Urban Ignite Feb Exclusive : THE UPRISING 2012

This month at Urban Ignite, we recommend to you a gig, of a must go. Over the past few months we've been giving you the exlcusives of band interviews.. but this time we've got something more to share with you guys. The Urban Ignite team took their time off and met the bands of an upcoming gig.. and after getting to know them, we sure think you're gonna have a rocking good time. Read more to find out. See you guys around! - Emma, Director 
 
Written By : Irah Rashid
The Uprising 2012 is here and the bands are going to blow you away! The bands from (JA) are set to rock their stuff out for the most happening gig in Republic Polytechnic. There will be a twist to this year’s Uprising as junior bands from Jammerz Arena get their chance to rock it out for the first time.

Junior band of Jammerz Arena, THE-T during filming

Members of The Finz, The-T and Emma and The Jets (Uh huh, Emma from our Urban Ignite!) are excited as ever to be performing for the public. Yes, you will hear the sounds of these bands first from this gig!





 The guys from these junior bands will be sharing the same stage with guest bands like Natalie’s Plight , Bear Culture, Skullmania, Diversed Attentions and many more.

We guarantee that you're going to have a rocking good time ;)

Urban Ignite is more than pleased to have the chance to work and rubbed shoulders with the junior bands that are going to pop in Uprising 2012. These guys are impressive and Urban Ignite is proud to present them to you first!

Urban Ignite girls took the entire day to film the bands at the JA room

So is the Urban Ignite team going to see you there?! You know you have to be there!

The Uprising 2012

Saturday, Feb 25th 

Lab Level 2, The Republic Cultural Centre
6pm

 Keep track of our updates of the gig at @UrbanIgnite :)

P.S.: We'll be giving you a backstage inside news during the gig, so watch out for our next post! 
 

Urban Ignite presents: The rise of "Above The Depth"

Above The Depth is a five-man band that claims ‘they are what they play’.. which is plain hard core. The Urban Ignite team had a good time with these boys who were not shy to share of their own quirks. Check out this interview to find out how Above The Depth plays poker and the weirdest-looking body part that one of them has and more!

How and when did you guys get together as a band? Did you guys have intention to form a band and make music?

Don: It all started when I met Joshua in school. We were classmates so we wanted to make music together, but we were still not too sure what kind of genre we wanted to do. After a few months we decided to get others, so Suraj came in as the drummer at first and there were the three of us. Actually it’s a long story but here we are now.

When was the first time you guys started writing songs and making music?

Midyear of 2010.

Does any of the songs by Above the Depth tell any story about the band?

Joshua: I think the songs are about what we feel inside us instead of the band itself. It’s more about life itself and what happens at that point of time.

How would you guys describe your music?

Joshua: I would label it as aggressive angry music, because I can’t sing.

Suraj: If I had to put a genre on it I think it would have to be metal core towards hardcore. Not soft music, it’s very angry. No Justin Bieber!

So do you guys look at your music as a way of venting your frustrations on or?

All: Sort of yeah.

Joshua: Whenever we play, I always try to portray my feelings to our performance, it’s like, we’re playing our feelings out.

What can we expect from ATD for 2012?

Wei Hao (aka Bom): We’d be working with NOISE Singapore, it’s an arts and music event and we just want to showcase collaborations like tango and Natalie’s Plight (local band) and then we are doing ours with skaters.

Joshua: We also might get a chance to tour Australia in Feb-March, but it’s not confirmed yet. But we hope to do it. If that comes true we’d be going to Australia for a week to perform.

Advice you’d give to bands starting out?

Don’t give up! As a band we also had alot of setbacks but it’s not as we took it to heart and made it a problem but we took it for the better. We would always sit down and talk after jamming to talk about it.

Joshua:  Just don’t give up, put in as much hard work and you gotta sacrifice alot of time and effort if you want any success at all.


You need to be thick-skinned and luck. Most importantly it’s commitment. How you have to sacrifice time for the band.

Opinion on local music.

It can’t be compared to other countries out there but for a small place like Singapore it’s picking up pretty fast, alot of bands are performing and not just being confined in the jamming studio.

People are getting exposure and the local scene could be better definitely but everyone is just trying to our best.  If we all can work together we can make this happen.

Most interesting experience on stage.

Suraj: We opened for Alesana in Singapore at SCAPE warehouse . It was a very surreal feeling to know that we got it. But the thing about it was that we only had one week to prepare and we haven’t been jamming for awhile. That one week almost everyday jam jam jam, practice. And on that day we were all sick with fever and everything but on stage it was amazing.

Joshua: It was amazing, we played to like 500 people.

Is there anyone who inspires the band that you guys would want to collaborate with?

Joshua: There are alot of people who inspire us and alot of them come from the local scene itself like Wicked Productions. Our friends from Ruins and Remains, Avalanche, Monsters in Living Flesh. We’re all just trying to do our best.

 We’re collaborating with Melvin Ong from Ruins and Remains.

Share quirky things about each other.

Joshua: There was once me and Suraj played texas poker and we ran out of money, so we used slaps and had like mega slaps. One time I slapped him so hard he cried.

Suraj: Trust me, it was so hard the prints were there. Every time I put water on my face it was stinging.

Joshua: Yarh my handprint was on his face.

Suraj: Yarh we do a lot of stupid things.

Suraj : Sometimes when Joshua talks, he will have this weird accent. Because he lived in Hawaii for awhile when he was really small, so I don’t know how the accent stuck to him.

Joshua: Don has really big teeth and no gum. It’s not normal. Whenever he smiles or laughs he just gets us.

 Suraj: He also knows scientific names for birds.

Bom : He choose Bird Park over Australia tour.

Joshua: And he has dumbo ears, like satellite ears. And his ear has no cartilage; it’s fucking weird to touch!

Joshua to Sham: He is quiet and disgusting at times. He is not as unhygienic as now la but last time, he used to be pretty unhygenic, like last time he would dig his nose and eat it in front of us. And he is like really into it la last time. And he has ALOT of expired beer at home.

Suraj to Bom: He’s a fat kid, HAHA! Actually he is basically an animal lah.

What do you guys do outside of ATD?

Suraj : I work at a chocolate bar.

Don: I work at the Bird Park for internship.

Bom: I work at USS (Universal Studios Singapore) as a VIP tour guide. 

Joshua: I work at USS!

Sham: I play Skyrim all night.

Suraj: We all work la basically, but other than that most of the times we’re getting drunk, hanging out, playing games, chilling.

Joshua: We’re just normal teenagers.

Perform with anyone out there, who would it be?

All: Parkway drive and Vans Warped Tour. the Big

Ignite with us in 2012!

Before you change your set of calendars at home, the Urban Ignite team would like to give you a heads up on what you can expect from Urban Ignite in 2012!

2012 is looking to be an exciting year as the team has many uprising local acts up their sleeves to feature! There is nothing more the team fancies than to be able to introduce to you local acts and bands that are bubbling under. We hope 2012 will open more doors for us to feature incredible local talent that has yet to be fully recognised.

On top of that, what a better way to start a new year, with a revamped Urban Ignite logo that is ought to be rocking this space, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages.

The Urban Ignite team would also like to humbly thank every single one of you music lovers, as well as the acts that we have got in touch with this year. We appreciate you for your support thus far and we hope you would continue to embark on yet another journey with us in 2012!

We know you deserve nothing but fresh, good local loving! Stay tuned, and have a happy 2012 ahead!
From all of us here at Urban Ignite.

Urban Ignite Meets Butterscotch'd Ink

In our weekly feature, this time we want you to get to know more about the guys from Butterscotch'd Ink. Find out how the 5 guys came about together and all their moments as a band. Read on to find out. Photo courtesy of Butterscotch'd Ink.

How did you guys get together as a band?

Daryll: Me and Melvin met each other in church first and wanted to form a band. We found Darius in church and included him. Ryan was Darius' friend and he joined the band as well switching between bass/guitar with me before settling on their final chosen instruments. 


After almost 2 year with old singer under the name Sunset Boulevard, we parted ways with him and after a period of unactivity, we recruited singer Azio and resumed the band under the name Butterscotch'd Ink.

Challenges when you first started out the band?

We were young when we started out, so everywhere we went, we were being labelled as “small boys”, we always felt like we were getting sympathy. 


Another thing is that we have different influences, but now we’re tighter and going into one direction together.

What kind of genre would you define your band to be?

Very difficult question! We started out very classic glam rock, after we found Ryan we found more of “new school” stuff. 


We kinda decided to modernise ourselves abit after discovering “Alterbridge”. So maybe we’re considered “Hard Rock” now.

What do you guys do besides playing together as a band?

WHOAAAA! We hang out alot and go to each other’s houses to play Fifa, jam, watch movies. We don’t just see ourselves as a band but also as a brotherhood. We really spend time together.

But sometimes we have conflicts,  and a big issue of being late and yelling at each other, but we don’t take it too hard and learn to let it go.

Why the name “Butterscotch’d Ink”?

We were drunk, HAHA!

We had an old name called “Sunset Boulevard”, but every other band had “Boulevard” in it and it wasn’t very special anymore. 


One day we were at Odeon Towers McDonalds for 2 to 3 hours just figuring out a band name. We had so many names like “Cherry” or something but we decided on this name.

Opinions on the local music scene?

I think all of us have varied opinions.

Ryan: Being in Republic Poly, we have gigs like Ignite Music Festival and Reflections Arts Festival. I feel like we could see more exposure. We need to get the word out about other guys otherwise it’d always be the same old people.

It seems like your aspirations all come from big rockband names like “Led Zepplin” and “Avenged Sevenfold”, any reasons why?

We kinda grew up with them while some, we grew into them. And back then being a young band, we really learn from the other bands and their lifestyle. Over time we learnt to respect them...

Bassist of Butterscotch'd Ink - Daryll David 

You have an original song called “Take Your Life”, what made you want to write this song?

Daryll:  I was doing a project in my school and  I was thinking whether to use my band or a band outside, so I thought why not use my own band.

Ryan : It was kinda weird because I had to write a song based on something that was already written, which was suicide. It was basically about a girl being suicidal over problems in her life  and I’m telling her to not take her life and all that.

Guitarist and back up vocals, Melvin Cyril

Tell us about your experience playing for “Xpectations live @ Scape” .

This was our first real gig here in Scape and also where we said you know what, we’re never going to get crowds from there itself so we had to bring our own army. So all of us had one month building up to the gig, We took 40 tickets to sell and ransacked facebook inviting everybody to come down.

We sold all the tickets in the end! It was a huge crowd and Azio managed to crowd surf during the last song! That was how big the crowd was that we managed to throw him off the stage.

It was great, we did a cover of Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel” where we sat down on the stage and everybody cheered and sang along, it was good.

So where was your first gig then?

Ryan :  It was at Assumption English secondary school (Where Ryan and Daryll studied at). My dad got us the gig. It was at a carnival. We got our previous singer two days before that. Our singer couldn’t sing for one thing and he pasted the lyrics on the floor!


And the words were too small he couldn’t see it on the floor. I was hiding behind Melvin and Daryll was facing the bass amp and the volume was down. His back was facing the crowd.


It was really really bad man. But we came a long way from that.

Plans for the upcoming year?

Right now, we’re waiting for Baybeats this Friday. Basically just get out there in terms of performing to bigger crowds and trying to make more contacts and record more songs. Right now we have alot of ideas for the next song but it’s moving kinda slow so we want to take it up a notch.

Who is the most outgoing in the band?

All: Melvin. He gets into alot of trouble and fun, he has alot of stories to tell.

Melvin: I was born to do stupid stuff. I’m always getting caught for it. That’s just me I always get caught for doing stupid stuff.

Darius : We were going to record “Take Your Life”. Ryan, I and Azio came from school so we all said meet at Bishan at 5. But we got there early at 4.30. But Melvin woke up at 4.45 when we were there at 4.30, but he reached earlier than us cos he knew the place when we were lost. But we still love him la.
One crazy moment with the band?

All: There is really too many!

Ryan : This story is about Daryll . Last year, we went out to have a few drinks and then after that went to Daryll's house. His house was like our crash pad la, when we know we can’t walk we go to Daryll's  house. 


We were all knocked out and suddenly I felt like I needed to go and puke cos I felt really bad. I was walking to the kitchen and almost made it to the toilet then I fell down on the floor and started to puke there then he pushed me into the toilet and I puked there. 


After about half an hour I came out and then I saw him like, his shirt was off and he was mopping the floor and I was looking at him and asked “What’s that smell” and he said “I’m making you pancakes, Melvin wants one also” and he was just mopping like it’s normal to him and he has had a grudge against me ever since.

Melvin: Right before we came to this Scape gig right, I actually made Daryll eat dog food!



Daryll: It wasn’t even dog food, it was like some shit food!

Darius: It was before the Scape gig, we were just chilling in my room and I have this tray full of chocolates with potato chips and everything and I had one bottle of dog food for my dog, so Melvin was like, “Since Daryll is taking so to bathe, let’s punish him. 


I’m going to give him dog food okay but I’d say it’s chocolate, you all don’t say anything.” So Daryll came in and Melvin said "Daryll try the chocolate it’s damn nice”

Melvin: No I didn’t say it chocolate because Ryan was eating the chocolate so I said it was fish cracker or something.

Darius: Yah then Daryll was very suspicious and said “Don’t want, you eat la you eat la!” then Melvin said “No you have to try it, it’s damn nice” So Daryll took it, put it in his mouth and chewed on the dog food.

Melvin: He was going to swallow it you know, then I started laughing and he just spit it out.

Joker of the band?

Melvin and Azio. These two are kinda gay la.

Melvin: Until today Azio doesn’t know where West Mall is. He only knows Jurong Point and Causeway Point sudah.

Who is the biggest eater of the band?

We all eat alot you know hahaha!

If you got a chance to perform with anyone and anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Daryll: Alterbridge

Azio : Guns n Roses

Melvin : I wouldn’t mind Lady gaga, I wanna see how she writes her songs.

Darius: Avenged Sevenfold. 


I think for us, the list would be uncountable, there would be alot of bands that we want to play with.

Ryan: We just want a good time la, anyone that can promise us a good time.

Merry Xmas from The Urban Ignite Team

Presenting: Natalie's Plight

After a 3 year hiatus, Natalie's Plight (comprising of Ashlee Tan (Vocals), Chris Cheah (Drums), Mark Spencer (Guitars) and Sharime (Bass)) are coming back with the launch of their EP, “What You See Is What You Get”. Having a strong  belief in showcasing honest  music to their fans, it’s certain that what you listen to is good authentic tunes from the heart. Here at Urban Ignite, we met up with these carefree spirits to find out more about them and what can be anticipated from their record.

NATALIE’S PLIGHT INTERVIEW

Share with us how Natalie’s Plight came together?

We started off as only Ashlee, Chris and Mark since they had FYP (Final Year Project) as Republic Polytechnic students studying a diploma in Sonic Arts, basically decided to put up a show with songs we wrote. We came together out of a need to get a grade actually. 

Why the name Natalie’s Plight?

During FYP we wrote a script, and from it we wrote songs for it. Main character was called Natalie. When we came to form a band, why not use the character’s name since we were so into the project for FYP.

Natalie’s Plight have earned a top project award in your cohort, as mentioned in your Facebook, perhaps you want to tell us more how that happened?

Natalie was basically a character of the project that represented all our experiences we each had. There were different chapters that were real experiences like family members passing away that kind of stuff. We were very fortunate in a sense that when the team came together we had alot of individuals that came together and everything fitted like a jigsaw puzzle, with people who could write songs and some who could do administration. It was just the right people right place right time.

Natalie’s Plight as stated, is indie rock, how would you define your genre?

We don’t like to put ourselves in a certain genre but I’d like to say we’re honest people producing honest music.

When the band went on hiatus on what inspired you guys to make a comeback?

What's interesting is that the date of the EP launch is actually 3 years and 1 day after our final year project was being put up. And also one of our members would be leaving for overseas studies, so it was kinda like if we're not gonna do it now, then when are gonna do it? It was pretty much a if not now then when kinda thing.

What are your professions apart from playing as a band together?

Chris: I sell char kway teow, Sharime sells roti prata, Mark sells fish and chips and Ashlee sells..

Ashlee: I sell apples.

Chris: No actually both Sharime and I are theatre technicians for Universal Studios, while Mark is the lead technician for RP’s TRCC (The Republic Cultural Centre).

And as for Ashlee, we weren't kidding about Ashlee. She sells apples. Like she really works for Apple.

 

What is your opinion on the local music scene?

Alot of good talent in Singapore, just a matter of exposure from people. Singapore is only so big, so I think its really about getting exposure and all that.

With the jobs that you are juggling with, what is so appealing about local music scene that called for Natalie’s Plight comeback?

It’s not about being in the scene again, its really something like we have this bunch of songs and it’d be really be a waste if we don’t record it into a CD. That was what really inspired us to do this EP.

We always talked about wanting to record it or do something as a band again. Now that most of us are more settled in our jobs, or at least out of national service, then we decided to make it happen.

What was the process in producing the EP?

We chose 3 songs (out of 9), we chose the ones that kind of go together for the EP. We met up once to learn the songs and jam. The process wasn’t anything fancy but just straight up pop and rock music with guitars and drums. It probably took 2 months from top to toe.

What can we anticipate from the EP launch happening this Friday, Dec 16^th?

Fireworks, pyrotechniques. HAHA! No just kidding J

What is the idea behind, “real people; honest music, from us to you”?

Obviously we needed to do a writeup for the band. We really believe in what we said and one of us just penned it down and we followed through eversince. Our songs are very personal, not based on some fairytale. These things really happened to us and probably the driving force on why we wanted to do this EP. The whole tagline is probably how we really feel about the music.

What do you aim Natalie’s Plight to be in the next upcoming years?

We have hopes. We want to try to get in Baybeats, you know just trying since its a good platform for local music. We’ve been so focused on the EP that we haven’t really thought about it but we would like to have the opportunity to just play music.

Who’s the most “kiasu” member?

I don’t think any of us is really that kiasu! In terms of food, Sharime probably!

Who’s the most outgoing member?

Ashlee. She’s the vocalist what, she needs to be outgoing!

One crazy moment of the band?

There was once we tried Chris’ drums and his drum sticks looks like a xmas tree. It doesn't matter if drums were in tune or not and what sticks he had, but he had to have the lights all over the drumset. 

Chris: Hey but it was fun, it was in tune, and I had my sticks.

Ashlee: And it was nice!

Who’s the joker of the band?

It really depends on what sense.

If it’s the dirty sense then probably Mark! Every joke that comes out of his mouth is dirty but its funny and entertaining.

If you’re talking about personality maybe then Sharime! He’s part of most of the jokes.

Within the local scene, do you guys have any favourite bands?

The old caracal, Bear Culture, Vertical Rush.

If you guys had the opportunity to share the stage with anyone in the world who would it be?

Mark: Dream Theatre. John Petrucci is my hero!

Ashlee: Paramore! I mean their energy is just amazing and for a band to achieve something like that its just different and amazing.

Sharime: The Fray. If we would ever to play alongside them it would be awesome.

Chris: Incubus. They’re one of my favourite bands.

If you could perform on any stage, where would it be and why?

O2 arena. As long as there’s a crowd, haha!

NATALIE'S PLIGHT EP Launch will be happening this Friday, Dec 16th, 7.30pm at The Republic Cultural Centre Studio.

Inside Scoop: Bear Culture

To jazz up the plain jane-looking Republic Cultural Centre, we shifted benches and a few potted plants in a corner to make our interviewees, the members of Bear Culture, comfortable. It was a pity lead vocalist, Thahirah and drummer, Niki were not around. But the Urban Ignite team was still able to have a fulfilling interview session with the rest of Bear Culture: Jayme, Shahrin and Khair.

How did you guys get together as a band a year ago?

We got to know each other through an IG (Interest Group), Jammerz Arena. Initially we had Winston, our original bassist, but we parted ways due to different interests, from there we recruited Khair from the band Paradox to come and join us.

What makes you guys different?

We just play what we like and what we think sounds good. It’s up to the audience to judge us about being different. We don’t want to seem big headed by saying we have a unique aspect.

How did you come up with the name “Bear Culture”?

It was a joke towards our friend who was really hairy, like goddamn hairy. We named the band after him for fun and it kinda stuck.

First gig experience?

In school music lab, the performance was along with our IG, Jammerz Arena, called “Sound Riot”. We covered songs like “Detriot Rock City” by Kiss and closed the set with “Burn” by Deep Purple.

Most memorable performance?

Baybeats, definitely.

How was baybeats then?
Surreal. The audience were clapping with us when we were playing. Before us there was a set that was not playing to much people but when we got on stage it all changed, like whoa!

How has baybeats helped to improve you as a band?

Taught us to value jamming time alot. It is very hard to sync each other’s schedule due to internships. Somtimes we don’t even go home from work. One thing we learnt was not to waste any time and to cherish jam sessions.

How did they, as a band, decide on a genre for yourself?

We don’t know what we are actually. We just play what we write. Jayme writes most of the songs while Thahirah writes most of the lyrics.

Why did you decide to showcase local music for your show, Quintessential ll ? How did you come about to paying homage to local music? (Quintessential II - (below) is a Jammerz Arena showcase during Republic Polytechnic's annual arts festival, Reflections. The show was produced by Sharin and directed by Jayme.)

Decision by Jayme who directed the show. As a team we wanted to show that local music was as good as international music. We wanted to show that there really is talent in Singapore and all we have to do it support it. Encouragement can mean alot to these bands.

Tough times the band had to face?

We went into the studio recently and some of the songs were not ready, we also were not mentally prepared. We used 40% for recording and 60% wasted our time. We spent most of the time fixing our mistakes and not doing a proper job. What we can learn? Do your homework.

Perception of local music now?

It’s really up and coming right now.

Musical inspirations?

Nikki is really looks up the Mars Volta’s drummer. We all have different inspirations, not just from Mars Volta. We try to collaborate everything together.

We heard you guys are releasing an EP. When is it due?

We were supposed to release at the end of this year. But we decided not to as the songs on the EP would be repeated with the album that we intend to release. So stay tuned to next year!

Any pre performance rituals?

We used to stand in a circle, link hands and pray to the Rock God, but we actually played worse. We stopped doing it and we played better! Sometimes before we go on stage we just plan an impromptu “thing” to do. Like a fun thing to do. Sometimes Nikki would ask us to punch him really hard.

What do you guys do apart from performing?

Have dinner, we eat alot. Nikki eats the most. We went to marche once and spent $250!

Who is the strictest in the band? Why?

Jayme. He is the driving force of the band and make sure everyone is there.

If you could perform ANYWHERE, where would it be? Why?

London’s O2 Arena. We always made jokes that we’d be there in 2015.

If you could perform with ANYONE, who? Why?

Trivium. We’re all really big fans of them, really!