Livin' On A Prayer

Rockefella IV was super great. It seems CJ bands are getting tighter and tighter every year, its starting to get scary. Lao jiaos like us are really getting pressurised when going back to perform cuz the J2s are so tight, it really makes us look at most, medicore.

One thing learnt durin' this performance though... We're NEVER ever performing as an incomplete band again cause its totally fuked up. Its like althought we have five members in the band, but 1 guy missing seems to make our pieces sound 40% empty, not 20%. It seems we've learnt the hard way each member is more than a fifth of a band. I've took some really great vids on friday night and i did experiment with walking around while fiiming to make the vids look a lil more professional (thought to no avail...)

I think we need to hire our own sound engineer, manager and video filmer cuz I can't be doing all those while performing can I... The vids will be processed (trying to find a more professional free video converter now and I shall be processing it when I've got time). No net at home sucks, while actually Starhub sucks... So I'm switching over to Singnet but it won't be up til this Saturday.



We've gotta hold on to what we've got
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not
We've got each other and thats a lot for love,
We'll give it a shot

Whoooaaa-Were halfway there
Whoooaaa-Livin' on a prayer!
Take my hand, we'll make it i swear
Whoooaaa-Livin' on a prayer!
Livin' on a prayer!

The Seven Angels

Yay today's performance at Raechel's was... I don't know... I'm grateful to Luther for giving us a $535 worth of equipments for $300. Was feeling fine after the set but feeling totally fucked now at home. I don't know what I'm emoing about which is quite puzzling (don't I sound like a fuckin' engineer? Wondering what I'm sad about while emoing?)

Maybe it was the not-too-perfect set at Raechel's.
Maybe it was the half empty cock hall during the performance with that $300 set of equipments we paid with our own money. (They call this looking at the glass half-empty)
Maybe it was my fucked up throat.
Maybe it was the loneliness one feels in the midst of a crowd.
Maybe it was the @!#$%!$#% nag from my dad.
Maybe it was etc etc etc.
Maybe it was me?

Weird mood swings ala guy's version of pms maybe? Whatever it is, it's still a lil puzzling that I can't seem to find a sole source for this shit feeling. Maybe its a bit of everything that piles up on each other on my back. A grain of sand ain't heavy but a bucket of sand is. I'm feeling so !@#$ed up not even the F word is describing it right. Not going for mass tmr for dunno what reason. Hope it'll be better tomorrow.

What a way to start the !@#$ing new year. Chee bye lan jiao awesomeness...



You've been fighting for your soul
And sometimes it takes a toll
Hope one day you'll understand
What it means to hold in hands
What they call a fantasy
It is nothing but a key
To the world that now you're in
That they call a wicked dream

When you're walking on your own
When you're broken and alone
You may feel us from inside -
on the other side of life.

I've been fighting for my soul
And sometimes it takes a toll
Hope one day we'll understand
What it means to hold in hands
What we call a fantasy
But it's nothing but a key
To the world that now I'm in
That we call a wicked dream

I've been fighting for my soul
And sometimes it takes a toll
Hope one day we'll understand
What it means to hold in hands
What we call a fantasy
But it's nothing but a key
To the world that now I'm in
That we call a wicked dream

I've been fighting for my soul (Oh, walking on my own)
And sometimes it takes a toll
Hope one day we'll understand
What it means to hold in hands
What we call a fantasy (When I'm broken and alone)
But it's nothing but a key
To the world that now I'm in
That we call a wicked dream

I've been fighting for my soul (I may feel you from inside)
And sometimes it takes a toll
Hope one day we'll understand
What it means to hold in hands
What we call a fantasy (From the other side of life)
But it's nothing but a key
To the world that now I'm in
That we call a wicked dream

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

Been sick since DT's concert till now. Must be their godly powers too god-lyke for a mere mortal like me to comprehend... Work is really making me a no-life. 8 to 5.30 in the office, which means waking up at 6am and reaching home at 7pm feeling shagged. After dinner etc its 8+pm and that leaves like 2 hours of "admin time" to do my stuff (yeah feels like NS eh).

With the performance at Raechel's this Saturday, and Rockefella next Friday, practice time has been really tight with my current schedule. And best: no vocals practise for the past two weeks cause of bad throat. I think we should kick our damn bloody vocalist out of the band. That slacker keeps giving lame excuses etc and doesn't sing for jamming sessions. He thinks his James LaBrie or something, poping out on stage just 1 bar before his part and coming in perfect... Yeah right.

Seriously, I'm not eating any bak kuas or CNY "goodies" (they definately won't make my throat gooder) for this two weeks. Jordan Rudess always cover our asses so since Hock Lu is stuck in NS for Rockefella, Instant Biscuit is gonna be butt naked during Rockefella


It's not a silly little moment,
It's not the storm before the calm.
This is the deep and dying breath of
This love that we've been working on.

Can't seem to hold you like I want to
So I can feel you in my arms.
Nobody's gonna come and save you,
We pulled too many false alarms.

We're going down,
And you can see it too.
We're going down,
And you know that we're doomed.
My dear,
We're slow dancing in a burning room.

The Ministry Of Lost Souls

Lazy to update recent events. New year was great, with work bogging me down and I don't have as much time as I would like to have practising.

Class outings are still happening once in a while. Turn-ups are better as compared to school days, with the usual few remaining MIA. I feel that its a waste of effort, energy, time and money to call these people but they're still class mates after all. I'll decide when to stop including them on the contacts list when plaining class outings when the time comes (shouldn't be too long from now).

Jamming with band'as been great too. I feel so noob playing with them cause they're god-lyke, especially Mr Chua Hock Lu aka Jordan Rudess. Brandon's getting stress by heavy workload from poly and sean still seem to be doing fine in J2.

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DREAM THEATER CONCERT @ FORT CANNING, 17 January 2008

It was fantastic! I found the sound quite good last night. Was expecting a lil worse cuz I had the Yngwie's set impression stuck in my mind. Once again, Portnoy's drum was mic'ed and EQ'ed so well I sounded freaking awesome.

The animations in the background was hilarious. I wondered if portnoy did all those himself? Haha. Portnoy's spit, JP's fire guitar, JM's sub waves, Jordan R's Dumbledore longfingers and James L's vocals as weapons.. And Mike's drumset suddenly becoming a motor cycle! lol. Kudos to the backstage people also for perfectly synching the words for a particular song.

James Labrie's vocals sound different from studio albums. I would say it's a lil more raw last night and was better than that in the albums. JP's clean tone was teh seks, Piezo pups, stereo reverb etc, gave the vast out-spacy feel minus the cheapo sound.

The rain also added to the great ambience there! Wet hair nicer to head bang (which was a challenge cause of the time signatures). I wonder if their instruments and gear will get damaged cause when it was raining the heaviest, large sprays of mist went all over the stage. Thumbs up to DT for still carrying on and putting up a good show though their instruments were quite damp halfway through.

I have a few pics and vids, will see what to do with them later. I was surprised they allowed people to take photos and videos continuouly for the 1st hour before they sent those half naked ang mohs around to remind people not to take footages though. Haha!

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Okay gonna jam on Sunday w/o our Jordan Rudess to cover our asses as he's in NS. We'll really hear how sucky we are then... I hope it won't be so bad, trying for Rockefella IV.



Remember me
I am the one
Who saved your life that night

I was the one who would not abandon you
Even in death i was the one who would not leave you
I used my freedom to protect you

And all the world around you
Do you remember me this time
Even in death I gave you life
I gave you life

Away in a Manger

Class outing (if it can even be considered one) last friday was fantastic though only Gretchen, Melissa, Keith, Shi Xian, Shi Ming and Lionel turned up.

Watched Alvin and the Chipmunks at GV Marina and chilled out outside the Esplanade facing Singapore River (Damn clouds blocked the stars! Dumb lights spoilt the coastal view!) Haha. Actually, I was plannin' to chill out at Harry's and watch Paul Ponnudurai perform but since we haven't eaten dinner, we had to da bao Macs and we sat by the steps along the river to makan.

We chilled til ten before twelve before deciding to head home. Rushed to City Hall MRT with SX and Gretcheo but SX had to cab home after that cause he missed the last EW train. Greatchen ust missed her last 265 at AMK mrt and cabbed home for $5... (rather than walking 10 mins right? Dark, dangerous and ulu... Haha)

Wished we had more class outings like that next time...



Last weekend was insane intensive singing for me. Choir practise for midnight mass paid off in the end though. I personally felt that CD Choir sang reeaaallllyyyyy well last night. Maybe its because everyone was happy after Christmas eve dinner... Buuttt, we kinda sucked this morning cause everyone was half-dead after singing midnight mass and partyin the night away. So through this intensive practise, I found ou that my highest non-falsetto note is a mid F# while my lowest note was a low low G (though it sounded robotically techoish past B). I also found out that there're three different verisons of Away in a Manger! How interesting! Met Sylvester today at Gretchen's block. Saved on stamp cost! And Mr Leong also popped out of nowhere while we were chilling out downstairs (like wtf?!). Talk about Small City County Island Singapore!

-Benja



Away in a manger, No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus Laid down His sweet head

The stars in the bright sky Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus Look down from the sky
And stay by my side, 'Til morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever And love me I pray

Bless all the dear children In Thy tender care
And take us to heaven To live with Thee there

Life In The Fast Lane

Got a job at Hitachi Global Storage Technologies through my cousin. Work's quite cool at the Human Resource department/ Employee Relations. Its like welfare stuff. I think although I've got no real past work experiences, everything I've learnt as head of class welfare and as CJGE president's useful now.

Working hours are Mon to Fri 8am to 5:30pm. Not enough time to enjoy myself like almost everyone else I know. Not enough time to practise guitar, jam, play computer games. Since my pay's coming in only on the 28th, I'mma borrow a million dollars from Brandon first for the City Music sale and Dream Theater's Concert in January. I'll pay back in instalment with 0% interest! Haha.



Life in the fast lane
Surely make you lose your mind
Life in the fast lane
Life in the fast lane
Everything all the time
Life in the fast lane

Post Prom Party

27th November 2007

Jammed for 5 hours straight from 11am to 4pm. Brilliant. Please remind me never to that again before a performance cause it really drains energy like a running tap (as well as money from me wallet).

Sound check was at 5.30pm at Dxo. The sound men were exceptionally friendly (well at least to me) and they put in more effort than I'd expected. After all that crap, Brandon, James, Sean and I walked from Esplanade to Lau Pasak to stone for 4 hours while the rest went to enjoy their $80 prom (in which I heard the food... Well, lets just say, $80 can buy 32 plates of chicken rice, as Hock Lu would put it).



So, Instant Biscuit's début performance at CJ's ppp @ Dxo wasn't as good as expected but yet it was... Hard to explain. Everything sounded good during the sound check but it was more than a tad different during the real performance (for the worse of course).



People kept saying I sang well, but I'm not sure if that's an accurate assessment of my actual singing cause as can be seen from these videos, I kinda sucked badly...

A Hard Day's Night

Okay, so A levels are over. Not as bad as it initially seemed (or maybe I'm too noob to know something is wrong)

Anyway, today's class outing to East Coast was freaking insane. For starters, an attendance of 16/25 wasn't that bad.

We first invaded VJ territory at Parkway Parade. Had breakfast (or was it branch?) at Macs (should have gone straight to Marine Cove's Macs). And then we headed to... ...Marine Cove -_-"

Mark drove his car so the girls get to slack while the guys had to walk (cept Sean =_=). Rented bikes for $3.50/hour and the plan was to cycle all the way to the Esplanade but guess what... There was 2km of park that was under renovation and it blocked out path to the city (i swear they started working on this place two freaking years ago).

So for plan B, we decided to cycle the other way to Changi Airport.. Me, Jackie and Shi Ming made it only halfway when it started pouring all of a sudden. But crappy weather wasn't enough to deter us! We had to cycle back anyway because it was already half the time left since we left the bike shop. Getting soaked in the rain + pedaling like a siao kia + ass & balls getting squashed by bike seat isn't something we experience everyday so I guess it was sort of fun (not that I'm a maso).

Well since Mel was under the weather (literally and figuratively =) we decided to chill out at her house of the rest of the day. Here's the crazy part. What do you do when you have one car and 11 people going to the same destination with no other convenient mode of transport nearby?

You mash them up in the car of course! Haha 11 of us squeezed into Marks MPV (designed for 5 people). Two in front (obviously), SIX in the back and three in the BOOT! WTF?!?! I could feel the brakes failing at times cause of the overloaded car (by more than 2×) especially on the wet road. But we make it to Mel's house in one piece thanks to Marks proness in driving.

Ordered Pizza along the way (which was our... ...err, liner or dunch what every you call it). Played pool, some crazy Nitendo Wii games and I slept on the sofa/bed/couch everywhere.

We went to Newton hawker centre for dipper/supner and it started pouring again after that. Sucky weather didn't spoil our day though cuz it was a infreakingsane day!




It's been a hard day's night, and I been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you I'll find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright
You know I feel alright!
You know I feel alright!

wakemeup

wake up ben, 51 days to A's

maybe if u stopped all the jammin' and dota-in', u may still get some As for A's

bah!

time check

Hmm, 24th august... maybe i should start studying.

time is running out. but hey, 66 days to 1st A paper, 86 days to last A paper.

66 days is too short, 86 days is too long. anyway, if As was tmr, i think i would get something like, SESES or close. totally unprepared.

Baybeats 2007

Well, the last day of baybeats ain't as hiong as the 1st two days... Too bad i could only "secretly" make it for today's sets with Hock Lu, Amelia and Suba.

The Firefight were cool but the wireless system they were using sucked... Anyway, chiong studies!! no life for the next 3 months =(

Thunder

Rock For Wayne @ The Pavillion - 23rd June 2007

Oh man, that has to be the greatest insanest gig of the year once again! Haha made tones of new friends... But still not comparable to the amount of girls Brandon and Marcus was able hit on :p

Line-up in order of appearence:

The Fire Fight
Humpback Oak
Great Spy Experiment
A Vacant Affair
Force Vomit
West Grand Bolevard
Caracal
Electrico
Astroninja All-Stars

It was a boring and cold crowd before AVA's set, and by the expression on HockLu's face! wahha he was super pissed he thought he wasted $10 or sumthing... and so was Fam... Haha in the end i'm sure they thought the experience was worth $50 or sumthing...

The moshing was totally insane... and the body surfing was well, haha, every miniute there were girls asking Brandon to lift them up, that bloody chick magnet (must be his damn hair! WTH am i doing in JC!?). I just rode oh his fame and "helped" ;) Felt a bit sad for those who lost stuff in that gigantic mosh pit though, luckily, I've learnt my lesson from the DragonForce concert earlier this month with my moshed camera. Thats why no body surfing for me, aww...

Marcus body surfed like, about 5 times!? and brandon surfed twice, both times with his shoe flying out halfway. Poor faces of the people infront who most probably didn't know what the hell hit them...

Whew it was a super tiring day. 1 day like this = 1 month's worth of excercise + a bit more. Bad idea to do one months of excercise in a day because neck ache, back pain and legs ta boleh tahan... And the throat, lol bad voice for choir this morning.

Met me buddies Mella, Sarah, Cedric, Ronald (Wayne's proest student), FengHeng and Miguel...

Took a break halfway during Force Vomit's set and hanged out around Leonard Soosay's mixing station. Was watching closely what he did and all.. Kinda interesting actually. The lightings were done very professionally too

After that, without proper dinner and with a gallon or water/coke in our stomachs, we just went in and hell broke loose (my neck, ouch). A lot of people left by that time, dunno for what reason, they fuckin' hell dunno what they bloody missed bodoh! As many have said, "The show AIN't over til it's fuckin' over!!!"

Anyway, those montage and clips shown were really touching. And Wayne's parents rocked man! "kudos to Sabrina and all the organizers for getting all the great bands under one roof man!!! one hella of a night!" -Zel

Super stuff, i've got some footage and pics, but they're quality ain't that great... only captured the starting bands just before dusk cuz the crowd went too crazy after that, didn't want to risk my moshed camera being moshed again... i'll upload them to youtube once i'm done editin' them... and i'll put up some pictures after i'm done processing them... in the mean time, please visit: http://www.soft.com.sg/web/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=34073 for more pictures!



When you walked away
Nothing Left to say
Never thought the end would be so near

So runaway and hide
The pain you feel inside
Who ever thought the price would be so dear? And you say!

Baby, please believe me
Oh please believe me,
When I say that I'll see you again
But now you have to go and I want you to know
This is goodbye, this is goodbye

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, fare thee well
Say goodbye

Everyone you met
All the ones you had
Will never be the same without you now

So fuck all the cliches! We'll say them anyway
There'll never be a day we won't believe
And you say

Baby, please believe me
Oh please believe me,
When I say that I'll see you again
But now you have to go and I want you to know
This is goodbye, this is goodbye

Don't let the words you say slip away
Don't let the words you say fade away

The Metal

Well, studying's a bitch and i haven't started on anything much... Time to study... Yeah... Right...

You can't kill the metal
The metal will live on
Punk-Rock tried to kill the metal
But they failed, as they were smite to the ground
New-wave tried to kill the metal
But they failed, as they were stricken down to the ground
Grunge tried to kill the metal Ha,hahahahaha
They failed, as they were thrown to the ground
Aargh! yeah!

No-one can destroy the metal
The metal will strike you down with a vicious blow
We are the vanquished foes of the metal
We tried to win for why we do not know

New-wave tried to destroy the metal, but the metal had its way
Grunge then tried to dethrone the metal, but metal was in the way
Punk-rock tried to destroy the metal, but metal was much too strong
Techno tried to defile the metal, but techno was proven wrong
Yea!

Metal!
It comes from hell!

Food for Thought

If up is down, does it mean that down is up?


Lame? Well, you're just lazy... to think...

In Memoriam

Rest In Peace, Wayne "Thunder" Seah

This is no doupt a very great loss to the local music scene... Wayne "Thunder" Seah, drummer of The Suns (formally The Boredphucks), has passed away peacefully in his sleep...

Can't imagine, 29 years old, totally fine one day, gone the next... He was a fine drummer/producer and contributed much to the local music scene, helped budding musicians in many ways... Guess God loves him too much...

"for those of you who know wayne thunder or has crossed paths with him and was touched by his dedication to music and friends... wayne thunder seah passed away last night in his sleep... there will be a service for him at st' joseph's church on upper bukit timah at 8pm. please come if you can make it."-bklk

http://www.waynethunder.com

Rest In Peace, Wayne "Thunder" Seah

Tribute

I think i better stop blogging so damn often, or at least blog stuff which are politically correct... Damn mother stalkers on the net...

Anyway, when feeling down, its good to think happy thoughts... Dug this up from a year ago:


SAJC ictalent - The Lings (CJC)

Tried to edit and enhance the video and audio but failed cuz the original quality was really fucked beyond salvation... Just like my academic results if i don't start studying soon...


And we played the first thing that came to our heads,
Just so happened to be,
The Best Song in the World,
it was The Best Song in the World.

Look into my eyes and it's easy to see
One and one make two,
two and one make three,
It was destiny.

Endless Sacrifice

Silver for SYF! Hooray! though, its way off the ensemble's target of GwH (-_-")... I thought we played quite well actually... will upload the illegal footage at a later date... time to catch up with my studies.


Over the distance
We try to make sense
Of surviving together
While living apart

Striving for balance
We rise to the challenge
Of staying connected
In spite of circumstance

All you've forsaken
And all that you've done
So that I could live out
This undying dream

Won't be forgotten
Or taken for granted
I'll always remember
Your endless sacrifice

Moments wasted
Isolated
Time escaping
Endless sacrifice

Lines In The Sand

As expected, ptm was crap...

SYF's 5 days away. Somehow i'm not feeling stressed about SYF though... Anyway, got an octave pedal today but have no time to try it out extensively yet...

Tragic reflex, shattered calm
Static progress, senses gone
Numb awareness, final psalm

A birthday on Good Friday

A birthday on Good Friday. Can't celebrate..