RCGNTN: make local your focal

Sound designer by day, DJ and producer by night, Xhin lives the same double-life syndrome many Singaporean geniuses suffer from. It’s not a surprise to know that the artistic industry in Singapore is suffocatingly small. However, Xhin has managed to break into the European market and is doing very well abroad. He realistically relates to RCGNTN that he has been lucky and gives some advice to younger DJs of the present.

How long have you been playing and why did you start?
I guess around a decade. At first I was toying with instruments and synthesizers, I didn’t get serious until 2002. I was with a couple of bands and got sick of playing guitars and drums; the kind of instruments you’d usually find in a band because there’s so much more you can do with them. The band’s guitarist passed away in a motorcycle accident so the band disbanded; there was nothing much for us to do, some got married. I decided to do something and hence started as a solo artist.

How has it been like?
It was quite tough starting out. I was new to the so called ‘dance’ scene in Singapore then, I didn’t even know what Zouk was. I picked up partying and got to know some of the famous local DJs whom I picked up things from.

Were they willing to help you?
Yeah, we were friends. It was much more happening back then because we didn’t have so many DJs and parties. We shared records, cassette tapes and ideas.

You recently released your first full length album. How did that come about?
I did the CDR. I toyed around with the computer and my first ever software was Cool Edit. My friend taught me how to program music so I managed to do up my first demo. That was before 2003. Then I decided to work on harder sounds such as EDM, I got to know radio DJs like Chris who put it on air. It was that which gave me the motivation to do a full length album which was funded by a friend of mine; he was my boss when I worked in the post-production company. We came up with 700 copies, gave out quite a lot of friends, overseas and radio DJs.

A lot of DJ seems to move to production.
I was a producer first before I became a DJ. I was the exact opposite having come from a band I like to write songs and play instruments. I started making electronic music and wanted to learn how to play it live, and the only way was to DJ.

What was your transition to playing dub-step now?
The first genre I was into was IDM stuff like trip-hop. Once I discovered the Detroit Guys I wanted to do techno.

Did being in a band influence the music you make now?
Yeah, the very last band I was in played a little bit of soul and funk rock. We had a female vocalist and played funk with a rock edge with a Jimi Hendrix solo and organs. I guess it influenced the bass line in what I play; there’s more funk and groove in the techno.

We heard you’re also under a German record label. What’s the story behind that?
I didn’t plan working there, during that time I just got over my self-funded album in Singapore. I wrote some music but didn’t really like it. My friend told me to put my stuff up on Myspace, and without being aware of the copyright regulations, I put up the entire track. After 3 months, this guy from Germany sent me a message saying he liked my stuff and wanted to release my music from his label. So I checked out his link, and although that label was quite new then, I decided to just try it out. I’m still with this label, and that’s how it started. They first told me that my music was going to be released digitally and had me do a few remixes to test the market, and it worked. The second remix was done for a guy from Ireland, and that track got hit by well-known DJs around the world so I guess that’s how my name got known in Europe.

What the difference with local and Berlin production?
In Berlin, you can find music cults that like a very distinct music type; a house cult that listens to refined house or adult-techno cults. There’s no progression of genres, they just do what they like and make it their own style. For example the German style, it’s sometimes is not very groovy but still manages to get into your head.

Do you think there an appreciation for the German style of house music?
There is, but not so much.

Some people say that dub-step is intelligent music.
How intelligent can it get? The Germans don’t define themselves as intelligent; they get their inspiration from everywhere. It’s just dub music, you can choose to dance or pop pills to it. Of course in Singapore we don’t do that, we can’t do that here. So there will be a small number of people who really appreciate this type of music.

What do you think of younger DJs?
I don’t know; I’m not really into that scene. I also don’t have the time to check it out. I guess they play because they are young, and mostly like music with lyrics which crowds can sing along to. Everyone has the right to do what they like.

Do you think that the music younger DJs play (nu-rave and such) will affect you?
Maybe if you give them a few more years, they’ll be gone. This started very recently, like 1 year ago so it’s still new. I don’t think I have a need to comment on this but to me this kind of music is just noise. There’s no groove, you can dance and sing along to it but there’s no meaning. However, people have different ways in which they appreciate music; dancing or focusing on DJ-ing techniques. There are also some people who just want to party, get drunk and sleep while others are there because they want to be seen and see. But let’s see how many years they can last.

What do you think about the music scene now?
I don’t know. It’s everywhere now, it’s in chaos. Everyone wants to be a DJ, and when they see someone else spinning Steve Aoki or MSTRKRFT, they just jump on the band wagon. It’s all the hype. They will get boring. I have friends who come up to me and tell me they’ve gotten bored with nu-rave, and I say ‘That’s a good thing’. (laughs) You can’t keep that up when you’re 40, you can only do that when you’re in your youth.

How would you describe your style?
My style, you can hate or love it, but it’s more towards the ‘intelligent’ music. I like house music but I don’t do it because I want to do something different, something that stands out. My music might sound funny but I wanted it to be dark and different from the usual house or techno elements.

Are younger local DJs ready to break out in the global market?
You’ve to really differentiate; some DJs just DJ while some producers are DJs. If some DJs want to be producers they have to work really hard to learn more about engineering and mixing, it’s not about arranging a track as you have to have top-notch engineering skills to get recognized overseas. I guess those DJs who want to write or produce tracks; they have to go deep into engineering, mixing and have at least a musical background. You don’t want your music to sound amateur; you need depth in your sound.

What is the direction they should be taking?
It’s definitely not the hype because if you follow that, you can only be a DJ. Doing that is too egoistic and you might not get to the top. You have to produce interesting and intelligent tracks, not making the same kind of music everyone else is (e.g. most of the music today is digitalized and sold digitally). It gets boring and you become forgettable. If you want to produce something, make sure people remember your name and style. If you keep to the same style to get people to buy your tracks then you can’t consider yourself an artist, you’re just one of the people. This is the wrong way in doing it. Most importantly, we are Asian and you’ve to work extremely hard to be more outstanding creatively so they can appreciate you.

What can we expect at Mnshift?
The usual techno style I’ve been playing. It depends on the crowd. You can also expect tech-house, some 80s, 90s and current music.
You can check out more of him at Xhin.com

RCGNTN was fortunate enough to get to talk to DJ Kenneth Francis who demystifies DJ-ing. Now a proud father and husband, DJ Kenneth is the second person to be featured in Roots and gives us his definition of being a DJ. For a veteran, he is as honest as we expect him to be and definitely does not sugarcoat his facts which we can appreciate.

So you do genre experimentation?
Yeah, generally I’m a breakbeat DJ but I sometimes do house and other genres in order to get by in Singapore. I’m not saying I’m a sell-out but I do house, drum and bass and dub step. I’m known as a breaks DJ.

What do you mean by saying you’ve to do other things to get by?
It depends, if I play sessions, I play house, tech-house and maybe drum and bass; I play what I like. I play everything when I play at residences, I put all the genres together; you can’t play what you like and have to follow the guidelines of the club.

That is not something many of the younger generation’s DJs seem to understand. Do you think they are complacent?
I don’t think so, I think they didn’t have the right people to guide them; perhaps they were misled by the fame of being a DJ. We were lucky to grow up in the 80s and were exposed to mobile discos and played a lot of  80’s tunes; equivalent to today’s top 40s. We had different influences and learnt how to play drawing inspiration/ ideas from that.

Would you say the culture was richer then?
I wouldn’t say richer, because we didn’t have many channels like now you have the internet. These days you can Google your favourite genre and artist and follow his lifestyle which is becoming a problem. In those days we didn’t have much pocket money so whenever we bought cassettes and vinyls, we’d listen to every song in it, not just the single song the musician is known for. We cherished our music a lot. DJ-ing was also more of passion not lifestyle probably because of what we were going through in the 80s which influenced how we felt.

But isn’t that how it always starts out; you follow your favourite artist first then develop your own style?
That’s why I don’t go around telling people I’m a breakbeat DJ although I’m more known for playing breakbeats from all the sessions I’ve done in the past. My advice is not to conform and limit yourself to a particular genre; you need to open your eyes (or your ears) and listen to all types of music. It’s a learning process and even I continue to do so.

Are you intimidated by the younger generation? The public now tends to look up to the younger DJs instead of the veterans unless the latter are still active in the DJ scene.
Yeah, I suppose but then again I think only a few of the older ones are left. The rest are probably selling insurance, doing other stuff (laughs). It was not lucrative for certain people back then to survive solely on DJ-ing and when you start a family it’s not feasible because in this line you’re away a lot. If you’re doing sessions then it’s a different story, you would need a day job because the standard of living in Singapore is so high. Hence majority of DJs from the 80s mostly do sessions and are holding day jobs; not exactly living the life of a DJ. Maybe that’s the problem for the younger generation that they don’t know what it is like to survive on just a DJ salary. It’s not easy, unless you’re lucky enough to work in a club that pays you the amount based on your years of experience. Session wise, in Asia, we’re quite recognized and there are quite a few good producers around. Sadly most of them are underrated, possibly due to the lack of exposure and monetary issues.

But wouldn’t they have acquired the sufficient recognition given the number of years they have been in the scene?
For example I know this guy who is very good at producing music but is entirely out of the DJ scene. The reason why he isn’t was not due to lack of recognition but that he couldn’t see himself going anywhere. It was not easy for people to accept him. But as time goes on, it gets easier with the internet, I suppose.

What is the life cycle of a DJ? Do people get tired?
Brandon P, who’s 40plus years old  ( I think), was someone I looked up to when I first started. During those days there were only a few DJs who were worth listening to (I’m not trying to insult anyone) and I picked up many things watching him play. He started in the early 80s. He’s also good at production and has some stuff for sale on Beatport which is an MP3 online store where you buy dance music. I think he’s the only one of the few left who started out in the early 80s, the rest are mostly doing production or other things.

How has experiencing unpredictable fame been?
In the 80s it was intense because there weren’t many DJs around. It was really different, you get treated a lot better, if you play in clubs they look after you and people know who you are. When you’re younger it’s mostly about recognition but as you progress in life it’s more of the satisfaction knowing you can hold the dancefloor and you get more serious about your music. Fame fizzles out and comes back again, I guess.

What is your current drive?
For me, it’s my family. I got a media degree in Australia after studying for 4 years. Honestly speaking, I only did that to please my parents, when I was younger I wasn’t interested in studying. A piece of advice I would like to give to the younger generation is to study because you always need something else to back you up and studying opens up your mind. People like to talk about drugs and drugs make music but dance music is intelligent music. I mean of course not all dance music is intelligent music; some people just cut and paste. Studying helps a lot as the knowledge you learn can contribute to the music you make.

I heard about Mesh Radio that you’re currently involved in, what’s that like?
It’s interesting and something different. It’s a good change because we can play what we want; Mesh Radio has different categories for the different types of music genres. For Joshua P and I, we’re both breakbeat DJs but sometimes in the show we don’t only play that because we want to give the audience a good mix of everything from tech-house to electro-house. However, we play breakbeats the majority of the time due to the slot we were given. At the moment Mesh Radio is taking a break because the studio is moving but we will be back in November.

How is it like working with Joshua P?
It’s great! I think chemistry is very important because when we’re on the radio nothing is scripted, we do things on the fly. I would agree and disagree on saying that doing things on the fly is unprofessional but we do it as it tends to be more natural. No matter how you do it, when people read from a script it tends to sound a little robotic.

How is the popularity of breakbeats now?
In layman terms, I think people can’t take 3 hours of breakbeats. They used to be able to do that in the 80s and 90s, I don’t know if it’s because of the big B word, but not now. You need to mix it up nowadays like I do with tech-house. I like tech-house, it’s something to play with; you need to work with the beats and it’s good with breakbeats. Tech-house, breakbeats and techno are all similar in terms of structure, based on the family tree of how music originated.

What is the one thing they should know about breakbeats?
Anything below 128 bpm, don’t buy. (laughs) I realized that a lot of people find it hard to dance to breakbeats, the best way to go is just to let your body flow. I get a lot of questions on that all the time. I mean, I’m not asking you to do the shuffle!

How will the Poptrash DJ course be like?
In regards of what I mentioned about the younger generation being misled, the Poptrash course will be very in depth. I don’t think we will do much hands-on in the first few lessons because I want them to first learn the history behind DJ-ing so they can Google and find the particular genre they like to see where it started from. That should be the way. I find that many people don’t have an in depth knowledge of what they play. For example, you say that you’re a nu-rave DJ but do you know where nu-rave came from? Even for trance DJs nowadays, it’s still 4/4, so you really have to know your music.

What should a DJ who is starting out be prepared for?
Hand and ear coordination, especially when you’re catching your beats. It depends on what course you want; turntables or CDs. Turntables are more of a hands-on thing, so don’t be afraid to put your hands on the platter. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes because I learnt things that way too. A lot of people are also worried about not being techy and knowing how to handle the equipment, don’t worry we’ll guide you through. Though I have to admit that DJ-ing is more ‘colorful’ these days with so many mixer and CDJ buttons.

Any last words?
Be true to yourself; people can call you a sell-out but as long as you know what you’re doing don’t bother, that is a ‘rubbish’ word. I know there are a lot of people out there who say it, worst of all, some of them are “friends”.

Do check out his myspace as well as meshradio.

RCGNTN recently got the opportunity to talk to Eddino Hadi (a.k.a Dino Vomit) despite his busy schedule as a music reporter; an admirable occupation for working with music which he is so passionate about. Polite and slightly soft-spoken, Eddino told us about Force Vomit’s journey through the local music scene and the changing dynamics of the band. And since we were talking to a veteran, we had to ask about his views on the music scene to which he answered based on his experience and observations. The whole conversation was heavy with nostalgia and made us wish we were there to witness what he did.

What do you do currently?
I’m eking out a living and working at The Straits Times as a music reporter.

The music you play in Force Vomit is pretty heavy but you guys managed to make a name for yourselves. How did you do it?
In terms of heaviness, we’re not that heavy; we’re not a metal band. We’re not really a punk band but punk was a big influence on the band. At the base of our songs, there are a lot of melodies in it. In a way people who love noise love melodies too and in the underground scene, folks generally love noise especially back in the 80s and 90s. We weren’t trying, we love songs with pretty melodies and at the same time we love fast and loud songs.

How has the journey been like since you started playing?
It’s not really a journey. We never started out with the intention of playing music for a living, we were realistic. When we started, my fellow band mates and I were schooling. The fact that we were still in school meant that we were preparing for the future; we went on to do our diplomas and degrees. We started making music was because we were hardcore fans of music, we loved music, so we got together with others who knew how to play instruments, jammed on the weekends or after school.  Although we’re married and have kids, we still haven’t lost that passion. Along the way, we wanted to record some songs, so we did an album and play at gigs we could get. We never treated this as a job.

What’s the most memorable gig so far?
When we play to huge crowds and they give back to us, which is one of the best experiences. The biggest crowd we played to was in 2007 in Kuala Lumpur for a music festival called Rock the World which was the biggest alternative rock festival in Malaysia. There were 30 000 crazy Malaysians and a huge stage, it was crazy. In Singapore, Kylie Minogue only managed to pull in up to 9000 people. However, you’ve to realize that Malaysia is a big country so critical mass wise, they definitely have the numbers. We’ve been playing in Malaysia since 2002, so we’ve also built up quite a following through myspace and people passing around their MP3s.  When we played, we were only given the choice of 4 songs so we chose our most popular songs; the ones that get the crowd moving. The crowd actually knew all our songs, imagine 30 000 young kids jumping up and down and singing along! You can find it on Youtube! That was an amazing scene, it was like what you used to see in your favourite band’s live concert DVD and it was happening to us. It was surreal.

How different is it in the local music scene back then in the early 90s?
There weren’t so many gigs as compared to today when there are gigs happening every weekend. Back then in the 90s, after the Nirvana and alternative boom, people didn’t want to play commercial rock. The scene was starting to grow, there were slightly more gigs but it was only once a month. Gigs were very rare and it was hard to publicize them as there was no internet or Facebook. Instead we had zines and posters at jamming studios. There were a lot of gigs in polytechnics (e.g. Singapore and Ngee Ann Polytechnic) that had bigger spaces, so most of the gigs there were the larger scale ones. Substation was also one of the places to go to for alternative gigs because it was one of the few places that understood the rock scene and allowed crowd diving and moshing. I was 16 years old music geek back then, and I had to wait 2 to 3 weeks for a gig so when it was time for one I would get really excited. I was involved in a couple of zines too. We interviewed Malaysian bands, write it out and photocopy it to sell for 5 or 3 dollars. Some of the zines were free, but the thicker ones had to be purchased as it costs to photocopy. Usually people who sold zines were not looking to profit from it, but rather to just cover printing costs.

What’s the mindset of a local independent musician?
That’s a hard question to answer and everyone would have a different opinion. For my band, we were never in it as a career, we’ve always known that we need a job to support our families, we jam and if we come up with something good, we will release it to the public.

But a lot of people intend to go further than that, it’s like an illusion they have.
I wouldn’t call it an illusion, it’s more like a dream. The younger bands will have that dream, I mean when I was younger I also wanted to live off making music until reality sinks in. But I applaud those young bands that follow their dreams. Look at Electrico, they’re the first band to make it this big. Of course you have to compromise. I don’t think Dave, or anyone in the band, started making music because they wanted to go commercial. They want to make the music they want and not worry about how much they will sell, but at the same time they want to, as much as they can, be able to eke out a living from their music. In reality, to do market your band, you have to be commercial to a certain extent to get gigs, sponsorship from corporations and invited by organizers to play at big-scale events. If they are just playing for the underground scene, you can’t play every weekend because people are going to get sick of you. Singapore’s market is just too small.

So it’ll be hard for the smaller, less accepted genres?
Definitely, it’ll be hard and if you want to make a living out of it you have to be prepared to back it up with something.

Local radio has been starting to play local easy-listening music on rotation, but for overseas bands they seem to allow a wider range of genres. Why?
I think the most important issue is number of listeners. Let’s say you’re in a punk band in Washington whose population is definitely larger than Singapore’s, so even if you’re a small band you would have a bigger following than local bands. You could also tour America and live off the money you earn from it. A punk band wouldn’t sell thousands of records but they would still be able to tour and play on stage. In Singapore, you play to Toa Payoh then you play in Bishan. If there’s a gig in Tampines and you stay in Jurong, it’s not difficult to get there to watch the band perform.

Many people don’t want to pay for gigs anymore. What are your views on that?
That has always been a problem. There are always free shows around and if you’re the kind who doesn’t like to pay, you can get by with the occasional free gigs. However, there are also people who don’t mind paying 5 to 10 dollars to see a band perform and to have a good time.

Would you consider Singaporeans pampered then?
Yeah, I don’t believe in free shows. No one in the right mind would do free shows, unless you have big sponsors. If you’re doing it DIY, you have to fork out 100dollars to rent the stage, equipment would cost 1000dollars and bands should get paid, if not have their transport and meals provided for.

Is that why the lifespan of bands is so short? How do they sustain?
I don’t think many of these bands do it for the money and would not break up because they aren’t earning money. For our band, we’ve gone through a lot of members mostly because they cannot commit. Although we’re quite ‘slack’, we don’t make it compulsory to jam every weekend, right now we’re in the lowest of our existence. Two of my band members have two kids so everyone understands if they can’t make it for regular jamming sessions. I think to keep the band together you just have to be consistent in your output; keep writing songs or make jamming sessions fun. There also other reasons why bands break up such as clashing personalities.

Professionalism wise, do you think the bands here have a passionate mindset or their hunger for the lifestyle?
I think it’s both. There are people who are music freaks, write songs all the time and don’t care about other things. There are some people who like to be on stage and want to get to the girls. I think that has always been the case, there is always a mix of these two and it’s easy to suss out who’s who. I’m not saying that being flashy and trying to look nice on stage is a bad thing, it’s good that you entertain people but if your music is bad there’s only so far you can go. For example if you see that this band has stage presence and is entertaining but their music is lacking, you wouldn’t go back to listen to them. However, if the band is mediocre but have stage presence, I would go watch them perform again. Looking at Tiramisu, they dress up and do weird stuff on stage but they are also very dedicated to their song writing.

What was your inspiration back then?
I was influenced by the first wave people like Patrick Chng. I was reading Big-O and listening to demos. I was one of the writers for BO and back then there was no internet so BO would give you the news on what’s happening and reviews of new bands. The free CDs were important. There was also this magazine called New School Rock which was one of the earliest introductions to the music scene in Singapore, in 1990. I remember I bought the first CD New School Rock compilations and in it there was Opposition Party, the Oddfellas and Joe Ng’s band. They made me realize that you don’t need to sound like a commercial band to release your own album and EPs. So I was probably the 2^nd or 4rd wave.

So it’s more competitive now?
Of course, there are 10 times more bands than there were back then and many jamming studios.

Do you think this will die down?
I hope not, 20 years ago there were people who wanted to form a band and make music, and now they might be making music but with a laptop maybe? There’ll always be an alternative music scene and a commercial scene.

How would you describe the music nowadays?
There’s indie, which has been around since 80s but the indie now is more commercial and accepted. Metal is still around, definitely, and it will never die; there will always be metal heads. There are so many genres now – emo, hardcore, etc. Do you know hardcore in the 90s is so much different from the hardcore now? In the past, hardcore was more New York core, heavy metal not screechy. There was emo back then but it was a fringe genre, not one on its own. I think if you’re talking about guitar-based bands, they will always be there.

People like to complain about the lack of support in the local scene.
People will always complain and they forget how to take the initiative. You cannot complain and expect people to support local bands; you’ve got to be the ones to make your music so good that people will want to support you. In the music industry you have to play by the industry’s rules.

What can be done to improve the support for local bands given that most people listen to the radio?
There are some people, like me, who like music and seek out music that they like. Most people have music given to them; some people like Lady Gaga but they didn’t search for the latest electro pop artist, instead they were told from the radio that Lady Gaga is hot. The radio industry is a business; they are a commercial entity that requires advertisers which relies on record labels, unless you’re talking about underground internet radio programs. The radio also decides what is hot and not. It’s a complicated thing and most artists do not want to get involved, they just want to make music but reality is that you have got to know how to play the game to reach out to the general population. There’s nothing wrong although hardcore bands will say you’re selling out, but it’s relative. It’s basically a choice to go commercial or remain underground and play by their game. Presently radio audiences are more open-minded and bands like A Vacant Affair should be generally more accepted than compared to the 80s.

Any last words?
If you’re a musician, don’t let anyone dictate and tell you what you can’t or can do. Just do what you believe in and in yourself, even if people are accusing you of selling out. Do what you think is best for you.

Check out more of Force Vomit here. Many thanks to Dino Vomit for taking the time out!

Bboy Larry is no stranger to the local dance scene. After 10 years of footwork, crazy dives, injuries, competitions and showcases, he has carved his niche as one of Singapore’s most respected bboys. Larry has perfected his skill to the next level, matching every step to the beat on point with proper techniques, discipline, and passion- all that with a humble smile on his face. Now a co-director of Natasha Studio, Larry talks to RCGNTN about how it all began.

Introduce yourself.
Name’s Larry Liu, also known as Bboy Larry. Husband to Michelle Natasha, am currently 28 years of age.

When did you start breaking, and what got you into it?
Been breaking since late ‘99, started when I saw some animated gif picture file of someone doing swipes, and this crazy Japanese dude who danced and tricked on the then-popular Dance Dance Revolution machine. That got my attention and I started to try backspinning on my own as well.

What crews were you in and currently in?
Was in a good number of crews back in the days. Real crews I was in were Blood Brothers Breakers, Cosmopolitian Kru, and FUYO. BBB were the peeps who really got me improving to a whole new level, while CK and FUYO made me realise what a crew is all about. Currently in Natasha Studio Crew, Style Groovaz Crew and Zephyrs.

Who were the better known breakers then? What made them known?
We had Abang Hatta, considered to be one of the oldest and most influential Bboy at our time. Along with him we had Bboy Yoshi from Japan who frequented Singapore. Together with Nic from New Zealand’s FlyRice crew, these helped to popularise Bboying.

Tell us about one memorable battle/ session/ move.
I was previously known as the Suicide Kid. Did tons of crazy suicides (tricks that look extremely painful but are not) and had a few crazy dives. Had a battle once and literally dived forward in the air towards a wall, like how the Street Fighter game’s E-Honda would fly horizontally. That made the crowd go wild and it’s one of the craziest moves that people remember now.

That sounds crazy! Alright to cap it off, any shoutouts?
I wanna give big shout out to the love of my life Michelle Natasha, my boys from FUYO, the fabulous team of Natasha Studio Crew, Style Groovaz Crew, local Bboys and crews like Radikal Forze, Floor Technique Crew, Enemy Ground and finally to the production crew of RCGNTN.

Larry is now currently teaching bboying at NatashaStudio. For more information, head to www.natashastudio.com.