1
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I was watching Germany and I don't even remember who.

2
00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:06,880
And in between there's a music interlude, they call it.

3
00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:08,160
A music interlude.

4
00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:10,160
There's two boogie woogie guys.

5
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Early rock and roll.

6
00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,360
You know, and then, because I learned classical,

7
00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:16,560
so I watched, watched and said,

8
00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:17,600
where's the sheet?

9
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Where's, you know, Singaporeans like.

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Where's the paper?

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I'll come for paper.

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You know, they were just expressing themselves.

13
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I said, what the hell is this?

14
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All right, everybody, you know, let me just tell you something.

15
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This episode, right?

16
00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:34,080
This episode, let me tell you.

17
00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,280
This man, my guest in the studio,

18
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told me that he's going to be coming with that cap of his,

19
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which I completely disagree.

20
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I'm glad he didn't, but I've got mine on, as you can see.

21
00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:49,040
You can see this one here.

22
00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:53,200
This is the actual red of the Premier League.

23
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Some clubs, some clubs just like to go, you know,

24
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well, these gold rates, come on, go crazy.

25
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Fuck that.

26
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You're not red.

27
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It's more like chilly.

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This is red.

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And I am glad that he didn't come looking like a scouser today.

30
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Oh my goodness gracious me, because if he did,

31
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this gentleman, let me tell you,

32
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before we pan the camera to him, if he did,

33
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I would have said so many things.

34
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No, man, if you did, I would have said,

35
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I would have said, dude, why did the chicken cross the road?

36
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I mean, because thank goodness it didn't,

37
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because in the end, then we can say this very safely.

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The chicken that crossed the road, I am brand.

39
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I am brand.

40
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But no, thankfully he didn't come with that cap on his head.

41
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Though I know his allegiance is towards that club

42
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,240
that I will not expand anymore.

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But at least he came and he crossed the road looking like Danny Long

44
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and the Chief Cajons of the Timber Group.

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Welcome to the studio, man.

46
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Thank you, sir.

47
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Thank you.

48
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You know, I mean, I've been a lifelong Liverpool fan.

49
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Oh, man, bad word.

50
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What I will say is, you know, I'm on that side,

51
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the respect good football.

52
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:29,360
So, you know, obviously, arch enemy and everything,

53
00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,080
but also respect, also respect.

54
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Okay, okay, I'll give you that.

55
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I'll give you that.

56
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I'll give you that much.

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I've always said that.

58
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I've always said that.

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No, no, no, no, let me get it straight, man.

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Let me get it straight.

61
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I've always said that there's got to be

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some decent respect for each other.

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Of course.

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Right?

65
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:47,920
It just so happens that I don't get much of that

66
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from a lot of scousers, though.

67
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:52,480
Well, thank you for saying it.

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I got to say, so I'm going to ask you this question

69
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before we go into, you know, deep and dirty

70
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into the stuff I really want to ask you.

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But I just want to ask you this.

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My sister on this topic, right?

73
00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:06,720
Do you think you guys, your club, will win the EPL this year?

74
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I know, looking at the last three to four years,

75
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I don't think anyone should predict,

76
00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,720
but I'm very hopeful.

77
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Club has announced.

78
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Perhaps that has given a little bit more,

79
00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:25,520
you know, that energy that's required to continue.

80
00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,120
No, no, I'm happy with how the club's going.

81
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I mean, you know, even without Salah and major guys,

82
00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:34,240
you know, they're doing well.

83
00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:37,520
But I'm going to stop at that because, you know,

84
00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:38,720
that becomes a different show.

85
00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:40,560
No, it's cool, man.

86
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It's a podcast.

87
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,240
I mean, I'm in a Manchester United fan,

88
00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:47,200
home of a Manchester United fan.

89
00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:48,240
I don't know what to expect.

90
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Welcome to the mini theater of dreams, man.

91
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Come on.

92
00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:52,080
Def Traps, yeah.

93
00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,760
So, welcome to the mini old Trafford here, man.

94
00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:56,400
Come on, man.

95
00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:58,960
But yeah, I don't know, but I'm hopeful.

96
00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:00,880
I'm trying to make a trip down,

97
00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:04,560
probably for the Liverpool Spurs gate.

98
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Good. Be careful we made that trip down, you know,

99
00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:07,360
because you know, it's a plane going,

100
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,160
comes down to landing and it's that part of the country,

101
00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,600
you know, and all the chimney stacks out and all the smog

102
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and, you know, the pollution and stuff.

103
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,200
Then hopefully the pilot can see the runway

104
00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:18,560
when it comes down.

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00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:19,920
You're talking about Manchester, right?

106
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:25,040
No, I'm talking about the first industrial town in England.

107
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The last I remember, I landed in Manchester

108
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and it was a bit smoky.

109
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It's a short train ride to Liverpool.

110
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Ah, you mistake the wonderful fog that comes in

111
00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,840
at certain times of the season in Manchester, you know,

112
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the lovely, lovely view from the ground.

113
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You mean the blue side?

114
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From the ground.

115
00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:48,640
Oh, you mean the shitty.

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If there's going to be any reason why,

117
00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:55,840
if there's going to be any reason why

118
00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:58,640
the cup goes to Anfield,

119
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it's simply because shitty has been kicked out

120
00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:02,240
of the freaking league.

121
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We'll see.

122
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We'll see, but what an exciting end, I think, you know.

123
00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:08,560
You mean what, club leaving?

124
00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:10,000
No, I mean club leaving.

125
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I wasn't surprised by the way.

126
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Everybody seems surprised, but I'm not surprised.

127
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He looks tired.

128
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He looks tired.

129
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And, you know, I think I remembered

130
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there was one time when he was celebrating a goal

131
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and then he kind of like sort of pulled his half his hamstring.

132
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I don't even remember.

133
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I don't know if you watched the game.

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Of course I won't be watching it.

135
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But anyway, I just, and he was like, you know,

136
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he was celebrating and I just felt like,

137
00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:35,520
oh wow, this guy is, you know, he's so dedicated.

138
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No one can say he's not dedicated.

139
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He's dedicated to the game.

140
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And then, you know, I think his family and health,

141
00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:43,520
what's more important is health.

142
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I'm quite sure we can both agree.

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I tell you, so many scouts are saying the same thing

144
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you're saying.

145
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:50,240
Okay, okay, okay.

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00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,640
I'm going to end this conversation by just saying this.

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I'm going to have to find a word in this one.

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00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:55,680
I don't care, man.

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00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,160
I will just tell you, man, tired?

150
00:05:58,160 --> 00:05:59,120
How many years?

151
00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:00,080
Nine years?

152
00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:01,040
Four trophies?

153
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,600
Hang on. Alex Ferguson, man.

154
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:04,880
Sir Alex Ferguson, man.

155
00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:06,960
26 years and 38 trophies.

156
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:08,160
Tired?

157
00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,360
Come on, dude, he's too old to be a snowflake.

158
00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,640
I gotta tell you, of course Ferguson did amazing,

159
00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,520
but it is a different time though.

160
00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,160
I mean, but nevertheless, we have to respect you.

161
00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:23,200
It's a different time, you're right.

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00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:25,920
It's a very different league.

163
00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:27,440
You know, this is a great segue.

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00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:28,240
Let me tell you why.

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Because if you say it's a different time, right,

166
00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:31,520
you're right.

167
00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,680
Even the players back then, way back when,

168
00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,040
even for your club, way back when they weren't snowflakes.

169
00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:40,400
But today, for most clubs,

170
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most of these players are a bunch of snowflakes.

171
00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:42,800
It's money, man.

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00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:43,680
It's all about the money.

173
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:44,160
Exactly.

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00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:45,600
So it's ridiculous, right?

175
00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:46,240
Yeah.

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00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,360
How many years have you been with Timber?

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00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,560
Can I call your organization Timber?

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00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:53,120
Just Timber?

179
00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:53,680
Is that fine?

180
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:54,320
Timber Group.

181
00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:55,680
Okay, I don't want to disrespect it.

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00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:56,320
No, no, no.

183
00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:58,720
Well, we started in 2005.

184
00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:02,480
So from 2005, we founded, you know,

185
00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,600
me and my partner founded the brand,

186
00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:07,600
and we started at Substation Garden.

187
00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:08,240
Oh yeah, yeah.

188
00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:09,440
You remember that, I'm sure.

189
00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:10,480
Timber and Substation,

190
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,280
and that's how it rolled, history.

191
00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:14,640
So it's been what?

192
00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:16,880
2005.

193
00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:18,960
So it's been 18 years.

194
00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:25,200
So you see, you've been at it with Timber for 18 years, man.

195
00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:26,400
You're no snowflake.

196
00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:27,360
See what I'm saying?

197
00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:28,400
See what I'm saying?

198
00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,600
And for every outlet you open, right?

199
00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:32,800
It's like a trophy.

200
00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:33,280
Yeah.

201
00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:33,600
Correct?

202
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:34,640
Nah, but you know,

203
00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:36,560
Klopp Klopp is a bit of a,

204
00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,560
you know, he always says heavy metal,

205
00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:39,920
you know, football.

206
00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:41,920
No, I think he's just reached his time

207
00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,560
and he's probably thinking he can't probably go on.

208
00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,200
Whatever reason, maybe something we don't know.

209
00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:48,160
We have to wait and see.

210
00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:49,040
It could be a health thing.

211
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:49,280
I don't know.

212
00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,160
It could be Javier Alonso making way for Javier Alonso to come back.

213
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:53,120
Maybe, maybe.

214
00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,200
And perish of salt, you know, Mr. Banana Peel.

215
00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:56,160
Who knows, you know.

216
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:57,440
There's a lot of candidates.

217
00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:58,480
I don't want to make any comments.

218
00:07:58,480 --> 00:07:59,280
Mr. Banana Peel.

219
00:07:59,280 --> 00:07:59,780
Yeah.

220
00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,080
By the way, by the way, I was there at that match, by the way.

221
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:07,440
I don't want to bring that up, but I just did.

222
00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:08,960
So I'm just going to say it.

223
00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:10,080
And it was my honeymoon.

224
00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,480
Yeah, Chris, I'm so happy that you're laughing at me,

225
00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,240
but I can't believe it.

226
00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,160
And it was like, what the, you know.

227
00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:19,360
Oh my gosh.

228
00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:20,160
He's a scouser.

229
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:24,160
But you know, hey, that guy is another guy who I respect.

230
00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:28,960
But you know, I mean, 18 years doing what you've been doing.

231
00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:29,440
Yeah.

232
00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:29,680
Right.

233
00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,040
And so funny that you've brought up substation as well.

234
00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:35,200
Let me give you a little bit of unknown.

235
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,720
It is definitely unknown because no one knows about this,

236
00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,120
if it's the exception of one or two other persons.

237
00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:47,840
When substation had an outlet, it was called Fat Frog.

238
00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:49,040
Mmm, that's before us.

239
00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,120
Did you take over Fat Frog?

240
00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:51,520
No, no.

241
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,240
The history was how it goes, Fat Frog was there.

242
00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:56,960
They had to tear down the National Library.

243
00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:57,200
Yeah.

244
00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:58,080
You remember that, right?

245
00:08:58,080 --> 00:08:58,480
Yeah, I do.

246
00:08:58,480 --> 00:08:59,920
They had to tear down S11.

247
00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:01,440
Yeah, S11, I love it.

248
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,120
Building up SMU.

249
00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:03,680
Yeah.

250
00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:03,920
Right?

251
00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:04,240
Yeah.

252
00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,560
So during that time, it was just impossible, I think,

253
00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:07,600
to have anyone, right?

254
00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,000
So they had to close it off for two to three years.

255
00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:10,640
Right.

256
00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:12,480
And during that time, there was nobody.

257
00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:13,600
There was nobody at the garden.

258
00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:17,120
It was so hard because it was all very dusty and, you know,

259
00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,760
and the place was a little bit like, you know, a war zone.

260
00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:20,720
Mm-hmm.

261
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:21,840
We came in after that.

262
00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,080
So 2005, we started.

263
00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:28,240
So 2003, 2004, I don't think anyone was there.

264
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:29,120
They were doing events.

265
00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:29,840
Right, right.

266
00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,000
But they were not having any FMV.

267
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:33,360
You know why I brought this up?

268
00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:34,080
Right.

269
00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,200
Do you know musician Bonnie, Bonnie Faisalisusa?

270
00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:37,680
Of course.

271
00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:38,180
Okay.

272
00:09:38,180 --> 00:09:39,120
Jazz band.

273
00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:40,160
Bonnie and I were friends.

274
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,440
I used to, you know, for a short while,

275
00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:45,680
Bonnie used to have, you know, private gigs outside.

276
00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:51,600
And I used to sing jazz and rock and roll with his group of guys.

277
00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:57,200
And he told me, Chris, you know, we got to go to the Fat Frog.

278
00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:58,160
I said, why?

279
00:09:58,160 --> 00:09:59,440
Take a look at the venue, man.

280
00:09:59,440 --> 00:09:59,940
Wow.

281
00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:01,360
So, okay, we did.

282
00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:02,800
What do you think?

283
00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:03,840
We start a place here.

284
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:06,000
We take over.

285
00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:07,920
It didn't happen.

286
00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:08,560
Of course not.

287
00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:09,280
Yeah.

288
00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:09,780
Almost.

289
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,080
And then when you guys started Timber,

290
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,640
and we go, I went, fuck.

291
00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:20,400
Shucks.

292
00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:20,900
Damn.

293
00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:23,600
Look at what they've become.

294
00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:24,100
Shucks.

295
00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,080
Well, it was a challenging venue though.

296
00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,280
I mean, we were blessed.

297
00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:32,160
I mean, we were very lucky.

298
00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:34,800
Good media coverage.

299
00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:37,600
You know, there's something about that place,

300
00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,240
but it's not high traffic.

301
00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:41,440
Yeah, but it's very artsy.

302
00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:43,840
I mean, I loved it because it's such an artsy little,

303
00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,400
for some strange reason, you feel it there, don't you?

304
00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:48,800
Yeah, it's a bit, you know, kind of like the underdog,

305
00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:49,920
a bit of the underground.

306
00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:50,960
Yeah, yeah, a bit underground.

307
00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:51,760
So, we got that.

308
00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,520
But it's not easy because it's a destination venue, right?

309
00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:57,360
You wouldn't go there working, right?

310
00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:58,720
Hey, what's the music?

311
00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:00,240
You would just go there because you know

312
00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:01,680
there's something happening there.

313
00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:04,800
But the thing about Danny Leung is that Danny Leung

314
00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,040
is the quintessential musician.

315
00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:09,040
We're here to pay tribute to you.

316
00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:10,400
And tribute to you because,

317
00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:13,200
not just because you're a muso for some time,

318
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,400
but more so because you advocate music and musos.

319
00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:16,880
Oh.

320
00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:18,640
Okay, so thank you for that.

321
00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,160
It's my own little way of giving tribute,

322
00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:26,080
or my tribute to SG music icons.

323
00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:27,200
I've been doing this for a while.

324
00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:28,720
I've had Gingerbread here.

325
00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,440
I've had, you know, in the form of Anne Hussein

326
00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:33,600
and the husband Jason Shahoo, the band leader.

327
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,200
I've had Leonard Rizel,

328
00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:36,880
and together with Dudley Notice, right?

329
00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:39,120
Thanks for doing what you do.

330
00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:40,560
I'm telling you.

331
00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:42,800
And I'm going to continue doing this in my own little way,

332
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,880
because musos mean a lot to me.

333
00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:45,920
Not just musos, man.

334
00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:47,520
Anyone who advocates music.

335
00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,320
Radio DJs worth their metal.

336
00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:52,800
I have to make that quite clear.

337
00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:57,600
Because they are also a contributory to good music,

338
00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,200
you know, on the airwaves, right?

339
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:00,000
And I've had a few.

340
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,040
I had Willem Zeyer here,

341
00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,360
and Joe Augustin, who was formerly a radio presenter, right?

342
00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:06,240
I had these guys here,

343
00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,160
and John Klaus will be coming soon as well.

344
00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:10,480
So this is my tribute show to guys like you.

345
00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:17,680
But Danny Leung, before becoming the hit honcho,

346
00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:22,880
I call you the chief cajones for Timber Group,

347
00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:25,520
you were a full-time musician.

348
00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:32,960
Now, I knew that you played gigs even before you had a band.

349
00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:34,640
Piano on your own?

350
00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:35,760
No, no.

351
00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:36,800
On Fullerton?

352
00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:38,000
A lot about jamming.

353
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,520
No, no, no.

354
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,680
I never played Fullerton, but a lot of jamming.

355
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:43,760
The old Crazy Elephant.

356
00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:46,160
The place called Down Under.

357
00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:47,440
I don't know if you remember Down Under.

358
00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:47,920
Down Under.

359
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:48,800
Crazy Elephant, yeah.

360
00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:51,120
Orchard Meridian.

361
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:52,240
I think it was Orchard Meridian.

362
00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,720
And a few clubs here and there.

363
00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:55,600
I mean, we support.

364
00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,440
Then, you know, Harry's Bar.

365
00:12:57,440 --> 00:12:57,840
Yeah.

366
00:12:57,840 --> 00:12:58,240
Jazz.

367
00:12:58,240 --> 00:12:58,880
Yeah.

368
00:12:58,880 --> 00:12:59,760
I like jazz.

369
00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,160
And I like blues, jazz, soul, funk.

370
00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,240
So all those places I used to go.

371
00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:08,640
I only became a full-time musician in Perth

372
00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:09,840
when I was studying there.

373
00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:10,160
Okay.

374
00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,240
I met my lead singer partner, Trevor.

375
00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:14,160
And that's how it started there.

376
00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:15,920
And when you were playing in Perth,

377
00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:18,720
you were there studying film.

378
00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:19,360
Yes, yes.

379
00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:20,160
Media, yeah.

380
00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:21,040
Media, right?

381
00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:22,160
In Broadway, media.

382
00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:23,920
And what's your first love, man?

383
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:24,720
Media or music?

384
00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:26,400
Wow, hard one.

385
00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:29,120
I'll say music first, always.

386
00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,360
But, you know, I love films.

387
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,840
I absolutely love, you know, at that time,

388
00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:35,920
Pulp Fiction, you know, it just came out.

389
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:36,560
Yeah.

390
00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:37,680
Of course, The Godfather.

391
00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:39,520
The series, yeah.

392
00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:40,240
Trilogy.

393
00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:40,960
Trilogy.

394
00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:42,080
Good Fellas.

395
00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:44,480
You know, I'm a big fan of those.

396
00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,240
Like Reservoir Dogs and all.

397
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:47,360
Exactly, exactly.

398
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,320
Those were the, that was the period where films were like,

399
00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:50,880
wow.

400
00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:51,440
Yeah, yeah.

401
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,200
Wow, they, they ran the, you know.

402
00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:54,080
The Scorsese.

403
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:55,600
Scorsese, Blood, Call.

404
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:57,440
But then very, very classly done.

405
00:13:57,440 --> 00:13:58,080
Yeah.

406
00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:00,800
Even, even Asian films, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.

407
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,920
You know, I was such big fans of art films.

408
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,560
And then I said, okay, since I, you know,

409
00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:09,840
music was not always a natural,

410
00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:12,080
something that people would say,

411
00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:13,360
oh, I want to be a musician.

412
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:15,120
You know, in Singapore,

413
00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:17,760
especially if you talk race,

414
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,000
you talk about the Chinese culture,

415
00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,760
music is kind of like the don't go there kind of thing.

416
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,240
You know, it's like completely, are you mad?

417
00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,240
You know, why are you doing that?

418
00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:31,680
Are you hanging out with the wrong people?

419
00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:34,240
Are you hanging out too much in the void there?

420
00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:35,040
What's going on?

421
00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,840
So, you know, my room had like,

422
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:39,680
I mean, I used to be big fans of, you know,

423
00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:40,240
Miles Davies.

424
00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:41,200
So I had Miles Davies.

425
00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:41,600
Yeah, yeah.

426
00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:43,760
My mom, you know, who's a staunch Christian,

427
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:45,120
still is.

428
00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:46,560
And the whole family is Christian,

429
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,640
but she used to come and say, what the?

430
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:52,400
All these black people on the Sun's Wall.

431
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,880
So I grew up kind of like being quite lonely.

432
00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:57,760
What was the influence?

433
00:14:57,760 --> 00:14:58,640
What was the influence?

434
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:00,160
You know, I mean, I was, it was,

435
00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:02,320
it was, it comes back to football,

436
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,640
but nothing to do with Liverpool and Man U.

437
00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:05,920
This was World Cup.

438
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:06,400
Okay.

439
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,720
And during the, in the old days,

440
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,960
they used to show this in channel five.

441
00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:14,560
And they used to show World Cup for free.

442
00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:15,040
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

443
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:15,520
Right?

444
00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:16,800
We are about the same age.

445
00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:17,520
Yeah, about the same age.

446
00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,640
So they used to show free and it was like nine o'clock in the morning.

447
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:20,960
Right.

448
00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,600
I was watching Germany and I don't even remember who.

449
00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:24,000
Right.

450
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,800
And in the, in between, there's a music interlude,

451
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:27,280
they call it.

452
00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:27,600
Yeah.

453
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:28,640
Music interlude.

454
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:29,040
Right.

455
00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,560
There's two boogie woogie guys.

456
00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:32,880
Early rock and roll.

457
00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:33,520
Right.

458
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:35,760
You know, and then, because I learned classical,

459
00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:37,040
so I watched, watched it.

460
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:38,000
Where's the sheet?

461
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:39,680
Where's, you know, Singaporeans like.

462
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:40,160
Score sheet.

463
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:41,200
Where's the paper?

464
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:42,320
I don't have no paper.

465
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:44,640
You know, they were just expressing themselves.

466
00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:46,400
I said, what the hell is this?

467
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,640
You know, all my life, I thought music has to learn skills.

468
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:50,960
Yeah.

469
00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:52,240
I have to, you know, be very disciplined.

470
00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:53,040
You were learning piano then.

471
00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:54,400
I was learning piano a little bit.

472
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,920
And it's like, dude, these two guys just doing what they do

473
00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:00,960
and they just don't even have any, you know, reference.

474
00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:01,360
Yeah.

475
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:02,800
So then I went to the record store.

476
00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,440
That's how my love for vinyl started.

477
00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:05,840
Okay.

478
00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,680
I went to the old Funan, the very old Funan.

479
00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:10,160
Oh.

480
00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,520
Where they used to have Supreme, you know, the record stores, Rock C.

481
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:14,080
Yeah.

482
00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:15,520
And I, and then I went to the guy.

483
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:16,480
I remember this.

484
00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:18,480
I was very young, 16 years old.

485
00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:20,720
I said, do you have any black people music?

486
00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,200
At that time, I didn't know any better.

487
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,480
So yeah, black people, you know, some sounds like church,

488
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:29,440
you know, I said, you know.

489
00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:30,240
Sounds like church.

490
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:30,960
Sounds like church.

491
00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,680
And then they gave, they brought out the vinyls.

492
00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:34,480
I bought a few.

493
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:34,800
Yeah.

494
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,000
And I went back to listen.

495
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:36,240
Right.

496
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,400
And then I taught myself, uh, how to play boogie-woogie piano.

497
00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:41,360
That's how it all started.

498
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:42,880
Blues piano.

499
00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:43,360
Right.

500
00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:45,680
And Ray Charles and then, you know, all those guys.

501
00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:46,240
B.B. King.

502
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:47,840
B.B. King later.

503
00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:48,160
Okay.

504
00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,320
B.B. King later, but piano first.

505
00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:50,880
Yeah.

506
00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,240
And then because I was at church and there's always a piano there.

507
00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:54,480
Right.

508
00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:57,040
And I tried to bring it in, you know, and you know, that didn't work.

509
00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:57,440
Didn't work.

510
00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:01,600
I think the pastor was saying, come on, let's have a chat.

511
00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:04,560
You know, you're not supposed to play Amazing Grace that way.

512
00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:06,080
Come on, man.

513
00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:07,280
Oh man.

514
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:08,320
I would love it, man.

515
00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:08,800
Of course.

516
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:09,680
Of course you would.

517
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:11,440
You're a rock and roll guy.

518
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:12,320
Oh man.

519
00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:13,760
So, so that's how it started.

520
00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,840
And then after that, I met a friend by the name of Beez.

521
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:19,920
He used to work at Yamaha.

522
00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:20,560
Right.

523
00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,240
And I used to go to Yamaha and you know, just hang out there, you know.

524
00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,360
I mean, I was, I was an oddball, Chris.

525
00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:28,480
You must understand.

526
00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,880
He's a Chinese guy, 16 year old, imagine this.

527
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:36,960
Listening to, you know, black people music and blues and boogie woogie.

528
00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:37,360
Yeah.

529
00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:42,160
And then Beez, this long hair metal guy, it was like, oh man, I like B.B. King too.

530
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:42,400
So he-

531
00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:43,200
Was he Chinese?

532
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:44,240
Yeah, he's Chinese.

533
00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,000
Oh, he's Chinese.

534
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:51,360
He is Chinese, but he kind of looks like he's a, you know, Chinese version of a heavy metal guitar player.

535
00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:51,680
Okay.

536
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:53,200
Trying to imagine long hair.

537
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:54,160
And his name is Beez.

538
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:54,720
Yeah.

539
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:56,560
You know, B-E-E-Z.

540
00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:02,640
I'm not going to elaborate on that part, but then he was also a great guy, a gentle fella.

541
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,560
And then I got started music lessons with him.

542
00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:10,800
And then he, one day he just put the earbuds on me, on me and the old Walkman.

543
00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:11,040
Right.

544
00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,240
I said, listen to this one.

545
00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:14,080
And then that's where I first heard Eric Clapton.

546
00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:16,400
Have you ever loved the woman?

547
00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:16,720
Okay.

548
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:18,880
Which is the Derek and Domino's band.

549
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:19,280
Okay.

550
00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:20,000
He was part of it.

551
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,520
And that was like, wow, what is this?

552
00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:27,760
You know, and then after, of course, you know, listen to Wonderful Tonight, Let It Be.

553
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:28,960
This must have been in the eighties.

554
00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:29,440
Eighties, yeah.

555
00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:29,840
I mean, I mean-

556
00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,000
86, no, 88 for you probably.

557
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:32,640
For me, yes.

558
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:32,960
Yeah.

559
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,400
I was saying the blues, but then I started listening to Beatles.

560
00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,120
I was like, and then, then, then I discovered BB King.

561
00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:39,440
Yeah.

562
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:44,560
And long and short of it, I met BB King finally, 1992, when he was in Singapore.

563
00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:45,200
Wow.

564
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:46,240
Watched him live.

565
00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:52,160
I tell you, Chris, it wasn't any enlightening and, you know, when you see the blues brothers movie.

566
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:52,480
Yep.

567
00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,200
When there's a light coming, I said, oh, I'm on a mission from God.

568
00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:55,920
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

569
00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:56,400
That was me.

570
00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:58,880
I was there watching BB King.

571
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:00,880
I was like, oh man, this is what I want to do.

572
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,840
And the light shone on me and said, wow.

573
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,600
So there were no influences at all from the home?

574
00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:08,400
No.

575
00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:10,240
You're the first, you know?

576
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:10,720
No.

577
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:11,680
You're the first guy.

578
00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:12,160
No.

579
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:13,040
Let me tell you why.

580
00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:13,680
Let me tell you why.

581
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:18,480
Okay, to be clear, my dad loved CCR.

582
00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:18,880
Okay.

583
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:19,840
Loved Deep Purple.

584
00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,400
But you know, it wasn't like he played guitar.

585
00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:24,560
So I kind of liked the music that he played.

586
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:24,960
Right.

587
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:26,640
He played Airbend, Bonnie M.

588
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:26,800
Right.

589
00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:27,520
You know, those days.

590
00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:28,080
Yeah, yeah.

591
00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:34,720
Every time Christmas, you always hear, you know, by the rivers of Bethel on everybody's beatle.

592
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:35,520
Right.

593
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:36,480
So that's all.

594
00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:36,880
Right.

595
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,400
But playing music, being in church, being Chinese.

596
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:41,600
My mom's very Chinese.

597
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:43,360
My mom's side is very Chinese.

598
00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:45,200
It's like, whoa, don't go there.

599
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:45,920
You're a band boy.

600
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:46,560
You're a band boy.

601
00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:48,080
You know that kind of thing.

602
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:49,520
So yeah, you're right.

603
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,680
It didn't come from the home in that way.

604
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:52,240
Right.

605
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:54,960
In fact, it came from the home in an antithesis way.

606
00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:55,200
Right.

607
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:56,080
Because I don't go there.

608
00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:58,960
And you know me, when you say don't go there, I go there.

609
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,040
Maybe it's hanging out with too many St. Pats boys.

610
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:05,680
Absolutely, man.

611
00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:06,800
It was a bit like, you know.

612
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:07,440
You know what we say?

613
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:08,160
You know what we say?

614
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:12,240
And I said this, I said, did we have the 90th anniversary dinner recently St. Pats?

615
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:13,280
And that was one of the MCs.

616
00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:14,000
You sang.

617
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:14,880
I sang, I sang.

618
00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:15,760
Jackman the Bandit.

619
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,880
You know, that school of mine, I'm so proud of that school.

620
00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:24,480
Easily said, so many great musos and entertainers came out of that school.

621
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:28,080
And I don't know whether I can include myself in it, but never mind.

622
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,280
The point is that also 90% of media personalities-

623
00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:32,160
Include yourself, please.

624
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:32,660
Come on.

625
00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,600
Don't forget the KC girls were not doing badly too.

626
00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:37,760
Actually, yeah, you're quite right.

627
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:38,320
Same thing.

628
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:38,640
Yeah.

629
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:39,680
A lot of talented people.

630
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:40,560
Yeah, a lot.

631
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:41,280
Loads of them.

632
00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,960
And you know, and 90% of media personalities in Singapore, you know,

633
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:47,760
recent times come out of my school.

634
00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:53,920
And funny enough, I actually said this on stage.

635
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,840
Say, listen, another version of our motto, because our motto is protest revolt.

636
00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:58,960
It's protest and revolt.

637
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:01,520
Protest and revolt.

638
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:08,080
It's not because we are rebels, you know.

639
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:09,840
It's the very fact that we grew up,

640
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,880
not being passive, who speak our minds.

641
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:13,680
You know what I mean?

642
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:15,360
I am not one to hold back.

643
00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:16,400
I don't give a flying fuck.

644
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:18,000
You know, just say it as it is.

645
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,440
Call a spade a spade, right?

646
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,760
And yeah, the musos that came out of that school.

647
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:28,880
And the funny part is, like you, your folks, because you Chinese, all right.

648
00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:29,840
I'm half Chinese.

649
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:30,880
My mom's Chinese.

650
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:33,680
My mom, dad, not musos at all.

651
00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:34,400
Now, this is my sister.

652
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:36,080
My sister writes pretty very well.

653
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,160
I think everyone knows who she is.

654
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:39,280
Everyone knows who she is.

655
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:40,880
Excuse me.

656
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:48,480
And, you know, myself included, along with all others that I've had on this show,

657
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:54,960
for this series, musos, DJs, influence came from where?

658
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:55,280
Home.

659
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:56,880
You're the first.

660
00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,840
That's telling me, not really.

661
00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:00,400
Not really.

662
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:00,880
Not really.

663
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:02,480
There's some bit of it, but not really.

664
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:02,720
Yeah.

665
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:04,800
So there's a break now, you know.

666
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,960
But it's a very lonely part.

667
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:07,680
I'm pretty sure.

668
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:08,960
And in a way, it's helped me.

669
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:10,720
You know what I mean?

670
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,680
Because I could focus, you know, without the distractions.

671
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:15,200
Seriously.

672
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:16,080
That's one way of looking at it.

673
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:16,560
It is.

674
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:20,160
Because, you know, it's almost like, how do I put it?

675
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,600
You know, every time I go for Chinese New Year dinner, I dread it.

676
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:29,120
I dread meeting relatives sometimes because they may not fully understand where I'm coming from.

677
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,480
But, you know, and then they look at my mom and feel sorry for her.

678
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:34,880
How come this one come out like that?

679
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:35,600
It sucks, huh?

680
00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,480
My daughter this, my son that, you know.

681
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:46,160
And in some ways, even at a young age, I felt like, okay, my road is going to be a little bit hard.

682
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:47,760
And challenging.

683
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:48,160
Right.

684
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:50,720
But I'm going to go for it.

685
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:51,920
I'm going to go for it.

686
00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:57,840
And I don't want to bring any football analogies into it, but the great football clubs of the world,

687
00:22:58,880 --> 00:22:59,680
they never give up.

688
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:02,640
I include other football clubs.

689
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,040
Not just, you know, they don't give up.

690
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:06,640
They don't give up, you know.

691
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:07,520
Okay.

692
00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,960
So I have always said, okay, I'm going to stick to it.

693
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,800
You know, but I couldn't really share a lot with, you know.

694
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:15,440
With the family.

695
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:16,160
No, I can't.

696
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:20,160
Even my friends, they were at that time listening to the Pet Shop Boys, you know.

697
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:20,640
Yeah.

698
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:21,120
Me too.

699
00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:24,560
I mean, you know, they were listening to all those, you know.

700
00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:25,440
Pop music, yeah.

701
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,600
Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, you know, that era, right?

702
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:30,080
OMD.

703
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:31,360
My favorite band was OMD.

704
00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:32,000
Oh.

705
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:33,600
You know, Eurasia.

706
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:34,560
Eurasia, yeah, okay.

707
00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:35,840
All those my favorite bands, you know.

708
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,160
And I used to listen to Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

709
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:39,680
Oh my, relax, man.

710
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:40,000
Relax.

711
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:40,880
Two tribes.

712
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:41,440
Two tribes.

713
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:42,800
All those good stuff.

714
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:45,520
But I always go back to the blues.

715
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:47,440
Something about it.

716
00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,960
It's something about the blues because remember I talked about B.B. King.

717
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:51,360
Yeah.

718
00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:54,400
I remembered him in his shiny jacket.

719
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:54,880
Right.

720
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:55,920
He comes out, right.

721
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,200
And everybody's like, wow, shiny.

722
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,920
And then he's a Gibson, Lucille.

723
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,800
Lucille, he calls his guitar.

724
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,520
And he's just saying, you know, I was just a young man from the fields, you know, in

725
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:11,600
Mississippi, and he was telling this story.

726
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:14,960
I was like, wow, preach to me, man.

727
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:15,680
Preach to me.

728
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:25,120
And for some reason, I think the blues kind of represents, I guess, I mean, if African

729
00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:30,880
Americans can make it with music and art in a society that...

730
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:31,600
Was repressive.

731
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:33,440
You know, it was terrible.

732
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,520
They never have a dream of being a lawyer, whatever, you know.

733
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:40,640
And then they could come up and wear a suit.

734
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,880
And then when they wear a suit, they're on stage.

735
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:45,120
They take over the stage.

736
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:47,760
That's the thing about music that I love.

737
00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:50,400
I don't care who you are, how old you are.

738
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,560
When you go on stage with that microphone, you're in charge.

739
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:57,040
How you do, I don't know.

740
00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:57,760
You're in charge.

741
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:05,600
Yeah. And that blew me away because, you know, I've loved the blues all as well, but also

742
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,000
African American church music, gospel music.

743
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:08,960
Gospel, yeah.

744
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:09,760
Absolutely.

745
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:11,120
These people went through a lot.

746
00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:11,620
Yeah.

747
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:13,840
I can't even imagine what they went through, right?

748
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:15,360
I mean, imagine Elvis.

749
00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:21,680
Elvis's influence also came mostly from black gospel music, right?

750
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,360
And the blues, Mississippi blues and Memphis blues.

751
00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:30,240
And then after that, he amalgamated everything into one little lovely ball and called it

752
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:35,520
rock and roll, you know, and he had his shit too when he was coming up, right?

753
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:38,640
I guess you're right.

754
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,320
There's something about the blues.

755
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,520
It's the backbone of a lot of popular music anyway.

756
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:44,080
It is.

757
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:45,440
Yeah. It's a backbone.

758
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,840
And anyway, how many instruments do you play?

759
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,040
I know now piano, guitar.

760
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:55,200
Yeah. I mean, guitar is my favorite because something about the guitar, you know.

761
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,960
It's like a, I don't call it a weapon.

762
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:01,120
So some people will call it a weapon.

763
00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:07,200
Like Jimi Hendrix would look at it as a way of saying, hey, anti-war, et cetera, you know,

764
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:08,240
with the guitar.

765
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,120
But for me, it's just empowerment.

766
00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:12,480
Guitar is just an empowerment.

767
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,640
And the piano to me is more of a supporting role.

768
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:16,960
Right.

769
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:17,440
I love it.

770
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,320
You know, Ray Charles is a great lead role, but a lot of it is more supporting.

771
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:28,640
I like that because I kind of play the B-3 and Rhodes style, a bit more of the old school style

772
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:29,360
with my band.

773
00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:31,840
And I'm happy to support on the back.

774
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,720
But when I play the guitar, I'm going in front.

775
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:35,200
Yeah.

776
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,120
There's something about the guitar, you know.

777
00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:38,240
It's a bit like the microphone.

778
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:40,880
You're going to be in front.

779
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:42,640
You're going to be strutting.

780
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:44,080
You're going to be bending that string, right?

781
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:44,800
Yeah.

782
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:45,680
So I love both.

783
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:46,080
I love both.

784
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:47,120
But that's about it.

785
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:51,120
I play a little bit of harmonica because, you know, you're a blues fan.

786
00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:52,880
But where did you learn all this?

787
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,600
Really, B taught me a little.

788
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:59,040
B is my first guitar and only guitar teacher.

789
00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:04,160
And I still remember going to his house and he didn't at that time, in those days,

790
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:06,080
there were like studios and all.

791
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,080
So we played literally outside his house.

792
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:11,680
Literally like a common corridor, HDB.

793
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:12,160
Yeah.

794
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:13,600
With a small M.

795
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:20,240
And basically, a lot of it is him, but most of it is really listening to BB King, Clapton,

796
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:28,240
then later on Rolling Stones, you know, Muddy Waters, all those cats, you know.

797
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:33,440
And the British blues and the American blues kind of intertwine.

798
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:35,120
But it's so strange, man.

799
00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:39,120
As you said, you know, back then, I mean, in the 80s,

800
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,120
I don't really know many people who listen to the blues.

801
00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:49,600
Even back in school, the guys you and I both know who have become really big names and

802
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:52,080
musos in the industry in Singapore.

803
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,840
These guys were playing Jazz Fusion, they were playing Shack Attack, you know,

804
00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:57,760
Cassiopeia, right?

805
00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:58,260
Wow.

806
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:02,000
And back, and Shit Korea, right?

807
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:03,200
Spyro Gyro.

808
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:04,240
Ah, Spyro Gyro.

809
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:05,120
Yeah, that's it.

810
00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:05,520
Yeah.

811
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:10,880
So, you know, and that already we found like, oh yeah, this is really going left field here.

812
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:16,800
When everyone else was listening to, we were listening to Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet,

813
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:18,800
you know, Depeche Mode, right?

814
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:19,600
Level 42.

815
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:20,320
Level 42.

816
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:22,560
What was his name now?

817
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:23,840
Mark King.

818
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:24,720
Mark King, yeah.

819
00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:31,680
And, but your influence was more than just left field.

820
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,080
It was something that people really don't go into, you know, at that age.

821
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,560
Yeah, well, I mean, something about the blues and gospel music hit me, but

822
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:45,520
when I was in Perth in 1996, that kind of started the fire.

823
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:46,000
Okay.

824
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,360
And it eventually became from my band U-Blues.

825
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:49,600
Yeah.

826
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,120
I started a band called U-Blues, it's short for Universal Blues.

827
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:53,680
Right.

828
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:58,400
But only because then in six was Pauline Hanson, close to your name.

829
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,000
Oh, I know, but not related in any way.

830
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:00,560
S-O-N.

831
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:02,400
But, uh-

832
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:03,280
No, no, same spelling.

833
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:03,840
Same spelling.

834
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:04,560
Exactly the same.

835
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:05,120
Okay, I didn't know.

836
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:11,120
But he came up, she came about and I had a bit of bad experience on the streets,

837
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:17,280
Fremantle in Northbridge and all, and the society changed a little bit in Australia.

838
00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:18,480
Yeah, got a racist.

839
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:23,520
Whatever that was underneath was coming out because, you know, a lady that looks like

840
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:27,280
your auntie is talking to him, she says it, I can see it too.

841
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:32,320
So I went through a few of those things and that really hit home for me about the music.

842
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:33,040
Right.

843
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,120
Because initially, you know, you live in Singapore, you're part of the majority race,

844
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:41,600
you know, you don't really, you know, what, you know, but then when you are in Perth and

845
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:48,080
you stand out on the street and you have people having negative views of you, you know, especially

846
00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,320
because politically it's changing.

847
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,160
That's where I started to say, really got into deep into the history of the blues.

848
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:54,400
Right.

849
00:29:54,400 --> 00:30:00,000
I, my, my honestist, my honest year thesis was about Universal Blues, about the history of,

850
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,800
of racism, slavery to Australia from the Asian migration to Australia.

851
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:06,960
Right.

852
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:08,400
So I did a paper on that.

853
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:16,000
And from that started my whole career in music because then I found that I met my lead singer,

854
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,920
Trevor, and we started a band U-Blues.

855
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:18,240
Right.

856
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,560
And eventually we came back to Singapore and we managed to tour quite a lot of the world.

857
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:22,800
Yeah.

858
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:28,720
And that really is the first driving force of eventually what Timber became because

859
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,960
Timber is actually my expression of what I hope.

860
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:34,560
Music brings people together.

861
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:38,080
There's very few things in this world really that brings people together.

862
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:38,320
Yeah.

863
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:39,600
Right.

864
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:40,880
What's your opinion now?

865
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,840
I mean, look, this is something I've always, I've always brought up and um,

866
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:54,080
the state of music today in Singapore, what is your opinion of it?

867
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,000
Um, you're right to say, sorry to just interject for the man.

868
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:07,280
I know I just asked a question, but when way back when, when we were in our 20s and into our 30s,

869
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,720
music was great here in my opinion.

870
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:11,760
Okay.

871
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:17,840
I say this to all my friends who've been on the show and I've given tribute to all of them.

872
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:19,280
Music was great.

873
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:26,080
We've got, we've had the likes of Dennis Fu, love the man, the Europa group.

874
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:26,800
Right.

875
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:27,600
And no doubt,

876
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:33,280
no doubt brought in the Filipino, the Filipino bands into Singapore, the performers, and they

877
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:33,760
were great.

878
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,120
You know, I, I, I thought it was good for us.

879
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:38,080
Why?

880
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,600
Because it's good to have competition.

881
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:42,160
Yeah.

882
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:42,480
Right.

883
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:48,240
And we have had bands that, that grew up also, you know, under that pressure,

884
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:50,880
great bands, they came along, right.

885
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:56,320
From the early 80s, late 70s even, you know, and all the way up throughout

886
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,200
when you have the class acts album that came out, right.

887
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:04,400
Heritage, Gingerbread, Gypsy, Speedway, K.

888
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:06,960
Hamid, Iskander Ismail, right.

889
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:07,520
It hang loose.

890
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:10,160
And, and the list can go on.

891
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,600
And then after that, of course you had Culture Shock that then Dougie went to Energy

892
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,520
and then, you know, and John Kruger, you know.

893
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:22,800
And, and these guys, the bands of music started to grow and grow and grow and grow.

894
00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:24,160
There was a lot of space for that.

895
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:25,360
A lot of space.

896
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:30,240
And despite the fact that we have also had great Filipinos who performed here, right.

897
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,040
Guys like Gino Sunga has now gone back to the Philippines, right.

898
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:34,560
The boys.

899
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:35,040
The boys.

900
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:36,240
Oh my goodness gracious.

901
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:37,280
Some of the boys are still here.

902
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:37,840
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

903
00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:39,440
I know Gilbert Gilbert is still here.

904
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,120
Yeah, they do play at the, I have a new bar called Blackbird.

905
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,240
And, you know, some of them do play.

906
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:50,560
Where's Renee Hombre who's been there, done that with the boys.

907
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:52,080
I believe she was the boys.

908
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,280
Other than this, some of them are still around.

909
00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:56,720
And some of them became Singaporeans.

910
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:57,760
Married, you know.

911
00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:58,880
Yeah, married locals.

912
00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:00,000
And they have kids now.

913
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:00,960
Yeah, like Gilbert.

914
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:01,520
Yeah.

915
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:04,240
And I think, you know, Gilbert is one of them.

916
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:04,960
Well, those are.

917
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,880
And I think that, yeah, I think that some of them just basically say, hey, you know,

918
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:10,400
I'm going to make Singapore my home.

919
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,520
And I mean, that's, you gotta respect that.

920
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:14,240
Yeah, I do.

921
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:15,360
You gotta stay here.

922
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:16,640
Yeah, yeah, of course.

923
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:18,000
You let the music stay, man.

924
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:18,480
Yeah.

925
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,000
You know, but today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today,

926
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:22,480
today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today, today.

927
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,600
Outside of Blackbird and outside of Timber, okay?

928
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:27,760
How's music?

929
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:30,240
The state of music in your opinion here?

930
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:33,360
It's not as good as before.

931
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:42,240
When I was playing full time, started the year 2002 in Singapore, I was very fortunate

932
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:46,080
because at that time, as you say, they were fantastic clubs.

933
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:48,080
Legendary clubs.

934
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:48,400
Right.

935
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:50,560
You have Crazy Elephant, Walla Walla.

936
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:50,640
Yeah.

937
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,440
You had, you know, Swing.

938
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,600
Oh, you had all this at all.

939
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,080
I, we started our career in Aubrey's.

940
00:33:58,080 --> 00:33:59,840
Aubrey's at Winsland.

941
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:00,720
Oh my goodness.

942
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:01,120
Yeah.

943
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,920
So that was my first regular gig.

944
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:04,160
Right.

945
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:08,080
And I used to go to Fat Frog, watch Hanjin, and then now, because it's not that far.

946
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:15,600
But eventually we had a regular gig at Aubrey's and then the Twin Towers fell.

947
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:20,240
And then there was six months of no work because economy just went nuts.

948
00:34:20,240 --> 00:34:20,480
Yeah.

949
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:20,800
Yeah.

950
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,680
And then we got a gig at Swing.

951
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:23,920
Right.

952
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:25,680
And we stayed at Swing all the way to the end.

953
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:25,920
Right.

954
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:27,760
So it was very vibrant.

955
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:29,600
Swing was amazing.

956
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:29,840
Yeah.

957
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:30,480
Yeah.

958
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,200
We used to go in there at three o'clock and there'd still be music.

959
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:33,440
Yeah.

960
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:34,400
And we would be still playing.

961
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,080
And musers who end their shift.

962
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:36,880
Yeah, they would go there.

963
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:37,840
They go there and jam.

964
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:38,400
Yeah.

965
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,240
Maybe they're kind of, some of them are alcoholic.

966
00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:41,760
But anyway, that's the music supply.

967
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:44,800
But that's the only place open anyway.

968
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:45,120
Yeah.

969
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:46,720
Either you have a Teh Tarik somewhere or.

970
00:34:46,720 --> 00:34:47,760
Yeah.

971
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,720
But it was a wonderful experience.

972
00:34:50,720 --> 00:34:55,200
I think the difference from then to the, for now is that, you know,

973
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:58,880
the focus on band music has just dropped dramatically.

974
00:34:58,880 --> 00:34:59,840
So that's one reason.

975
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:00,240
Right.

976
00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:03,680
It's something external that we can't fully control.

977
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:08,800
I mean, technology, TikTok, everything is now more about artists rather than the band.

978
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:12,160
Now in the old days, you had bands, Coldplay, you know, now they're playing, right?

979
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:12,480
Yeah.

980
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,640
I mean, U2, Coldplay and all those bands and American bands, you know,

981
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:18,800
Vertical Horizon, bands like that, right?

982
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:19,200
Right.

983
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:20,080
They were still bands.

984
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:24,240
But now when you think about bands, you don't think about, you know, you think you don't,

985
00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:25,360
you think about names.

986
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:25,840
Yeah.

987
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:27,200
You think about artists names.

988
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:27,920
Right.

989
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,120
A lot of it is sort of.

990
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:30,400
Taylor Swift.

991
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:30,720
Yeah.

992
00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:32,000
And then sequence music.

993
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:32,240
Yeah.

994
00:35:32,240 --> 00:35:33,840
Because it's cheaper.

995
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:34,080
Yeah.

996
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,680
So economics have changed the presentation somewhat.

997
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,840
Young people may not see a four piece, five piece like we used to.

998
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:42,160
Yeah.

999
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,280
So in their minds, they say, oh, as long as you have a producer,

1000
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:49,680
you can have a singer and, you know, save a lot of money and you still sell tickets.

1001
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:50,160
Right.

1002
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:50,720
You know what I mean?

1003
00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:52,480
Like Ed Sheeran is a great example.

1004
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:52,960
Right.

1005
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:54,080
And, but he's different.

1006
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,080
He's saying, I don't want to do a band.

1007
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:57,200
I'll just do a solo.

1008
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:57,520
Yeah.

1009
00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:58,720
And he's done very well.

1010
00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:00,880
So that's changed the mindset.

1011
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,440
The focus on bands like we used to know.

1012
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:03,920
Yeah.

1013
00:36:03,920 --> 00:36:05,280
Just not there anymore.

1014
00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:11,120
You know, our days, you have Oasis, you have bands like that, you know, you have Suede,

1015
00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:12,720
you know, all those bands.

1016
00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:13,200
Yeah.

1017
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:15,600
Still kind of underground, but still quite strong.

1018
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:16,080
Right.

1019
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,800
Now you don't really think about it, but that's one reason.

1020
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,560
The other reason is also Singapore is a very young country.

1021
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:29,200
So English is not still a cultural language for us in a way.

1022
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:34,400
We get a bit embarrassed when Singlish is played around, you know, talked around.

1023
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:38,560
I know, I don't, I love Singlish, but you know, it's a bit of a dilemma.

1024
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,360
You know, are we, how are we speaking the language?

1025
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,920
Are we always reminded that are we speaking properly?

1026
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:48,880
You know, so in that kind of environment, you know, when you go to the States, the black

1027
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:49,920
guys don't care.

1028
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:50,480
Yeah.

1029
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,480
They, they, you can't even understand half of Singlish, but they don't care.

1030
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:54,960
Yeah.

1031
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:57,200
They feel proud of what they're saying.

1032
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:57,520
Yeah.

1033
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:01,680
And it became hip hop and then it became, new words are formed and they make millions

1034
00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:02,320
of dollars.

1035
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:03,120
Yeah, evolved.

1036
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:03,760
They evolved.

1037
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,440
But the thing is, then the white people over there think it's cool.

1038
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:07,920
Hmm.

1039
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,040
New words are formed.

1040
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:09,520
Yeah.

1041
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:10,080
You know.

1042
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:10,480
Yeah.

1043
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:11,520
That's creativity.

1044
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:12,080
Right.

1045
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,000
In a comfortable safe zone.

1046
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:14,480
Right.

1047
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:16,000
We don't actually have that here.

1048
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:16,560
Hmm.

1049
00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:18,080
What do you mean by comfortable safe zone?

1050
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:24,000
I mean, I mean African-American, for particularly African-American art forms, they have reached

1051
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:26,960
a point where they don't feel embarrassed or shy.

1052
00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:28,160
They are mainstream.

1053
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:28,800
Right.

1054
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:29,520
You know what I mean?

1055
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:30,960
But you've got to go there, right?

1056
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:31,440
Yeah.

1057
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,720
But what, what is not safe and comfortable here in Singapore?

1058
00:37:34,720 --> 00:37:37,360
I, well, firstly, because we are multi-language.

1059
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:38,400
We are multi-lingual.

1060
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:39,040
Yeah.

1061
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:40,640
And we are young.

1062
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:41,200
Right.

1063
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:45,840
You know, where else they have been around for longer time and through very difficult

1064
00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:46,560
circumstances.

1065
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,560
So you're saying we have an identity crisis.

1066
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,400
Sometimes, I think I feel that way.

1067
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,920
And, and you know, I just give you one example.

1068
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:55,760
Remember the days where you had debates?

1069
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:56,320
Yeah.

1070
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:56,720
Yeah.

1071
00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:57,360
National debates.

1072
00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,040
You know, national debates and school debates.

1073
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,760
That's when we first saw Mr. Vivian, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan.

1074
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:02,400
That's right.

1075
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:02,880
In uniform.

1076
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:03,440
That's right.

1077
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,600
So we used to have that culture.

1078
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:06,000
Yeah.

1079
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:07,840
Where we could say, hey, I disagree with you.

1080
00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:08,400
Mm-hmm.

1081
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:12,560
But these days, when you do that, it's online and it's all a bit, you know.

1082
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:13,440
You get called out.

1083
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:15,120
You got to walk people out there.

1084
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:16,080
That's right.

1085
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:17,360
So that's what I'm saying.

1086
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:22,880
It is, we, we, we can't have a, like me and you, we come from a similar generation.

1087
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,760
We can have that kind of respectful debate.

1088
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:26,960
Even though you're wearing a wrong...

1089
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:28,720
No, it's not wrong.

1090
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:30,160
It is very right.

1091
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:30,640
Just kidding.

1092
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:33,040
But you know, we can have that dialogue.

1093
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:33,200
Yeah.

1094
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:34,240
We can have that discussion.

1095
00:38:34,240 --> 00:38:34,560
Yeah.

1096
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,520
And without feeling like we are being passive aggressive.

1097
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:37,760
Yeah.

1098
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:39,520
Or you know, anxiety.

1099
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:41,360
Open, frank, straight discussion.

1100
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:41,840
Exactly.

1101
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:42,080
Yeah.

1102
00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:42,400
Exactly.

1103
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:43,840
Today you do this to someone else.

1104
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,760
Just talking to them, they get offended.

1105
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:46,160
Correct.

1106
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:47,200
Because you're talking to them.

1107
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:47,520
Correct.

1108
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:48,880
So, so that's what I think.

1109
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:53,200
And then of course, the third reason would be that, how do I put this?

1110
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:54,880
I mean, how do we value our art?

1111
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:56,480
That's so important.

1112
00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:02,800
You know, in Japan, in New York, even though the buskers are, you know, they're just on

1113
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,160
the streets on Melbourne.

1114
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:04,320
Yeah.

1115
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:06,320
There is this culture of saying, hey, you know what?

1116
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:07,280
Good job, man.

1117
00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:07,520
Yeah.

1118
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,120
You know, thank you very much.

1119
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:10,320
They're revered, they're respected.

1120
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:14,400
Yeah, you know, even though you're so talented, my goodness, you should do this, you should

1121
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:14,800
do that.

1122
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:15,040
Right.

1123
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,040
You know, oh wow, where can I buy a CD?

1124
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:17,360
Right.

1125
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:19,440
You know, and when I was in Perth, that's what happened.

1126
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:20,560
We sold out our CDs.

1127
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:26,240
We released an album and we sold out, you know, within three months, four months.

1128
00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:26,480
Right.

1129
00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:30,240
We did festivals and we're selling out, but not so much here.

1130
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:30,560
You know.

1131
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,560
Here you go like, it's the same thing.

1132
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:34,400
Band boy.

1133
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:34,880
Yeah.

1134
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:36,240
I like, I like your, your posts.

1135
00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:37,760
I like your Instagram, but that's enough.

1136
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:38,000
Yeah.

1137
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:38,480
How can you be?

1138
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:39,360
Yeah, exactly.

1139
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:42,160
And then they expect you to do shows for them free.

1140
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:42,480
Yeah.

1141
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:43,920
If not to pay 20 bucks.

1142
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:44,160
Yeah.

1143
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:49,360
You know, I had General Ling here, Elaine, who's a beatboxer, right?

1144
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,480
And she actually said on this show, right.

1145
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:59,840
And I gave tribute to her and her other half, Zee Loco, that, you know, she told me that,

1146
00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:02,880
look man, they offered to pay us 20 bucks.

1147
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:03,520
I said, what?

1148
00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,560
You know, and it's sad because we are not valued.

1149
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,640
Museos and entertainers per se, somehow not valued.

1150
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:16,240
Society sees us as this people, you know, not educated enough.

1151
00:40:16,240 --> 00:40:21,040
They can't get a proper job, you know, and they end up doing this.

1152
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:22,960
You know, and I think that's really sad.

1153
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:28,000
Art, the arts and entertainment seem to have flown out the freaking proverbial window.

1154
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:32,320
You know, and, and, um, I, I don't know.

1155
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:41,920
If you say safe place, a safe space, it's the same space can only happen when society

1156
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:47,040
starts to change the mindsets about people in this profession.

1157
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:52,720
And I also lament about something else, which is something I want to ask you because Timber,

1158
00:40:52,720 --> 00:41:01,920
Timber, Timber Group started with core values that include the value of the

1159
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:04,000
include this particular one.

1160
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,280
And that is a value your musicians, right?

1161
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:17,600
My, I lament about the musicians of old that can still play, can still play.

1162
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:22,320
They're still able, but no one is cherishing them.

1163
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:24,880
That is my problem.

1164
00:41:26,240 --> 00:41:29,440
Something I don't like to see happen because these guys,

1165
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,440
we will, everyone was young ones.

1166
00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:35,520
You look good, sound great, but you get better at it.

1167
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,720
See, this one thing beautiful about music as we age, right?

1168
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:44,320
We get better at it more often than not, as long as our mental capacities and our physical

1169
00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:47,920
abilities are still available, we get better at it.

1170
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:50,720
But these guys are largely forgotten.

1171
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:55,360
That was the first thing.

1172
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,560
First reason that compelled me to start this series.

1173
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:00,000
Okay.

1174
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:03,440
First reason, number one, society has got to change its mindset.

1175
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:10,000
And then of course, looking around, and I hear, I've heard this from all my guests.

1176
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:15,200
Bar owners, club owners, no longer hire.

1177
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:20,320
And they do, they hire two piece, three pieces.

1178
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:23,920
And like you said, we don't see the big bands anymore.

1179
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:29,760
But again, in our context, in my view, is that they don't want to pay.

1180
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:36,960
One, two, they don't want to get to the point where they have to pay for an entertainment

1181
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:37,760
license.

1182
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:43,920
Three, there are so many other mediums available where you can actually use digital stuff and

1183
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:44,560
play.

1184
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:46,960
They don't even hire DJs anymore.

1185
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:57,120
And I really think, man, come on, you know, we have got to make our music scene a lot

1186
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:58,160
more vibrant.

1187
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:00,560
Acoustic isn't just a thing.

1188
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:02,560
It's also about can we afford it?

1189
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:06,640
So that's how I see it.

1190
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:07,920
We are going down a drain.

1191
00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:13,680
Then you have, well, in terms of recording artists, some of them are not.

1192
00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:19,440
You have, well, in terms of recording artists, well, yeah, we've got a couple of good ones,

1193
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:21,200
you know, in the last couple of years.

1194
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:21,440
Right?

1195
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:26,480
But then now you see a lot more hip hop guys, a lot more rap.

1196
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:27,120
Right?

1197
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:30,080
But what happened to your conventional music?

1198
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:33,360
You have bands, no more bands.

1199
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:33,760
You're right.

1200
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,440
There's no more bands going out there, man.

1201
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:40,080
We're looking at maybe a cappella groups, but not bands.

1202
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:44,720
We're looking at solo singers, but not solo artists, but not bands.

1203
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:52,560
The way I see it, if you don't, if the music scene don't stoke that fire,

1204
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:55,200
it's going to be like this.

1205
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:57,440
That's my point.

1206
00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:04,000
And now with Timber Group, I mean, come on, man, Supersonic is amazing.

1207
00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:06,400
I had Afuan, he was here.

1208
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:06,720
Right?

1209
00:44:06,720 --> 00:44:07,200
Yeah.

1210
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:08,080
Great guy.

1211
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:08,320
Yeah.

1212
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:13,360
The reason why I asked him, because he's current and worthy.

1213
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,120
I'm a sickler, Danny, let me just tell you.

1214
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:17,680
Yeah.

1215
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,560
Not everyone will be invited to the show.

1216
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:21,600
Okay.

1217
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:25,040
You're here and thank you for being here.

1218
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:29,760
Afuan was here and that's because I really think highly of him, you know,

1219
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:33,360
and what he does and how his band performs.

1220
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:36,880
I've been to Timber Plus, of course.

1221
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:38,400
I've watched him play.

1222
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:39,840
I go there because of them.

1223
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:40,640
Right?

1224
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:41,840
That's great.

1225
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:44,800
You hardly find something like that anymore.

1226
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,160
So what I'm saying here is that, look, man,

1227
00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:54,400
if bar owners, club owners don't stoke that fire, they can't be no smoke.

1228
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:56,320
Yeah.

1229
00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:01,920
I would agree with you, but anyone that tries to put a band on a bar setting,

1230
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:07,680
I firstly, I have to say I have full respect because I know how hard it is.

1231
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:08,160
Yeah.

1232
00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:09,440
How much can you pay for a beer?

1233
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:10,000
Yeah.

1234
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,400
You know, how much more can you pay for a beer to have a band perform for you?

1235
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,840
Because don't forget, a lot of people don't realize, I want to be very clear here.

1236
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,440
A lot of these bands, whether it's a two piece, four piece, six piece, to me,

1237
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:27,440
well, of course it matters, but more importantly, these people are, these musicians are paid.

1238
00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:28,640
Yeah.

1239
00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:32,640
And I mean, obviously I'm not saying everybody pays them,

1240
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:37,200
but I think most of the respectable companies pay.

1241
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:40,880
So that's the first thing.

1242
00:45:40,880 --> 00:45:43,120
It's an investment, right?

1243
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,160
On to something that can attract the footfall, obviously.

1244
00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:51,200
But that has to also be supported by the audience.

1245
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:55,600
The audience have to come in and support the musicians.

1246
00:45:55,600 --> 00:46:00,000
How many times I've had situations when people ask me, hey, you pay the bands.

1247
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:01,520
Yeah.

1248
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:03,280
A lot of people don't know.

1249
00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:04,560
So that's why I say here, right?

1250
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:08,080
It comes from a place of respect.

1251
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:09,920
It comes from a place of changing mindsets.

1252
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:14,720
But it also starts with them understanding a bit of the economics of it.

1253
00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:18,080
You know, when you have a venue, like a venue that doesn't have a band

1254
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:20,960
and a venue that has a band, it's a cost difference.

1255
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:27,760
The venue that doesn't have a band will charge you X dollar for the beer, but no band.

1256
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:30,080
But what about the venues that do have a band?

1257
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:35,840
Then there's, you know, sound engineer, stage, and then extra space for performance, less seating.

1258
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:37,360
Which means your drinks are going to be charged more.

1259
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:38,080
Yeah, that's right.

1260
00:46:38,080 --> 00:46:44,480
But you know, that has not really happened, you know, partly because we come from a country

1261
00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:49,120
that don't believe in cover charge or don't practice cover charge.

1262
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:52,320
But wait a second, let me stop you there.

1263
00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:55,440
Cover charge used to be that in the old days...

1264
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:55,920
No more?

1265
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:57,680
Long time no more.

1266
00:46:57,680 --> 00:46:58,080
Really?

1267
00:46:58,080 --> 00:46:58,880
Most places don't have that.

1268
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:00,000
Where the hell have I been?

1269
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:04,400
Yeah, you know, ZUK used to have that, you know, $25, $30, $35.

1270
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:05,440
It was a standard thing.

1271
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:05,940
Right.

1272
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:08,640
Walla Walla used to do that at one point on Fridays.

1273
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:10,080
And we were accepting it.

1274
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:10,720
Yeah.

1275
00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:14,240
And not anymore because, you know, a lot of...

1276
00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:16,400
There are a lot more bars with live music.

1277
00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:16,880
Right.

1278
00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:21,840
And a lot of them, for example, in the very highly populated areas may not need to charge

1279
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:22,560
cover charge.

1280
00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:28,400
I don't know what the reason might be, but what it has made it so for the audience,

1281
00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:33,120
the expectations is to go to a place and not pay for cover charge.

1282
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:33,360
Right.

1283
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:35,200
So that hasn't really helped.

1284
00:47:36,240 --> 00:47:42,400
But in other words, what I'm trying to say is that it remains very challenging for anyone

1285
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:43,600
who has live bands.

1286
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:44,100
Right.

1287
00:47:44,100 --> 00:47:50,340
For our part, when we do what we do at Timber and so at Blackbird is that we try to feature

1288
00:47:50,340 --> 00:47:51,540
all these bands that we can.

1289
00:47:52,420 --> 00:47:54,820
Supersonics, one, 53A is another one.

1290
00:47:54,820 --> 00:47:55,220
Right.

1291
00:47:55,220 --> 00:47:57,620
A lot of these bands, The Vibes are with us.

1292
00:47:57,620 --> 00:47:59,940
Rafi Ali, the football player.

1293
00:47:59,940 --> 00:48:00,420
Footballer, yeah.

1294
00:48:00,420 --> 00:48:01,300
He's with us too.

1295
00:48:01,300 --> 00:48:05,300
And we try to support them, but we can't just stay stagnant.

1296
00:48:05,300 --> 00:48:10,100
So what we do is we try to have events in internal events.

1297
00:48:10,100 --> 00:48:11,300
We even have tribute nights.

1298
00:48:11,300 --> 00:48:11,780
Right.

1299
00:48:11,780 --> 00:48:19,860
So for example, Afwon and The Vibes were doing an 80s and 90s rock tribute.

1300
00:48:19,860 --> 00:48:20,340
Right.

1301
00:48:20,340 --> 00:48:20,980
So we do that.

1302
00:48:20,980 --> 00:48:22,340
We say, can you do a tribute?

1303
00:48:22,340 --> 00:48:24,580
And then we try to attract a new crowd to come in.

1304
00:48:24,580 --> 00:48:27,060
So we have to make really a lot of effort.

1305
00:48:27,060 --> 00:48:27,540
Yeah.

1306
00:48:27,540 --> 00:48:29,540
And recently we'd had the Beatles tribute.

1307
00:48:29,540 --> 00:48:29,780
Right.

1308
00:48:29,780 --> 00:48:30,820
With the Day Trippers.

1309
00:48:30,820 --> 00:48:31,060
Right.

1310
00:48:31,060 --> 00:48:32,580
And that was really well received.

1311
00:48:32,580 --> 00:48:32,820
Right.

1312
00:48:32,820 --> 00:48:33,540
Not the Beatles.

1313
00:48:33,540 --> 00:48:35,300
Yeah. I mean, of course you can't go wrong, but-

1314
00:48:35,300 --> 00:48:35,940
All the songs you sing.

1315
00:48:35,940 --> 00:48:36,580
This is what I mean.

1316
00:48:36,580 --> 00:48:45,940
But the point is also is that other places, other venues can also take a leaf out of your

1317
00:48:45,940 --> 00:48:51,140
playbook, out of Timbers' playbook, you know, and do the same.

1318
00:48:51,140 --> 00:48:51,860
It's about work.

1319
00:48:52,580 --> 00:48:53,860
It's about putting in the work.

1320
00:48:53,860 --> 00:48:57,140
Like what you just said, you know, we can have this going on.

1321
00:48:57,140 --> 00:48:58,900
We can have retro night going on.

1322
00:48:58,900 --> 00:48:59,380
Yeah.

1323
00:48:59,380 --> 00:49:01,860
We can plan all the promos and we can do all that.

1324
00:49:01,860 --> 00:49:07,300
What I'm trying to say here is that, first of all, I'm quite stunned that nobody charges

1325
00:49:07,300 --> 00:49:08,100
cover charge anymore.

1326
00:49:08,100 --> 00:49:11,460
I mean, because I'm such a good boy, I don't go out and booze very much.

1327
00:49:11,460 --> 00:49:13,300
I'm going to invite you soon.

1328
00:49:13,300 --> 00:49:14,020
Oh, yes, please.

1329
00:49:14,740 --> 00:49:15,700
I need to get a life.

1330
00:49:15,700 --> 00:49:16,020
Okay.

1331
00:49:17,860 --> 00:49:25,300
And at the same time, you know, not understanding that bands have to be paid.

1332
00:49:26,260 --> 00:49:27,460
Some people don't understand.

1333
00:49:27,460 --> 00:49:28,100
Some people do.

1334
00:49:28,100 --> 00:49:30,100
I'm not saying all of them don't.

1335
00:49:30,100 --> 00:49:31,300
But there's one more point.

1336
00:49:31,300 --> 00:49:37,940
I have to put out, you know, I spent three years in Australia.

1337
00:49:39,220 --> 00:49:45,060
You know, you must understand that an Asian musician in a room packed with white people,

1338
00:49:46,340 --> 00:49:50,260
you have to kind of sort of be more self-aware of where you are.

1339
00:49:50,260 --> 00:49:57,780
Sometimes I play in bike bars, you know, gangs, you know, bikers in Australia, basically the gangs.

1340
00:49:58,580 --> 00:49:59,940
Not exactly Wicked Wallop, right?

1341
00:49:59,940 --> 00:50:01,700
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

1342
00:50:02,660 --> 00:50:06,740
I played in an escort blues festival and I was stunned.

1343
00:50:06,740 --> 00:50:10,820
I went in, I didn't, I couldn't believe how many Harleys they were there.

1344
00:50:10,820 --> 00:50:12,180
And it was so many bikes were there.

1345
00:50:12,180 --> 00:50:13,940
And it was about maybe 3000 bikers.

1346
00:50:14,660 --> 00:50:19,620
And you know, I look like a poly student at that time, you know, just come out poly classes.

1347
00:50:21,380 --> 00:50:24,900
But, you know, we have to be just a little bit more alert, right?

1348
00:50:24,900 --> 00:50:29,460
But more importantly, we have to, I had to market myself, do my own poster,

1349
00:50:29,460 --> 00:50:32,180
sell my own tickets, do my own PR.

1350
00:50:32,900 --> 00:50:34,820
We couldn't afford any of those.

1351
00:50:34,820 --> 00:50:35,940
We had to do everything.

1352
00:50:35,940 --> 00:50:37,220
And that's the thing about Australia.

1353
00:50:37,940 --> 00:50:41,220
You know, most bands in Australia will buy a station wagon.

1354
00:50:41,220 --> 00:50:41,940
You know why?

1355
00:50:41,940 --> 00:50:43,460
They can put their equipment in.

1356
00:50:43,460 --> 00:50:47,380
When you go to a venue, none of the venues provide a back line.

1357
00:50:47,380 --> 00:50:50,500
You have to, you know, literally set it up on your own.

1358
00:50:50,500 --> 00:50:53,140
And none of them have a sound engineer.

1359
00:50:53,140 --> 00:50:55,540
Some of them will have, most of them don't.

1360
00:50:55,540 --> 00:50:56,260
It sounds like fun, man.

1361
00:50:56,260 --> 00:50:58,020
You're going to do everything.

1362
00:50:58,020 --> 00:50:58,900
Sounds like fun, man.

1363
00:50:58,900 --> 00:50:59,700
It's great.

1364
00:50:59,700 --> 00:51:01,140
It's great, but nobody told me.

1365
00:51:03,460 --> 00:51:05,300
Singapore, you know, everything's provided.

1366
00:51:05,300 --> 00:51:08,980
So, but Danny, along the same vein, man, I mean, I'm,

1367
00:51:08,980 --> 00:51:10,260
I didn't do anything in Australia.

1368
00:51:10,260 --> 00:51:11,700
I mean, I'm a BTC.

1369
00:51:11,700 --> 00:51:12,500
You know, it's a BTC.

1370
00:51:12,500 --> 00:51:12,740
No.

1371
00:51:12,740 --> 00:51:13,860
Bo-tat-ze-lang.

1372
00:51:13,860 --> 00:51:14,340
Okay.

1373
00:51:14,340 --> 00:51:18,100
And really, it's true.

1374
00:51:18,100 --> 00:51:22,500
And when we started doing these things, right, I was 16 years old moving forward.

1375
00:51:23,540 --> 00:51:26,020
And I got behind a microphone, right?

1376
00:51:26,020 --> 00:51:28,820
And then started singing, hosting, blah, blah, blah.

1377
00:51:28,820 --> 00:51:30,820
Now, what we used to do, same thing.

1378
00:51:31,460 --> 00:51:32,100
Van.

1379
00:51:32,100 --> 00:51:33,060
Ran the freaking van.

1380
00:51:33,700 --> 00:51:37,300
Equipment, you know, with a T-shaped console and all that.

1381
00:51:37,300 --> 00:51:40,980
You know, the Mark II turntables, racks and racks of records.

1382
00:51:40,980 --> 00:51:42,900
And speakers, man, they were bigger than you.

1383
00:51:43,700 --> 00:51:43,940
Right?

1384
00:51:43,940 --> 00:51:45,860
The PVs, SP2s, you know?

1385
00:51:45,860 --> 00:51:46,820
The home parties.

1386
00:51:46,820 --> 00:51:47,780
Oh, fuck yeah.

1387
00:51:47,780 --> 00:51:48,500
Exactly.

1388
00:51:48,500 --> 00:51:49,380
And we set it up.

1389
00:51:49,380 --> 00:51:50,500
We set them all up, right?

1390
00:51:50,500 --> 00:51:51,860
With the lights and everything.

1391
00:51:51,860 --> 00:51:55,540
And then after that sweating like shit, grab a towel,

1392
00:51:55,540 --> 00:51:58,340
wipe down, put on a suit, and do the show.

1393
00:51:58,340 --> 00:51:58,980
I know.

1394
00:51:58,980 --> 00:52:02,660
Then take it off again, put on another dry T-shirt, and tear it down.

1395
00:52:02,660 --> 00:52:03,540
Tear it down.

1396
00:52:03,540 --> 00:52:04,580
But you know what, man?

1397
00:52:05,460 --> 00:52:10,580
All this you see in this studio, how do you think I know how to set up?

1398
00:52:10,580 --> 00:52:11,060
Yeah.

1399
00:52:11,060 --> 00:52:13,700
It's because of those years.

1400
00:52:13,700 --> 00:52:14,500
Yeah.

1401
00:52:14,500 --> 00:52:15,380
And it was great.

1402
00:52:15,380 --> 00:52:16,180
Yeah.

1403
00:52:16,180 --> 00:52:18,660
Because we started to value ourselves, man.

1404
00:52:19,460 --> 00:52:21,060
We started to value.

1405
00:52:21,060 --> 00:52:22,660
We understood our value.

1406
00:52:23,380 --> 00:52:24,980
Back then, we get paid $150.

1407
00:52:24,980 --> 00:52:25,540
Sure.

1408
00:52:25,540 --> 00:52:27,940
But as we got older and we got more commercially mature,

1409
00:52:28,580 --> 00:52:32,180
and we look back, guys like me, and we go, you know what?

1410
00:52:32,900 --> 00:52:35,060
Bloody hell, you pay me what I'm worth, man.

1411
00:52:35,060 --> 00:52:38,100
Because this is what I know and this is what I can do.

1412
00:52:38,900 --> 00:52:39,300
You know?

1413
00:52:40,100 --> 00:52:43,540
So I think what you went through, similar, almost similar to what we went through.

1414
00:52:43,540 --> 00:52:43,860
Same.

1415
00:52:43,860 --> 00:52:44,420
Same thing.

1416
00:52:44,420 --> 00:52:44,660
Yeah.

1417
00:52:44,660 --> 00:52:45,780
We had to set up everything.

1418
00:52:45,780 --> 00:52:46,420
Exactly.

1419
00:52:46,420 --> 00:52:49,140
And that made us see value.

1420
00:52:49,780 --> 00:52:51,860
And including the muses came before us.

1421
00:52:52,580 --> 00:52:54,020
They know their value, man.

1422
00:52:54,020 --> 00:52:54,260
Yeah.

1423
00:52:54,260 --> 00:52:55,220
Yeah.

1424
00:52:55,220 --> 00:52:58,100
You spoke about Hang Lose, you know, Iskander, right?

1425
00:52:58,100 --> 00:52:58,580
Iskander.

1426
00:52:58,580 --> 00:52:58,820
Yeah.

1427
00:52:58,820 --> 00:52:59,300
Late great Iskander.

1428
00:52:59,300 --> 00:53:05,620
My bass player from U-Blues to now Raw Earth, he's a bass player for Iskander.

1429
00:53:05,620 --> 00:53:09,220
So I spent a lot of time talking to the older musicians like you do.

1430
00:53:09,220 --> 00:53:09,620
Yeah.

1431
00:53:09,620 --> 00:53:11,140
And I got so much wisdom from that.

1432
00:53:11,140 --> 00:53:11,780
Yeah, so much.

1433
00:53:11,780 --> 00:53:17,700
But the point I'm trying to make is that, you know, it's a different environment like Australia

1434
00:53:17,700 --> 00:53:22,580
or even other countries who don't have that kind of comfort.

1435
00:53:22,580 --> 00:53:26,900
You know, you just go to the venue and everything's provided and we complain about the sound engineer

1436
00:53:26,900 --> 00:53:29,140
or, you know, you don't have that in Australia.

1437
00:53:29,140 --> 00:53:29,700
Yeah.

1438
00:53:29,700 --> 00:53:31,060
And I treasure that.

1439
00:53:31,060 --> 00:53:32,020
I really cherish that.

1440
00:53:33,140 --> 00:53:37,860
I hope that while I talk about audience, I talked about mindsets, you talked about, you know,

1441
00:53:38,500 --> 00:53:41,140
how people don't pay cover charge anymore, et cetera, et cetera.

1442
00:53:41,940 --> 00:53:42,900
Musicians paid.

1443
00:53:42,900 --> 00:53:48,580
But the musicians themselves, I think, also may have to just pull up the socks and say,

1444
00:53:48,580 --> 00:53:50,020
how do I market these gigs?

1445
00:53:50,020 --> 00:53:52,980
How do I do social media promotions?

1446
00:53:52,980 --> 00:53:54,420
How do I work with the venues?

1447
00:53:54,420 --> 00:53:59,860
Understanding a bit of the business because after COVID, it's not necessarily easier.

1448
00:54:00,500 --> 00:54:04,420
Everybody thought after COVID, everything's going to be boomtown Charlie.

1449
00:54:04,420 --> 00:54:04,740
Right.

1450
00:54:04,740 --> 00:54:10,660
It hasn't happened, you know, with cost increase, inflation, everything, you know,

1451
00:54:10,660 --> 00:54:13,220
you know, I don't want to go on, but there's a list of things.

1452
00:54:13,220 --> 00:54:14,260
Everything is more expensive.

1453
00:54:14,260 --> 00:54:19,060
Manpower is more expensive, harder to get manpower, even though a lot of people don't

1454
00:54:19,060 --> 00:54:22,980
have manpower, even though a lot of places are closing down, probably easier now, but

1455
00:54:23,700 --> 00:54:25,380
all these problems have come up.

1456
00:54:25,380 --> 00:54:27,620
So it's going to be more challenging.

1457
00:54:27,620 --> 00:54:28,740
We're going to find a way.

1458
00:54:28,740 --> 00:54:31,780
That's why Timopla is one of, or I don't know which one you go.

1459
00:54:31,780 --> 00:54:32,260
One of.

1460
00:54:32,260 --> 00:54:32,660
One of.

1461
00:54:33,460 --> 00:54:36,180
It's a business model that we focus now.

1462
00:54:36,180 --> 00:54:38,500
It's not just about a bar, a restaurant.

1463
00:54:38,500 --> 00:54:42,500
It's about food, variety of food, but variety of drinks.

1464
00:54:43,540 --> 00:54:47,380
Now that's where the, that's where we had to pivot.

1465
00:54:47,380 --> 00:54:47,620
Yeah.

1466
00:54:47,620 --> 00:54:48,420
Yeah.

1467
00:54:48,420 --> 00:54:48,900
Yeah.

1468
00:54:48,900 --> 00:54:53,300
So based on that business model, it's a lot better for us now, you know?

1469
00:54:53,300 --> 00:54:54,020
Yeah.

1470
00:54:54,020 --> 00:55:00,260
What do you think coming back, you know, strictly to the point where how society

1471
00:55:02,580 --> 00:55:11,060
can really grow to understand, respect and value museums and entertainers?

1472
00:55:12,180 --> 00:55:16,580
How could there be a, excuse me, macro?

1473
00:55:16,580 --> 00:55:27,380
Thank you. A macro plan from say an association body from say the government's perspective

1474
00:55:28,180 --> 00:55:29,860
on how they can help grow this.

1475
00:55:30,420 --> 00:55:33,860
So I'm part of a few charity groups.

1476
00:55:34,580 --> 00:55:37,140
You know, I'm chairman of SG Muso.

1477
00:55:37,140 --> 00:55:38,420
You talk about SG Muso.

1478
00:55:38,420 --> 00:55:38,820
Exactly.

1479
00:55:38,820 --> 00:55:39,460
Why ask?

1480
00:55:40,180 --> 00:55:41,300
Right person for me to ask.

1481
00:55:41,300 --> 00:55:41,540
Yeah.

1482
00:55:41,540 --> 00:55:48,020
And we were quite quiet, obviously COVID has hit us hard, but we're quite quiet.

1483
00:55:48,020 --> 00:55:55,460
And now we actually did some live stream grants and sponsorships, but now we are actually

1484
00:55:56,100 --> 00:55:57,780
waiting for our venue.

1485
00:55:57,780 --> 00:56:04,660
We have actually a venue coming up where it's basically a space for performance.

1486
00:56:04,660 --> 00:56:10,340
And as you mentioned just now, you know, how do we then get our veteran musicians?

1487
00:56:10,340 --> 00:56:10,820
Yeah.

1488
00:56:10,820 --> 00:56:12,500
How do we get our current musicians?

1489
00:56:12,500 --> 00:56:18,100
How do we get bands that do the original music, space for them?

1490
00:56:18,100 --> 00:56:19,700
That's what we are working towards.

1491
00:56:19,700 --> 00:56:26,900
And come April, I think April or May, we will probably have the space and then gives us a lot

1492
00:56:29,700 --> 00:56:36,340
of an avenue for opportunities to do a veterans night, to do, you know, a bonny face to come or

1493
00:56:36,340 --> 00:56:39,300
to co-organize events with musicians.

1494
00:56:39,300 --> 00:56:39,780
Right.

1495
00:56:39,780 --> 00:56:41,620
Right. The problem is real estate.

1496
00:56:41,620 --> 00:56:42,900
You know how expensive senior is.

1497
00:56:42,900 --> 00:56:43,620
Oh hell yeah.

1498
00:56:44,340 --> 00:56:51,940
So we want to provide space whereby it's heavily discounted for them to be able to do shows.

1499
00:56:51,940 --> 00:56:54,180
Have you heard about what Tomasic Shophouse has been doing?

1500
00:56:54,180 --> 00:56:54,660
Who?

1501
00:56:54,660 --> 00:56:55,620
Tomasic Shophouse.

1502
00:56:55,620 --> 00:56:56,580
No I haven't.

1503
00:56:56,580 --> 00:57:02,180
Okay. This has been happening, but recently they've slowed it down because they've taken

1504
00:57:02,180 --> 00:57:04,660
over some more units along Dobie God.

1505
00:57:04,660 --> 00:57:11,860
And it's by Tomasic and Tomasic Shophouse has a stage, not a stage, no, they gave a platform

1506
00:57:11,860 --> 00:57:13,860
for musos to come in and jam.

1507
00:57:13,860 --> 00:57:14,660
Right.

1508
00:57:14,660 --> 00:57:19,620
And it happened, it used to happen every Thursday from 5 PM to maybe 9 PM.

1509
00:57:20,500 --> 00:57:22,740
I used to be there for a while.

1510
00:57:22,740 --> 00:57:26,420
And then of course I'm not there anymore, but they're still going on.

1511
00:57:26,420 --> 00:57:28,900
Once they renovated, they've taken over the new space.

1512
00:57:28,900 --> 00:57:29,780
It's going to come back.

1513
00:57:30,420 --> 00:57:32,820
So that is one thing that they're doing.

1514
00:57:32,820 --> 00:57:38,340
But I think that there's got to be a bigger, louder shout out for this thing.

1515
00:57:38,340 --> 00:57:39,140
Sure.

1516
00:57:39,140 --> 00:57:41,860
And mind sets take time to change.

1517
00:57:43,380 --> 00:57:44,580
We didn't have to change mind sets.

1518
00:57:44,580 --> 00:57:46,260
But no one's leading the way for that man.

1519
00:57:46,260 --> 00:57:48,340
They help get society to change mind sets.

1520
00:57:50,340 --> 00:57:53,140
I mean, I've been doing this for a while and I agree with you.

1521
00:57:53,940 --> 00:57:57,300
It's, we don't exactly have a united voice.

1522
00:57:57,300 --> 00:58:02,100
Some musicians have their own clique, other musicians have their own clique.

1523
00:58:02,100 --> 00:58:04,100
We don't actually come together.

1524
00:58:04,100 --> 00:58:07,860
And for a long while, that was my hope for SG Muso.

1525
00:58:07,860 --> 00:58:12,740
When we first started SG Muso, I told that then chairman, I said, what we need to do

1526
00:58:12,740 --> 00:58:14,340
is to unite people as much as we can.

1527
00:58:14,340 --> 00:58:17,380
We can't change everybody, but at least we get most of them in.

1528
00:58:17,380 --> 00:58:23,380
And we have a venue that actually is run by musicians, run for musicians.

1529
00:58:23,380 --> 00:58:25,460
I think we have a better hope.

1530
00:58:25,460 --> 00:58:30,980
Because if it's not expensive to run an event or concert, that is a good starting point.

1531
00:58:30,980 --> 00:58:35,060
You know, you want to do something in an established venue, it's going to cost money.

1532
00:58:35,060 --> 00:58:37,380
But we're going to say, okay, this is a package.

1533
00:58:37,380 --> 00:58:38,500
Let's work together.

1534
00:58:38,500 --> 00:58:39,700
Let's be partners.

1535
00:58:39,700 --> 00:58:45,460
You know, whatever we make, we do the split fairly and we sell F&B.

1536
00:58:45,460 --> 00:58:47,780
We split, do the split there.

1537
00:58:47,780 --> 00:58:51,860
Then they understand, oh, okay, hey, I can do my own event now.

1538
00:58:51,860 --> 00:58:57,460
Even if it's once every three months, at least there's something to work towards.

1539
00:58:57,460 --> 00:59:02,100
So anyone can just come to us and we can co-organize this.

1540
00:59:02,100 --> 00:59:04,180
And then we can raise money for them.

1541
00:59:04,180 --> 00:59:05,700
So that's all.

1542
00:59:05,700 --> 00:59:11,540
And the good thing about it is that because the venue is reasonably affordable, and like

1543
00:59:11,540 --> 00:59:16,180
I said, we are going to announce that quite soon, hopefully soon.

1544
00:59:16,180 --> 00:59:24,100
It opens up a lot of opportunities for bands to have a voice.

1545
00:59:24,100 --> 00:59:30,900
And I really hope that audiences understand that if they don't put down their investment,

1546
00:59:30,900 --> 00:59:31,860
what do I mean by that?

1547
00:59:31,860 --> 00:59:34,100
They come down and say, you know, I love you guys.

1548
00:59:34,100 --> 00:59:35,620
Hey, how much is the tickets?

1549
00:59:35,620 --> 00:59:37,380
$25, no problem, man.

1550
00:59:37,380 --> 00:59:41,860
If you don't do that, how do you expect them to be paid?

1551
00:59:41,860 --> 00:59:47,060
Yeah, I'm hoping to see what's going to be happening in the next few weekends or days,

1552
00:59:47,060 --> 00:59:50,180
I think February, if I'm not mistaken.

1553
00:59:50,180 --> 00:59:54,740
There are a few concerts coming up at the Espanade and tickets are on sale, like 30,

1554
00:59:54,740 --> 00:59:56,740
35 bucks, something like that.

1555
00:59:56,740 --> 01:00:00,980
And I really hope to see a good turnout, you know, for these.

1556
01:00:01,860 --> 01:00:05,140
You got people like, I'm giving you guys free promo, man.

1557
01:00:05,140 --> 01:00:05,640
Yay!

1558
01:00:06,900 --> 01:00:09,380
Sean and Melo together with Wayne Sands playing retro.

1559
01:00:09,380 --> 01:00:14,660
And then you've got the siblings, Mel and Joe, Ernesto and Greg.

1560
01:00:14,660 --> 01:00:16,660
I saw that, yeah.

1561
01:00:16,660 --> 01:00:22,100
And I really, really hope that there's going to be a crowd, really, that people are willing

1562
01:00:22,100 --> 01:00:26,660
to pay because it makes me sick when you pay so much money to watch Taylor Swift.

1563
01:00:27,940 --> 01:00:32,020
Even on Carousel, people really haunt these fucking tickets, right?

1564
01:00:32,020 --> 01:00:35,620
I mean, Coldplay, no disrespect to Coldplay, you know.

1565
01:00:35,620 --> 01:00:39,540
And take a look at the turnout, man, at the Singapore Stadium, right?

1566
01:00:39,540 --> 01:00:40,740
I mean, that's wow.

1567
01:00:40,740 --> 01:00:45,380
Just as much as you two, I was at Utah, I was dying to watch you two, 30 plus years

1568
01:00:45,380 --> 01:00:46,900
waiting for these guys to come here.

1569
01:00:46,900 --> 01:00:48,900
Awesome, huh?

1570
01:00:48,900 --> 01:00:49,380
Yeah.

1571
01:00:49,380 --> 01:00:58,900
And, you know, but our own, our own homegrown talents, young or old, veterans or otherwise,

1572
01:00:58,900 --> 01:01:00,900
is something that we should support.

1573
01:01:02,180 --> 01:01:05,300
I want to say this really, I mean, stop being such fuckers.

1574
01:01:05,300 --> 01:01:07,300
Stop being such fucking numbnuts, man.

1575
01:01:07,300 --> 01:01:13,300
You know, life is more than just about work and home and kids.

1576
01:01:13,300 --> 01:01:15,300
Got to get some music into your system.

1577
01:01:15,300 --> 01:01:21,300
I say this so often, and I'll say it again, a nation has lost its music, has lost its soul.

1578
01:01:21,300 --> 01:01:27,300
And now coming back to that little thing about, oh, you want to be Ben Boyer?

1579
01:01:27,300 --> 01:01:31,300
Chinese, yeah, I know that.

1580
01:01:31,300 --> 01:01:33,300
Right, right, right, Ben Boyer.

1581
01:01:33,300 --> 01:01:35,300
We Eurasians, man.

1582
01:01:35,300 --> 01:01:37,300
Hey, Eurasian must be Ben Boyer.

1583
01:01:37,300 --> 01:01:41,300
Same for our Malay brothers and sisters.

1584
01:01:41,300 --> 01:01:42,300
Similar.

1585
01:01:42,300 --> 01:01:43,300
You flip the coin, man.

1586
01:01:43,300 --> 01:01:44,300
Flip the coin over, man.

1587
01:01:44,300 --> 01:01:46,300
It's another side you're looking at.

1588
01:01:46,300 --> 01:01:50,300
We get stereotyped over and over again.

1589
01:01:50,300 --> 01:01:52,300
But how about you?

1590
01:01:52,300 --> 01:01:53,300
You've got a kid, right?

1591
01:01:53,300 --> 01:01:54,300
How old is your kid?

1592
01:01:54,300 --> 01:01:56,300
He's 19, 20 months.

1593
01:01:56,300 --> 01:01:57,300
Yeah.

1594
01:01:57,300 --> 01:01:58,300
Come May, he's two.

1595
01:01:58,300 --> 01:01:59,300
Wow.

1596
01:01:59,300 --> 01:02:00,300
Okay.

1597
01:02:00,300 --> 01:02:02,300
Long way to go, my friend.

1598
01:02:02,300 --> 01:02:04,300
I'm late in the game.

1599
01:02:04,300 --> 01:02:05,300
But never too late.

1600
01:02:05,300 --> 01:02:06,300
Never too late.

1601
01:02:06,300 --> 01:02:07,300
It's a blessing.

1602
01:02:07,300 --> 01:02:08,300
Don't worry about it.

1603
01:02:08,300 --> 01:02:10,300
I'm not that young a dad either.

1604
01:02:10,300 --> 01:02:12,300
My son is coming 15.

1605
01:02:12,300 --> 01:02:13,300
Wonderful.

1606
01:02:13,300 --> 01:02:14,300
Yeah.

1607
01:02:14,300 --> 01:02:15,300
It's been a wonderful journey.

1608
01:02:15,300 --> 01:02:18,300
I can't imagine my son turns 15.

1609
01:02:18,300 --> 01:02:20,300
It's been a wonderful journey.

1610
01:02:20,300 --> 01:02:21,300
I can tell you.

1611
01:02:21,300 --> 01:02:22,300
And you know something?

1612
01:02:22,300 --> 01:02:25,300
Now that I'm on that topic, I share this something with you and for everyone to listen to and

1613
01:02:25,300 --> 01:02:26,300
watch and listen to.

1614
01:02:26,300 --> 01:02:29,300
You know, he's from my school.

1615
01:02:29,300 --> 01:02:31,300
He's in Sin Fats.

1616
01:02:31,300 --> 01:02:32,300
I love, I love Sin Fats.

1617
01:02:32,300 --> 01:02:33,300
I still do.

1618
01:02:33,300 --> 01:02:34,300
I love Sin Fats so much.

1619
01:02:34,300 --> 01:02:39,300
And even more now because you know what they're doing?

1620
01:02:39,300 --> 01:02:41,300
The music lessons are serious.

1621
01:02:41,300 --> 01:02:42,300
Yeah.

1622
01:02:42,300 --> 01:02:43,300
I've met the music teachers.

1623
01:02:43,300 --> 01:02:44,300
I've worked with them.

1624
01:02:44,300 --> 01:02:45,300
They're amazing.

1625
01:02:45,300 --> 01:02:52,300
I've never heard, never seen so much talent and voices are so amazing.

1626
01:02:52,300 --> 01:02:54,300
Blows your mind.

1627
01:02:54,300 --> 01:02:55,300
Yeah.

1628
01:02:55,300 --> 01:02:58,300
And I, and I don't give out these compliments so easily.

1629
01:02:58,300 --> 01:02:59,300
Let me tell you.

1630
01:02:59,300 --> 01:03:01,300
I'm not my son.

1631
01:03:01,300 --> 01:03:02,300
I'm the kind of dad.

1632
01:03:02,300 --> 01:03:07,300
It's not going to be like other crazy parents who are helicopter, helicoptering their children.

1633
01:03:07,300 --> 01:03:08,300
Yeah.

1634
01:03:08,300 --> 01:03:12,300
And oh, weekends you're going to go for tuition from tuition.

1635
01:03:12,300 --> 01:03:13,300
You're going to go for piano.

1636
01:03:13,300 --> 01:03:14,300
You're going to go for this and that.

1637
01:03:14,300 --> 01:03:15,300
Take one.

1638
01:03:15,300 --> 01:03:16,300
No, no, no, no, no, no.

1639
01:03:16,300 --> 01:03:20,300
You tell me you go figure out what you want, what you like.

1640
01:03:20,300 --> 01:03:22,300
And we've been doing that all his life.

1641
01:03:22,300 --> 01:03:23,300
Right.

1642
01:03:23,300 --> 01:03:26,300
And I'm very glad the way he turned out to be honest, I didn't put him through anything

1643
01:03:26,300 --> 01:03:27,300
musical.

1644
01:03:27,300 --> 01:03:28,300
Yeah.

1645
01:03:28,300 --> 01:03:34,300
And he represented, he represented Singapore last year in sport and at least, you know,

1646
01:03:34,300 --> 01:03:35,300
and that's great.

1647
01:03:35,300 --> 01:03:37,300
And it's all on his own.

1648
01:03:37,300 --> 01:03:38,300
Yeah.

1649
01:03:38,300 --> 01:03:39,300
So let a guy grow in his own.

1650
01:03:39,300 --> 01:03:43,300
That's my belief, my wife and I, but musically nothing, nothing.

1651
01:03:43,300 --> 01:03:44,300
Okay.

1652
01:03:44,300 --> 01:03:45,300
Witnessing pads.

1653
01:03:45,300 --> 01:03:53,300
The principal promised all of us, all the parents, by the time your son leaves the school

1654
01:03:53,300 --> 01:04:00,300
in four years, we have from secondary one to sixth four, he can play at least two instruments.

1655
01:04:00,300 --> 01:04:05,300
My boy came back one day and said, I've got to be all made to form bands.

1656
01:04:05,300 --> 01:04:07,300
Five piece.

1657
01:04:07,300 --> 01:04:10,300
They're all made to form as part of your assignment.

1658
01:04:10,300 --> 01:04:11,300
Yeah.

1659
01:04:11,300 --> 01:04:14,300
And then they have to play two songs.

1660
01:04:14,300 --> 01:04:20,300
So first one they've already accomplished, beat it, Michael Jackson, right?

1661
01:04:20,300 --> 01:04:23,300
And then they started playing bass.

1662
01:04:23,300 --> 01:04:24,300
I mean you what?

1663
01:04:24,300 --> 01:04:27,300
Yeah, yeah, I play bass.

1664
01:04:27,300 --> 01:04:28,300
How?

1665
01:04:28,300 --> 01:04:30,300
The school's hot.

1666
01:04:30,300 --> 01:04:32,300
It's brilliant.

1667
01:04:32,300 --> 01:04:34,300
Then they have hip hop class.

1668
01:04:34,300 --> 01:04:38,300
If even that is elective, okay, hip hop.

1669
01:04:38,300 --> 01:04:44,300
And right now they're considering still myself, my good old buddy, old friend of mine, Glenn

1670
01:04:44,300 --> 01:04:48,300
Ong, and together with Andre, who'd go over and teach media.

1671
01:04:48,300 --> 01:04:50,300
And you know, for me voice, right?

1672
01:04:50,300 --> 01:04:52,300
Broadcast, blah, blah, blah.

1673
01:04:52,300 --> 01:04:59,300
And so the school, there's one school in my old school that's still doing what it can

1674
01:04:59,300 --> 01:05:07,300
to make sure that this country and we can still produce moving forward new musos, entertainers,

1675
01:05:07,300 --> 01:05:09,300
media personalities, you know what I mean?

1676
01:05:09,300 --> 01:05:14,300
And I think that's great because there is no, there is no, oh, you know, I don't want

1677
01:05:14,300 --> 01:05:18,300
many various schools, all about academics, I think it's wonderful.

1678
01:05:18,300 --> 01:05:23,300
There's one school that's playing its part and I think it should spread across the board.

1679
01:05:23,300 --> 01:05:26,300
Yes, we actually working with MOE on this one.

1680
01:05:26,300 --> 01:05:27,300
Oh, really?

1681
01:05:27,300 --> 01:05:29,300
I have a music academy.

1682
01:05:29,300 --> 01:05:31,300
Yeah, that one I know, yeah.

1683
01:05:31,300 --> 01:05:36,300
It's part of the ecosystem of what we do and we are working with MOE on a new sort of direction.

1684
01:05:36,300 --> 01:05:37,300
And you're right.

1685
01:05:37,300 --> 01:05:43,300
If every school offers this for all students, then the mindsets can change.

1686
01:05:43,300 --> 01:05:46,300
We believe in the next generation and the next generation.

1687
01:05:46,300 --> 01:05:47,300
It has to start now.

1688
01:05:47,300 --> 01:05:48,300
So you're right.

1689
01:05:48,300 --> 01:05:51,300
I mean, for me, that's what I've been telling them.

1690
01:05:51,300 --> 01:05:55,300
It has to be a standardized, somewhat standardized syllabus, right?

1691
01:05:55,300 --> 01:06:02,300
But more focused on band and instruments like your kit, you know, playing beaded or even

1692
01:06:02,300 --> 01:06:06,300
local music, even local songs, even regional songs.

1693
01:06:06,300 --> 01:06:12,300
You know, I've done about three concerts for Filipino bands.

1694
01:06:12,300 --> 01:06:15,300
We sold out everyone, almost everyone of them.

1695
01:06:15,300 --> 01:06:19,300
We sold 700 tickets at $50 and $80.

1696
01:06:19,300 --> 01:06:21,300
$80 is the meet and greet.

1697
01:06:21,300 --> 01:06:23,300
And we do it at Timber Plus One North.

1698
01:06:23,300 --> 01:06:27,300
We have one coming up in, I believe it was April.

1699
01:06:27,300 --> 01:06:28,300
I'm not wrong.

1700
01:06:28,300 --> 01:06:31,300
And like I said, just look at the Filipinos.

1701
01:06:31,300 --> 01:06:34,300
They are so proud of their artists, so proud of their bands.

1702
01:06:34,300 --> 01:06:37,300
They know every word to the songs.

1703
01:06:37,300 --> 01:06:40,300
We could do the same, but it would take some time.

1704
01:06:40,300 --> 01:06:41,300
But it starts from the school.

1705
01:06:41,300 --> 01:06:42,300
It starts from your school.

1706
01:06:42,300 --> 01:06:44,300
Your kit is a great example.

1707
01:06:44,300 --> 01:06:47,300
It starts from the school is one thing, my friend.

1708
01:06:47,300 --> 01:06:51,300
But I think the biggest influence is the home.

1709
01:06:51,300 --> 01:06:52,300
Sure.

1710
01:06:52,300 --> 01:06:53,300
Why?

1711
01:06:53,300 --> 01:07:01,300
A couple of years ago, I was asked to give the primary sixes of my old primary school.

1712
01:07:01,300 --> 01:07:04,300
And something happened in front of my eyes.

1713
01:07:04,300 --> 01:07:05,300
12 year old boys.

1714
01:07:05,300 --> 01:07:07,300
Yeah.

1715
01:07:07,300 --> 01:07:12,300
There's a Filipino boy and our local boys around him.

1716
01:07:12,300 --> 01:07:19,300
And of course, I was covering stuff like, okay, emceeing, you know, voice artists, blah, blah, blah.

1717
01:07:19,300 --> 01:07:23,300
And this, so I asked a small group, they're all coming groups.

1718
01:07:23,300 --> 01:07:29,300
So I asked a small, this particular group, any one of you here playing an instrument, musical instrument.

1719
01:07:29,300 --> 01:07:31,300
So this Filipino boy put up his hand.

1720
01:07:31,300 --> 01:07:32,300
Yeah, I do.

1721
01:07:32,300 --> 01:07:34,300
I play the guitar.

1722
01:07:34,300 --> 01:07:43,300
Then after that, the other kid, which is his local boy, asked me, how much money can you guys make?

1723
01:07:43,300 --> 01:07:47,300
I said, wow, that's the first question that comes out of your mouth, huh?

1724
01:07:47,300 --> 01:07:53,300
Yeah, because my parents always say that, that don't do something that doesn't pay you much.

1725
01:07:53,300 --> 01:07:59,300
And this kid said, I asked him, I asked the other boy, ignored this kid.

1726
01:07:59,300 --> 01:08:01,300
I said, no point, pointless.

1727
01:08:01,300 --> 01:08:03,300
So I asked this, the Filipino boy.

1728
01:08:03,300 --> 01:08:08,300
So what's, what you gonna do when you, if you thought about what you want to do when you grow up?

1729
01:08:08,300 --> 01:08:11,300
His answer to me was, I want to be a carpenter.

1730
01:08:11,300 --> 01:08:15,300
And that drew laughter from all of our local children.

1731
01:08:15,300 --> 01:08:18,300
And I asked them, why are you guys laughing?

1732
01:08:18,300 --> 01:08:20,300
And they, and they, they looked at him.

1733
01:08:20,300 --> 01:08:23,300
One of the, the same one asked me about the money thing.

1734
01:08:23,300 --> 01:08:30,300
Said this, told this boy, this Filipino boy, you can't make money as a carpenter.

1735
01:08:30,300 --> 01:08:33,300
It's stupid.

1736
01:08:33,300 --> 01:08:38,300
And so, you know, Danny, and we can do whatever it wants.

1737
01:08:38,300 --> 01:08:40,300
Great. I mean, I applaud them.

1738
01:08:40,300 --> 01:08:43,300
You got, you guys helping each other out for this.

1739
01:08:43,300 --> 01:08:52,300
Great. But it is still the mindset of the Singapore household that has got to change.

1740
01:08:52,300 --> 01:08:54,300
So this is what I mean.

1741
01:08:54,300 --> 01:09:03,300
From a macro, macro scale, man, how can we drive this into the homes that please musicians,

1742
01:09:03,300 --> 01:09:08,300
you think it's easy doing this, but it's because they love this and good at it.

1743
01:09:08,300 --> 01:09:10,300
And they want to grow that craft.

1744
01:09:10,300 --> 01:09:13,300
Let me, let me just, let me address this a little bit.

1745
01:09:13,300 --> 01:09:18,300
I think you're absolutely right that it starts from the home.

1746
01:09:18,300 --> 01:09:21,300
So, you know, I'm also involved with respect SG.

1747
01:09:21,300 --> 01:09:24,300
I don't know if you read, but I can send it more information to you.

1748
01:09:24,300 --> 01:09:29,300
What we have done is we work with RI, I mean, you know, Raffles and also other schools,

1749
01:09:29,300 --> 01:09:36,300
including very soon, hopefully St. Pat's, where 16 year old kids from sec four students

1750
01:09:36,300 --> 01:09:39,300
and sec three students get to work in FNB.

1751
01:09:39,300 --> 01:09:41,300
Now, why do I bring this up?

1752
01:09:41,300 --> 01:09:43,300
It all comes from being humble.

1753
01:09:43,300 --> 01:09:47,300
You know, the kids that laugh at this boy, that's terrible.

1754
01:09:47,300 --> 01:09:48,300
Terrible.

1755
01:09:48,300 --> 01:09:53,300
I mean, I like to remind people that Jesus was a competent.

1756
01:09:53,300 --> 01:09:56,300
I'm going to go and get sick forgiveness.

1757
01:09:56,300 --> 01:09:57,300
But you're right.

1758
01:09:57,300 --> 01:09:59,300
I mean, don't laugh at someone.

1759
01:09:59,300 --> 01:10:03,300
But my point is this, the RI kids have been working with us for seven years.

1760
01:10:03,300 --> 01:10:08,300
Every single one of them that went to work with us and do three weeks of working in the kitchen

1761
01:10:08,300 --> 01:10:12,300
and service, they wrote things like, I can't believe it.

1762
01:10:12,300 --> 01:10:14,300
I can't believe how humbling this is.

1763
01:10:14,300 --> 01:10:18,300
I can't believe how difficult is a job to serve someone.

1764
01:10:18,300 --> 01:10:19,300
Right?

1765
01:10:19,300 --> 01:10:23,300
Because you see me and you, when we were 17, 18, we were looking for our first job.

1766
01:10:23,300 --> 01:10:25,300
I was a waiter.

1767
01:10:25,300 --> 01:10:26,300
I worked as a waiter.

1768
01:10:26,300 --> 01:10:27,300
I worked at 7-Eleven.

1769
01:10:27,300 --> 01:10:31,300
I was working in 7-Eleven, funny enough, near Holy Family.

1770
01:10:31,300 --> 01:10:34,300
The one that is near Holy Family.

1771
01:10:34,300 --> 01:10:38,300
The one at night where people come with, I don't know who, from KTVs.

1772
01:10:38,300 --> 01:10:40,300
And that's the one I worked at.

1773
01:10:40,300 --> 01:10:43,300
I worked the midnight shift because the Earth paid more.

1774
01:10:43,300 --> 01:10:45,300
I worked as a census officer.

1775
01:10:45,300 --> 01:10:46,300
I always worked.

1776
01:10:46,300 --> 01:10:51,300
But you see, if young kids are protected in their homes, don't work, stay at home,

1777
01:10:51,300 --> 01:10:57,300
study your math, and they don't get to work outside and talk to other people,

1778
01:10:57,300 --> 01:10:59,300
that's not a good future.

1779
01:10:59,300 --> 01:11:03,300
Because eventually EQ has to be as important too.

1780
01:11:03,300 --> 01:11:06,300
Well, you know, we've been talking for almost an hour and a half.

1781
01:11:06,300 --> 01:11:11,300
So on that note, Danny, I'm just going to end the show with just two things.

1782
01:11:11,300 --> 01:11:13,300
Just two more things.

1783
01:11:13,300 --> 01:11:18,300
One, if recently you heard of Glassdoor, right?

1784
01:11:18,300 --> 01:11:21,300
Online there's a portal called Glassdoor.

1785
01:11:21,300 --> 01:11:26,300
And when people bitch and winch about their employers and stuff like that,

1786
01:11:26,300 --> 01:11:31,300
I unfortunately saw some on Reddit.

1787
01:11:31,300 --> 01:11:37,300
And these people were saying, these were like excerpts from the Glassdoor.

1788
01:11:37,300 --> 01:11:40,300
Oh, what's the...the tagline was this.

1789
01:11:40,300 --> 01:11:46,300
They were rather the topic was, what's the worst industry or sector to work in?

1790
01:11:46,300 --> 01:11:51,300
And I tell you, I'm just going to sum it up in a nutshell.

1791
01:11:51,300 --> 01:11:56,300
FMB, stand too long and you're going to serve idiots.

1792
01:11:56,300 --> 01:11:59,300
Accountancy.

1793
01:11:59,300 --> 01:12:00,300
Accountancy.

1794
01:12:00,300 --> 01:12:05,300
What was the bitch, bitching about accountancy?

1795
01:12:05,300 --> 01:12:10,300
I think it was hours, a lot of hours spent, right?

1796
01:12:10,300 --> 01:12:13,300
Sitting at the table. So sit too long.

1797
01:12:13,300 --> 01:12:16,300
Stand too long, sit too long.

1798
01:12:16,300 --> 01:12:19,300
Oh gosh. Oh, oh, I'm not going to mention the organization.

1799
01:12:19,300 --> 01:12:24,300
They mentioned the organization's name, but it is a stat board, right?

1800
01:12:24,300 --> 01:12:28,300
And it involves in engineering, right?

1801
01:12:28,300 --> 01:12:29,300
You know what I mean?

1802
01:12:29,300 --> 01:12:35,300
And oh, so many people stay there for so many years, for so long to suffer.

1803
01:12:35,300 --> 01:12:37,300
I'm not going to stay there for long anymore.

1804
01:12:37,300 --> 01:12:40,300
I'm not going to be as silly as these boomers.

1805
01:12:40,300 --> 01:12:44,300
Okay. And then plus unceremoniously, they can just let you go.

1806
01:12:44,300 --> 01:12:48,300
I wish they have done. So why should I stay there? Right.

1807
01:12:48,300 --> 01:12:53,300
Oh, and then customer service. Oh my goodness.

1808
01:12:53,300 --> 01:12:57,300
Retail, retail as well. Retail in a department store.

1809
01:12:57,300 --> 01:13:02,300
Right. Because why we're dealing with entitled Singaporeans.

1810
01:13:02,300 --> 01:13:06,300
See, you know what? You're going to list a whole finance, finance as well.

1811
01:13:06,300 --> 01:13:10,300
Okay. You're going to list on everything. You're going to run out of jobs.

1812
01:13:10,300 --> 01:13:14,300
You're going to run out of jobs, man.

1813
01:13:14,300 --> 01:13:16,300
And it's like, what do you want?

1814
01:13:16,300 --> 01:13:20,300
Too far, too low, too long, too short.

1815
01:13:20,300 --> 01:13:22,300
What do you want?

1816
01:13:22,300 --> 01:13:24,300
It's a sad situation.

1817
01:13:24,300 --> 01:13:29,300
It is. Right. And we are pandering to them.

1818
01:13:29,300 --> 01:13:32,300
Let me tell you something. This cover charge bullshit.

1819
01:13:32,300 --> 01:13:38,300
If I can find out which idiot started that, I'll probably...

1820
01:13:38,300 --> 01:13:41,300
I'm not going to go that far.

1821
01:13:41,300 --> 01:13:44,300
Stupid. Someone must have started that trend.

1822
01:13:44,300 --> 01:13:49,300
And then when you start that, people start losing work.

1823
01:13:49,300 --> 01:13:51,300
Well, I mean, I mean, most people don't charge cover charge,

1824
01:13:51,300 --> 01:13:55,300
but I think what I'm trying to say is that then how do you put the value back to the musicians?

1825
01:13:55,300 --> 01:13:56,300
Exactly.

1826
01:13:56,300 --> 01:14:00,300
That's a question that we are still grappling with.

1827
01:14:00,300 --> 01:14:02,300
Oh, come on, Danny. You and I both know, man.

1828
01:14:02,300 --> 01:14:06,300
The problem here, it would be landlords. I say that all so often.

1829
01:14:06,300 --> 01:14:09,300
It's the landlords, man.

1830
01:14:09,300 --> 01:14:13,300
If they don't charge that much, make a profit by our means.

1831
01:14:13,300 --> 01:14:16,300
Right. And don't get greedy.

1832
01:14:16,300 --> 01:14:21,300
Everyone can... just going to be equitable for everyone.

1833
01:14:21,300 --> 01:14:24,300
Right. Nobody's talking about that anymore.

1834
01:14:24,300 --> 01:14:28,300
You know, having businesses to be equitable.

1835
01:14:28,300 --> 01:14:32,300
You make your money, I make my money, and we're all going to be happy.

1836
01:14:32,300 --> 01:14:35,300
Yeah. It's hard to find good landlords, but you're right.

1837
01:14:35,300 --> 01:14:37,300
I mean, we've got some good ones.

1838
01:14:37,300 --> 01:14:41,300
We have to start negotiating with some more challenging ones.

1839
01:14:41,300 --> 01:14:44,300
But there's a lot of things in play here.

1840
01:14:44,300 --> 01:14:49,300
But I think coming back to what you said about this list of jobs that people don't want to do.

1841
01:14:49,300 --> 01:14:55,300
I have not regretted one day being a musician and in FMB.

1842
01:14:55,300 --> 01:14:57,300
At the end of the day, it makes me really happy.

1843
01:14:57,300 --> 01:14:59,300
You know what makes me truly happy?

1844
01:14:59,300 --> 01:15:06,300
To be able to see a young band that we've taken in like Supersonic or even 53E when they first started.

1845
01:15:06,300 --> 01:15:08,300
And put them on stage. You know why?

1846
01:15:08,300 --> 01:15:12,300
I feel proud when they are on stage and they have a microphone and they're making a joke.

1847
01:15:12,300 --> 01:15:15,300
And they're having banter with the crowd.

1848
01:15:15,300 --> 01:15:17,300
That's what makes Singapore great.

1849
01:15:17,300 --> 01:15:25,300
Because without entertainment, without live music scene, without musicians, young people who are confident.

1850
01:15:25,300 --> 01:15:32,300
Then we are competing with some really dynamic countries out there.

1851
01:15:32,300 --> 01:15:39,300
So the arts and culture and entertainment, I like to include that in, is part of our identity.

1852
01:15:39,300 --> 01:15:45,300
And we should be very careful because what is happening in Bangkok, what is happening elsewhere.

1853
01:15:45,300 --> 01:15:48,300
Where entertainment is top notch.

1854
01:15:48,300 --> 01:15:53,300
Japan, you know, when people go there for clubs and DJs are still working.

1855
01:15:53,300 --> 01:15:55,300
And then you look at Singapore.

1856
01:15:55,300 --> 01:15:58,300
When one of our main things is tourism.

1857
01:15:58,300 --> 01:16:03,300
And we don't focus on the content, how do you expect people to want to come here and have fun?

1858
01:16:03,300 --> 01:16:05,300
It just can't be MBS, man. Come on.

1859
01:16:05,300 --> 01:16:07,300
It can't just be one of a few things.

1860
01:16:07,300 --> 01:16:09,300
It has to be a lot of things.

1861
01:16:09,300 --> 01:16:12,300
People need to come in and say, you know, I went to this place. It's amazing.

1862
01:16:12,300 --> 01:16:14,300
Like Zook built this name.

1863
01:16:14,300 --> 01:16:17,300
Including the old Elvis.

1864
01:16:17,300 --> 01:16:20,300
The old Elvis and Concourse, they were in Duxton.

1865
01:16:20,300 --> 01:16:23,300
Right? It's Elvis Singapore, man.

1866
01:16:23,300 --> 01:16:26,300
No, even Boat Key in Circular Road.

1867
01:16:26,300 --> 01:16:28,300
Even, you know, Boogie's.

1868
01:16:28,300 --> 01:16:30,300
Boogie's when he was puzzling.

1869
01:16:30,300 --> 01:16:31,300
Boom Boom Room.

1870
01:16:31,300 --> 01:16:32,300
Yeah, Boom Boom Room.

1871
01:16:32,300 --> 01:16:33,300
All those places.

1872
01:16:33,300 --> 01:16:37,300
Hard Rock Cafe in the heydays. When Reggae, you know, Sunday.

1873
01:16:37,300 --> 01:16:38,300
Oh man.

1874
01:16:38,300 --> 01:16:39,300
I was there.

1875
01:16:39,300 --> 01:16:41,300
That was even before Jive Talking came on, man.

1876
01:16:41,300 --> 01:16:42,300
It was hot, man.

1877
01:16:42,300 --> 01:16:43,300
China Jump.

1878
01:16:43,300 --> 01:16:44,300
Yeah, China Jump. Yeah, yeah.

1879
01:16:44,300 --> 01:16:46,300
So, you know, Palm Room.

1880
01:16:46,300 --> 01:16:51,300
I think the era ended kind of around about there.

1881
01:16:51,300 --> 01:16:53,300
And now how do we rebuild it?

1882
01:16:53,300 --> 01:16:55,300
You say it starts from home.

1883
01:16:55,300 --> 01:16:58,300
It starts from people respecting other people.

1884
01:16:58,300 --> 01:17:01,300
Come on. People are happy doing the work.

1885
01:17:01,300 --> 01:17:03,300
Who are you to judge?

1886
01:17:03,300 --> 01:17:07,300
If they're happy being musicians, Carpenter, FMB, who are you to judge?

1887
01:17:07,300 --> 01:17:08,300
Last question.

1888
01:17:08,300 --> 01:17:12,300
If your son comes to you and says, daddy, I'm going to be a muso.

1889
01:17:12,300 --> 01:17:13,300
What would you say?

1890
01:17:13,300 --> 01:17:16,300
I would say, I mean, I can't say.

1891
01:17:16,300 --> 01:17:18,300
It's hard for me to say no, don't do it.

1892
01:17:18,300 --> 01:17:20,300
Very hard, you know.

1893
01:17:20,300 --> 01:17:22,300
I would say go for it.

1894
01:17:22,300 --> 01:17:27,300
But what I will do as a responsible parent, as I'm sure you would do,

1895
01:17:27,300 --> 01:17:30,300
is to go through the challenges that lay my face.

1896
01:17:30,300 --> 01:17:33,300
And what they might have to do, pull up their socks.

1897
01:17:33,300 --> 01:17:35,300
And understand it's not going to be easy.

1898
01:17:35,300 --> 01:17:36,300
That's what I would do.

1899
01:17:36,300 --> 01:17:39,300
But whatever, stop it. No way. No way.

1900
01:17:39,300 --> 01:17:40,300
Awesome.

1901
01:17:40,300 --> 01:17:43,300
To end this program. Program.

1902
01:17:43,300 --> 01:17:45,300
Fuck that. This is our channel.

1903
01:17:45,300 --> 01:17:47,300
Okay, I'm not going to go there.

1904
01:17:47,300 --> 01:17:51,300
To end the show, we've plugged this thing out.

1905
01:17:51,300 --> 01:17:56,300
And just to showcase, Danny Leung in action with a band.

1906
01:17:56,300 --> 01:17:59,300
And this was during the pandemic period.

1907
01:17:59,300 --> 01:18:00,300
Wow, I remember this.

1908
01:18:00,300 --> 01:18:02,300
And you guys got together, right?

1909
01:18:02,300 --> 01:18:03,300
You got your bands come together.

1910
01:18:03,300 --> 01:18:05,300
You did something via Zoom.

1911
01:18:05,300 --> 01:18:08,300
Yeah, this is a friend from Jakarta.

1912
01:18:08,300 --> 01:18:09,300
I just jammed him last week.

1913
01:18:09,300 --> 01:18:10,300
Is that right?

1914
01:18:10,300 --> 01:18:11,300
Kongo.

1915
01:18:11,300 --> 01:18:14,300
I got to say, man, when I listened to them, the singers,

1916
01:18:14,300 --> 01:18:18,300
oh my gosh, mind-blowing.

1917
01:18:18,300 --> 01:18:19,300
Thanks, bro.

1918
01:18:19,300 --> 01:18:20,300
Bloody brilliant.

1919
01:18:20,300 --> 01:18:22,300
Kongo and Surav got free.

1920
01:18:22,300 --> 01:18:25,300
And by the way, Surav is my partner at Blackbird.

1921
01:18:25,300 --> 01:18:26,300
Uh-huh.

1922
01:18:26,300 --> 01:18:28,300
Yeah, yeah, go check him out, you know.

1923
01:18:28,300 --> 01:18:30,300
I'm going to come down to Blackbird.

1924
01:18:30,300 --> 01:18:31,300
I'm going to invite you.

1925
01:18:31,300 --> 01:18:32,300
Please, please, please do.

1926
01:18:32,300 --> 01:18:35,300
I would really love to come and listen to the music, man.

1927
01:18:35,300 --> 01:18:37,300
Because this blew me away.

1928
01:18:37,300 --> 01:18:41,300
And I just couldn't believe that it's done like this, you know, via Zoom.

1929
01:18:41,300 --> 01:18:43,300
You know, I've had friends who've done that too.

1930
01:18:43,300 --> 01:18:45,300
You know, Stephen Francis and the rest of his friends.

1931
01:18:45,300 --> 01:18:46,300
Amazing stuff.

1932
01:18:46,300 --> 01:18:48,300
This is also damn good, man.

1933
01:18:48,300 --> 01:18:54,300
And as Danny Leung people behind the six-string enjoy the video,

1934
01:18:54,300 --> 01:18:55,300
we're going to end the show.

1935
01:18:55,300 --> 01:18:58,300
Hey, Kai, play the whole damn thing, will you?

1936
01:18:58,300 --> 01:19:00,300
And here we go.

1937
01:19:00,300 --> 01:19:02,300
And thank you, Danny.

1938
01:19:02,300 --> 01:19:03,300
Thank you, brother.

1939
01:19:03,300 --> 01:19:26,300
Okay.

1940
01:19:33,300 --> 01:19:58,300
Okay.

1941
01:19:58,300 --> 01:20:13,300
Okay.

1942
01:20:13,300 --> 01:20:20,300
The thrill is gone.

1943
01:20:20,300 --> 01:20:26,300
The thrill is gone away from me.

1944
01:20:26,300 --> 01:20:31,300
The thrill is gone, baby.

1945
01:20:31,300 --> 01:20:37,300
The thrill is gone away from me.

1946
01:20:37,300 --> 01:20:42,300
You know you done me wrong, baby.

1947
01:20:42,300 --> 01:20:50,300
And you'll be sorry someday.

1948
01:20:50,300 --> 01:20:56,300
The thrill is gone.

1949
01:20:56,300 --> 01:21:02,300
It's gone away from me.

1950
01:21:02,300 --> 01:21:08,300
The thrill is gone, baby.

1951
01:21:08,300 --> 01:21:14,300
The thrill is gone away from me.

1952
01:21:14,300 --> 01:21:22,300
Although I still live on, but so lonely I'll be.

1953
01:21:44,300 --> 01:21:46,300
The thrill is gone.

1954
01:22:14,300 --> 01:22:43,300
The thrill is gone.

1955
01:22:43,300 --> 01:22:49,300
It's gone away from me.

1956
01:22:49,300 --> 01:22:53,300
The thrill is gone, baby.

1957
01:22:53,300 --> 01:22:56,300
Yeah.

1958
01:22:56,300 --> 01:23:01,300
It's gone away from me.

1959
01:23:01,300 --> 01:23:06,300
Someday I'll know I'll be open hearted, baby.

1960
01:23:06,300 --> 01:23:13,300
Just like I know a good man should be.

1961
01:23:13,300 --> 01:23:18,300
You know I'm free.

1962
01:23:18,300 --> 01:23:24,300
I'm free from this power.

1963
01:23:24,300 --> 01:23:31,300
Well, I'm free, free, free.

1964
01:23:31,300 --> 01:23:38,300
I'm free from this power, baby.

1965
01:23:38,300 --> 01:23:41,300
Now it's all over.

1966
01:23:41,300 --> 01:23:47,300
All I can do is wish you well.

1967
01:23:47,300 --> 01:23:49,300
Oh, yeah.

1968
01:23:49,300 --> 01:24:02,300
I'm free from this power.

1969
01:24:02,300 --> 01:24:24,300
Oh, yeah.

1970
01:24:32,300 --> 01:24:34,300
Mmm.