Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Laneway Singapore 2017 to feature new and veteran Singapore acts

SINGAPORE — For an established music festival that is expected to draw 13,000 music lovers this year, the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival is refreshingly non-discriminatory when it comes to featuring relatively unknown acts.

SINGAPORE — For an established music festival that is expected to draw 13,000 music lovers this year, the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival is refreshingly non-discriminatory when it comes to featuring relatively unknown acts.

For example, two bands in the Singapore line-up, up-and-coming acts T-Rex and Sam Rui, are only releasing their debut records this year.

“Laneway started that way, presenting very new acts (with bands like The Temper Trap and Foals who were new and up-and-coming back then) and we like to keep the essence of that. Big names or not, we love the discovery aspect of the festival. We love it when people walk away after the festival falling in love with a new band’s music that they got to discover at the festival,” said Matthew Lazarus-Hall, director of Laneway Festival Singapore.

“This year’s line-up may seem like a bold and daring choice of bands, but we feel it is important to stay true to how we started — presenting some of the most indie names (who have gone on to become a big name or are on their way to making a name for themselves). We don’t wish to be tied up with the need to programme only the big names as that is not what Laneway is at its core.”

Laneway Singapore 2017 will feature international acts such as UK pop outfit Glass Animal, Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora, Australia’s Nick Murphy (Chet Faker) and American musician Tycho.

Besides T-Rex and Rui, Singapore representatives include veteran musicians Astreal and DJs weelikeme and KiDG.

“I still can’t believe it is happening. I think it hasn’t quite hit me yet,” said Rui, 21, who first attended Laneway Singapore as a 16-year-old music fan, in an interview with TODAY. “It’s quite surreal, it’s my first-ever festival and my show of the New Year, and it’s going to be all these people that I listen to on the regular, so it is quite insane.”

T-Rex, which only formed 1.5 years ago and comprises guitarist Ahmad Khaliq, bassist Axel Serik, drummer Junaidi Kusnong and saxophonist Bryan De Rozario, is also looking forward to see how audiences at Laneway will react to their sound, which has been described as “eclectic, bombastic and multi-textural”.

“This band wasn’t really meant to be an actual band. We started out as a project band for our drummer’s recital, and people liked it and started calling us, and now we are here,” said Axel, who added that the band will release its debut EP Volume One in the coming weeks. “We haven’t really found similar acts that play our kind of music, so we hope to open people’s minds (at Laneway),” added the 25-year-old.

For lead singer Ginette Chittick of Singaporean band Astreal, which has been on the local music scene for about 25 years now, she hopes audiences will enjoy their set, as they have “a sound quite unlike any other band”.

“Every time I go to Laneway, it’s just such a special feeling. There’s obviously a lot of thought put into planning the whole extravaganza, right down to the design of the tents and even the selection of great food,” said the 40-year-old.

“I think (having Laneway feature Singapore acts) exposes local bands to audiences who would not generally think of coming to see Singaporean acts by placing them in the same location,” she continued. “Also, what I like about the festival line-up posters is that Singaporean bands weren’t relegated to the bottom of the poster — just nicely alongside like it should be.”

Explaining why festival organisers have chosen to invite these three acts, specifically, Lazarus-Hall explained Laneway’s commitment to embracing talents in Asia.

“When we were first asked about the addition of Singapore bands four years ago, our answer was ‘why not’?” the festival director said. “Astreal is not new to the scene and when we learned a new album was in the works, we jumped at the opportunity to be the first to present them with a new sound. T-Rex represents a very young spirit and we love it, while Sam Rui is pretty different and we think this is timely for her coming EP release.”

And even though Rui is excited to play her new songs at the music festival, she says she is looking forward to meeting her favourite acts.

“I really want to see Glass Animal and (UK R&B musician) Nao, and I will probably die if I see her backstage. I will probably just faint,” she said, laughing. “Hopefully not before my set, because I won’t wake up.”

“The good thing about Laneway is that they bring in a lot of headliners, (but) there are also many small acts you would never have known existed, and you hear them at Laneway and they are so good. I am going to catch every set that I can if I am not soundchecking or preparing for my own set. I am going to catch everything else and discover good music.”

 

Laneway Festival Singapore will be held from 10am at The Meadow at Gardens By The Bay on Saturday (Jan 21). Tickets from S$185 from Sistic.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.