Wake Me Up Music or WMUM for short, one of Singapore's biggest indie record labels announced earlier that they will be closing the label for good after more than a decade in service. So to commemorate the closing of the unfortunate chapter on a high, WMUM held the 'One More For The Road' show at Homeclub last weekend with a host of current and former WMUM artists including Plainsunset, Surreal, Kate of Kale and more as a sort of farewell and tribute to the influential record label and local music staple.
Day 1 featured a host of current WMUM artists namely The Marilyns, Winter Halter, Kate of Kale, Caracal and lastly A Vacant Affair. Here's a lowdown on the performances for the day.
The Marilyns
First act for the night The Marilyns played a delightful set to open the show with a slew of indie pop inspired numbers. For a person like me who love indie music and have never watched The Marilyns before, my first impression was that they kind of sound like The Get Up Kids, which is a compliment of course. Frontman Aza was struggling, down with a flu and had a box of tissue beside his pedal board, but it wasn't a bad set at all. Enjoyed myself here but the crowd was somewhat disappointing though. Well, this show did coincide with Zoukout at Siloso and Kpop megastars Girl's Generation at Indoor Stadium.
Winter Halter
By this time, there were more people in the venue so that added to the growing hype of the show. I remember sharing the stage with a particular Vargus Pike Band at Scape last year and I can't help to wonder, is this the same band? With all the props and theatrics and Nick Chim's pink hot shorts, it was definitely a sight to behold. Music wise, there isn't much to say. It's one big experimental Rojak, they sound punk in one song, pop in the other, and out of nowhere a Led Zeppelin style guitar solo was added in! Anyways I think the main focus would be on the visuals and antics of the band in the show. I will say this though, they sure know how to entertain!
Kate of Kale
Local punk rock veterans Kate of Kale played a tight set, showcasing why they are one of Singapore premier punk rock acts. Being in a punk rock band myself, I was screaming with joy on the inside when they played MxPx's Punk Rock Show to open the set, snippets of Ramones' KKK Took My Baby Away and also a Descendants classic but seems like most in the crowd are not familiar with the materials that they played. I wasn't familiar with their original stuff as it was my first time watching them live, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. And yes, at times they were sloppy, but they are experienced enough to cover them up. Definitely one of my favorite sets of the night.
Caracal
Talented local act Caracal were up next, and it sure does seem like majority of the crowd were there for them, signalling their influence and popularity despite their young age and the more older bands playing with them on the day. I have followed their progress in recent years and they sure as hell have come a long way since Chris was still their vocalist. It seemed almost impossible to see them play stuff like Best Defence Is Nonsense or Last Night now, but their new stuffs are way more polished and accomplished. Musically, it's more mature and they wouldn't look out of place if they were to share the stage with international alternative rock bands such as Thrice or Thursday. They played new materials which sounded impressive and a couple of songs off their album 'Bear.Shark.Wolf' such as Charlatan, where they engage the services of fellow members from various local bands for additional vocals, acoustic guitar and horns, and they finally closed the set with the crowd favorite 'Cheers to Love', much to the delight of the fans in attendance.
A Vacant Affair
I remember watching A Vacant Affair way back in 05 or 06 at Baybeats when I was still a secondary school student and they were one of the first bands that caught my attention in the local scene. Being totally oblivious to the local scene at the time, AVA made me realised that hey, local and regional bands are not bad at all. There was a time when AVA had 3 guitarists, and then it was just Rudi and Josh, and yesterday, it was just Rudi on the guitar with Josh, who also happens to be the frontman for The Fire Fight, temporarily on hiatus from the band. They were impressive as usual, Matt with his usual high-octane performance, engaging the crowd with the rest of the band holding steady with their respective roles. Mirrors and We Are Not The Same were played among others from their album 'Reasons to Leave'. Great way to close the show, they hardly put a foot wrong so I was pretty happy with the set, although I was hoping for them to play Connecting the Dots, which happens to be my favorite song of that album.
One More For The Road may seem like a farewell show, but to me, it's more of a celebration, the coming together of various bands and individuals who are responsible for shaping up the current local scene for one final weekend. I wasn't able to attend Day 2 due to personal commitments, Sunday was when the more veteran local acts such as Surreal, Plainsunset, Fishtank, Vertical Rush played but from what I hear, it was pretty epic with a much better crowd attendance and also more well-received than Saturday, which was expected considering the status of the bands who were playing on that day.
With that being said, thank you Wake Me Up Music for a decade of service, The local scene was alive and kicking when you ruled. We will miss you.
(All photos are property of photographer Donald Soh Poh Soo)
