hey you guysss...

by Lounge Lizard

Photos Courtesy of Electrico, LuRgEE and Aging Youth

Back in 1996, Electric Company was originally formed by David Tan, Desmond Goh, William Lim Jr. and Keith Colaco. Like most bands of their time, they were deeply influenced by the sounds of Brit-pop, particularly Ash and Oasis. Late 1998, they landed themselves a recording gig, BigO's "Live at the Green Room" and plonked down 2 live recordings of their tunes, "It Don't Seem Right" and "The Story of Slantboy". For this writer, the tunes stood out for their catchy melodies and energetic grooves, bar grammatical mistakes in song titles.

After rhythm guitarist Keith Colaco left the band, Electric Co. (as they were occasionally known back then) struggled on as a trio before quietly disintegrating in 2001. Band members began to involve themselves in several other projects. Most would have thought that would be the end of the band.

Fast-track: July 2003. The band reformed and returned to the limelight once again, armed with new guitarist, Daniel Sassoon fresh from the now-defunct Livonia. Staging an insanely fast comeback, the quartet renamed themselves Electrico and played a whirlwind series of gigs. And they still managed to squeeze in time to record an album while adding Amanda Ling on keyboards since late 2003. After the hiatus, the band struts with a mature musical confidence that stands out amongst their peers.

I love the children's program, "The Electric Company" when I was a kid. What's your favourite segment of the show?

Daniel : Spider man. Nobody knows who you are. Well actually, everybody does, it's Toby McGuire. I also love the Electric Company theme song.

Dave : The opening sequence. It's got one of the most insane themes for a TV show ever!

Desmond : Spiderman of course!! And the occasional cameo of Wonder Woman!!! I also love the silver ball rolling thingy into caves got kicked around and stuff and the music goes "1, 2, 3, blah blah... 11, 12"...Kick ass!... or is that in Sesame Street?

I think it's in Sesame Street. Isn't Electrico the name of a Spiderman villain? He's gotta be one of the worst dressed Spiderman villain along with Mysterio. I mean, who the fuck has a crystal ball for a head?!?!

Daniel : I think it's one of those lightning ball things, where you touch it and it starts lighting up with blue lightning sparks. Might be useful when it's dark... if you were a cinema usher, not a bad guy. You're right, sounds quite rubbish for a villain. Are you sure he was called Electrico and not Electric Yo or something?

My friends and I attended one of Electrico's gigs before. He just started giggling and pointed at Dave, saying 'Sportscity. Sportscity'. (AYP footnote: David Tan used to be a sports anchorman on the defunct SportsCity) Do you still get that a lot?

Dave : Maybe in Batam.

Are anchorwomen really that hot in general or it's just the studio lighting?

Dave : Colette is really hot in person.

Even better than Cheryl Fox and Glenda Chong?

Dave : I dated Cheryl for 2 years. Got fight. But everyone is different lah. They're all beautiful.

Electric Company was gigging quite a bit back in the late 90s and recorded 2 songs on 'The Green Room Sessions'. Then, you guys just disappeared. Fast forward to 2003, you guys return to the scene, guns blazing with a new guitarist. What gives?

Dave : An itch to finish what we started. I was drunk and Daniel happened to be in front of me...

Desmond : Things then ended in '...' It should be '.', '!' or '?' and we hope we can end like the Stones.

What's with the constant name shrinkage? Electric Company to Electric Co. and now, Electrico? All of this only happened when Daniel joined the band. Hmmm...

Daniel : I am the catalyst of all things that change. Anyway, it's a trend we're trying to start. Next incarnation we'll be called Elco.

Desmond : Dan said he never tried E before, so we are slowly gonna be 'E'

It's only Rock n Roll but I like it

Aging Youth cornered the band and spoke to each of them about what really rocks their world

You took over Joseph Tan in the vocals department when your old band, Livonia became a trio. Livonia was laid to rest early last year, 2003. How did that decision come about?

Daniel : Actually we had wrapped up the band already once Joseph (ex-singer of Livonia) left, but like all break-ups, sooner or later, somebody wanted to try to work things out again. That was our last ditch attempt, and not entirely one of the best decisions ever made, considering I sing about as well as I can perform brain surgery. But it was fun; I'm glad we gave it a try so we could do some newer songs and once and for all know that some things you just gotta end. With as much dignity and grace salvaged as possible. Sometimes, a band is really like a relationship, isn't it?

Has that anything to do with you joining Electrico? How did that come about? Did you strong-arm your way into the band? Any sexual favours given?

Daniel : Yes to all the above actually. Dave and I met up and we were both kinda drunk. I begged, I mean, successfully persuaded him to restart the band with me on guitar. Actually, the truth was I had nude compromising pictures of him with an unidentified barnyard animal. We reached a compromise and he let me in the band provided I undertook the substitute of the said animal. My life has never been the same since.

Y'know, we have asked Esam of the Stoned Revivals about his favourite copulating position. He chose the good ol' missionary over the "Goddess of Mercy" position (don't ask where I've heard this from...) and since you are so acquainted with barnyard animals, what's yours?

Daniel : Fwah, no more talk of barnyard animals. It's so wrong. Unless they're of age and consent, of course. Missionary is of course an old favourite, and is subject to many variations. For example, I like it when the lady is using her legs as earrings. Always nice. You can call that the "Pretzel of Love" position.

Daniel, you are considered one of the best guitarists in the scene. What tickles your fancy when it comes to guitarists?

Daniel : It must be a really small scene then. Guitarists who are cute and female with a feather duster tickle my fancy. As for guitar playing (please distinguish the two), I like melody, tastefulness, phrasing, use of effects and textures, elegance, occasional flashes of technique when called for-and most of all, in a live context, they have to rock out. It's not about looking cool, it's the passion, the delivery-hell it's meant to be FUN! I'll trade all that technical virtuoso bullshit for someone who can rock big time. I would much rather see Angus Young than YngwieMalmsteen. That goes for all schools of playing - seeing Kevin Shields with Primal Scream was the biggest disappointment ever. A guitar MUST be played at crotch level, period, and you must have the poses, action and be able to play your instrument airborne. If you wanna stand still and play scales, buy a fucking piano for crying out loud.

What are your musical influences like?

Daniel : Anything - classic rock, fuzzy indie rock, post hardcore, jazz, electronica, post rock, whatever. As long as it moves me in one way or another. Today, for example on my iPOD and stereo, I was cycling through the Dillinger Escape Plan, Radio 4, The Killers, Aerosmith, The Bees, Arteyu, The City Lights, Glassjaw and Pearl Jam. I don't believe in sticking to one style alone. That's boring.

Desmond, you are playing in several other bands, Typewriter, Phorous and the Sonic Edge Band. Are there any more projects we should know as well?

Desmond : There's another Chinese indie folk rock band, CubicBottle, and we are taking our time to record four EPs for the year... and then release it as an album the next year. Rock! There's another project band, The Slots, with Daniel and Caleb and Wayne from Absinth. We only focus on covers and intend to play in Top 10 in Orchard Towers for some quick buck. There's this band also (tentative names: Holiday on Sundays, Hook on Honda or Chihuahua Death) with Fuzz of ex-Steel City Skies/ Phorous where we play more J-rock/ pop influenced stuff. I love Judy & Mary and Ryoko Hirosue. The more gargantuan feat I am trying is to be a turntablist as I don't want to be a bass whore anymore.

You hang the 4-string phallic object up. A lotta folks (i.e. your bandmates) are gonna be upset. Bassists are harder to find than finding a virgin in Geylang. What's your take on that?

Desmond : Not true. There's a lot of kick ass bassists in Singapore who aren't as whore as me, playing good tight groovy stuff. For example the guy who sold me my current bass. Good technique and feel. He is like 20 years of age only?? Very inspiring!

By the way, Aging Youth Productions are huge fans of Japanese chicks. We like Matsushima Nanako a lot... Just for your info, anyway.

Daniel : Errr, ok dude. Be happy.

Dave : Des will be happy.

More importantly, what are you smoking or taking that gives you this creative rush? We'd very much like to know.

Desmond : I don't smoke, shoot or pop, I just listen to Hokkien Pop for good grooves to rock. The crux is to keep an open mind to all type of music.

You reckon you can take over some of the uncles playing the ge-tai scene? More importantly, can you dish out the bassline for the Hokkien perennial favourite, 'Ai Piah Jia Eh Yiah', literally 'Must Fight, Then Can Win' in Hokkien.

Desmond : Ooh ya! Being able to take on that bass line will be considered the ultimate! Hah! And I am not that good yet.

So what type of music grooves you?

Dave : Anything with a kick ass hook, deep and funky. There's too much good shit out there to pin point anything...

Desmond : Big beats kinky grooves i.e. Deelite, Pizzicato 5, etc.

William, you sang back-up during the New Year gig at the Esplanade in 2003. When did you decide to step up to singing backing vocals? Would we hear any more from you on the album?

William : Well, I have always wanted to sing in a band. This really gives me a chance to make use of my harmonic voice. And I also felt (the songs) needed some backing there to support the chorus fuller. You will definitely hear more from the album actually. It's not that easy to sing and play drums but (I) will always try my best to sing backup only if I can handle the timing for the beat.

Well, whatever you are doing now is really great! You played some keyboards on 'So Much More Inside'. What are the tracks you played on? Any inspiration when it comes to drummers and keyboardists?

William : Most of the tracks have keyboards. That's why a keyboardist is important in our band. It can push the sound of the band into another dimension. I get my inspiration from watching other live drummers on DVD and live performance. For keyboards playing, UK music inspires me with ideas.

Y'know, the Semisonic drummer sings backup, drums (duh!) and plays the MiniMoog all at the same time! Any chance we can see this acrobatic feat from you?

William : Haha! I thought of trying that before but the keyboard parts in our songs have more keys to press and I need these 2 limbs to whack the drums. I wonder how he does it! You can catch some flying hand acrobatics from Amanda on keys. I'm happy with being an acrobat with just the drum kit.

Dave, you are the primary songwriter for the band. What are your influences?

Dave : Anything really. There was a lot of music at home when I was a kid and I find that it's really helped me identify musicality in almost anything. Just last week In Bali, I heard some construction outside my hotel room and I put a bassline to it. And sometimes it could be as simple as just a feeling I have. But band wise, I really like Queen, Coldplay, Radiohead, Lowgold, Jet and Red Hot Chilli Peppers to name a few. I like funk a lot too.

I’ve seen your name splashed across the TV screen in a local club, Vogue. Looks like you spin as well. What is your selection of tunes?

Dave : It's Rouge by the way. And yeah, I started doing the DJ thing after we disbanded, started out playing lots of house. But my 2 year residency at the Soundbar really opened my eyes and ears to so many genres from bossa, jazz, funk, breaks, hip hop to drum and bass. Although it pales in comparison to many very respectable DJs in Singapore, my record collection is hitting 2000. So I would say I'm very eclectic now. But mostly when I play out, it's house or underground hip hop, funk...

Does electronic music have an important influence in your songwriting as well?

Dave : Most definitely. 'So Much More Inside' is a great example; it goes from disco to rock to bossa at the end.

What are your lyrics usually about?

Dave : Mostly about psychotic girls. (Not talking about you baby!). That's one department I have to work on...

Okay, so what exactly is a 'Funky Ass Cartoon'?

Dave : Spongebob Squarepants.

You made your debut at the Esplanade gig last year with the band. Amanda, how did you come to join the band?

Amanda : They first saw me performing at Baybeats 2003 with Throb and since then had been "eyeing" me. Hehe. So Des had his little way of inviting me to play with them for the New Years Eve gig when he saw me at one of the gigs last year at the Substation. I thought it's cool and great that I'll be playing with them because it's really good exposure and experience playing with them. They are a bunch of fun people to hang around with too.

You are playing keys for another high profile band, Throb. How do you balance the two?

Amanda : There wasn't much of a difficulty balancing up the two bands because I didn't jam regularly with Electrico then and I recently left Throb. I guess it was good "timing" all these while.

Throb is a band based in funk grooves and all. Electrico is more of a rock band. How do you reconcile the difference in playing styles?

Amanda : As it is, both bands are based on two different styles. Throb was more of technical playing while Electrico was simpler. It was similar to back in school where I had to play classical pieces and jazz/contemporary pieces with two different groups. I guess my left brain has been trained and is still learning to identify the differences and deliver the music to its fullest potential. Hehe...

Who are your main influences in your playing?

Amanda : Woah, my influences would come down to so many bands and artists!! Latest influence, Keane! Hahaha, Coldplay etc... I can't think of the names but I really love absorbing anything I find interesting from various music genres and then create something appropriate and nice to the vibe of the music.

This one is for the male readers. Are you still single and available?

Amanda: Err.. haha!! For me to know and for you to find out!

Daniel : I'm sure some of your female readers would want to know that too, wouldn't they?

Let's not push it here and tread over the OBs. Aging Youth Productions is still relatively new and we ain't want no trouble with the cops. As we all know, homosexuality and oral sex (without intercourse) are illegal. And we do not wanna get arrested for indecent acts of exposure, whatever that mean.

Daniel : You'd only get arrested for that if you walk around with your "manservant" hanging out, really.

So Much More Inside

From the short span of regrouping to the debut album, Electrico would appear to be extremely fast workers. William mentioned that the album had been recorded at Leonard Soosay's Snakeweed Acoustic Labs. Dave added, "Leonard was very crucial in helping to refine our sound, but musically, it was between him and myself." Daniel had nothing but praises for the producer, having worked with him for a few occasions, "He is the man. Truly. Until you've worked with him, you'd probably never realise what the fuss is about. Believe the hype. He's a genius and a fantastic person to work with."

On a roll, Daniel revealed that the band took around 9 months of recording and mixing. Though there were a couple of time-out periods from "the sheer exhaustion of it all".

When asked about the mixing and mastering of the album, Daniel added, "We mixed the album in Singapore, Leonard handled that and did a great job-sometimes he'd spend 10 hours mixing continuously. We mastered with Stephen Marcussen-he's amazing. Leonard and William attended the session in Hollywood. The number of multi-platinum albums hanging on the wall had to rub off onto the vibe of the album. You can hear it. And the very expensive handbuilt custom EQs and compressors the signal goes through. Rich!"

He elaborated on the mastering process, "The album occupies a massive sonic space, and it's really loud without sounding overcompressed, so it keeps its dynamics really well. Just turn up the volume and you can tell right away. It just sounds sweet, and you won't get ear fatigue listening to our album like you might halfway through a lot of modern recordings. Mastering is an art, the final step in the chain. It's a shame how in the last few years some albums are mastered at ridiculously unlistenable volumes. There's this thing called a volume knob, buddy. Use it!"

The band went through the album with Aging Youth on how the songs were written, crafted and recorded.


01.Studman
Dave : I love playing this live. It's great to get the crowd going. One of the first few songs I wrote which is about a friend of mine. Straight forward rock and roll.

02.Crowd Killer
Dave : Dan wrote this one. It's got a great hook with the opening chord progression. And the guitar tones we got for this song are really warm and crunchy. Would you believe it was a Tele?

03.The Story Of Slantboy
Dave : This song has followed the band all the way through. I like the way it turned out. It was originally much heavier and I always felt that it shouldn't be that way.

04.Runaway
Dave : The 2nd song I ever wrote. Love it for its melody. To me, it's one of those you will catch yourself humming at some point whether you love or hate us.

05.Feed The Cats
Daniel : The swishing sound in the instrumental break in 'Feed The Cats' was some multitweaking of Synth and Tremolo pedals on the fly. We used some samples, loops, buried sounds and stuff. Leonard had some very interesting ideas, utilizing textures and variations, but ultimately it's pretty straightforward.

Dave : I love this song. It was born in the studio. Spontaneous. Leonard was messing around with a guitar and I put a melody to what he was playing. And we recorded it straight away. The drum track on this song is the original spontaneous first take of William putting a beat to it. Cool stuff.

06.I See The Lights
Dave : My fave of the album. Very out-of-the-box for us. And that's really cool.

07.Fabled Angst Machine
Daniel : For 'Fabled Angst Machine', we stuck a mic out the window and you can hear people in 37 The Bar having conversations.

08.Much More Inside
Dave : My fave song on the album to play live. Rock, disco, bossa. Enuff said.

09.Press Play
Dave : You gotta be doped out for this one.

10.Funky Ass Cartoon
Dave : Love it.

11.I Want You
Dave : Love it

12.Good Time
Dave : Love it. And so does Stephen Marcussen.

The Workmen's Tools

Needless to say, Aging Youth probes into the technical aspects of Electrico's band equipment and sends the gear moron (but still bona-fide rock slut), Lounge Lizard to grill the band.

David Tan

You were playing a Gibson Les Paul in the original incarnation of Electrico. You switched to a 92 Custom last year and were seen bashing a couple of Telecasters as well. Now, a Jazzmaster. What gives?

Dave : I sold my old lezzie after we disbanded. I fell in love with the Tele twang when we got back. It's got the sweetest clean sound, but farted when overdriven. But after trying Dan's Jazzmaster at a gig once, I found it to be a great balance of both. Not to mention, it played so nicely. I bought my own after and have been playing it since. I still love the Tele though and will still play it once I have a roadie... ha ha.

Daniel : Wow, you know your shit dude. The 92 Les Paul Custom was mine. I loaned it to Dave, but it kept going out of tune so badly.

You used to straddle a respectable pedalboard. Now, you just seemed to plug in and play. Why the change from the past?

Dave : I used to play lead and sing. But now with Dan taking over most of the lead work, I'm quite happy keeping the rhythm sound simple. I'm using a Marshall drive and a compressor.

What string gauge and picks do you use to play?

Dave : 10-46 for the strings and medium picks (.73mm)

Amanda Ling

You were spotted playing something that resembles a MiniMoog. Is that a favourite synth of yours?

Amanda : You mean the Microkorg? I used that a lot with Throb. Very nice synth sounds but I have fallen in love with a new synth recently. The Novation K-station! Fatter, warmer sounds... Analogue rules!! Hehe...

You usually play with 2 keys. What are these 2 synthesizers and why the usage of 2, instead of one?

Amanda : They are the Korg Trinity and the Juno keyboards from the studio but I have just ordered the K-station. It should hopefully be arriving in a week's time!!! The Korg is usually used for the main keyboard tunes while the other keyboard usually adds on to the ambience with its analogue experimental sounds. So as for future convenience and travelling, the Novation K station would replace the bigger old skool Juno. :p It has much depth to its warm analogue simulative sounds for a small little keyboard!

William Lim Jr

William, any preferences for sticks, crashes or skins?

William : Zildjian is the best for sticks while Premier is a good choice for skins.

You played some keys on the album. What did you use for your parts?

William : I use the Roland Juno and the Korg Trinity. Mostly on 'Feed The Cats', the sounds come out from the Juno analogue keyboard. Trinity keyboards are normally used for strings, organ, piano and vibraphone parts. If we can afford an Electone or a Moog it'll be great!

Desmond Goh

You tote a Fender Precision bass. Why the love for that particular bass?

Desmond : Actually, I am using a Japan made Fender Jazz Bass '62 reissue. The J-bass has been my choice because of this certain deep end sound it gives. Kinda like coming from your body then to the bass and then to the amps... more soul!

What's that preamp pedal for your Electrico set-up? How integral is that to your sound?

Desmond : It's a Sadowsky Preamp pedal. It gives a stronger spectrum to the bass sound. A must have if your bass is the passive type. I don't really have a default sound, but the pedal can just boost up any type of sound you get from the amp.

What string gauge do you use to play?

Desmond : Usually .05 regular Gauges

Daniel Sassoon

Daniel, a self-confessed guitar-and-gear whore, we all know less-is-more but more-is-still-more. What's all that good stuff on your board?

Daniel : Not a day goes by where Dave doesn't bitch about my pedalboard. But I'm pretty happy with it. Kinda goes like this: Real McCoy RMC-2 wah,Digitech Synth Wah [here the chain gets diverted to a Keeley A/B footswitch, one output to a Boss TU-12 tuner, and the other to the rest of the chain] Keeley modded TS-9DX Tubescreamer; Keeley modded Boss SD-2 Dual Overdrive (with FS-5L footswitch); Keeley Compressor; Keeley modded Boss DS-1 "Seeing Eye" Distortion; Boss HR-2 Harmoniser; Maxon AD-80 Analog Delay; Electro Harmonix Micro Synth (true bypass mod); Digitech Digidelay; Boss PN-2 Tremolo/Pan; Line 6 MM4 Modulator.

Of course all the pedals won't mean nothing if you use crap patch cables, so I use George Ls for transparency. Problem is every 6 months or so, a patch gets wonky and finding the culprit can drive you nuts. Everything is powered with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 unit.

Reliable sources told us that you brought your entire collection of guitars to record the album.

Daniel : I did use my entire collection, finding out which parts to use them in was the challenge. We didn't go for that many weird sounds; we set out to make an album with great songs, not sonic fuckery. That will be my solo project.

Good gear, good tones. We didn't do things like recording guitars with an electric pencil sharpener while shaving our girlfriends' armpits and snorting vodka simultaneously. We're quite normal. Really.

During your Livonia days, you were playing a Jazzmaster. Now, you are abusing a Strat Ultra. Why the change in your weapon of mass distortion?

Daniel : I retired my 59 Jazzmaster, solely because the music I play with Electrico needs a guitar that can deliver diverse tones. I love my Strat Ultra, it's the most versatile guitar ever. The solos I play are also more refined nowadays, less frenetic/noise based, so the easy neck and fretboard of the Strat Ultra helps. Furthermore the Jazzmaster can be a noisy beast with its pickups-the Strat Ultra's lace sensors are nice and quiet, and work very well through effects. A lot of my favourite guitarists have used a Strat Plus/Ultra-Bob Mould, Billy Corgan, Rob Dickinson and Brian Futter from Catherine Wheel. I haven't bothered to take my other guitars out live-except I use a Carvin DC-150 for the drop D stuff, and very rarely I'll use my Jazzmaster and my Richie Sambora Strat. The new one looks cool, not the one with the Floyd Rose. It's got the new noiseless pickups and an active boost. And it's orange. Nice.

You forgot amps dude! Huge part of the sound. I'll often bring my Mesa Boogie F-50 to our shows, plug out through a 4x12" cab and all's good. In the studio we have a Mesa cabinet, and that combination is lethal. The F-50 has a truly excellent and unique clean tone, a slight natural round compression. For live shows, I request a Vox AC30 in our tech rider; they sound fantastic as well.

Dave loves using a Matchless Chieftain amp. We have one in the studio and it sounds really beautiful. Live, we'll both settle for Marshall JCM2000 DSL or TSL, and I really don't mind a Laney VH100R, but I'll usually end up bringing my F-50. Any Roland JC-120s provided to us, despite strict instructions to the contrary in our tech rider, will be prosecuted.

What string gauge and picks do you use to play?

Daniel : .10-.46s. I tried .10-.52s for a while on Caleb from Absinth's recommendations. The tone was great but man, was it tiring to play!? Picks? Heavy gauge, Planet Waves or Jim Dunlop preferably, please!