Boo Jian Wen Jeremy
“Local artistes like to gripe about the lack of support, but are you good enough to earn that support?” local singer-songwriter Rai said, issuing this challenge to local bands and artistes.
Rai, together with fellow singer-songwriter Jack, was addressing a small group of journalists just before they are scheduled to host In The House FM. The newest Mosaic programme addition promises to bring the audience closer to Mosaic artistes by letting them into trivia, interviews with performers and acoustic performances.
“We started out as solo artistes 5 years ago,” Jack started to introduce themselves by sharing about their beginnings.
“Even after hanging together for so long, we’re still discovering a lot about each other,” he said, elaborating on both their personal and working relationship.
Jack and Rai are now part of EIC, a popular local acoustic group, as singer-songwriters. The Mosaic press release describes their musical style as “a heady fusion of raw emotion and keen observations on the human condition”.
Jack and Rai said that, after a tumultuous journey, EIC will soon be releasing their debut album, In Stores Now. “We are just waiting for the CDs to be flown back from L.A., where it is being mixed and produced now, so that we can put them nicely into the package. The CD art, jewel cases and everything is ready,” Jack said.
“Our songs are about relationships and life in general,” Rai said, citing “Prophet Of Universal Love” as an example of a song about life experiences. His Myspace page explains that it is a song “which expounds on my personal life philosophies”.
But how did both of them start down this musical path? “Like many others, I started picking up the guitar in church. Right now at 31, I’m going back to find my roots,” Jack said.
“For me, it was a song writing competition that I took part in 2000,” Rai said. He added that it is easier now for musician hopefuls to jumpstart their career.
“The new media definitely help in promoting artistes. The chance of being discovered on Myspace is very small, but there’s still a chance,” Rai said. He also said that the great number of competitions in school campuses also help to expose potential artistes to the industry, increasing the probability of them being discovered.
“As a last resort, you can use Singapore Idol lah,” Rai quipped, flinging a gibe to the local affiliation of the famous America talent search competition. Ironically, what he may not have remembered is that they will be talking to Daphne Khoo, a former Singapore Idol contestant, later at In The House FM.
How does their experience as DJs help them as hosts of In The House FM?
“It helps as we can further explore our hosting persona, as an extension of our radio experience,” Jack told UrbanWire. Jack and Rai host Cartunes on Class 95 FM, with Jean Danker. They also expressed their excitement in meeting (and interrogating talk-show-style) renowned artistes, like Kurt Elling and Al McKay.
They ended the session by bursting into a song, they insist is “one of our naughtier songs”, entitled Fiona, about (surprise, surprise) MediaCorp artiste Fiona Xie, Jack’s “fantasy girl” – a song which included words like “car”, “genie” and “blue bra”.
If that isn’t enough to tell what their personalities are like, Jack and Rai, later during In The House FM, were heard asking Daphne Khoo questions of such nature: “Your new album is called Desperate. What are you desperate for? In the chorus, you sang “Desperate, I’m calling out your name…”, whose name are you calling out for?”
We can only deduce that when Jack promised, in an earlier interview with UrbanWire, that they would give artistes at In The House FM a difficult time, he wasn’t joking at all.
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Mosaic Music Festival: The Preview
Dinner With Saskia Laroo Band: A Personal Experience