Think on your feet! A gig with a scared bunch of good kids and a rowdy, crazy drunk.

The scene: the Circle of Fifths Open Mic Night at the POW (Little India). We were having a nice comfy time, really a bunch of guys playing for each other and a few tourist/backpacker types, when a pair of DRUNK AS HELL Australians walk into the bar.

(Sounds like a bad joke. A pair of drunk Aussies walk into a bar...)

One of them starts shouting something incoherent at Chris Brassington, but none of us could really hear whether he was saying something like "you rock" or "you f**k*". Things like that really sound quite similar when they are slurred out with a heavy, heavy Australian accent (remove all the consonants and you'll get an idea of what we were hearing). At that point, I think a few of us were worried that one of them would get violent.

Chris was already on one of his last songs, so he finished up, and it was my turn to play. Chris, being quite familiar with the ways of the drunk, whispered to me: "you have to go up fast, don't let it be quiet for too long. Not good to have it too quiet." In the few short minutes between Chris's set and mine, one of the drunks had found himself up on the stage, swaying about menacingly/hilariously (not sure which one to use at the moment). What was he shouting about up there? Hmm..

Have a look for yourself.

Yeah, you can laugh ;)

There's something to be said about playing music in some kind of community, even if it's as transient as the bunch of people at an open mic. If there was some kinda tension in the room (WHAT'S THE DRUNK GONNA DO), I felt safer knowing that my fellow musicians were around me. That's Jon Ashley's voice I can distinctly hear going "GET OFF THE STAGE!"...

Ok yes, I feel quite proud of myself for thinking up that song in the nanosecond I was up there and figuring out how to get him off the stage without things getting unpleasant. But without the bunch of guys in the room, I'm not sure I would've dared to do what I did. Truth.

The drunk, the support, and my brilliant (ahem) reactions continued through the set, some of which you can watch here (warning, some NC16 language)

(Apologies for destroying the Bob Dylan song........)

All considered, it was a pretty fun night. The drunk dude was going on and on and on and on about how I had a nice voice, the most commercial sound of the night (reeeally now), and how he would get "his people" to contact me if I gave him my number. SO I DID GIVE HIM MY NUMBER, AND TWO MONTHS ON, HE STILL HASN'T CONTACTED ME. Oh, the heartbreak..

New track, bunch ov gigs

Hello internet!

I've got a new track w00t w00t w00t.. And hopefully more to come. Please pray that my muse will come and visit me again. And here's the track!

http://kevinakaghost.bandcamp.com/track/the-distance-between
(bandcamp seems to have removed the embedded player thingy, so here's a button you can click instead :P

As of now (10.49pm, 24 November 2012 in Hougang), I see 12 (wah so many) likes on the bandcamp track, 4 likes on my own facebook, and 1 like on my artist facebook page (thanks, Rachel). That confuses me a bit. Should I delete my artist facebook page? I dunno.

Ok, rant time.

I'm jealous of people who have 10,000 likes on their page. There, I said it. But here's the rant. I think musicians should be, first and foremost, people who are good at TOUCHING PEOPLE'S HEARTS. They should not be focused on being good at Facebook/MySpace/YouTube/LikeAggregator (don't worry, I made the last one up, it doesn't exist.. I think). It PISSES ME OFF when I see someone with bad music, but with 10,000 likes.


Then I see someone like Daniel Mustard whose music is absolutely brilliant and who has a sizeable Facebook following, and I think to myself: goddddamnnn, I need to get better at what I do. Fast. I need to write better songs, record them, and then... get good at Facebook. Eeks.

Rant over.


Ok, so, bunch ov gigs.

2 Dec: The Diarist Sessions and Open Mic at Viking Coffee #02
6 Dec: Circle of Fifths Songwriters Showcase @ The Prince of Wales
24 Dec: Ngee Ann City.... dunno where. Also no Facebook info... But I confirm playing! 7.30-8pm.