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!