Monday, January 31, 2005
big day 2
k lets go straight to the point... the performance!!!
eh well it was kinda funny cos i rushed on stage 1st when it was our turn... but had to run off the stage to find the previous bassist cos i couldnt find the cable to the bass amp... tot he purposely tried to sabo me cos he actually turned off the volume during the sound check in the morning.. but turned out that he's actually quite a great guy... the singer/bassist from DEAD END actually followed me back on stage to help me find the cable, check that everything was ok for me and b4 he left he actually said "hey have fun".. wah such a nice guy.. too bad didnt ask for his name..
was amazed by the crowd support... thx again to all of my friends who cheered for us... lots of ppl were actually clapping for us when it was our turn to perform... b4 the song started... saw my parents to my left.. so waved at them... and they waved back which was great cos i waved at them during the prelims but they didnt see me.. yup also happy that i managed to see angie quek at the right side of the stage n we waved at each other =) helped me to calm down... waved at my stansfield frens too but guess they tot i wasnt waving at them, cos got no reaction....
the feeling on stage was simply amazing.. it's probably the biggest performance i will ever have in this lifetime... u can just see lots of people gathering around...
once onstage, everything happens so fast, u don't even have time to think.. and for me i was struggling with that becos i was trying to remember the notes to play for the next few verses in advanced.. plus wanted to move around too becos didnt want to just stone there (ala hall jam band days)... and well played a few wrong notes.. but everyone i asked in the audience claimed they couldn't tell the difference...
but it was kinda amusing cos i actually climbed up in front of the drums 1/2 way through the song to vary my movements abit and when tat wee the drummer saw me, he was smiling.. but it was then that i played a wrong note =p so i quickly got off the platform in front of the drums... n i guess my confidence was shaken cos its better to stone n play the right notes.. rather than move n jump around when wrong basslines keep coming out of the amplifier.. so i decided to play it safe by just making minimal movements... and well i guess my biggest regret was not jumping on stage.. even though i practised it like many many times, both at home and at the studio during jam sessions
but overall it was an unforgettable nite... one that i will remember all my life.. i mean like FWAH performing at orchard rd in front of a crowd of at least 500... i didnt expect to win so when the results were announced n we didnt get into the top3.. i wasnt too disappointed...
so (i know i've said this like 100 times) overall, it was truly an amazing nite and an experience to nvr forget in this lifetime... thanks to my band mates valren pseudo, kerri pseudo, tat wee pseudo and alex pseudo for have worked so hard with me the past month... and would just like to tell u guys i'm gonna miss jamming with u ppl, cos we all gonna be busy.. but hope we can resume again sometime soon
stating my rights at 1:27 AM
Sunday, January 30, 2005
BIG DAY
wat an amazing day... woke up real early n still awake now... but its really a nite to nvr forget... the performance was great.. but personally, i think i'm more happy about the support shown by all my friends who turned up... friends who i have mentioned about to other friends, didn't really get a chance to meet each other before today...
so let me try to recollect the events yesterday (since its past midnite)
woke up at 9am to reach ngee ann city by 1030am for soundcheck... and well the sound engineer didnt really do a good job... at least that was wat the other pseudos felt... for my bass it was ok lah... but anyhow, after soundcheck we went back to the studio to jam our songs one more time... and we started to wear our performance attire... was really fun cos kerri started applying eyeliner for all the guys and to honest, i actually like it =p ya i always like conspicuous stuff
so anyway we left the studio around 430pm... reached taka around 5... shared a subway sandwich with tat wee cos i know i always get too nervous b4 a performance to eat (but ya anyway i only ate like 4-5 bites of it b4 i threw the whole thing away)
TO BE CONTINUED...
stating my rights at 4:20 AM
Saturday, January 29, 2005
18 hours and counting
yes yes.. its the nite before the big day.. and i'm all exicited abt it!!! ya i was actually having this 1/2 nervous breakdown this afternoon in class.. not that anybody noticed.. but i was tinking abt performing at orchard road.. and the many pairs of eyes that will be staring at us.. at me.. and i was just... shaking...
anyway.. gotta reach taka tmr at 1030am tmr for soundcheck.. so early =
honestly, still not too confident abt my own basslines.. but wat matters the most is how i cover it up =p so let's see tmr...
stating my rights at 1:25 AM
Friday, January 28, 2005
wedding!!!
relak.. i'm not getting married yet.. but its funny how similar i find this sat's jamx to my wedding...
basically, like my dad once said.. when u invite ppl to go to ur wedding and they do turn up, it's kinda like giving u face.. becos they have to sit through 3-4 hours of the dinner and they have to give a big fat ang pao which is really a lot to pay for a 9-10 course dinner...
somehow i'm beginning to feel like inviting ppl to come on sat is like asking ppl to come to my wedding... and its really quite amazing the different replies ppl are able to come up with... funny that some hi-bye frens are actually more interested to go than my other friends who i always thought were "closer" to me... is it so hard to come to TAKASHIMAYA on a saturday nite? besides the indoor stadium, national stadium and suntec city, taka is perhaps the most grand n accessible place on our tiny island.. and eh if u cant turn up.... well...
guess i know who's gonna turn up at my wedding and who's not... hur hur
stating my rights at 1:38 AM
jamx prizes
check out the prizes for jamx... good ya? i not really interested in the cash n vouchers.. but check out the LIME thingy...
3rd - $100 Lee Jeans vouchers, $100 cash, Fotopro recording vouchers, 1 Eastpakback pack for every member.
2nd - $200 Lee Jeans vouchers, $200 cash, Fotopro recording vouchers, 1 Eastpakback pack for every member.
1st - $300 Lee Jeans vouchers, $300 cash, Fotopro recording vouchers, 1 Eastpakback pack for every member, a guitar pack and a recording contract. Moreover,Lime (main sponser) will invite the champion band for all its gigs in futureperformances. A token of appreciation be given of course. There will also be aninterview for the champion band that will be publish in the magazine. Exposurewill be GREAT!
stating my rights at 1:18 AM
Thursday, January 27, 2005
once upon a time...
the jamx dream actually started 2 years back when my jie chiou yu asked me to accompany her to support her fren egon... he was performing for the jamx 2003 finals outside HMV... his band was not only musically talented, but onstage they did had a planned routine... so it was just the music, it was visually entertaining too.. they reached the top 3 if my memory doesnt fail me... but it was then... that i had this high and it was then that i had a dream... a dream to perform in public... but not just anywhere... but at ORCHARD ROAD...
well... who would have known, in a span of 2 years, through a mix of surprising events, i finally get to realise my dream this saturday =)
the current week has been moving slower than i originally thought it would go, becos good things seem to zoom pass u in a blink of an eye... so i'm trying my best to savour the busy week of preparation prior to the big day on sat...
my motto for every performance is to "always give the audience a good time", and maybe that explains the extremes i'm able to go to to fulfill that...
so see u ppl on sat... let's have a rockin' good time =]
stating my rights at 5:15 PM
Sunday, January 23, 2005
800 and counting...
just did my own research on the jamx finals.. seems that jamx finals 2004 was held at the atrium... still dunno where that is... but it attracted 800+ ppl... as reported... FWAH.. that means this year... at taka its gonna be more than that??
wah stress is an understatement...
stating my rights at 8:48 PM
tired tired fingers...
the past few days have been quite exhausting but fun... we jammed n stayed overnite on thurs... and i actually just came back from the studio again... would u believe that we actually spent 11 hours in the studio??? not all the time was spent jamming though.. quite a portion of it was spent waiting for the jamming rooms to be vacant so that we could take over and practise... but i must say the time spent there has been good for the band to bond...
the song is taking shape... and we have added our own touch to it... changed the arrangement here n there... so its beginning 2 sound pretty good.. but i guess we can all work further more on it to make it sound tighter...
more jams on wed and fri b4 the big day on sat... can u feel the excitement in the air??? this is definitely a week which i will remember for the rest of my life
oh ya, and my fingers are real cramped n tired... which explains the title of this entry...
stating my rights at 4:45 AM
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
band poster.. quite nice ah?? 
stating my rights at 5:12 AM
the debut of the pesudos!!!
stating my rights at 5:09 AM
Monday, January 17, 2005
final 8!!!
yeah baby!!! u read it right.. the pseudos have made it to the final 8.. out of 41!!! woohooo.. takashimaya here we come... really very very excited over it... my dream has come true... this is certainly one of the highlights of my life...
the performance today was gr8... like the band discussed earlier... doesnt matter if we reach finals.. most impt is we felt good abt the song.. and yup it felt good.. after ths song i tink i went crazy.. just punched the air n was like "YEAH"... or ya my parents went.. so nice of them.. and thx to angeline shunfen justin amelia darren zong trixie xuefen kk for all coming down... thx to britnee also who gave a good luck sms.. and benita too...
now the "headache" starts.. cos we need to prepare for another song for the finals.. but this has really been a good day...
didnt really expect to enter the finals.. n didnt wan to hope 4 too much in case get disappointed... which i seem to have been the past few weeks over many stuff = but hey, this is a very pleasant change... they called out our name like 2nd last and it was really very intense nervousness felt on my side.. but it was fantastic when they called out "the pseudos"!!! almost couldnt believe it.. in fact, i'm still trying 2 recover... or maybe it hasnt sunk it yet...
but here's to a great nite =)
stating my rights at 1:23 AM
Sunday, January 16, 2005
its tmr!!! oh wait.. its today!!!
went to check out jamx day 1 just now.. saw about 10+ bands performing.. quite a number of them had quite rubbishy songs.. haha.. they were just... tuneless... full of meaningless lyrics... seems like some of the songs were just for the guitarists/bassists to show of their skills.. not much of a song really...
but there were a few good ones.. one in particular was the cac band from ntu.. and haha the drummer was henry!!! he used to play with in the hall band... his band was the best...
valren remains very optimistic about our chances.. but in my opinion... i really have no idea... i'm not sure what the judges are looking for... if they want a song which is good techinically with lots of skill etc.. i think we lose out on that.. but if they want a nice, simple like-able song.. i think we stand a chance =)
really hope we can reach the finals.. go taka to perform!!! but trying not to hope too much so that won't be disappointed...
go PSEUDOs!!
stating my rights at 2:29 AM
Friday, January 14, 2005
this sun this sun
its funny how many ppl think i'm a slacker... most ppl back in hall 11 and my parents feel that way... but the truth is when my mind is set on something really impt, all my heart, sweat blood and soul goes into it... and it's quite ironic that i was the hardest working block rep during my service but yet it went unnoticed... and ppl still dun recognise my efforts... popularity seems to be more impt than hard work in hall.. but that's another story
anyway this sunday has gotten me all excited... but living, thinking and breathing jamx... even got a very outrageous haircut for this sunday in the hope that the band can stand out... and been telling everyone i've been in contact with about the performance... oh boy oh boy oh boy...
but part of me also holds back, telling myself not to put in so my effort and hope because it may all come to an end if we don't make it to the final 8...
sometimes its good to be pessimistic... so when the outcome turns out bad, you have already been mentally prepared and if it turns out better than expected, all the better...
stating my rights at 3:41 AM
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
life... and wat u want out of it
do u have a list of what u wanna do in this life? so then when u have done them all, you have no regrets? ok lah... don't really need to have "a list"... but at least think about some things which u wanna do in this lifetime... for me, i've always thought about this... while "marrying the one i love" seems to be a distant or even improbable event (looking from how things are turning out so far), "performing in public" at least has the chance of seeing light this sunday...
its has been my fortune to be able to be invited to perform with quite a number of talented musicians... valren's original song sounds really quite catchy... joining us are also alex who has came up with the song's guitar solo... tat wee the drummer who is consistent and has the ability to highlight parts of the song with his beat... and kerri who sounds like tanya chua and has actually played in a pub before (wah my dream job)
we are called the PSEUDOs.. and we will be performing at the youthpark on 16th jan (this sun) at 7+pm...
but happy stuff aside... its always sad when the people u invite don't turn up...
wat's a story when there's no bothy to read it? wat's a movie when there's nobody to watch it? and most importantly, wats a band performance when there's nobody to watch?
while of cos there will certainly be some people there.. but wat i'm tokking abt are the people in your life whom u actually invite and hope they turn up... but some just don't...
and its hard to perform when you know they won't be there...
stating my rights at 1:15 AM
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
tsuuunnami
really feel quite sad abt the tsunami incident... its like there's over a few hundred k ppl losing their lives... and i always feel this sense of sadness whenever something like this happens... i felt it 1st during the sept 11 period... and i always have this very uneasy feeling whenever i watch war movies or documentaries where there is just numerous ppl dying...
but perhaps wat i'm abt to say may be contradicting wat i have mentioned above...
u see... lots of aid has been pouring in from various countries... in terms of $$, food, wat have u... but the truth is, death is happening everywhere... its just that the tsunami has had more publicity and media coverage... wat abt other parts of the world where thousands of ppl die in africa or maybe cambodia where war is raging? what aid has been given to them?
it kinda reminds me of the missing child case in the news recently... it was H**** Na wasn't it? i mean it's like i'm sure that there are kids who get lost in singapore... and their parents are worried too... but HN gets the public's sympathy and attention becos she has more media coverage... i'm not saying that she didnt deserve being worried abt, or her parents to not receive the sympathy they have thus so far received... but what abt the other kids...
so basically i think what i'm trying to say is.. for every dollar u donate to the red cross for tsunami victims, also remember that a dollar is also needed in other parts of the world... and just becos u don't see it, doesn't means it doesn't happen...
stating my rights at 1:35 AM
