Nur AisyahJoin Nur Aisyah at Turn It Up!, a dive into Singapore’s underground music and alternative subculture.
In a country where commercial venues dominate the market and rental prices only climb higher, alternative spaces seem to come and go, serving only as temporary sanctuaries to the underground community. In the last few years alone, spaces such as The Projector, Spectrum by Phil Studios, and Enclavebar have had to say their goodbyes to the public.
So, where does that leave the underground community now?
Such closures rob the community of more than mere venues; they chip away at the very essence of its cultural identity. Yet the underground music scene seems to persist, gathering in the few spaces still committed to keeping this community alive, with one of those spaces being Nineteen Eighty Studios.
Beneath the Surface
Hidden in a shophouse along Joo Chiat Road sits a studio that transforms into a full-fledged livehouse on the weekends. In this room, event organisers, bands, and audiences blur into a single community, bound by their love of music.
Nineteen Eighty Studios is just one of many such spaces opening their doors to gig organisers and the underground music community across Singapore. Its open layout lets crowds sway, mosh, and dance freely, while nooks lined with couches become pockets of conversation among strangers-turned-friends. Beyond gigs, the studio also serves as a haven for musicians where they can rehearse and record their music as well.
Behind the Shophouse Door
Meet Trevor Wee, 24, co-founder of Rabak Records and currently an Arts Management student at LASALLE College of the Arts. Part of a rising wave of young organisers shaping Singapore’s underground music scene, he recently staged his own event, Turn it Up!, at Nineteen Eighty Studios. A Ngee Ann Polytechnic Mass Communication graduate, Trevor once served as the president of NP Amplify, the school’s songwriting and composing club. He always had a passion for performing and connecting with his friends, though the drive to contribute more to the community only developed later on.
The moment clicked at a punk social event, when Trevor realised he did not just want to be part of the scene but to strengthen it. “So I thought, okay, this is a good place for me to start something.”
That “something” became Rabak Records, co-founded with a senior he met during his time at LASALLE. What began as a platform for ex-Amplify students to reunite and play together again, soon grew into something larger.
However, Trevor’s journey is far from effortless. Behind every successful gig is a one-man operation holding everything together.
“I’m not just managing the people,” he says. “I’m planning the marketing… the releases… I design the posters… I’m all the departments at once.”
His journey is driven by a simple belief: Singapore needs its underground. “I think counterculture is very important in Singapore,” Trevor says. “Kids need a way to express themselves if they don’t align with the mainstream.”
For Trevor, the heart of the scene extends far beyond the music itself. “They’re not paying for music,” he explains. “They’re paying for [the] community.”
And that community, he believes, deserves recognition and pride. “It’s from your backyard,” he says. “You should be proud of it as a Singaporean.”
To Trevor, the underground music scene is not just an outlet. It is a testament to what young people can build when they carve out spaces for themselves. However, organisers are only one part of the larger ecosystem. To truly understand the underground, you have to meet the bands who are shaping its sound.
The Kids Making the Noise
Onstage stands Müsak, one of the many bands performing at Turn It Up!, a quartet whose sound is as unruly and unpredictable as their energy. Their take on progressive rock blends their varied influences into something intentionally unconventional. At first glance, they look like an unlikely mix, but the moment they begin to play, the chaos snaps into place. What unites them is simple: a shared love for performing and making music.
Despite their playful demeanour, breaking into Singapore’s music scene has not been easy. As newcomers introducing an unfamiliar genre to local audiences, they faced much uncertainty at first. “It’s not as easy as just getting a few friends together and going to a jam room,” Lucas Houghton, the band’s bassist and vocalist, advises aspiring bands.
Yet, Lance Goh, the band’s guitarist, still holds onto the spirit that first drew them in. “If you want to make music, just make it,” he says. “Get a bunch of friends, go in a room, write some music. You’ll start structuring things when you get serious. But at the beginning, if you really want to do this — just do it.”
Ultimately, what drives them is the unwavering love and support of the underground community and how they hope that Singaporeans will venture beyond their comfort zones.
“We’re still here. We still want to listen to music. We still want to make music.” states Izharul Haq, the band’s keyboardist and trombonist.
“Music never dies.” Yet the community cannot survive on musicians alone. It needs a home, which is where venues like Nineteen Eighty Studios step in.
Keepers of the Scene
If organisers like Trevor are the architects of these gigs, venues like Nineteen Eighty Studios are the foundation on which this counterculture lives.
Jonathan Kang, 45, is one of the studio’s three co-founders. “[We] were all born a few months apart from each other in 1980,” he explains, making the name “quite intuitive”. The studio opened in 2021, at the height of COVID-19, when live music venues were closing their doors due to such venues being heavily reliant on F&B patronage.
While Jonathan and his co-founders were saddened by all these closures, they also realised, “We can either complain about it or we can pool some resources together and start our [own] place.”
Since then, Nineteen Eighty Studios has become a haven for live music, and Jonathan has witnessed the scene shift and transform over the years. He remembers when a recognisable “Singapore sound” defined the era, when local bands like the Humpback Oak toured the region and stations like 987FM set aside airtime for local acts. However, then came a reset. “Local bands just kind of went indie instead of being a bit more mainstream,” he notes.
With this rebirth comes a new sense of purpose with more “intention”, Jonathan shared. “There are supporters and fans of other bands who know the lyrics to songs that are played by other bands,” he says.
Future of the Underground
The road ahead for Singapore’s underground music scene is both exciting yet also filled with uncertainties. As organisers, venues, and bands continue to push the boundaries and revolutionise the scene, there is still a clear purpose driving the entire community: to create a space where music and expression can live and thrive, free from the mainstream.
This scene is more than just a collection of events and venues; it is a vibrant community powered by passion, resilience, and a collective love for music. As long as organisers, bands, and audiences continue to show, the noise will keep rising.
Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYuaOvnkGMY