Transcript of interview with Jaarvis Ali (conducted by Amanda Lee), 24 January 2017, 7 pm, Skype.
Jaarvis is a 25-year old male Indian Singaporean who is an assistant producer at Mediacorp. Jaarvis likes English rock music by bands like Green Day and Linkin Park, and pop music by artistes like Ed Sheeran. He does not see a cultural connection as the American band Green Day play political music about their country, and he has not seen any local bands doing the same. Jaarvis does not listen to Western classical music. However, he liked it when Metallica performed with a symphony orchestra. He thinks that this is a global culture as it can be done and performed anywhere in the world. Jaarvis does not think that Western classical music can be considered as the foundation of all modern music. Jaarvis listens to some Indian pop music and likes the songs that are more fast-paced and upbeat. He thinks that there is a cultural connection as Singaporean Indians, Malaysian Indians, and Indians play music about their own culture and share that music and culture with each other. Jaarvis does not listen to traditional Indian music but thinks that it sounds different and very old. He thinks it should be preserved for the people who still enjoy it. Jaarvis used to listen to a Jay Chou song in primary school. He thinks that Chinese pop rock music can be catchy but all of them sound the same to him. Jaarvis liked the extract of traditional Chinese music as it was complex, and admired that it was difficult to play the instruments. He thinks it expresses a cultural connection to some degree but he is not very sure how much it expresses. Jaarvis liked the extract of Chinese crossover music as he found it nice and soothing. He thought it was more Chinese-influenced because of the instrumentation. Jaarvis did not like the extract of experimental Chinese music as he does not understand and connect with what the music is trying to express. He does not know if experimental Chinese music expresses contemporary culture. Jaarvis likes Singaporean bands like Plainsunset. He thinks that Singaporean music in general is good as there is talent but there is no platform to showcase their music. Jaarvis thinks that the focus of Singaporean music is given to the mainstream pop bands like Sam Willows, and that not enough attention is given to the bands playing other genres by the media. Jaarvis thinks that there is no distinct Singaporean sound, but there is a musical style in Singaporean rap music when they rap about Singaporean things. Jaarvis does not think Singlish comedy songs can represent Singapore as Singaporean musicians can come up with better music than those songs, and because foreigners will not understand what the songs are about. Jaarvis thinks that the older National Day songs were better and thinks that the newer songs are trying too hard to be trendy. He thinks that one musical genre that represents Singapore is heavy metal. Jaarvis is currently playing in four bands. The main band that he devotes most of his time to was formed with his best friend and other members. His concept for the band was one that was purely for entertainment and fun. Jaarvis is motivated to keep playing in bands as it is his passion. He likes every part of the band’s rehearsal process. Some memorable experiences he has had playing for this band involved opening for foreign punk and metal bands like The Exploited and Fleshcrawl when they performed in Singapore. Jaarvis’s band performs original songs and some covers. He does not have a lyrical theme or common link for his songs, and his band performs anything ranging from obesity rates to Harry Potter. Jaarvis finds opportunities to perform by creating his own shows and having his band play, or sending out records to other friends who are organizing shows. Jaarvis has not applied for any sponsorship from the National Arts Council. He thinks they would get rejected, as he considers the genre of music his band plays as underground and not accepted in mainstream society. Jaarvis thinks that Singaporeans can support bands by attending gigs and shows, and meeting new friends to keep the local music scene going. Jaarvis thinks that the unique Singaporean band culture here consists of local musicians of different genres who mingle together and do not believe in socializing only with those who play the same genre of music as them.
“I like [Green Day’s] punk lifestyle. I like, er, I like their freedom of speech. I like their – [the] way they play their songs and how they’ve never changed for the past maybe – what, two decades? Ya. And, er, besides that, er, let’s say Linkin Park – Linkin Park is from the old times. Maybe their first three albums. After that – no lah, I lost interest in music.”
“[Be]cause I think they’re too mainstream, and actually quite boring lah, it’s all the same stuff. Ed Sheeran, maybe? Ya, Ed Sheeran, er, ya. Ya, Ed Sheeran, I think that’s about it.”
“The only cultural connection I can see is when their band, er, plays music about their individual country that they grew up in. Like, er, cultural ... er, well I will use Green Day as an example – like they hate their country so actually most of their songs are actually anti-government. I haven’t heard any local bands, er, speaking about our culture.”
“This one where Metallica played live with the symphony fellas, the entire orchestra. It was very different. It was actually very soothing, but [Western classical music is] just not my cup of tea. But – I mean, ya, to each his own.”
“[Be]cause classical music is very broad, and ya – it’s just a lot of instruments coming together. Every, er, but I don’t think that it started out here. Er, I just feel that it’s ... ya, it’s a global thing, it’s just instruments coming together and they make music together. I think it’s – it can be done everywhere in the world. Not just certain parts of the world.”
“The [Indian pop music] I listen to are those very fast-paced and, er, very upbeat and ... er, mostly just very catchy, very catchy tunes. Ya, that’s what I like about the music. Gets you – gets you want to move. For me, gets me want to drink. That’s all, I don’t listen to the slower stuff.”
“And Indians they speak about their own – their own shit there, lah. Some of them – about their government and how they launder money and all this kind. Ya, I think there’s a connection with those [Indian pop songs], it’s just like sharing each other’s country’s culture through the songs.”
“Oh well, [traditional Indian music is] different and very traditional. It’s very old, er, er, it’s ya, it’s very ... it’s very old. Sounds that old people like to listen.”
“Mm, I think this [traditional Indian] music definitely must be preserved. But I don’t think I ever like the traditional music. But there are people who do lah, and then they do the traditional dance to traditional music. It should be preserved for this kind of people.”
“He love this fella called Jay Chou. Ya, and then, er, ya – I used to listen to one song, I think. Er, after that – I forgot about it. Ya, so that’s about it. But I think, ya, er, I think some of [the Chinese pop rock songs] are really catchy, but I remember thinking that all of them sounded the same.”
“Mm, the complexity [of traditional Chinese music]. I really don’t think it’s very easy to play the instruments. And playing it together – it’s the same as classical, lah. It’s not an easy thing to do. Um, I like their coordination, I think they have to be very specific for every note to come together so nicely. Is a lot of practice, ya. I respect all these musicians, whatever they play.”
“Well, I never heard stuff from mainland China, but I believe these songs they don’t have vocals, right? Ya, so I don’t really know but I’m very sure they bring out some emotions in certain people, the way they play it – their songs. So ... if I – if I link it to, er if I link it to culture then I’m very sure that they might have a cultural connection, but I – just to a certain degree for me because I can’t go deep into that.”
“[Chinese crossover music is] very nice, very soothing. I will actually continue listening to it later.”
“Nope. Nope, nope. I’m actually not a very big fan of experimental [Chinese], even for English music. That’s the only reason why I stopped listening to Linkin Park, because they became very experimental.”
“Because, er, apparently they – because experimental [Chinese] – to express certain emotions or – I don’t know – they try to do something, but I just don’t feel it. Mm. Ya, I – I just don’t think it’s something that I would listen to.”
“I think [Chinese experimental] expresses ... contemporary culture – actually, no. I don’t know. Ya, I don’t know.”
“[Local] individual artistes, no, I don’t listen to much from individual artistes. As for rock bands, I only – I heard about – I heard a few, I know a few. But listen – like continuously listening, I only listen to Plainsunset. And the rest are all heavy metal bands.”
“Singaporean music in general ... I think we have talent, we just don’t have the platform. Singaporean music ... um, I don’t think it’s very monotonous, I think we are – we are actually very colorful. But I wouldn’t say that we can do better, I think we are all doing our best. Is just that I think the focus here in Singapore is just the mainstream stuff. Yeah.”
“The [local] mainstream songs that I listen to, they try – they try to blend into the Western culture. So ... maybe when ... or if you listen to rap songs then you can hear some Singaporean stuff. Because Singaporean culture, Singaporean sound – because they bring it out more especially when they rap. Ya, if you’re talking about rock songs or more generic genres then no, I don’t think we have a Singaporean sound to it.”
“Our National Day music, our community music used to be so much better. With like, er, some – somewhere – [Where] I Belong (2001). And Home (1998) and We Will Get There (2002), you know those kind of very catchy tunes? But not anymore, I think recent National Day songs – haven’t heard of them, I saw them on TV and all – it sounded like shit. Ya, I just don’t feel it anymore.”
“I think heavy metal can represent Singapore very well. Because there’s this band called Rudra. Rudra is the only vedic metal band in the world where their songs are written in Sanskrit, and their lyrics are all about the ancient wars in – in – in the Hindu culture. And ya, they’re known worldwide and they’re the only genre – in that line. So that can represent Singapore [be]cause – I mean, they’re original.”
“I got interested in heavy metal because, er, I got interested in playing the guitar because of Linkin Park. Ya. And then from there I ventured out – you know from rock I went heavier, I went to the heavier stuff. Then I found bands like Metallica and everything, then I got – my likings got heavier.”
“I play the guitar, I play the bass, I play a bit of drums, and I’m mostly a vocalist. I’ve always wanted to do a solo – solo project where I played all the instruments, and I sing all the songs and I compose everything. So that made me want to learn the other instruments as well – I went for drums and bass.”
“Why did I form this band? Okay, um, basically the current four bands I am – I am in now, they are all different genres. And, er, recent one – the one I’m devoting a lot of my time in, it’s something very – it’s very ... it’s simple but very heavy.”
“I just wanted to form this band because I wanted to cater to a larger crowd. Ya. And then, our concept for the band is ... it’s to do stupid things on stage just to entertain. It’s just purely entertainment. And I found the right people to do that, so it’s a very fun band. Ya.”
“I think [what motivates me to keep playing together in a band is] ... the connection, the passion, the music, the people, the scene. The devotion in the ... the emotions, a lot of things, lah. Like I will never see myself without a band. Ya, I guess it’s just – one word to sum it all is passion.”
“Oh, I love every part of the rehearsal process. Ya, we – we practically bring our props to rehearsals to go and like wear them, or do like – just perform. We have mini skits during our shows sometimes and then we just perform our skits. We, er, look for parts where we can do different thing from every song. Ya. So ... we will rehearse for both the performance and the skit.”
“There’s this punk band – legendary punk band called [The] Exploited. They came over to Singapore to play and then we opened for them. And then, er, there’s this other death metal band called Fleshcrawl, we opened for them as well.”
“Every show we do is very fun because – the best thing about playing with these guys is the planning process. About we’re going to do for that show. Because we’re not just regular bands who just go up on stage and play, we actually do a lot of things – a lot of stupid things. Ya, it’s all stage presence and crowd entertainment, lah. I think we really excel in that aspect. Ya, we have a – what lightsaber battles during songs.”
“The sound on a whole like the drums were trigged properly, we couldn’t hear the vocals, we couldn’t hear the guitars. The guitarist couldn’t hear the vocals, you know these kind of things got to do with the sound? But I think we still did our best. And we didn’t really screw it up, it’s just that, er, I thought it could be better – much better. Ya, besides that no, every show was good.”
“I mean mostly all originals. Er, just about three covers for the crowd. As in some of our friends like certain songs from bands – foreign bands – then we just play them for fun on stage, but mostly all originals.”
“For this current band, our songs – our lyrical theme doesn’t, er, is not specific to anything. So it can go from – I write about the keyboard warriors, I write about McDonald’s, I write about, er, obesity rates. Ya. There’s no link, lah. There’s not supposed to be a link. And then we write about Harry Potter and, er, Karang Guni [rag and bone men]. Ya, so it’s very versatile.”
“I create my own [opportunities to perform]. I do my own shows so that my band can perform. But if not, er, I think that’s how I started. And then, er, we will just play the record, and then put it out on social media. And then send it out to a few friends who are organizing shows, and then just get them – ask them whether they want us. They know what kind of music we play, they know what kind of things, er, we do onstage, and they know what kind of crowd we can pull.”
“Singaporeans like the fact that, um, [local bands] are actually not bad at all. We had – we can make music. But on the other hand, they also don’t like the fact that we try too hard to fit in, or to become like the other bands in the rest of the world. Like ... some bands really lack originality. Like they try to be like some other bands, or try to copy their style.”
“Because, er, well, the genre we play, they are considered underground. The genre we play are not accepted in society. Er, I feel like even if we try [to apply for sponsorship], we know we going to get rejected because we are not mainstream. We are not what they would want to promote. So why – why put in so much effort to get rejected?”
“So I never really looked out anything to do with sponsorship, or grants, or whatever. But if you ask me, NAC supports bands? Ya. They do. They do support bands, but what kind of bands? I’m not really sure.”
“I don’t think there’s anything more a band can do [to get support from Singaporeans] because every band will want to get support, we do all we can to get support. It’s just up to Singaporeans themselves, whether they want to support or not. Because a typical Singaporean mentality is ‘Singaporeans cannot make it.”
“Ya, if you put a local band to play a show, the turn out will be probably less than half. If you compare to a local band to support a show – support a foreign – foreign band for that show. Because to them, “Oh, foreign band, oh, very big.” But if you put a local band just to play, nobody will come. I think it’s just the mentality.”
“The metalheads [are] with the metalheads, bounce with the bounce, the skinheads with the skins, the rockers with the rockers. Ya, there’s always a segregation. But I think that’s – that happens everywhere. But, er, Singapore – the good thing – the thing I like about Singapore is, er, they don’t really care about the segregation. They still hang out with each other and everything despite all these.”
“If I had zero support for my music, I’ll just record it and then keep it for myself. Ya, so I think ... the longevity of this local music is just depending on our support. So I would urge people to go for shows, to attend gigs, to meet new friends at shows. Just go out and show a little support.”
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