Monday, March 20, 2006

15 seconds of fame...

Yesterday was the official opening of Serangoon CC. For those who doesnt noe, they have a jam studio there. Since they were expecting many visitors some of whom are MPs, they sort of hired my band to play in their jamming studio so that ppl wld so called noe the use of it or see that their rooms are being used. So they allowed us to jam there from 2pm to 8pm for free. Thats 6 hrs. But in the end we were given an hour more. Just imagine, 1 hr cost 12 bucks for students likee us. So 7 hrs add up to...u do the math.

Anyways, as all free things goes, there was a catch. we sort of had to lie haha we were told to tell ppl that we jam there weekly. Another thing was that Senior Minister Goh Chok Thong was gg to visit and the jam studio was one of his pit stop. So naturally we were asked to play a song for him. And after listening to our demo, the organizers requested Love is Blind...

But one thing abt the studio is tat the drums were bad. Especially the high-hat. So, luckily, upon request, we were given money to buy a new set of high-hat. So as fate wld have it, we came down last friday to set up the new high-hat. I brought my bass along as Donavan juz return it to me after his church performance. Like i've always said to my frens, my bass seems to have perform more tyms den me haha seriuzly...niways, fahmy brought along his guitar too as rif wanted to borrow for the following sunday, unfortunately he heard us wrongly n brought the wrong guitar.

Niways, after setting it up, we decided to try smth new that we juz discussed upon since we got the equipment there. So as we were abt to start, some indian guy came in and said he was the vice-something of the CC. We tot we were gg to get kicked out haha as it turns out he asked us, "R u guys the Reds?" NO! haha we r Left Turn On Red. "Oh turn on red, anyway we gg to have a rehearsal for this sun so i want u all to play smth wen the Minister of Something something something(din catch it, was too annoyed he got our name wrong) comes..." Our jaws were all dropping...how last minit can u get???? So he briefed us abit saying he will intro us this way,

"this is a band made up of cuzins, they kol themselves Red on turn. This is their leader Shan..."

"Erm, actually is Left Turn On Red and my name is Shad..."

"Pardon? Shark? Shan? Shag?"

"NO NO Shad"

"How u spell that?"

"S-H-A-D, Shad"

"oh ok..."

"erm sir, i dun think we can play cuz our drummer got to go off"

"nvm, juz anyhow play, its juz a rehearsal"

So come sunday, We came ard two, tuned our guitars arrange the amps n speakers to our liking, did checks n counter check of how we sound etc, etc, etc...So wen the big moment came...we felt more confident den on last fri...we actually played and instrumental version of Zombie wif fadhly on drums haha...

Niways, as 6 was approaching, to our dismay, the same indian guy came in n said that he was gg to intro us n not to correct any mistakes if he does any during SM Goh's visit. And soon, several ppl wif cameras and video cams cam in and started to set up their equipment...they cld have told us earlier that they will be media there...sheesh...

So the big moment came...A whole grp of MPs whom i recognise but duno their name came with SM Goh in tow. And the indian guy began...

"This is our jam studio...blah blah blah...this is a band of cuzins. They call themselves Left Turn On The Red..."

At this point we were all..."HUH!!!" Fadhly was gettin ready to tok in the mike but i signal him not to...

SM Goh: At my Marine Parade GRC there's a band called Traffic Police

Everyone Else: HAHAHA Good One....(suck ups...)

Indian guy,"So they gonna play a song for u..."

ME: Orite sir, we're gonna play an original of ours titled Love Is Blind...

SM Goh: Isnt it always...

Me: Well, yeah...so here it goes...

Unfortunately since he was bz we were told earlier to cut our 4 mins 22 secs song to 2 mins so we basically played 1 verse plus the bridge. We even had to cut out riff's solo...wat a drag...

Niways after that we continued playing among ourselves till abt 7.30 wen my sis came in wif some food...we sat down hungrily and eat like a couple of banglas by the roadside haha juz as we were finishing our food, fad got a kol from his dad, he had to go off for camp. His dad was sending him. So we slacked abit till ard 8.15 wen riff's parent surprised us by visiting...they wanted to hear smth from us so we end up playing again till abt 9.30 wen we packed up and leave...

While packing up tho, some gal name annice from nyp student unioun called me to invite The Tinnitus Effect (my bandzout band) to audition for some jam hop comp. With auditions in 2 days...sheesh so little time...

So off we went downstairs to store fad's amp temporarily at my sis office. While waiting for her to come out and take the amp, we were slacking and toking nonsense wen i receive a sms from Kai Ting...thats a surprise, she dun usually contact me...this is wat she said...

"Shad saw u in channel 8 news sia... Lol... Wah on tv sia..."

I was like WTH!!!! Everyone was surprised by my reactionand grab my fone to read and all their jaws kinda drop...we really din expect this. Den i tot mebi she's pulling my leg but then again, she din noe abt this event. N y wld she lie??? SO i called her up to cfm n yeah...we were on tv...Unfortunately, due to the drums positioning, Roma was omitted...

Feeling kinda 'malu' yet happy i went home tired...wif shoulder aching due to lugging the heavy bass ard for 7 hrs...

The next morning, or rather noon, i reach sch and logged on to my msn...without hesitation Wen Chun msged me...and said...

"wah shad, cool ah...i saw u on tv this morning...singing and playing guitar..."

I was like wth...again???? and having kaypoh grp mates, both donavan and jun jie read the window and both said "WAH..."

SHEESH....

And now as im blogging me, Zombie msged me saying "yo" haha that is strange cuz we hardly chat at all, even wen in class... so i replied, "yoz, wassup?" n he said

"u appear on tv ah?"

me: How u noe????

Zomb: "i watch..."

Haiz...guess i cant hide it...sheesh...so i guess i finally got my 15 seconds of fame along wif Fad and rif...pity for roma who was that but not in view and fahmy who cldnt make it due to him being in KL...

Anyways, juz for the record...MY NAME IS SHAD AND MY BAND NAME IS LEFT TURN ON RED...

OUTZ....

Shad checked in on...Monday, March 20, 2006