Shelves: Interview

Shelves is the new band fronted by ex-Silverspy and ex-Suchness front man Noel Yeo. I’ve always been a huge fan of Noel’s songwriting and so, naturally, I’m excited about Shelves .

The rest of the band is made up of Robin Chua (ex-drummer of Livonia – another favourite band of mine from the 1990s), ex-Suchness guitarist Melvin Ho and Leeson bassist, Brian Koh.

Suchness and Livonia are featured on the must-have “+65 Indie Underground” three-CD box set. Together with TypeWriter and Interlude - another new band that is fronted by ex-Livonia singer Joseph Tan - Shelves will be performing at the +65 Indie Underground gig at the Esplanade on 5 February as well as at Noise Pop! Vol. 2 at Home club on 30 January.

Here’s our short interview with Noel (done by Patrick).

How different is this band compared to your previous outfits Silverspy andSuchness?
Silverspy was really a two-man band: It was mainly just Jay and I with a drum machine. We had friends play the more complicated guitar parts. We experimented a lot, although we never thought ourselves to be experimental. It was incredibly satisfying; when itʼs just two people with the same vision, things get done incredibly fast. Thatʼs why we released three EPs. Suchness came about when I wanted to try a more traditional four-piece band format. Easier to rock out. So I guess you could say itʼs probably quite similar to Shelves.

What happened to Suchness? Why and when did it dissolve?
Suchness stopped happening when I left for studies overseas. This was about 1997.

How do you think your songwriting has evolved since the days of Silverspy and Suchness?
Itʼs hard to look at your own work, and be aware enough to comment. I am not conscious of any different approach to songwriting. I do know I have grown, so I guess so have my songs. It may have lost some of its pretensions, which is okay, or even encouraged when you are younger. Man. I am terrible at this.

Why the name "Shelves"?
I wanted a name to mean nothing, like Pulp or Pavement. I liked how it was the audience that placed a meaning to those names. Before the band, Pavement meant nothing; it was just a word. We listen to the music, and thought, ah, so this is Pavement. Before, it had no colour or baggage. A complete blank canvas. Shelves seemed appropriate.

What were you doing after Suchness broke up and before the formation of
Shelves? Did you give up playing music?
I continued to write music while studying in Oregon. I actually put a band together during my first semester but the guitarist left and took my drummer along with him. I largely recorded by myself after that. The songs are all online (web.mac.com/yeo/music). Occasionally I would play bass for a reggae band; we did some house parties. This surprised even myself; reggae was never really my genre. When I returned to Singapore in 2000, I pretty much stopped music completely. End of an era, I thought. This was of course silly. Now Iʼm playing music again, and Iʼm happy, and I havenʼt been this happy in a while. I am very fortunate to meet Brian and reconnect with Mel and Robin.

Any new Singaporean bands that have grabbed your attention?
Havenʼt been following much local music until recently. But I remember Tiramisu being this most exciting band when I saw them 4-5 years ago. B-Quartet, because I am in awe of their sound, a class apart from everyone elseʼs. And Leeson, which I am surprised isnʼt any bigger; think they are the finest indie band around today. That said, wait for Shelves.

Gig: Noisy Pop! Vol. 2
Date: Saturday, 30 January 2010
Time: 5pm - 11pm
Venue: Home club
Line-up: Midnight Marvel, The Karl Maka, Quasimodo, Cheating Sons, Moods, Shelves, TypeWriter, The Pinholes
Admission: $15 includes a drink

Gig: +65 Indie Underground
Date: Friday, 5 Feb 2010
Time: 7:30pm Interlude, 8:45pm Shelves, 10pm TypeWriter
Venue: Esplanade Outdoor Theatre
Admission: Free

Three for +65

Above: Interlude

In this photo: Alfe Kim, Joseph Tan, Kenny Wong, Alan Bok

GIG DETAILS

Come relive a part of Singapore’s local music history at the official +65 Indie Underground concert at the waterfront with TypeWriter, and also introducing two new bands with musicians featured on the best-selling CD compilation of Singapore indie music from 80’s to the present: Interlude (Livonia/Liquid Stardust) and Shelves (Suchness/Livonia/Leeson).

Date: Friday, 5 February 2010
Time:
7.30 - 8:15pm: Interlude
8.45 - 9.30pm: Shelves
10:00 - 10.45pm: TypeWriter

Free admission.

Learn to write songs of love and special things + Songs that make the young girls cry

Introduction to Songwriting

Many of us have been touched by or spoken to by a song or two. Memorable verses of certain ballads recall moments where we fell in (or out) of love. The repetitive lyrics matching the thumping base of a club anthem gets our blood energized and ready to dance. Discover how this magic of songwriting happens and get some knowhow to begin creating and writing your very own songs! No musical or singing ability is necessary. This workshop will cover some technical aspects of songwriting and may also inspire you to expand your listening choices and find out more about the talented but often overlooked songwriters responsible for crafting popular songs by your favourite singers.

Biography

Kevin Mathews is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, perhaps best known for his local number one hit, My One & Only with Watchmen in 1993.

In addition, Mathews is an accomplished film score writer and has written music for all of acclaimed Singapore director Eric Khoo’s feature films for example, Mee Pok Man, 12 Storeys, Be With Me and My Magic. Mathews has also contributed music to other Singaporean films like Stories About Love, One Leg Kicking, The Carrot Cake Conversations and Invisible Children as well as TV series such as Drive and Seventh Month.

Date: Saturday, 6 February 2010
Time: 2:00pm
Duration: Approx 120 mins
Venue: Esplanade Rehearsal Studio
Ticket Price (exclude booking fee): S$15 (at SISTIC)

Wanna write the songs that make the whole world sing?

"Songwriter Showcase @ CHILLAX NUSS*MTL" on Friday, January 29 at 6:30pm.

Come for an evening of raw and sincere performances and renditions of original songs.

And be treated to by our top local composers:
Jack and Rai
Kevin Mathews

Where: CHILLAX Alumni Terrace NUSS KentRidge GuildHouse

Heavy duty

Reconstrux Bookings presents - NO TURNING BACK Liv! (Netherlands)

29 Feb 2010
5.45pm
Homeclub
$18 at the door (w/ standard drink)

RECONSTRUX BOOKINGS presents -

NO TURNING BACK (Netherlands)

with

OVERTHROWN
MOUTHFUL OF AIR
ABOLITION
TAKEOVER
RUINS & REMAINS

Watch Mouthful of Air:

Bold is Gold

Reconstrux Bookings presents - BOLD Live in Singapore!

The American hardcore punk band, Bold, will be coming to Fort Canning Hill with special guest, Bringin It Down, and supported by Singapore legendary hardcore band Stompin' Ground, Overthrown, Bloody Rejects, Mouthful Of Air, Obscure, and Comrade.

Date: Friday, 5 February 2010
Time: 4:30pm to 9:30pm
Venue: The Blackbox, Fort Canning Hill
Tickets: $28 at the door

Fundraiser for Haiti

Organised by Cafe Diplo, this gig is to raise funds in support of World Vision's earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. The concert's free but any donation amounts will be welcome and can be handed to World Vision staff at the event venue. You can also mail your cheques to World Vision.

Every dollar raised through corporate and public donors will go towards World Vision’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, which will help provide relief supplies for victims of the Haiti earthquake. Café Diplo hopes to raise SGD 50,000 or more for World Vision, and appeals to corporations and individuals to donate generously to this urgent humanitarian cause.

Donors may write cheques out to “World Vision International”, indicating “Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund” at the back, and deposit them on Jan 30 at the Main Atrium at City Square Mall. Donations in cash will also be accepted there during the concert. Alternatively, donors may mail the cheques to: Haiti Haiti Concert c/o Ms. Mandy Loh, World Vision International, 750B Chai Chee Road, #03-02, Technopark @ Chai Chee, Singapore 469002.

Please note that roads around City Square Mall are expected to be congested on 30 January because of Thaipusam celebrations that day. So come by train if you can; you would be going green and supporting a good cause at the same time. Take the North East Line to Farrer Park Station. Head to Exit I, which takes you into Basement 1 of City Square Mall.

Gig: Haiti Haiti
Date: Saturday, 30 January 2010
Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: City Square Mall (Main Atrium, Level 1)
Address: 180 Kitchener Road
Line-up: Babes Conde, Cat Ong, Robert Fernando, Rai (from Jack & Rai), Syltra Lee, Jon Chong, Inch Chua, Tiffanie Widjaja

For more details, please contact CAFÉ DIPLO's director, Jonathan How, at email: jon@cafediplo.org

9837 Miles To Texas

Our very own Singaporean singer-songwriter Inch Chua has been invited to perform at the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas on 17 March 2010. It's an expensive trip and Inch has to raise the money herself to go there with a small crew.

It is very heartwarming that her friends have bandied around to help her cause. So come on down to the acoustic gig at 15 Minutes (La Salle College of the Arts) on 5 February 2010 at 8pm and catch Caracal, Plain Sunset, B-Quartet and more 'live'. Admission is free but you are encouraged to make donations. Merchandise will also be on sale.

Gig: 9837 Miles To Texas
Date: 5 February 2010
Time: 8pm
Venue: 15 Minutes @ La Salle College of the Arts
Line-Up: Talk To The Walls, B-Quartet, A Vacant Affair, Amateur Takes Control, Caracal, Plain Sunset, Inch Chua
Admission: Free

Watch this awesome music video for Inch's song "Devotion In Reality".

Inch told walkonmusic.net, "it was basically an idea and a scene extracted from my head about how I feel about my bedroom. The director, production manager and myself then all sat down to further develop the sequence and that's pretty much what you see on the screen. The shoot was all done in one day, from 5am in the morning to around 8-9pm at night. I worked with an up and coming director, Jmin and an animation specialist, Daniel Lee. The entire production took mainly 2 days to prepare, 1 day to shoot and about half a week to edit. It was a really fun experience."

Music Video: The Observatory

Video for the song "Mind Roots" from The Observatory's 2009 album "Dark Folke".

S-Indie TV Presents Kelvin Tan

S-Indie TV present singer-songwriter Kelvin Tan. No, not the blind Mandarin pop singer but the man whose 1990s radio hit "She Sheds A Light" is featured on the "+65 Indie Underground" box set. Kelvin will be performing at Mosaic Festival at the Esplanade Concourse on 14 March 2010 with percussionist Justin Lim, ex-Tiramisu guitarist Jeremy Sharma, and Delfi Esfandi - 4 sets from 6pm till 10pm. He'll also be performing at the Esplanade outdoor theatre on 19 March 2010. Here he is with "The Blue Planet". Enjoy!

First OOOM@SAM Of 2010

OOOM@SAM (Jan 22)

Do not miss the first OOOM@SAM of the year on 22 January at the Singapore Art Museum (Glass Hall), 71 Bras Basah Road. The gig starts at 7pm till 9:30pm.

The featured band is Quiver and the guest mentor is DJ Harry Corro from radio station Power98FM. Admission: Free

Year of the Youth

Here's a buzz-filled Aging Youth update, from our friend Willy Tan (right).

Subject: Xin ni tua tan!

Xin ni tua tan*, Aging Youths!

This will be a relatively exciting year for us as we are looking at 4 new releases coming out this year.

B-Quartet will be releasing their as-yet-untitled followup to the critically acclaimed debut album 'Tomorrow is Our Permanent Address' within this quarter of the year. The album is about 70% recorded. We should be running a video interview with frontman Bani Haykal soon. From what we have been hearing, it's a very different beast from their first full-length, eschewing keyboards and electronic beats.

Inch Chua will be releasing her full-length album 'Wallflower' by early July. Building on her debut EP 'The Bedroom', this outing delves deeper into the folktronica and quirky folk tunes which have defined her current sound. And it will still be FREE! And they keep telling us the recession is over...

In Inch-related info (triple alliteration, ftw!), we are in the midst of putting together a show for her to raise funds to South by Southwest in March 2010. The full details are not out yet but the line-up is shaping into something quite exciting. More information to be released by the end of this week.

Looking at a release date in the 2nd half of 2010, art metalheads Lunarin will be putting out their sophomore release. While retaining their initial fixation with odd-time signatures, the trio is exploring more ambient textures, precussive elements and YES, other time signatures as well. And judging from the new tunes from the odd shows they have played, the new album will still be heavy.

Lastly, the portly Lard Brothers have shelved their dieting plans and gone head-on into recording their 3rd album 'Simply As Designed' with an eye for the release date on National Day 9 August yet again. Latest addition to the rotund crew, Robin Ng describes the general sonic aesthetics of the album: "It's like those Best-Of-The-Eighties compilation albums which you find in the record store's bargain bin!"
Still lovin' you,

Aging Youth

* Hokkien for 'earning big bucks in the new year'.

NOISY-POP! Vol. 2 @ Home Club

CRANK IT UP! ALL THE WAY UP! Let the WALL OF SOUND surround you, and DIVE into ALL that's Noise and Pop! WE ARE BACK and NOISIER than EVER! NOISY-POP! Vol.2 features a stellar line-up of 8 bands across genres. A Whole Night of Manic, Pure & Juicy, Noise-Making Goodness!

A-Go-Go to the Foot-Stomping, Hip-Twisting, Heart-Breaking Beat! Be fueled by the Shimmering, Hypnotic Sounds of TypeWriter, Midnight Marvel, The Karl Maka, Quasimodo, Cheating Sons, Shelves, Moods and The Pinholes! Who knows, by the end of the night you might just fall in love All Over Again with your old favourites, or grow a Brand New Crush?! Ah, the Dizzy Days of a Blossoming Relationship between fan and band.

How’s that for a Grand Way to kick start A Brand New Year of NOISY-POP?!!

Date: 30 January 2010
Time: 5pm - 11pm
Venue: Home club
Entry: $15 includes a drink

Etc this Friday: happy guests of We GANG and DJ MiLuvYouLooongTam

Photo by Thomas Tan

Taken at HAPPY NEW YEAH BABY! 30 Dec 2009

Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2010. 9pm till 2am
Venue: BluJaz, Bali Lane*, Singapore
Bands: WeGANG - Singapore's super-singalong-a-six-piece; with guests: Etc (who you may already know of)
Superstar D.J: MiLuvYouLooongTam (we know him as Roger)


The Facebook event page is here.


* off Beach Road (no sea!); near Arab St (gado-gado please!), and across from that Batman-movie-looking building near Bugis (utility belt)

Final countdown

RECONSTRUX BOOKINGS presents -
FORGIVE FINAL SHOW

Host: RECONSTRUX RECORDS
Date: Sunday, January 24, 2010
Time: 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: THE BLACKBOX THEATRE, FORT CANNING PARK

$26 at the door

with special guests -

FIRST BLOOD (USA)

ALCATRAZ (USA)

OVERTHROWN

BARE KNUCKLE



Supported by -

MACBETH
SRH
FAD MEDIA

Facebook event page here.

Black Hole sons

If your fabulous band has any live footage to share, original tunes please, do email us with a YouTube link, okay?

This week, we present The Roses:

Video footage from the recent gig The Roses played
Sympathy for the Pilgrim just before Christmas at The Black Hole ...

Apple of My Eye

Rock N Roll Stars

Zoo FM

The Sofa Sessions

The January 8-10 weekend at the Esplanade outdoor stage is called The Sofa Sessions. Check out young Singaporean acts Cove Red, The Lion Story and Nick Tan perform acoustic on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, The Posies' Ken Stringfellow and Malaysian singer-songwriter Mohd Jayzuan will hit the stage. It's free so come early for the best seats!

Friday, Jan 8
7:30pm Nick Tan
8:45pm Cove Red
10:00pm Nick Tan

Saturday, Jan 9
7:30pm The Lion Story
8:45pm Cove Red
10:00pm The Lion Story

Sunday, Jan 10
7:30pm Mohd Jayzuan & Ken Stringfellow
8:45pm Mohd Jayzuan & Ken Stringfellow

Ken Stringfellow 'Live' At The Esplanade Outdoor Theatre

Ken Stringfellow, of American power-pop band The Posies, is playing at the Esplanade outdoor stage on Sunday, January 10. Yes, the gig is free! Ken, who has sessioned for R.E.M., has also formed a new band with three Norwegian musicians from the band Briskeby, called The Disciplines. Malaysian singer-songwriter Mohd Jayzuan will be opening for Ken Stringfellow for both sets at 7:30pm and 8:45pm sharp. Each set is 45 minutes in duration.