Jammerz Arena | Arts Platter: Fire It Up!

by Ariani bte Adam

A Jammerz Arena performance during Jam & Hop 2013 in Republic Polytechnic

Rebuilt in 2009, Jammerz Arena (JA) went through a lot to get them where they are now. The CREATE.Club Interest Group (IG) was on the verge of closing down when the number of members were deteriorating. However, that did not stop a group of passionate musicians from restructuring the IG. Lim Teck Kiang, Uthaiyan Kumanan, Mark Spencer and their group of friends put in their utmost hard work in bringing up the IG’s name. Indeed, their efforts paid off.

From having no practice room to owning their very own jamming room. Their number of members even grew over the years. Now, the current batch of JA has a total of five senior bands namely Black Cat, Downtown Grace, Deaf Sentence, Maple Chapel and KeepStill.

“With the characters that we have, I can see JA in the local scene. There will eventually come a time where JA will be known outside than inside,” said Neshy Hale, 21, a student advisor of Jammerz Arena.

After five generations, JA has produced successful bands like Bear Culture, FINZ and also Thunder Band Slam’s 2nd runner-up, Tell Lie Vision. These bands have performed at Baybeats, *SCAPE, Noise Singapore and not forgetting our very own IGNITE! Music Festival. Inspired by these few bands, the current generation of JA also hopes to make it big.

“I admire FINZ because of their fighting spirit. They have gone through a lot but that didn’t stop them from being who they are today. I hope that every JA band will always have that undying determination in them,” said Istifarah Puteri Kudsi binte Dzulkifli, 21, vocalist of KeepStill.

Every year, the IG is given the opportunity of producing their own show at one of IGNITE!’s Fringe events. With their own production called “Fire it Up!”, JA celebrates local music by playing songs made popular by bands like Plainsunset, Youthwreck and also Caracal who will be headlining this year’s festival. Not only that, JA will also be performing covers from your favourite international bands.

“We want to create a kind of awareness where IGNITE! features local bands so we want to honour them by covering their music,” said Vera Lau, 19, drummer of KeepStill and Maple Chapel.

Not only will they be playing at the Fringe event but they will also be bringing the stage down on festival day itself on the 23rd of August. Want a sneak peak of what Jammerz Arena is all about? Be sure to come down to South Agora at 5PM on the 13th of August to catch them live in action!

IGNITE! Music Festival presents: Youthwreck

Fadil Yusof founded the band, together with Bani Hindir, whom he saw played at the a gig and later paths crossed during an IRC Guitar Channel Outing, and Izzuddin Aris, who was Fadil’s colleague during National Service.

Despite their bizarre and unwitting introductions, the band flourished and YouthWreck released the 'Fools!' EP and have garnered little or some interest both locally and internationally. The band is currently promoting the EP and writing a new set of songs for an album that is about to come.

Catch them at the main festival stage on the 23rd of August!

IGNITE! Music Festival2013: The Reveal

by Ariani bte Adam

What’s up, everyone!

It’s the day all of you have been waiting for: the reveal! This year, we have a mixture of bands of all sorts; from hardcore to indie, old to new. We have bands who were around as early as 1998 and those who are the upcoming favourites of sunny Singapura. There are even some very familiar names that might get you excited for this year’s music festival!

Over the weekend, the IGNITE! team had the opportunity of meeting the bands to get to know them better. We even had it filmed down especially for all you music lovers so do check out our spaces for our video interviews with the bands.

And finally, here's the line-up for this years' IGNITE! Music Festival!

SEE YOU AT IGNITE! MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013!

Something Smells Fishy in IGNITE!

Many share an enecdote of cultured bears and caracals in the summer state of the west grand. We, the thousand youthwreckers, have barricaded and took cover while having our favorite tiramisu backed with music from a band of sets. The willows out in the open are like shoegazers who speak in delay or "arajua" as we call it. They often ponder on the affairs of the vacant.
This is the story of a festival called IGNITE!

Jitters and Features of Clash of the Bands 2013

by Sariyanto Bin Slamat

Clash of the Bands was one of the highlights in The Republic Cultural Centre’s (TRCC) calendar, second only to IGNITE! Months of preparations and more than 30 crew members involved, from staffs to students from all over of Republic Polytechnic, it was a highly anticipated event.

But the ongoing haze that has been hovering over our shores was always going to be a cause for concern for the organizers. The welfare of not just the performers, but also the anticipated 400-strong spectators, not forgetting the crew, never lingered far away from the back of the organizers’ minds. Every planning, every detail, and, with Clash of the Band the curtain raiser of a slew of events lined up to promote IGNITE! Music festival this August, the potential success of IGNITE! was all on the line.

Then, only a week before Clash of the Bands commences, a last minute announcement – a change in location. The event would be staged at Hood Bar and Cafe, from the initial location The Coliseum in Resorts World Sentosa. 

It was an unwelcoming but a necessary change. Health and safety should never be compromised and so the organizers and crewmembers immediately work out a contingency plan in preparation for a smaller venue in Hood Bar, located at Bugis Plus.

Sunday, 23rd June 2013. Hood Bar and Café. Bugis Plus. The night was a spectacle. By the time the emcees declared the winners, it took nearly another hour for the last person to leave the place; such was the overwhelming reception.

With participants coming from the reaches of South East Asia such as Thailand and Malaysia, Clash of the Bands was making all the right noises. Take Cover of Singapore won the Band Category, while Triton Kanjanabose of Thailand won the Solo Category.

23^rd June 2013 – The day finally arrives for bands to battle it out! 

As early as 5PM, performers started to register and we could see their anxious faces.

The solo category was up first, with Patamol Prommopakarn of Thailand belting out a Beyonce classic “Listen”

Rock My Soul (RMS) a mixture of different races from Thailand.

Purple Tiger blowing the crowd away with the song Dream On from the legendary band, Aerosmith.

Ardent supporters of MFF ASA 85, all the way from Thailand.

Audrey Dankey, keyboardist for Youthwreck.

Fadhil from Youthwreck, rocking his vocals out.

Clarissa, lead vocalist for Take Cover.

Outside Hood Bar, our reporters interview the participating bands for their thoughts.

Winner of the Band Category – Take Cover.

Better "Take Cover" because they will be bringing the stage down at IGNITE! 2013.

Clash of the Bands 2013: Rocking it in the Hood

By Muhammad Haiqal Bin Sari

SINGAPORE, 23 JUNE 2013  ̶  As local band Take Cover made their way up the stage at Hood Bar & Café, the audience applauded in approval of the judges’ choice of winners for the 2013 edition of Clash of the Bands (COTB). With the audience’s cheers and applause filling up the entirety of the live music venue, the band members basked in the glory of their win under the bright lights.

From the judges point of view, local and foreign musicians took turns to wow the audience and judges at Hood Bar & Café for the opportunity to perform at IGNITE! Music Festival (Photo by: Sariyanto B. Slamat)

The event, which was supposed to be held at the The Coliseum in Resorts World Sentosa’s Hard Rock Hotel, was forced to move to a different location due to the unhealthy haze standards. Fortunately, MSWorks, the organizer of COTB, managed to find an alternative location in Hood Bar & Café. The change of location turned out to be a mixed blessing.

“Hood Bar is much more intimate as it is a smaller space, so the bands can really feel the energy of the crowd,” said Tony Kam, one of the judges for COTB and also the Assistant Director of Technical Operations at Republic Polytechnic (RP). “I am really glad that we are having this event at Hood bar, which is an ardent supporter of local music.”

COTB crew member Vikkash Suruchand, 21, felt that the event was a good warm up for IGNITE! Music festival, which is to be held in RP on the 23^rd and 24^th of August. The RP student pointed out that he was impressed by the mix of different genres from alternative rock to pop music.

“I was expecting the competition to comprise bands of multiple genres and it’s great that that was the case,” said the 3^rd year student of Diploma in IT Service Management.

One band that delivered on this expectation was guest band Youthwreck, who are 10-year veterans in the local music scene. Lead singer and guitarist Fadil Yusof believed that it was about time that the band added in a new element into their sound.

The band decided to hire a session keyboardist for their upcoming IGNITE! Music Festival and Baybeats gigs. “The keyboardist has a classical and jazz music background so we thought it would be good to have a new sound for our fans to listen to,” explained the 29-year-old musician.

In the end, Take Cover impressed the judges most with their rendition of Bruno Mars’ “Treasure”. As a result of their success, they won themselves a performing slot in the IGNITE! Music Festival 2013 lineup. Clarissa, the band’s lead singer, was clearly still trying to digest the night’s events.

“I can’t describe how I’m feeling right now. It’s a mixture of both shock and delight. Nonetheless, we can’t wait to put on a good show at IGNITE!” said the 18-year-old Anglo-Chinese School (International) student.

IGNITE! Music Festival 2013 already looks like it is going to be one hell of a show.

IGNITE! 2013; It's back, bigger and better!

by Ariani Bte Adam

Well hello there!

Welcome to the official blog page of IGNITE! Music Festival 2013. This year, IGNITE! is going to be bringing you the best of Singapore local music. Itching to know who’s playing? We can’t tell you the line-up yet; it’s a secret.

What we can promise you is that we will be having exciting performances not only on the Festival day but also during the weeks that lead up to the show itself (We even have competitions in stored where you can stand to win shopping vouchers. Enticing huh?). Besides the Fringe events, we will also be having interesting workshops. One of which is going to be hosted by one of the leading shoe brands in the industry.

Recently, we have just finished Clash Of The Bands where bands from around the region came together to battle it out here in Singapore at the Hood Bar and Cafe. It was a fierce fight and as a matter of fact, our upcoming post will feature highlights of the competition.

With our theme ‘Passion and Compassion’, the highlight in this year’s festival is the Service Learning project that we will be embarking on together with Republic Polytechnic’s CREATE. musicians and also the bands themselves. All of that will be revealed really soon, so do stay tuned!

For now, what we need you guys to do is to be an awesome sport and follow our blog. All you have to do is to press the “follow” button on the far right of the navigation bar. We are also on social media platforms such that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Instagram. To hop onto our social media sites, just click on the various navigation links and you will then be magically teleported into the realm of IGNITE! Music Festival 2013.