Cherie is a Baybeats Budding Writer, mentored by Eddino Abdul Hadi, music correspondent for The Straits Times and Hidzir Junaini, editor and writer at Bandwagon Asia.

A punk social. A skate bowl. A void deck in Pasir Ris.

While seemingly disparate, a common thread binds them. These are the spaces that spurred Rabak Records, TRIFECTA and 510 Media toward their goal of providing a platform for our local acts to take centre stage, and an avenue for audiences to revel in their favourite songs.

Being in the right place, at the right time

The year was 2022. Trevor Wee and his friend Trina Rose had just attended a punk social organised by Crane. They don’t know it yet, but that night will change their lives forever.

Their brainchild, Rabak Records, would be born a few months later.

Inspired by the electrifying energy of the crowd and their invigorating conversations with individuals like Shaiful Risan (manager at Crane), the duo founded Rabak Records to support and promote the local music scene. Originally a traditional record label, Rabak Records has since shifted its focus to promoting live shows. Now run solely by Trevor, Rabak Records has hosted over 13 gigs, providing a platform for up-and-coming local bands such as Late Culture, Nosedive and Four Daze.

For TRIFECTA, the inspiration behind starting their live music series, Backyard Sessions, struck closer to home. 

Held at their skate bowl, Backyard Sessions showcases beloved local acts like Shye, Charlie Lim and Joie Tan. There have been three iterations since their inception earlier this year, with the latest Backyard Sessions held in the spirit of National Day. 

Marketing and programming manager Jessica Lee explains the thought process behind the series name. “We were inspired by the idea of how great things can start in the bedroom or the backyard…And we wanted to give [our local acts] a platform to showcase their music and creations.” She is part of the core team behind TRIFECTA’s Backyard Sessions, including The Ride Side founder Daphne Goh. 

Exit TRIFECTA, take a 22-minute drive up north and you’ll end up at Pasirian Haven, a void deck in Pasir Ris where Darryl Carulli (510 Media), Dylan De Souza (Dogswain) and Sean Sundaran (Blacklisted Productions) used to hang out. 

Named after the postal code for Pasir Ris (510), 510 Media started out creating videos for gig promoters Dogswain and Blacklisted Productions. “I like to think of myself as in between Dogswain and Blacklisted,” Darryl quips. “They’re the ones doing most of the shows. I’m just along for the ride.”

Branching out from their roots in videography, 510 Media began organising shows. By supporting Dogswain and Blacklisted Productions, Darryl found himself wearing more hats at gigs, helping out with the organising, liaising and licensing aspects. 510 Media has since started hosting its own shows, with its most recent one being Super Tattoo Fun Times, a tattoo-cum-music event that featured local favourites like Subsonic Eye, Curb, Forests, Sweet Mary Sue, Wreckonize, and Chaosphere.

Woes of the gig economy

When prodded about the hardest part of hosting shows in Singapore, the response was unanimous—finances. 

As a smaller gig promoter, Rabak Records is aware that its sustainability and longevity hinge on ensuring that each show makes a profit. To that end, Trevor is extremely strict when it comes to the show’s finances. “The show has to pay for itself,” he asserts. “If I do my calculations and I realise that [the show] can’t make a profit, then I can’t run it.”

Running a gig involves much more than just inviting a few bands down to play some songs. It requires coordinating with multiple stakeholders, including marketing, advertising, ticketing and licensing. That said, the biggest financial roadblock seems to be venues, which Trevor laments are currently “few and far between.”

This comes as no surprise. Gig venues have been shuttering over the years, an issue exacerbated by the pandemic. Once heralded as vital spaces for nurturing the underground scene, popular venues such as The Substation, Decline and While Label Records have now been reduced to mere shadows of the past. 

Darryl affirms this, highlighting another issue arising from the increasing costs of venues—the need to raise ticket prices. Pre-pandemic, shows featuring international bands could go for as low as S$15. Today, local gigs cost upward of S$45 to S$50. “We don’t like it either, but sometimes, there’s no choice if we want to make [hosting gigs] viable.”

While venue isn’t necessarily the biggest problem for TRIFECTA, who host the Backyard Sessions at their skate bowl, cost is still a point of concern as they hope to keep their shows accessible for all. 

To date, all three Backyard Sessions have been free to attend, with the second iteration drawing a record high of over a thousand attendees throughout the day. To maintain their Backyard Sessions’ accessibility, TRIFECTA places a strong emphasis on collaborating with partners who share their vision. In this regard, they expressed their gratitude for collaborators like Samsung (partner for Backyard Sessions Vol. 1 and 2), who have been incredibly supportive from the beginning.

Darryl concurs on the importance of having good partners, acknowledging *SCAPE’s unwavering support of the local music scene. “It’s so dope that they (*SCAPE) are willing to take a chance on niche subcultures,” he adds, referencing *SCAPE’s support for alternative music shows such as the Lion City Hardcore 30th Anniversary show (2023). He speaks from experience, having collaborated with *SCAPE for Super Tattoo Fun Times. 

“Shoutout to Isaac Chiew (founder of Big Duck Music who works at *SCAPE),” chuckles Darryl. “It’s people like him who boost morale and make working together fun…[*SCAPE] always sounds so excited when we talk to them, which helps with the whole process.”

Fostering an inside space for the outsiders

While such partners are lauded for their support of the underground music scene, these organisations are hard to come by.

In fact, Darryl claims that “music is culturally very absent” in Singapore. Growing up in the hardcore and emo scene, he laments that local music from such underground scenes often lacks public representation. Such marginalisation is what sparked the do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos within these scenes, where individuals like Darryl decide to take matters into their own hands, creating spaces for the non-conformers, mavericks and renegades of our society.

Beyond the likes of 510 Media, Dogswain and Blacklisted Productions, Darryl highlights the many up-and-coming gig promoters who are creating opportunities for newer local bands of all genres. Name-dropping smaller promoters like Our Stray Liberties, Thrashfinds and Heat Source, he emphasises that “what they’re doing is good and important…because they’re actually putting on young bands and really pushing the [scene] culture forward”.

Bearing that same heart, grit, and zest is Rabak Records, whose goal, as Trevor puts simply, is “to not scale up.” His reason is simple–the smaller the business, the lower the overheads. 

“Right now I can just keep it completely informal,” Trevor explains. “You want to play a show? Okay, come, let’s find four more other bands and make something happen. I’m at a spot where I can do it. And if people ask me to play a show, how can I resist?” Unlike Rabak Records, larger gig promoters don’t have the luxury to host a gig on a whim. 

Beyond providing a space for bands to showcase their music, Rabak Records also serves as a platform for individuals to express their creativity. “Just as I give bands a place to perform, I give other people a place to design,” Trevor adds, referencing the multiple gig posters designed by his friends.

A quick scroll through Rabak Records’ Instagram account would also reveal their efforts to support their featured bands. In the lead-up to a show, Rabak Records shares a series of Instagram posts featuring fun facts about the performing bands. Inspired by Instagram’s collaborator tool, these posts not only generate excitement but also create content for the bands. “Many of these bands have Instagram accounts but no content. So I thought, why not make some posts, put their picture front and centre, and share it with them? While it’s a way to make personable content [for Rabak Records], it’s also to generate content for the band, to give them a head start,” says Trevor.

TRIFECTA embodies that same spirit, which they describe as “promoting creativity on the board and off the board.” Just as TRIFECTA serves as a haven for skateboarders, snowboarders and surfers, their Backyard Sessions provide a safe space and melting pot for creatives from all walks of life. While past iterations have only featured English musicians, TRIFECTA is not limiting itself. “We’re not really boxed in by genres,” Jessica remarks. “I think it would be really interesting to try other genres, like Mandopop, or even K-pop. I mean, why not?”

At this moment, nothing else matters

We’ve all been there–that moment of awe that washes over you when you realise you’re at a gig that’s about to change your life. 

It’s a feeling of pure exhilaration and adrenaline. The air is thick with the stench of sweat and suspense, the floor vibrating with each guitar lick, as limbs reach out to push and pull you in all directions. 

It’s chaos, mayhem and pandemonium. Yet, at that moment, as the band plays and the music envelops you, nothing else matters save the simple fact that you are there, in that space, soaking in the atmosphere. 

Living has never felt so surreal.

For Darryl, that moment was Dogfest 2, the first gig he helped organise.

Magical feelings like these are hard to come by. But when they do, they sometimes come full circle, as in Trevor’s case. 

Trevor recalls the first time he caught local emo act Forests. It was in 2019, during Forests’ launch of their album Spending Eternity in a Japanese Convenience Store. Enamoured by the performance, he took a Polaroid with bassist and vocalist Darell Laser. 

Little did he know that five years later, Forests would perform at Rabak Records’ Turn It Up! Vol. 3 gig, where Trevor would be invited on stage to sing Forests’ hit song Tamago in front of a huge crowd. As a memento, Trevor recreated the same Polaroid he took with Darell in 2019.

Moments like Trevor’s remind us of the importance of maintaining spaces and platforms for our local acts to perform and grow. The local scene is making a comeback. It’s stronger than ever, and eager to be heard.

It’s up to us to keep the rhythm alive.

Want to support our local scene? Join @lowcalgigssg on Telegram to stay in the loop about the latest music events. You might just discover your next favourite band! 

Head down to Baybeats 2024 from 11–13 October for three electrifying days of indie rock and alternative music by the bay, featuring top acts from Singapore and beyond.