Dim Sum Dolly gets Ugly with Riot City music video

SINGAPORE — There’s a riot in the city and Dim Sum Dolly Pam Oei is involved. But don’t get your knickers in a twist just yet, we’re actually talking about the latest song and accompanying music video from the homegrown actress and funk rock band Ugly In The Morning (UITM), which she joined as its lead singer in 2013.

Riot City is the first single from UITM’s upcoming album, which is set to be released later this year. It’s also the theme song of film-maker Ken Kwek’s Unlucky Plaza, which opens in cinemas on April 16.

The movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was a sold-out success at the Singapore International Film Festival last year. Naturally, shooting the music video for Riot City fell in the hands of Kwek and the creative team behind Unlucky Plaza. (Oei is also married to Kwek.)

But the director, who is tackling music videos for the first time, said he did not make it with the movie in mind. “I attacked it as a musical narrative and enjoyed the freedom of going a bit bananas visually, as well as on set.

“With some of the crew working 30 hours straight, I cannot stress how much passion my creative team poured into this. We had a shoestring budget, but top fashion make-up artists such as Grego happily came on board to dream together.”

Titled Riot City: An Odyssey, the video was made on a budget of S$15 000, of which S$12,000 was raised last year via the crowd-funding platform Pozible. It was shot in a marathon 24-hour session in mid-March. The video is set to be launched tonight (April 9) at 9pm on Unlucky Plaza’s and UITM’s respective websites and social media pages. The single itself is already available on iTunes.

Meanwhile, there will also be a live performance by the band at Hood Bar on Sunday, April 12. Members of the Unlucky Plaza cast, including Filipino star Epy Quizon, will be in attendance.