Those wild and crazy dayz

I always look back at my years spent in Ngee Ann Polytechnic with much fondness and disbelief. I chose the polytechnic over junior college knowing that I will have alot more freedom to do whatever I want, and I don't have to wear no stinking uniform.

The campus is just like a meeting place for us to decide where to go and what to do next. Since attendance were not taken during lectures, we can safely skip them. Tutorial classes, we have to attend, or risk suspension after the 2nd love letter.

I remember times when I'll be so engrossed in playing foosball (we called it table-soccer) that I skipped a whole day's worth of classes. Sometimes I'll head downtown for movies with like-minded friends. But one of my favorite past-time must be jamming; getting a few guys together and play music! Earnest and Simon on guitars, Caleb on bass, and me, drums. We also switched instruments every now and then just for fun.

Those days in the late 80's, big hair rock like Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, and Firehouse were the in thing. So most of the time, we'll try to play their songs. And then one day, we decided to take part in the talent-time competition. We know the Malay rockers will be playing those popular stuff by Guns n' Roses and Bon Jovi. We needed something different, something fresh. Simon was working part-time at a CD store at that time, and we took the opportunity to sample some of the new bands and albums. Choirboys... mmm... never heard of them, but we pop the CD and hit play anyway....Baby! Bingo! We found our song. Run to Paradise. An unknown but melodic pop-rock tune that'll get your feet tapping away. Listen to it here or a live clip of teh song here. Lyrics. (the damn CD didn't come with the lyrics then, I had to listen and take them down word for word)

Next comes the planning.

1. Simon wanted to take part in the solo category as well, so we thought that it'll be to our disadvantage should he sing twice in front of the judges, so they decided that I'll sing and play guitar instead. No problemo.
   
2. Guitar solo. I'm not much of a guitar player, and Earnest, at that time, wasn't too confident of executing it. That means I'll have to juggle between vocals and playing lead guitar. Very risky. Plus, we know that the Malay bands' guitarists will easily eat us for breakfast. Our only chance against them is decent, comprehensible vocals and a catchy tune. Solution - we got our good friend, Ken, to get a group of his buddies to attend on the night of the competition. At the point where I finished the bridge and hit the guitar solo, Ken and Friends will start standing up, shouting and clapping to distract everybody and drown out my weak guitar solo. Heheh. Brilliant.
3. Contingency plan. A 2nd song. Just in case. I could get a sore throat or something on that day and can't sing or, maybe the judges and audience will be so impressed that they'll ask for an encore. Heh, you never know. So, we prepared yet another obscure but totally catchy song. Don't Worry Babe, by Singapore's local band Energy. It will have Earnest on vocals, Simon on lead guitar, Caleb bass, and me drums.

Right, all set. Maybe its because of all the planning, I wasn't nervous at all, even on that very night. Strangely, Simon seems a little stressed and asked if I have any spare drumsticks. "Sure", I said, I always carried 2 to 3 pair of them in my bag everyday.

Long before our turn, I was roving around behind the audience and there was this 3 girls singing some chinese song and prancing around on stage in their mini-skirts (there is also this messy girl with a camcorder who kept shifting about blocking my view). One of them was ssoooo cute that right after they were done and also days later, I actually approached her to ask for her name and to chat her up (I was quiet, but never shy). She was, of course, shocked and flattered. But it didn't really result in anything cos I was too busy with other targets then. And damn! The Malays are actually pretty good, playing Guns n' Roses and Bon Jovi stuff. But their vocals were rather strained when they tried to hit the high notes.

Backstage, there's this messy looking girl with a camcorder again*, filming around while everyone waited for their turn. Wait, its our turn! So there we were, standing under the spotlight. I can't see a thing with all the lights on us (found out after the show that my sis and her friend came, also a girl whom I admire was also in the audience). That should be a good thing. And here we go.... strum, strum, strum...strum.... Baby! Oops, damn, the previous contestant had switched off the microphone and I didn't do a mic check before I started. I had some training in classical guitar, violin, and drums, but none of those, our planning included, told me about checking if the mic was turned on! I quickly switched it on. I'm still cool. Midway through the song, the audience erupted, there were some laughter, some gasping, followed by loud cheering and applause. What the... Ken! I'm not into my guitar solo yet! Turned out Simon had really dropped one of his drumsticks! Good thing he kept the beat going with his remaining stick while picking up the spare I passed him, while Ken and gang reacted quickly enough by cheering and applauding. I managed to go through my guitar solo as planned, slightly out of tune but I'd bet that other than the Malay rockers, the judges and most of the audience won't be able to tell. That is one of the reasons why we picked an unknown song in the first place.

Backstage again, we were glad that it's over. Despite our comedy of errors, we were happy that we did it. We just wanted to enjoy the experience and we never thought of winning anything at all. And we were all laughing and joking about what happened on stage. Then it came. One of the organizers came to us and said that they had forgot to plan for the time when the judges are scoring for the contestants and that the audience are getting bored. She asked if we would like to play another song to kill some time. We just looked at each other and said "Why not?"

This time, without any pressure, and with the experience we just gained not too long ago, we actually went out and had more fun than Run to Paradise. The judges were there too, watching us. And I can see them talking among themselves, pointing at me, and then at Simon, then Earnest, probably noting that we had swapped instruments and vocalist. I think it added up to our advantage. Friends later told us that we actually sounded much better doing the 2nd song!

At the end of the day, we came in 2nd. 1st place went to an excellent group who did Caravan of Love, a cappella, a la The Housemartins (Fatboy Slim Norman Cook use to play bass in this band, and singer Paul Heaton went on to form Beautiful South after The Housemartins' demise).

But, like all rock bands, we later split up due to musical differences. Simon wanted to improve his instrumental skills further so he went to play bass for a Malay band. Caleb was so impressive on bass that my Malay friends actually enquired about him and asked him to play in their band. Earnest signed up for guitar lessons at Yamaha to improve his lead guitar skills. And I went on to join another band with Ken, Leonard, and Chin Wee. Their drummer, as I was told, was simply not hard-hitting enough and was sacked. We played much heavier stuff like Metallica and Megadeth for a few years and, of course, went our separate ways due to musical differences, again. What did you expect?

*This messy looking girl would later change my life forever, so it deserves a separate entry, soon.