The Road To Audio Warfare 2005

This coming 21st July would be the big day for Audio Warfare 2005 ; it's MMU's version of battle of the bands. The tension is building. People are talking about it. Bands are preparing for it. Before this Big day, I have another obstacle to face : the Auditions. It's this coming Saturday ( 16th July). Actually, it's just tomorrow.

The road that I've taken till now has been a very exciting one. This is my final year in uni, and this will be my last chance to compete in a music competition of this magnitude. Ever since I steped into uni, I've been encouraged and spurred on by many friends to take part...and if possible, win. It's been 4 years now since that realisation of that dream occured. Somehow, when the time came, I would be unpreprared. I had no band and I was searching. It's so difficult sometimes to find a band. You just need the right amount of chemistry among the musicians to get the ball rolling. So far, I've only participated in 2 music competitions in MMU. The first time, I was a last minute bassist. They needed a bassist and i managed to fill in. It was MMUSICS : The Acoustic Session in 2002. Surprisingly, we won.

The follwoing year, I was asked to play guitar for my senior's band. Not having an electric guitar then, I was still enthusiastic to join. We made it through the auditions. But on that night of the competition, we didn't do well enough to win. That's been my experience so far.

All this while, I've been looking for a permanent band to play in. I would find a drummer and a singer, then I would lose the bassist , then the drummer goes missing and somehow the pieces just couldn't fit. There was a year when I had the opportunity to play with a good keyboardist and singer, but somehow, our entry form was late, and we had to be turned down:( It was missed opportunity. After a while, my dream of playing in audiowarfare faded. I just couldn't see how things were gonna work out. I wanted something more than just a performance on that night; I was looking for a bunch of people whom I could make music with. Somehow use music as a reach out point. I almost got it all together. Then internal conflicts came in the way and tore all that up. Shattered again.

This year, Joshua had a bright spark, and he really went all out to get the various people to make this dream work. At least, the part of playing for Audiowarfare would come to past. That's all I felt I could achieve for now.

The journey thus far has only been a short, yet exciting one. We only met about less than a month ago to form this band. 6 of us. I do not know how long this connection will last, but it will do till after Audio Warfare. Pieces started to fit in. Joshua being the force behind the scenes. He pulled everyone together. 6 of us : Joshua on Drums, Chee Kah on bass, Chang Shen and Chuah on electric guitars and Chee Meng and I on Electric guitars and vocals. Ever since that meet-up, we've been meeting in the studio to practice and make this work. So far, all's been good. There were the up times, there were also the down times. But we pulled through.

Our journey so far has brought us to slightly more than a couple of long hours at the jamming studio. There was a time we had to practice from 11pm till 2 am in the morning. What unearthly hour was that for making music? On our journey, we also had the opportunity to do a studio recording of our songs. It was a whole new thing for me. We had to play on a track-by-track basis. First, our instruments were recorded. Then later, our voices. We had to be precise and sharp. Then I had to go into the studio with Chee Meng, just the 2 of us to do a recording of our voices. It was frightening. With a mike that can pick up nearly everything, we had to be in form with our voices and pronounciation. what was supposed to be a 2 hours norm turned out to be a 4 hour experience. The consoling fact : even if we do not make it past the auditions, we still had our recording.

I got to admit, I am disappointed with the way I sing, but I guess there is nothing more to do than practice and practice. We do not know if we can make it, but we are working as if we've already made it.

Back to the present, the Audition is tomorrow, but I'm down with cough, flu and a fever. What right timing this is. I hope I recover fast enough. I don't want to let my band members down. If you are reading this, please pray for my fast recovery. God bless.