminal, Dirty Diana, Beat It, Billie Jean, and many many more!





The extremely talented cast definitely did not let the legendary Jackson down. It was certainly a world-class production with their electrifying dance steps and jaw-dropping vocals. The show opened up with songs by the Jackson 5 and gradually took us through the rest of Michael Jackson’s music career. By the end of the show, the entire theatre was up on their feet grooving to our favourite Jackson melodies!

Whether you’re a fan of Michael Jackson’s sensational moonwalk, or his amazing songs, we know for sure that Thriller Live will not disappoint you!

Here are a few pictures of the event!






and I'll end off with a huge fan of Michael Jackson kicking me a pose!


Pictures courtesy of Base Entertainment and Klix Photography

THE SCRIPT BRINGS IT ON

Post by:  Stephanie Koh

The Fort Canning Stage had the honour of hosting The Script's first performance here in Singapore yesterday. The muddy ground from the rain did nothing to dampen the moods of the over 3000 screaming fans. Before the concert started, I had the pleasure of having chat with Glen, the drummer of The Script.

What made you guys decide to put Singapore on the list of your your

we were very much in touch with our online activity and we saw that our singapore fans asked us to come here. Then our management came to us and asked if we wanted to go and we were like "Absolutely". So this is our first time here playing a full show. we are very excited to see what the reactions will be like.

What was your main inspiration for Science and Faith?

I guess that would be the Yin and Yang of Relationships. The push and pull. The struggle between male and female - male and male, female and female. the whole album is kinda based around that. and its put under the umbrella of science and faith. It's about the individuality that exists between two people in a relationship and how they try to adjust to each others' strengths and weaknesses.

After performing on so many stages, do You guys still get nervous on stage?

Yes! Before we go on, I always get a bit nervous. But when you're out there, not so much. And also, it depends on what you're doing and who's in the audience. You can sometimes build it up in your head and psych yourself out. That's what happened when we supported U2. But yeah, we'd definitely get a little nervous but we still need to do a good show. If you don't get nervous, you don't really care, but you need to. We're always eager to entertain and put on a great show for the fans and stuff. But you kinda learn how to stretch and jump around and kinda just use that energy for until you get out there. After one song, you're okay. It's always the first song that's usually the danger zone. It takes one song, and you kinda just settle back down into performance mode, then it all comes naturally.

Is there anyway you guys curb this nervousness before you go on stage?

Usually what we do, we've got this thing called "cheekair". we basically have a little shot of vodka and we jog on the spot, stretch a little bit. I get my drumsticks and a pad and warm up a little bit. Usually when I'm walking up on the stage, I'm not the nervous. It's only when the lights so down and you hear everybody screaming, you get like an adrenaline shock then your belly just goes "PEWWW!" and it goes all around you. you get adrenalized really quickly. So i just walk out and go for it. Once you get through the first song, then everything just settles down and it feels like you're just in a room with the guys again, except there's all these people with you.

When was the first time you heard your song on the radio?

It's gotta be "We Cry" in a little small van. We were on our way to a festival and it came on on the radio over in England. We told the driver to "PULL OVER!" Because we couldn't hear it properly and we said "STOP THE VAN!". we all sat and turned it on and listened to it. it was the first time hearing it through speakers in a car. It's an amazing feeling to hear yourself being played on radio and know that everybody's listening to it and that's you playing there.

Is there anything in this concert that will be different from the others?

We're gonna drive it a little bit harder and push it a little bit more to give a good performance. We want people going away from the gig tonight as "wow, I've never seen a band like this, every song was bang on, they sang amazing, they were talking to the audience, looking at people". "You want people to walk away and have it in here" *points to heart* not in here *points to head* but right in the heart. I'm hoping it will go like that tonight.

What do you miss most when you're on tour?

Family. and friends, and after that will be home food, My mother's cooking. But first thing is family, so thank god for the internet and things like that, we use that to call home. Tricky with the time difference, I have to stay up late here and I'll be tired the next day 'cause I'd be ringing up my family and friends back home. Main thing is family, but when you go on stage, that takes all that away. Once you go on, and you're in front of everybody that wants to see what you do, all of it goes away.

Do you have any advice for young budding Musicians?

You need to know and have a dream in your head. You need to have a goal of where you wanna go. even if you're not sure how to get there, you need to know you wanna be like this person or a band you see doing it already. You need to have a picture if your mind of where you really want to go to. Otherwise, you're like a guy with a golden arrow in a forest with a blindfold on, trying to hit your trees, you can't see them. And that's what a guy without a goal is like. They're just shooting arrows, and waiting for it to hit something. You gotta take the Blindfold off, see the tree, and go "I want that", and then climb over everything to get there. And if someone says no to you, just go and ask somebody else, wait till you get a yes, just keep going, and always practice and practice and just try and get better. Never take it for granted.

Do you guys get sick of playing your song over and over again?

"NO! NEVER! And that's the funny thing. I've played in bands before this band, playing cover songs for years and years and I used to go "Oh not this song again", and be bored. But not with us, each night is a different challenge, and you go out there and it's you against you. That's what it is, 'cause when you wrote that, no one else can play for you. You have to do that, and if you make a mistake, everyone is gonna look at you because you make a mistake. It's like walking a tightrope when you perform in front of so many people. And it's really a whole other scale outside your ability as a musician to learn how to deal with the pressure of all of these faces looking at you. And to be able to perform. I love it, we all love it and we feel most at home on stage. It's the easiest part of what we do.

Of Course, At the end of it all, we managed to grab a picture.

Hours later, The Script blew the audience away with 'Nothing', 'If You Ever Come Back' and 'For The First Time', from their latest album 'Science and Faith'. And not forgetting to bring back the nostalgic sounds from their first album, with songs like 'We Cry','Breakeven' and 'The Man Who Can't be Moved'.

The concert was a success as the fans left Fort Canning with smiles on their faces and bags of merchandise in their arms. I'll be sure to catch their concert when they come to Singapore again.

JIMMY ATE MY WORLD!

Post by: Rachel Ong

Guess who had the crowd of 2500 wild, zealous fans dizzy dancing on the grounds of The Coliseum at Hard Rock Cafe Hotel?

JIMMY EAT WORLD!!!

What better way to stoke us up with Bleed American, Praise Chorus, and My Best Theory! Everyone aired out their sweaty palms and sprinkled their neighbours with beads of perspiration from their heads for a rocking good time within the outdoorsy set. It was amusing when lead vocalist, Jim Atkins pointed out about the sweltering heat since their arrival in Singapore during a breather.

"Check out Jim's sick skills with the guitar!"

"Us having a wondrous time at the front crowd!"


"Fans littered their voices as they sang along to
saccharine songs like 23 and Hear You Me."

The night went on full blast as hits like Work and Blister took hold of insane fans who were shouting the lyrics out loud so ever emotionally. It seemed that everything would be all right all right, so... I gradually and gladly conformed with the public flock and ate away at their lyrics screaming, "Can we take a ride? Get out of this place while we still have time!" Jimmy Eat World is right before my eyes and I was certain to give away my timid nature and disregard my rampant vocals as just a bathroom affair.

Like how a good band rolls, Jimmy Eat World definitely didn't leave us to whine before them. They gave us one last blow-me-away with an encore - Invented, The Middle, and Sweetness. Incredible.

NTERVIEW WITH JIMMY EAT WORLD (Zack & Rick)

Post by: Syazwani

Jimmy Eat World charms us with their sweetness as they tell us all about how they kept themselves rollin' for good ol' 17 years!

So, what's your first impression of Singapore?

Zack: I think we have been really impressed. We have never been here. It's really good to check it out. We had a really great time. It seems like, cool because it seems like an interception of a lot of different Asian cultures. It's sort of like in the US.

Has there ever been moments when you guys are falling apart, has there ever been any big fights or disagreements, since the band has been together for 17 years?

Zack: We get along very well. We have never had big fights or disagreement. We've had the same line up for the past 17 years and we get along really well. If we have disagreement it's usually on pretty small stuffs.

Rick: And it's always just, we all have the same, like, you know we all want the same things like when we're writing songs we all want the songs to be the best that they can be so if we have a disagreement it's only because we are really passionate about making you know about what we do.

Is it hard not to be cynical when it comes to the music industry since most of don’t really buy records anymore, and what do you feel about it?

Zack: We're not cynical about it. For us we just want to keep making good music. It's not necessarily dependant on big label giving us money to record. We can even record by ourselves very cheaply. We can't make you like our music. But I hope you do.

Paramore listed Jimmy Eat World as their influence. So what do you think about them?

Zack: We did a tour with them few years ago. They're really a good band. We feel like they're really talented and they're really good live.

What would you do to keep your energy up for your 1 whole year of touring?

Zack: I think it's just uh, we like to take a little bit time off from touring so we go on tour and we differ for 3 weeks and we come back and we take a break. But for us it's very exciting to travel.

Rick: It's like every night is different. We want to give the best for our fans. And tonight we're so excited we don't know what to expect we've never performed here so we're excited..

So were you guys ever under pressure to be as successful as in the America?

Zack: No we are not. Whatever pressure we have are all the pressures that come from ourselves you know to make the record that would be proud of. Every record is different. We try not worry about the outside influence while making a record.

Rick: It's kind of the control. We can’t control people by making them liking our music but hopefully you all do! All we want to do is make ourselves happy with our music and move on from there.

ALL SET TO BLOW US AWAY

Post by: Rachel Ong

The extraordinary Brooklyn-based duo, French Horn Rebellion dominated Velvet Underground @ Zouk with their geeky-kooky disposition and their "too cool" sounds last Thursday.

Once again, we have a local musician to start the show. Local musicians always seemed to hype up the crowd and in the most innocent sense, I only meant a darn good start.

Who else but The Analog Girl, the classic case of an electro-pop escapist who flew us to the sounds of the galaxy. From New York to Paris, to our home ground, Zouk. We were definitely a star-struck bunch to have gotten to catch her gazing through her keyboards that seemed like she was sowing forbidden fruits of music keys in disguise.

Then, rebel rebel! Coming through from the back doors and slithering through the smoky and dark crowd, Robert and David Perlick-Molinari took hold of the stage like their very own cosmic arena. The dance party starts!

Although, I didn't dare to step up the podium since I'm unlikely a hardcore party animal, I had a ball with the brothers who went down to the floor occasionally raising a new high to the night.

NTERVIEW WITH FRENCH HORN REBELLION

Post By: Rachel Ong

You'll probably be amused if French Horn Rebellion's music were to be partly influenced by Disney. The Brooklyn brothers from French Horn Rebellion spill the juice about handling pressure and being fancifully free with what they love making - music.

1. Do you guys prefer staying in the indie scene or you would prefer to move towards a more commercialized market like MGMT?

David: French Horn Rebellion stuff is really fun to do. It's a passion project for us, something we do and don't make a lot of money with it. In Brooklyn, I have my own business and have invested into the project in the hopes that we could do something really unique to ourselves and share a bit of the excitement we have for living and exploring the world etc. I think we're going to be forced to find ways to make money from it in order to keep it going since there are so many expenses to keep things running. I have a few ideas (most of them have to do with Robert selling his keyboard solos for quick cash -- I mean I could do without them anyway:) ) The future is very elusive, so you never really know what's going to happen.

Robert: Well, I think MGMT did exactly what we've been doing (making music that is special to them, not knowing what the world will think) and everybody just loved it. So, I think we'll just be doing the same thing we've been doing, and hopefully people will like it. So far, things have been going pretty well, considering we are completely independent.

2. Your new EP that was recently out, This Moment, swells. So what's concept behind it?

Robert: This Moment is about having fun and also finding out about the importance of each moment as they pass by. The B-side, 'Last Summer,' is about reflection and nostalgia and wondering whether or not what you did in those past moments were the right thing.

David: I think the EP encourages us to continue to move forward and change. Sometimes, there is so much sticky nostalgia though I do love remembering my childhood and the newness of everything at that time. It's not that I think fond memories are bad, it's just that too much of looking back I think has paralyzed me in the past from moving on to new things... like Orpheus.

3. What was the best gig you guys had in your memory?

Robert: We've played in a lot of countries.I think the best ones in recent memory were when we played in Madrid and Barcelona. People are literally crazy there - party time doesn't happen until midnight, and we didn't perform until the peak hour, which is 3 in the morning! Needless to say, everybody was ready to get down and lose control. Dancing was an epidemic, even the best doctor couldn't have stopped it!

David: Spanish Tapas is amazing.

4. How do you keep things fresh yet original to the flavour of your music?

Robert: Every time we go into making a track, I think we always think of whether or not the music we're making is really tickling us. I think that is the way we keep the music fresh, because we're always changing, and the music is reflective of our experiences.

5. What are your biggest influences in music? Be it a person, place, moment, or music itself.

Robert: My biggest influences would have to be my horn teachers of yesteryear. I loved it when my old horn teacher would play any of the Mahler Symphonies-- no. 1 was always my favorite.

David: I love the way Disney Imagineers create such incredible environments with their projects... engaging on some many levels physically and emotionally... and all of it you're able to share with other people while you're doing it.

6. Where do you see yourself after five years?

David: Working on all kinds of new projects. I've always wanted to collaborate with people in other fields of study to create something really amazing that I can't even imagine what it is right now.

Robert: I think we'll always be making music, but hopefully in 5 years, we can start to write some film scores, or work on art installations. I've always wanted to go back to school for contemporary composition!

7. What are you working on for this year? Any pressure?

Robert: We just completed our debut album, and are now out and about touring the world trying to let people know about it. There is some pressure to do good shows, especially in the places where we have record labels. Overall, though I think music is about trying to escape the pressure and not let it get to you.

8. What's the most important thing in your bag when you're on tour?

Robert: My French horn, of course!