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SET YOUR GOALS SINGAPORE (for real this time)

 

Tickets available @ Inokii!

CRUEL HAND SINGAPORE

This is why I organize shows, honestly. It feels like a dream come true!

CRUEL HAND – The Production Nightmare

ABC Hostel, Jalan Kubor
June 6th 2011, 4:17pm 

On Twitter

After the NOMZ session at the airport, Lyn went straight home whilst Sya and I went the hobo route to scout for places to go that didn’t involve home. We decided to make use of the booked rooms at the hostel to squeeze in some shut eye before heading to the airport to pick up our 3rd and last band for this mad ass production week. I remember talking to Sya about how cool I felt typing out that tweet about having ECHO band pick ups back to back. Goddamn, what a cool moment.

Last Cruel Hand blast before heading to the airport

At about 10pm, Lyn picked us up from the hostel and we all headed out to the airport, exhausted but gleaming with excitement. CRUEL HAND! YESSAH!

Singapore Changi Airport, Terminal 1
June 7th 2011 , 12:35am

Sya gets a call from Kenet saying they’ve arrived and that they have this and this number of bags and luggage and we all heaved a sigh of relief. We don’t see them but yes, they’re here… right? At first, like any other band pick up sesh, we’d just chill and look out for guitars on the luggage belt and strange looking white people with band shirts and IDGAF faces. This time around, it went a little differently. Mmm, thinking about it gives me the chills. We decided it would probably be best to give Nate (CH’s guitarist whom we’ve met before when he sessioned for Bane) a head’s up that we were waiting for them. We’ve had contemplated so many scenarios on why they weren’t out with the rest of these fellows on Delta 281. Maybe they were shopping for duty free alcohol (most of them are edge so wtf), or taking a shit in there or whatever. Then Nate emails back with something none of us ever expected. I remember I was already pissed at this point when they haven’t showed and the bags were clearing up and went to take a seat away from the girls. Suddenly, they looked a little humored looking into Lyn’s phone and that’s never good. “We’re still in LA and we’re leaving for the airport soon!” Woooooooaaaaaaahhhhhhh.

First thought, this cannot be happening. Second thought, Ashton Kutcher, where the fuck is he with his camera crew. Third thought, venue, equipments, hostel, flights.

We all spent a few minutes being frustrated and angry at everyone but immediately went on damage control mode. All of us gradually have became used to problem solving ever since ECHO started and we’ve taken hit after hit but never backed down from a fight. If there was a tiny spark of hope, it will be utilized to it’s very last sparkle. Till now, I’m incredibly proud of myself and my girls for handling it so well. As mad and upset as we were, we still stayed a tiny bit PMA and got shit done.

One of the first few frantic announcements

The whole morning was spent on re-doing the show and coming up with Plan B and Plan C. It was fucking amazing. Most of the things on the TO- DO list for a reschedule show had to be done during office hours because that was the only time anyone of the people we were working with, will be up and running.

DBS was fucking us in the ass with their maintenance shit and we couldn’t rebook their flights until 4:30am. I was in and out of sleep but eventually lost the battle. Apparently even then, I was still responding to questions and remarks made to and about me. Haha

We woke up at 9:30am and called everyone we needed to call to make this damn show happen and everything was reconfirmed by noon. We had managed to redo a whole production in less than 10 hours. The powerpuff girls.

CONFIRMED!

And then there was the de javu of a day, waiting for the next morning to pick up American boys at the airport. My mom had started to get mad at me for giving too much shit about people I don’t even know and “will probably never really appreciate all the time and energy you sacrifice for them” but fuck eeeetttt siaaaaaa. This is the only thing I feel in life that’s worth my time. USS? Fuck off.

We had brunch at Lyn’s place before heading to my place and then back to get into Lyn’s car at around the same time as the day before to get to the airport. Again. We didn’t want to hang around Starbucks at T1 because boredom was stabbing us in the face and making us more lethargic than we already were. So we decided on a late dinner at Kallang’s Mcdonalds. While there watching a flying cockroach fest, the radio blasted Back At One by Brian Mcknight and we immediately started to miss another set of Americans. Irony.

On @syassnooying

D'aww... On @mikexhulud

Singapore Changi Airport, Terminal 1
June 8th 2011 , 2:00am

FINALLY!

Victory, Arab Street
June 8th 2011 , 10:54am

To our great relief, this band was filled with members who were actually excited to be in Asia, explore and try new shit. They were all up early to rock Singapore like a bitch. So we took them out for some traditional indian food, Briyani Ayam for breakfast.

Chris documenting Lyn taking a photo. NICE

Despite the scorching heat, we decided to walk to the merlion so the boys can check out the sights on the way. We strategically planned the route so that the boys would have a decent amount of time in various air-conditioned places, including passing through the library for 10 seconds
haha They never did complain. Aah love em!

Bugis Street
June 8th 2011 , 11:23am

We headed to Bugis to let them try the infamous durian. Video quality sucked on my phone and got even worst when I uploaded it to youtube but you get the idea yeah? The reactions weren’t as bad as I expected hahaha

1/5 of them liked it. Major props to Cam! I’m local and I can’t take that shit hahaha

By the time we got to esplanade, it was around noon and the sun was at it’s fiercest. They took some tourists shots on the esplanade roof and with the merlion, shenanigans almost all bands do when they’re here.

After the merlion, we went hunting for $1 ice cream uncle for the boys and Cam started to film himself talking to a bird. Mmkay, interesting little fellow. We then all took a bus back to the hostel for them to pack shit to go straight on to the venue.

Not long before the doors were scheduled to open, the skies started to get darker and darker. I had gone into silent panic mode but tried not to burst out screaming in horror.

Scape Lab, NYC Building
June 8th 2011 , 6:17pm

Actual panic fb status haha

Cruel Hand had just finished soundcheck at this time and the only other people there were ECHO, the opening bands and about 5 of their friends. No one was bugging us to buy tickets. I was slowly getting myself worked up and panicked. I remember the 3 of us in the back room, all worried sick that we weren’t going to be able to cover shit. At one point, I was playing with the window shutters of the one of the back rooms and annoying the shit out of Sya but it helped me to calm down hahaha I went outside to the door table, next to Farhan – this show’s door bitch and he made me play this stupid frog game on iphone. It was so stupid that it distracted me from the stress so huge thanks to Mr Dodgy for helping out! You rule!

We decided to push Straight Forward’s set a little later and that did such a great thing for us. At around 7pm, a huge rush of people started flowing into Scape Lab and I was literally doing 3 things at a time. It was insane! Before we knew it, the venue was almost full of kids. When SF started playing, all hell broke loose … in the best possible way. I’ve never seen such an eruption for an ECHO show. It was, to say the least, motherfucking epic.

Straight Forward || Photo By: Ian Soliva

Straight Forward || Photo By: Ian Soliva

Scape Lab, NYC Building
June 8th 2011 , 8:03pm

Fo reals

We had so much time to stretch out, it was actually quite fun hahaha Everyone could take their time to set up or reenergize from SF’s set and smoke or whatever. We had to get everyone out of the venue to do one last sweep of entry tags, which made it look a little weird from the band’s point of view. It was like “everyone get out, Cruel Hand’s about to perform” hahahahahah Once they started, the energy in the room shifted from an impressive 90% to about 200%. Apeshit.

There were 2 photographers at the show, Kris Gironella & Ian Soliva that shot the show without asking for press passes, and they took such amazing ones too. Here are my few favourites.

Cruel Hand by Ian Soliva

Cruel Hand by Ian Soliva

Cruel Hand by Ian Soliva

Cruel Hand by Kris Gironella

Cruel Hand by Kris Gironella

My review of Cruel Hand’s performance? Well, let me tell you this first. So far, all the bands we’ve ever booked I have always known of but have never really listened to. It’s not like I’m a poser pretending to like this type of music. No dude. I tell my bands straight up to their faces that yeah, I don’t really listen to hardcore and I don’t really dig their stuff. They don’t mind because there’s a mutual respect that goes on there. I obviously do respect the hardcore scene all over the world because some of the best people I know are in it. The scene is downright amazing. And yes, I do love organizing hardcore shows because I love watching people mosh and hardcore dancing. haha

Back to the point, I don’t listen to hardcore. When Cruel Hand played their first note at soundcheck, I knew right away, this band was not straight up hardcore. Almost immediately, I could hear the Metallica influence in their sound. Their set was just fucking amazing. Hardcore spirit with metal riffs. FUCK YES YOU ORGASMIC COMBO. What more, they had to add that little Metallica tribute bit at the end. DIED. It made my life. This band made everything worth every single anxiety migraines and stress break outs. We had to shift a whole show a day later on the day itself. I can’t even process this right now.

The morning in which we were re planning the show, I remember asking the girls if we’d ever be able to laugh this nightmarish episode off, seeing how none of us has really gotten over the FYS/SYG cancelation. I have the answer right now and it’s a yes. Everything we went through contributed to the amazing show we got. Worth it.

CRUEL HAND SINGAPORE CREW || I look so sad in all the other group shots for some reason. This is the only one that came out mildly decent haha

Singapore Changi Airport, Terminal 2
June 9th 2011 , 6:45am

I had to take the train to the airport to meet the guys there because I was (and still am) seriously broke from doing all these shows. They had breakfast and we had last few chats before sending them off. We didn’t quite get a very satisfying goodbye because it was already Last Call when we got to the gate. Didn’t even get last minute pictures. D’argh. Hate goodbyes.

My bed, Toa Payoh North
June 10th 2011 , 9:45am

Slept my whole 9th away basically but got up to such great comments on facebook and a sweet shout out from the boys. D’aww. Feeling the major happies.

❤

Now my life is officially over… until September.

For The Fallen Dreams & Shinto Katana. Mmhmm should be an interesting one.

Till the next production drama……. ^_^v

Relentless/Abhorrence

This is why I need my laptop everywhere I go, so i can document shit along the way. I can BARELY remember the Abhorrence/Relentless show and it’s only been what, a week? Yeah, exactly a week in 10 minutes. Woah dude.

We hung out with Abhorrence the last time they were here as friends but this time, we were actually the people handling the show. I thought it’d be completely different seeing our experience with No Turning Back was weird the second time around. But nope, it was just like the first. They were all still major sweethearts and I heart them plenty more now that I know the rest of them a little better.

Relentless – we had never met and to be completely honest, seeing their facebook pictures and updates, I had already hated their guts for being so typical tough guy hardcore-ish. Yes, I listen to hardcore, my friends are in hardcore bands and  majority in ECHO’s resume are hardcore bands, but I’m looking at their promo pictures and listening to them going “Bro, u serious?” Who would have thunk, they’d  actually end up to be my favourite Australians to date.

It has been proven over and over again that bands I don’t listen to make the best friends and those I really do actually like musically always tend to break my heart.

My Bed, Toa Payoh North
4th June 2011, 9:51am

It started like no other production day we’ve ever had. First of all, it was pouring mad cows and smelly horses out my window.Secondly, it was almost 10am and I was still rolling around in my bed, procrastinating getting up. It was the most chilled out show day, everrrr. The band was due to arrive Singapore at 5:55pm and till then, the only errand we had to run was picking up of drum pedals from AH Boy’s studio. We then went to the venue to sort shit out before Sya & I slowlyyyy left for airport.

Singapore Changi Airport
4th June 2011, 5:45pm

Joanna and Jasmine were at the airport waiting for Abhorrence as well so we all hung out and watch their flight get delayed about 4 times before finally landing. Abhorrence had problems with their equipment. Apparently, fucking flight broke Lenny’s guitar head. Fuuuck…. Relentless got out first and I quickly got them into our trusted maxi cab homie, Gary’s van. We went on straight to the venue. I remember my first conversation with Relentless to be about where to get hair nets in Singapore. Found out later on that they were poking fun at their merch guy Paul for thinking Singapore requires everyone to wear hair nets all the time. The fuck… hahahahahaha

The rest of the show was a blur to me because yeah, I have the memory span of a douchebag on training wheels. This also means the show went off without any significant glitches. Not flawless, just smooth running. Turn out was not great though because 1) Homeclub show with age restrictions 2) Last minute venue change – fucking Scape fucked us over a few days before the show 3) Last minute marketing – our bad. But the band was brilliant and the kids were stoked so we had a great time.

Our boys from Embrace Them Ghosts helped us out in the beginning hours of the day which was very nice of them. SHout out to Joel, Rex, Farhan, Bear and Kelvin for the help. Talented siol…..

Both bands thanked us on stage which was sweet.. Adko called me Mia. Mmmkay.

After the show, some of the guys helped us load the equipments and luggage into the van for Lyn and I to offload to ABC. The boys were trying to be gentlemen, insisting that we should be doing all this work, because we’re girls but hey, we’re promoters. No matter how much of girls we are, we’re legit roadies who’re troopers so yeah, take it.

I must say though, that load off thing was quite interesting. We got very little help from the dude at the counter (hostel’s boss’ son) and our cabby but Lyn and I managed nicely. It took a while but we got through it hahaha

Lyn and I waited out at the hostel for the guys to get back before we left. Somewhere around this time, that epic Trent episode happened. I believe it was when he forgot our names and was looking at the show tags we gave them. “EC-HO.. is that short for something? Like an abbreviation?” Hahahahahahahahhaahaahhaha very cute.
The next day, Sya & I got there early to take them out for breakfast. Ate at Victory. Or was it Zam Zam? Fuck if I remember this. Shortly after, we were transporting 12 boys + 1 girl to the JB show. Interestinggggg…….

When we finally did arrive at the show, then came the waiting for their slot to play. There were supposedly suppose to play third last and last but they had to shift things around so they’d be able to leave early. Well, technically, even though they did play earlier, we didn’t leave until after Wynken Delirium’s set, which was 2nd last. Wreckage played last and I can’t help but feel bad that we had to be rushing off during their set. Before the goodbye, Dajko grabbed both Sya and I close and told us we could get 2 shirts, which was so sweet… 🙂

The goodbyes with Abhorrence was unfortunate and very very short. Ugh, goodbyes. Adko wasn’t there. Bummer.

Relentless, Abhorrence, and the SG & JB crew

Sya and I were taking Relentless back with us to say goodbye to them in Singapore ahahah They had a flight in the morning to Manila and was flying off from Singapore. We didn’t know the boys had to fill in white cards before immigration so they had to go back and queue again. We were missing the last bus back and was already planning to beg one of the golden mile buses to let us in. Fortunately, the bus was still delayed when the boys got through customs.The bus back was quite fun. It was Sya, Me, Imran, Amir and the boys dominating the back of bus, being loud and obnoxious haha

We didn’t go home that night. Hung out outside ABC with Imran and Amir, talking about the shows and mostly nothing. When dawn came, we all went back to our respective homes to shower, nap and get back there ahahah Promoter life.

Went to the goddamn budget terminal which was lame but the guys had macdonalds before leaving. I don’t remember snapping this but yeah, I snapped it. hahaha

Australians having an American meal in Singapore

Took last few pictures (which I don’t have cause it’s in one of the guy’s camera) and said the sad goodbye. Just seconds after they were out of sight, we started to miss their silly antics already. Godddd hopeless…..

After saying our goodbyes to new found aussie mates Relentless, we scoured the airport for affordable NOMZ since not eating right for days. While waiting on Sya & Lyn to get our food, I threw away a lot of money using my phone data to read my twitterfeed (I do this a lot). Was pleasantly surprised to see Relentless giving us shout outs not only as ECHO but personally by name. AWWW…..

❤

About a few hours later, Abhorrence posted this:

❤

Wish we had a better show turn out but the boys had fun as far as I know so I’m feeling the happies!

Josh Lyford Leaves Four Year Strong

Click image for Josh's interview with RockSound

[No words can describe the pain of spending half an hour typing on a blog and having wordpress draft it as an empty post. This is my second attempt at blogging about this. Thanks much you piece of shit. First one was better… and angrier. Maybe wordpress did me a favour there. Oh oh?]

Like the real trooper he is, Josh Lyford is handling his departure from Four Year Strong really well. Although it does seemingly appear that he has accepted and will move on with his life without FYS, you can tell from his latest interview with ROCKSOUND that it was not a choice made on his part. For a guy who seems to be the one who embraced giglife the most out of all the members, I was, to say the least, pissed as fuck, when I found out FYS had kicked Lyford’s ass to the curb. This coming from the perspective of a 1) promoter who booked and got bailed on with not so much as an explanation, 2) a fan who did not get to see this fine ass line up and 3) both combined thinking she and Josh would have gotten along splendidly because they’re both a little mental.

He was the only one in the band who would document his adventures on tour in his blog and tweeting constantly about how much it rules. This was refreshing considering the fact that all most of the people in bands I follow really do on twitter is complain about how it all sucks and how they’d rather be home and all that jazz.  As someone who so desperately wants to make touring my life, the news was difficult to fully comprehend. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if the guy was one of those who cannot stop complaining about life on the road. This guy, he genuinely loved the road. Since Josh didn’t throw a tantrum like a baby bitch when something he loved so dearly had been taken away from him, I feel like doing it for him.

Some of the things Josh said in the interview did not ease the hurt one bit. Two lines in particular that broke me a little:

“Okay… woah, what do I do now?!’ Y’know, the last six years of my life have been touring constantly and devoted to the band so it’s kind of like, what kind of marketable skills do I possess at this point?”

” I guess it’s an opportunity to at least try and do some of the other things I’ve wanted to do, and if that doesn’t work out I can always go back to driving trucks!”

The man is too hot to be a truck driver goddammit!

Under unfortunate  circumstances, I got an interwebz response from Josh for the very first time this evening since friending him on multiple networking sites. I had let my fangirl flag fly  for possibly the very last time in a somewhat sad comment to his tumblr post on the split. The only reason why he responded to mine was probably because I was the only one who knew to comment on the post, not reblog it. Tumblr people… psssh. Somehow, I only noticed that my comment about his good looks in that post was, given the situation, mildly inappropriate after sending it, but alas, we all know the guy needs the boost. It also happens to be all so very true.

Send your love to dear Josh and wish him all the best. This is an incredibly sad occasion, especially for those who were given the hope of seeing that line up in January but had our dreams smashed. This band made me so incredibly upset and angry after that whole cancelation shenanigans but it does show how much I really do care about this band. I’m glad things between Josh and FYS ended in peace. God forbid if I had to pick sides, I’d tell both parties to fuck off.

Despite how much pain this band has brought me and additionally Josh’s departure, I will continue to support Four Year Strong for as long as they give me lady boners with their incredible tunes. Everyone else should consider it too.

xo

LINKS:

http://www.rocksound.tv/features/article/exclusive-josh-lyford-speaks-after-four-year-strong-departure

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Foxfires/153108124739788?ref=ts

http://doesawolfshaveitstail.com/

Top 10 Favourite Frontmen

There’s more to being the lead singer of a band than just singing and appearing in the center of every band photo. It takes power and charisma to command a crowd to do exactly what you say. Out of all randomness and the fact that I’m babysitting my niece and bored out of my mind, I gonna list down my favourite “boy in the middle of every photo”.

In no particular order:

1)

Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stone Sour)

 

2)

Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)

3)

Jonathan Vigil (The Ghost Inside)

4)

Anthony Raneri (Bayside)

5)

Winston McCall (Parkway Drive)

6)

Karl Schubach (Misery Signals)

7)

Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)

8)

M. Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold)

9)

Mike Herrera (MxPx/Tumbledown)

10)

James Hetfield (Metallica)

 

Miss Faithless’ Birthday

It’s been a few times this month that I’ve tried to jot down or type out thoughts onto my blog or diary but I hesitate thinking about how stupid my life is and why I even bother with it. Every time I make an attempt to sit down and blog properly, the words come out political, offensive, depressing or plain old dumb as fuck. I’m a terrible blogger.

The longest post I’ve managed to type out recently was a text message to myself, on the eve of my birthday. I know that sounds a little sad but I didn’t feel like bothering anyone with my petty little problems. As self-absorbed as I am, one thing that I hate, is ruining someone’s day.

This text message to myself was more like a 21st century suicide note. My last few thoughts as a 21 year old revolved around the topic of fear and death. I had managed to create my own little unimaginative and egotistical version of an afterlife. Unimaginative because it’s an end without an end. Egotistical because I was my own religion. If the stories about religion and the afterlife are real, I’m spending an eternity in hell for the kinds of stuff that were written in that text. I’m not the most religious person on earth. Truth be told, I’m still at the stage where I’m battling with faith.

A while back, Sya & I had a late night/early morning heated discussion about religion with The Pints outside their hostel. Being punks, I wasn’t surprised when they told us they were anti-religion. They had strong opinions about Islam and it’s practices and I enjoyed hearing their side. One thing I loved about these guys was that they weren’t afraid to be honest. Or maybe it was just the excessive amounts of alcohol. At one point, Bubbles (their roadie) pointed at me specifically and asked me what my stand was and my answer was a simple shrug. My summary of 21 years of being a Muslim was a slight shoulder jolt and a side smirk. I’m glad they were too wasted to realize how incredibly poetic I was on the subject.

An old friend once told me when the time is right, my heart will open up to believing and that faking faith is worst than having no faith. I took the latter to heart. Faking faith is worst than having no faith. It’s true isn’t it? Don’t preach shit you don’t believe in. That’s why I get a little weird when bands ask me about Islam. Most times, either Sya or Lyn will be there and they’d answer all of it for me. Their stories and explanations never get old because they’re passionate about it. If I was put in the spot to answer some of these questions, it’ll be one hell of a short and boring conversation. If you want a topic, don’t ask me about the practices of Islam. Instead, ask me about religion in general. I spoke about this in a little voice clip I did for Karl Schubach’s solo project – which doesn’t have a release date yet but I’m super stoked to be part of it! My entry intially was about 20 minutes long but I managed to chop off about 19 minutes of it hahaha For a preview of my blasphemy, be sure to buy it when it comes out. I’ll be sure to spam it everywhere when news gets out.

Anyway, I’m trailing way off topic. Bottomline is, I wrote a depressing little note on the eve of my birthday that I had originally planned to post up here but decided against it due to the sensitive issue. So here’s a blog detailing the events that occurred after a depressing birthday eve.

It was an EP launch for our good friends in Embrace Them Ghosts and we also slotted in an australian band to play the same show. Honestly, having a show on my birthday was erky. It looked like I booked a band to play for my birthday when it was all a complete accident. I’m not that tacky, honest.

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the details I’m about to reveal. It’s something I want to remember down the road so skip this part if you don’t want any dirt. And my apologies to Dawn Heist as well. We didn’t really get to hang out and I’m sure they’re really awesome dudes.

The ECHO girls met at the airport on the 9th to pick the aussie dudes up at the airport. I usually do a bit of research on the band before we meet them because going into things blindly scares the living hell out of me. But Dawn Heist was an extremely new band and didn’t have much of them on cyber space so we didn’t have any kind of expectations.

The first meet up with the band never fails to be awkward. It had always been that way with every band we’ve ever booked or helped to chaperon but everyone loosens up after a few hours, sometimes minutes and somehow, we all magically become instant buddies. You can’t really explain it. It’s just giglife. Unfortunately though, it didn’t turn out this way with Dawn Heist. I’m sure they’re actually an awesome bunch but right from the start, everything was just .. awkward. I guess they’re not used to female organizers because I could’ve sworn, the first few minutes they had thought we were groupies waiting for an autograph ha ha Lyn was the first one to step up and introduced us as ECHO and I swear the guy looks at her like “ECHO? Are you selling something? Because I’m not interested.” I could be wrong but we didn’t get friendly enough for me to ask them why they were hesitant to introduce themselves or even shake our hands.

We all maintained distance for some reason on the bus and at the hostel and didn’t speak much to each other. Maybe we were just so used to bands who’d talk our ears off with questions about ECHO, Singapore, our culture, history or say stuff like “holyshit, is that really a ship on that building?!” Maybe we didn’t put enough of an effort to MAKE them talk but then again, I’ve been on tour before and sometimes, when I’m quiet, it means I’m tired and don’t feel like talking much. So that’s like a note I have in my mind whenever I meet bands for the first time. If they look like they don’t want to talk, leave them alone. Maybe I shouldn’t have followed code, idk.

I thought maybe we’d get them to loosen up abit when we hang out that night after they’ve sorted their shit out and finally get into “off day on tour” mode but one of them has a relative living at Avenue 4 (which btw I’m told is where all the extravagant mansions are) so, we just waited out for their limo cab and went home. Mission get-to-know-band fail. Day 1, complete bust.

Day 2 – They were still awkward around us. What the what. My conclusion is they were weird about us having vaginas. Sometimes bands feel bad about talking normally in front of girls, in fear they’d offend us. What more, we were ASIAN girls. But really… please don’t. We could care less if you have hairy balls or if you took a dump that was shaped like a giant dick. Girls fart and shit too you silly bitches.

The turn out was relatively good for a small, weekday show with sloppy marketing. (The poster was my fault btw, sorry about that) Honestly, as bad as this may sound, I always feel we nail it when it comes to line up. We had deathcore, metalcore and hardcore all in one show and no one killed each other. If I’m not wrong, it was one of the first few shows for No Rest For The Weary and I really did dig their stuff. Straight Forward didn’t get to play because of some issues with the band members, which was a real bummer because a lot of people came specifically to watch them and I was one of those who was stoked for their set.  Fall of Mirra – well, there is really nothing bad you can say about this band. There’s a reason why they’re such a favourite with a lot of people and it shows with every show they do. So proud to call them friends. Embrace Them Ghosts couldn’t have chosen a better time to launch their EP. They’ve gotten so so good since the last time I watched them and have gotten very…uhm tight and chey chey cheyyyy looking goooood. Hahaha GREAT band. The crowd was WILD for them and singing along to their tunes. Very rare for local bands and it was absolutely amazing to see. I was outside to do merch for most of their set, honestly because I had the suspicion the ETG boys & my girls were up to something (they were texting and being all dodgy for 2 days and at one point, didn’t even let me sit at the door table) and like, OMG DNW the weird attention!! So imagine my horror when Sya and Lyn forced me inside for an “EMERGENCY” (that was so obvious la girls, sorry hahaha). I was officially that person at a show you don’t know but sang a happy birthday song for. I was horrified but a tiny bit relieved Cheska and I shared the same birthday, so I wasn’t the only one in the spotlight. I awkwardly yell thank you to everyone and ran out of the venue with the cake haha Fuck, it makes me blush even thinking about it. Bwah. Thank you ETG ,Sya, Lyn and everyone who sang along. It was cho schweet 🙂 I wish I handled it better though hahahaha

Dawn Heist was next and because we weren’t technically friends, I didn’t feel obligated to like them. But surprise surprise, I LOVED their set. I can’t put into words how AMAZING of a live band they are. They really got the crowd going and it made my day so much. At one point, I literally stepped into the venue to Pat (the lead singer) yelling “ERUPT” (or something to that extend) and I could’ve sworn, almost half the crowd literally ERUPTED into a hardcore dancing frenzy.  HOLYSHIT. It was one of the best things I’ve ever seen happen at our show! Amazing amazing amazing band. Rex caught the drummers drumstick and gave it to me for my birthday. Thanks fart machine! hahaha awesome. Bands we bring in don’t usually give out their drumsticks after their set but maybe it’s a metal/aussie/dawn heist thing. Nice memorabilia from my newest favourite live band. Carly, Pat’s wife gave me their EP for free, which I still feel awful about because after watching them, I had wanted to buy something to contribute to this awesome band but I already had he CD and I couldn’t afford a tshirt : \ Ah well. Thought maybe we’d hang out after the show and I’d get to tell them how awesome they were.

Well, nope.

Situation was still the same and got kinda worst the next day. Don’t really want to get into that but I’d just say, they weren’t too happy with us on the day they left for KL. They’re the first band we didn’t hug goodbye, which I’m so bummed about. Not because I’m so needy and WANTED a hug (I’m sad but not that sad uh please), but a hug that meant they were sad to leave, not a brief handshake that meant they were so relieved to be getting the fuck out of our hands. I’ve always taken pride in ECHO’s way of making bands feel secure when they’re here and having them actually say  “we’ve never been taken care of the way you girls have”(with no sexual implications). I’m certain Dawn Heist doesn’t feel at all like they got that from us, and I am truly bummed out about this. Hopefully, we can have a do-over someday soon.

SO that’s the story of my birthday celebration. Fortunately for me, it didn’t end on that sad note. 2 days later, Sya & I embarked on an adventurous weekend roadtrip to Kajang with the boys of Embrace Them Ghosts. Plenty of junk food, boy jokes, Rex farts, cool moshes, situational stories, disappointing meals and uncontrollable laughs. Chey chey chey looooking gooood….

Overall, eventful birthday week thanks to my amazing friends. Hahaha

(Man, this turned out to be a long one :|)

By the way…

Rise To Remain was really good live! Didn’t really have any kind of expectations before the show because I didn’t bother to check them out when most of those going for Maiden were telling me “Meh. Generic metalcore band”. So yeah, this band was just the warm up and just another band I had to get over and done with before Maiden.

Pleasantly surprised I must say. Check it if you haven’t. If you’re metal up the ass type and are expecting a Maiden ish band, this will probably piss you off. Open mind peeps. Open mind.

IRON MAIDEN

*Pictures stolen from various people.

None of these are mine except the videos. 🙂

A show I will never forget, from beginning to end.

Didn’t quite take much credit for it but I was indeed the very first person (with much credit to my twin Sya as well) to start lining up for the Iron Maiden show. We had arrived there at about 8pm the day before, mostly curiously looking upon the folks who were getting out from the Eric Clapton show. Even experienced some celebrity sightings! Ramli Sarip la sia! hahahaha People were put on our teams and it was a decent time. Met a few other Maiden crazies and decided to hang out randomly. More and more people started to join us, everyone talking like we’ve known each other for years. Making friends like nobody’s business = concert necessity.

 

3 - 4am

Morning

Sometime in the afternoon

Continuation of the queue

Alright, let’s talk about the queue system.

As you can clearly see from the pictures, there was hope for an organized queue in the beginning. It had started to drizzle in the middle of the afternoon, and like total idiots, the Singapore Indoor Stadium security did not, at all at least anticipate and prepare for rain. What more a heavy down pour. Most of their men in black (Mysterious but useless for what tell me?) were mostly there, standing around, smoking and hanging out at the queue area for most parts of the day, EXCEPT when they were needed most. When it started to pour, security was nowhere to be seen. Even if they were there, believe me, they might as well not have been. All of us at the front was torn between wanting to break the rules and move forward so the people at the back can come inside for some shelter but because we didn’t want a shit blast, we decided against it. But well, all hell broke loose anyway. I was going apeshit and running for my life when the people at the back started to run past me to the entrance of the hall. What the what. Again, no security officials were there to even stop this madness. So like proper hooligans, everyone decided it’d be a good idea to break down the door. What the what once more. As much as I had wanted to be part of this gang, giving the damn shitheads of S.I.S security fucking hell and just going mad on them doors, I also happen to have a little bit of production and show organizing experience. I knew what was going on and what was going to happen next. I knew exactly. I believe I said it out loud to Lyn, purposely raising my voice for people to get the drift. No matter how much we yell for Maiden, and no matter how hard we bang on that goddamn door, Bruce Dickinson was not going to come forth and open the doors, and neither was anyone in S.I.S & L.A.M.C going to let this go. Our tickets were not checked, we have not been tagged and people were still setting up inside. It was beyond idiotic but I do not blame the fans. If I hadn’t been through so much production bullshit, I wouldn’t have sympathized with these assholes. But at the end of the day, what was important was the fact that I wanted to be alive to see Iron Maiden and all this chaos was just delaying it.

After being stuck at the glass door for quite a while, the security folks yelled at everyone like fucking dogs to run around the building to resume initial position. Like that was going to work you little bitches. I didn’t give 2 fucks about much and started to sprint like how I always do on concert day. For my fucking life. hahahahaha Got to the other side, semi front still. I remember Lyn just yelling at me saying “Lyds, don’t give a shit, just go for it!” HAHAHAHA

SO yeah, as usual, we got into fights with security and the crowd. Specifically Lyn, who started yelling at this one asshole we’ve seen a few times during queueing fuck ups. Could not have been prouder to have been her bestfriend at that point when she was totally schooling that little bitch about crowd control. After much saliva wasted, giving tips and suggestions on how he can improve on this situation, the guy looks at Lyn and says “You know what, I don’t have time to argue with you. If you have a problem, the best you can do is give us a feedback after the show, okay?” HA HA HA. I remember bursting out laughing when he said that and a few guys behind me started to jeer that motherfucker. Tinkle tinkle little douche.

I was lucky enough to get my spot back in front which was epicc. Didn’t know what else happened at the back but from what I heard from Sya and my brother, they fucked it up somemore after that. Something about the crowd being separated into 2 lines, queueing to go in the queue? Inception is it?

 

Troopers!

After much anticipation, I FINALLY got into the stadium. The feeling of being the first few inside is like no other. I’ve experienced this a few times before and it’s pretty addictive. Exhilarating and plain triumphant! I wanted to hug everyone there with me. I couldn’t believe it! I remember reaching the barricades and high five-ing a dude I don’t even know hahahaha As soon as I caught hold of the barricade, I began to desperately look for Lyn. For the first time in all our experiences, she wasn’t with me for the triumphant run to the barricades! As soon as she touched steel, I started to resume breathing. We had made it. Front. Row. Center.

 

YESSSSSSS

This would be more epic if 1) Backdrop was Maiden & 2) If Lyn got in the shot. What telah happen? hahahaha

This was in the Straits Times!

And this was how close I was (taken with my shitty ass nokia but you get the point):

The only problem I had with the show itself was not being able to decide who the hell to look at! At some points, my phone camera is aiming at Bruce but I’m looking at Steve. HAHA All of them didn’t even seem real : |

Goosebumps just thinking about it!!

Despite all the fucked up shit in the beginning, the band itself made it all worth it. Overall, EPIC.

EPIC FAIL in the beginning and EPIC WIN at the end.

 

 

*Written at 3am. Can’t be bothered to read through to edit this so just take it.