👍 FRET NOT 👍 strings attached

Featuring Wayne Lim and Christopher Gerard Grosse (Fauxe)

No awards, no accolades – “we just do it because we love it”. A mainstay in the scene, master luthier Wayne Lim has been fixing and making guitars for more than a decade. All the magic happens in his workshop and office, a.k.a his mum’s home somewhere in Toa Payoh. In his charmingly cluttered space, Wayne’s rapid-fire delivery got us scrambling to keep pace; at the heart of his craft, if playing music is not his career, then supporting the guys who play music is his calling.

In a similar vein, we check in on Fauxe, who leads the creative collective, School of Altruism (SOA). With Bubu, Chacha, plus a host of collaborators and jammers who flit in and out of his welcoming space (often leaving things behind), Fauxe devotes himself to bringing a community together, including people from all walks of life. For SOA, a lot of the work is done to “bring out the best of your people, not so much trying to find the best person…[to] champion around the world”.

No Walls, No Mongrels

Featuring Abangsapau (New Mongrels) and Yuxuan and Aaron (4th Wall Studios)

Aaron: has eczema; has a flex wall; got thinking about getting things done proper-proper
Yux: went from fears of austerity to hopes of prosperity; runs ops, is the saikang warrior
Familiar faces in the indie music scene, Yux and Aaron are founders of 4th Wall Studios; they mix, record and offer their space in Jalan Pemimpin for musicians to rehearse and jam. On top of that, they also play in a band together, called Aggressive Raisin Cat. Ultimately, while monetising a hobby isn’t recommended, they just want to do something for the people they care about.

Over at a recognisable space (with Geylang bleed), Shaz a.k.a. ABANGSAPAU of New Mongrels talked about how the collective helps to build bridges within and across music scenes. This was while co-founder Mat was unfortunately dealing with a double whammy (Covid and a wisdom tooth surgery). New Mongrels is a collective that assists self-directed artists to achieve their goals while profiling Singapore music. In the rapper and wordsmith’s own words, “In the US you don’t see ‘Let’s push for US music to be heard’, you know?”. *Mic drop

You dream, we make, Panik not

Featuring Chris Sim and Ian Lee

YOOHOO~~ In a shophouse, with co-founder of PK Records Ian Lee who heads up production, we discover something called "Geylang bleed". But also what keeps him going, in an industry where the balance between passion and money is a notoriously unforgiveable struggle—"the sustainability of working solely in music unfeasible". As the heart and soul of PK Records, the label takes on artists with authenticity—I wrote this song because I'm f***ing sad, not because I want 20k streams.

In the same week, we tag along for photographer Chris Sim's photo shoot with ambient musician Kin Leonn to see how Chris works and why he stays invested in the music scene, prioritising what he learns from the people he meets over any material gains. As for how North East Social Club came about (since 2018), co-founder Chris says it stemmed from "a place of annoyance", to do things the way they wanted and to present the bands that they wanted to see live but organisations didn't want to work with for varied reasons.

Behind the art, poster, label, cover...

Featuring Ruz and Natasha Hassan

In the dusty humidity of Sarimbun Scout Camp way up north, we trail behind Natasha Hassan, illustrator, designer and co-founder of North East Social Club, who's setting up for Sunda Festival. This was not organised by her collective but she was engaged to do the art direction for the two-day festival in the jungle—she says this is how local collectives support one another. We find out how Kanye West and Charlie Lim settled her into the scene and on this path, what inspires her—Simpsons, Bojack, little characters with googly eyes—and what else keeps her going.

And in 416, we catch illustrator and gig organiser Ruz who goes by C.I.T.O.C.—watch the video to find out what it stands for and how he went from Pokemon to punk. Inspired by horror movies, metal bands, medieval armour and the packaging of Centipede Cough Pills, the affable Ruz talks a little about the ethos of the punk scene, notoriously mistrustful of outsiders and newcomers, and about how the scenes split by genre are quite disparate—hardcore kids normally don't go to metal shows, there are lots of differences, different opinions too. As someone who plays in a punk band, he says he doesn't aim to make money from shows that he organises, it's more about supporting younger musicians or the bands who are going on tour/launching an album.

This series was commissioned by Esplanade Offstage for Baybeats, the alternative music festival presented annually by Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay.