Tryout: comeback band.

This was a case of somebody actually coming up to me and asking me if I was interested in helping her out for something. She actually was one of the indie bands in the 90s (when there were much fewer such bands than as now). Now she’s trying to make a comeback, and wanted a music arranger. She thought that I was qualified. I didn’t know. But I said yes anyway just to see what would happen.

She sent me a composition. I was quite “meh” about it. OK, I’m quite ego about my abilities but it’s really not that easy to write a song that’s interesting to listen to. That’s why when you claim to be a songwriter, people are immediately sceptical – it’s one of the most difficult skills to master. I know because I spent years (on and off) trying to figure it out.

She didn’t look like a star. I suppose you could say this about most indie rock people. We were in a studio (directly opposite the road from where I jammed with the post-rock guys). As usual, everybody’s either Chinese or Malay.

The song had an Arabic flavour to it, but I didn’t know much about Arabic music other than the call to prayer. I tried to play stuff. I’m a little sneaky so I usually try to bury my parts in the mix. Keyboards shouldn’t be louder than the guitars anyway. I played something that they said sounded like a horror soundtrack. Like the 2nd tryout, I’m never certain whether I passed the audition.

The last run-through got taped, and unfortunately that’s when I goofed up the most. The drummer left early. Later on, I learnt that he was a Berklee grad and knew the leader of the fusion band. And that he was drumming for some other band that I had never heard of but nevertheless had a really snazzy looking site.

We took the MRT. This was the first time I heard of the term “bouncing”, which means you take the MRT to Marina Bay so that you can get all the empty seats there. The 2 guitarists were taking the train all the way to Woodlands and Jurong East. The guy asked me if I was planning on getting a keyboard soon, I was non-commital. I think I have to do the job.

One thing that disturbed me that night came when they were about to pay up for the studio. The studio had gone through 5 or 6 owners over the last few years, and now, it was owned by a gang of 6 siblings. Apparently they were barely making enough to cover the costs of rental. It made me feel a bit bad because I know of a friend who owned a shophouse. He rented it out to a dance school, and when the dance school did not succeed financially, there were a lot of problems with the tenant, who didn’t (and couldn’t) pay up. You are supposed to pay the rent every month but I knew that the tenant was being bled dry.

It will be the same story everywhere. Creative types are always struggling to make ends meet. It's the cold, soulless work that's really lucrative in life.

I’m actually much less bullish now about my prospects of a musical career. What can I do that will still allow me to balance with my work? At least by trying out with a few bands, I actually have a feel of what the music scene is like. But I'm not doing this full time. I'm actually balancing this against having a job, at least 1 other ECA, and, if I were to go down this path, attempting to find a chick. I don't think I have time for more than 1 band. And it increasingly looks as though that band would be the first band I tried out for (ie the fusion band).

And furthermore, that band might not necessarily allow me to do my own music. (either because they might not ask me to write for them, or because my stuff is not going to fit in with their stuff.) In that case I might as well increase my capabilities of how to make music with my computer.