The Madness That Ensued with the Blue Jean Junkies in Singapore 2016

So we went to Singapore for 2 shows. The first was a private event at the Hard Rock Cafe in Sentosa for a private partners event for Siemens, the 2nd, for a show everyone was invited to at the Blu Jaz Cafe on Bali Lane. I'd been to Blu Jaz twice before, both times I went to Singapore, and was thrilled to be playing at this bar that i'd fallen in love with since the first time I saw it.

We arrived shortly before 10am on Friday, the 29th, and after a quick round around Changi Airport for some photos and video promo material, we headed out to Sylog, a Filipino little restaurant at a food court for early lunch. None of us had slept much the night before so we were all really just hungry and in need of sleep. The food was not a problem as our bellies were quickly settled, and checking in to The Inn Crowd didn't take long either and before long we were all asleep.

Being next to 7/11 was useful

Sound check for Hard Rock was scheduled at 4:30pm and that became a rehearsal with a German man named Alex who jammed with us on a Jet song called "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." We hadn't learned the song so sound check was really practice.

After sound check we walked around Universal Studios in Sentosa and waited for dinner to be served. The smoking area there isn't really much of an area and it was raining a lot that day, making it impossible to have a full cigarette without getting drenched. Finally, after several attempts, Nuts and I were finally able to enjoy a cigarette in peace.

The show was alright, I was having problems with my bass all through the night and that was putting me in a bad mood. But we played our first set, started tanking beers before the 2nd set, and played that set too. It seemed like we were a bit of a success but later on learned that our audience made up of people who'd get bored with any song that lasted over 5 minutes long. And if you've even seen the Blue Jean Junkies, you know that we can play the fuck out of a song and make it last forever.

When the gig was over, I was frustrated over my guitar and amp so I ordered 10 beers, none of which I had to pay for, all of which were drunk between the band, Monx and Deo, Michelle, and Eric who showed up later on with Lisa.

When the night was done and the beer all gone, we headed home and I passed out before the lights were even out! Talk about a bad combination of a sleepless night, a long ass day, two sets on stage, a lot of beer, and a late night! It was all good fun and we were lucky and thankful to be there and to have the opportunity to play for Siemens on Sentosa's Hard Rock stage no less!

This photo proves that we ate before going home, I don't remember any of it.

Day 2 rolled around and we couldn't exactly get out of bed. I think Niko was able to get up and take a walk, Nuts hung out downstairs at the lobby, while Nino and I stayed in bed til 2pm. It was only then that we got up to get a bite to eat. After 10-20 minutes of walking, we settled into an Indian Restaurant that served the spiciest fucking food, and we didn't even specify for it to be spicy!

You can't see it, but our scalps were sweating.

We headed back to the hotel after that to chill before sound check, also scheduled at 4 or 430pm. Sound check was great and unlike any sound check we've had in Manila. We were literally being guided what to do, what not to do, and when to do it. We loved it and in turn, it made for our stage time great as everything was balanced the way we wanted it to be. Except that it was also here that I discovered that the battery in my bass was fucked, and therefore, could have been the reason for my poor sound at Hard Rock. I owe Hard Rock an apology, I blamed their amp for being fucked when in the end, it could have been my bass.

After sound check, my good friend Ilangoh came to hang out and we had 2 pints of Hieneken with Niko and Nuts. A lot of good and fun as well as informational stuff was talked about and Ilangoh gave us a sneak peek into the life and work of a working local professional in Singapore.

By 730pm, we jumped at the time since it was still bright out and had to bid farewell to Ilangoh in order to get back to the hostel, eat, sleep, shower and change, and make it back by 10pm for our set. We did all that and left the hostel at 10:20pm, late for our own international show. But once we got back to Blu Jaz, we pretty much went straight to the stage and played for at least 2 hours without rest.

The crowd was great an very receptive to our songs. They cheered to our originals, enjoyed our little David Bowie tribute, and seemed happy enough when we'd jam out some of the other songs we played. In the end, Niko did a spectacular drum solo at the end of Freeway Man and when the song ended, we had everyone come up to the stage to join us for a photo!

It was after the set that I also had loads of fun! I met a lot of Filipinos living in Singapore, signed a bunch of CD's they had bought, and joined for many photos by many of them! This is really the stuff that moves me, that and hearing cheering and shouting from the stage, of course! I'd even met Inch Chua, a famous pop singer and we exchanged contact information and I gave her a copy of our album, no charge.

Casas showed up too and so with Eric, Lisa, Justin, Niko and a few others, we decided that eating was not the thing to do but that beers were what was needed, so we went to a girly bar, because that was the only bar still serving booze. The girly bar we went to was kinda seedy. It was dark and loud with a super sonic sound system and girls on stage singing and dancing Chinese songs. It wasn't sexy and they weren't trying to be sexy. On the main floor, a couple of girls roamed around striking conversations with us but we told them to carry on to someone else. After finishing a tower of beer, 70+ SG Dollars, we slowly made our way back home. Oh, I pissed on the street before getting in to the car.

When we got back to The Inn Crowd, Nino was downstairs and we got a bite to eat before heading to the room to pass out. I was pretty drunk, and tired, and when we had to check out at 11am the following day, I had a pretty hard time doing so. But I made it, didn't have to pay extra, and even got to play guitar for about an hour while waiting for Monx to come and pick us up.

What do you think we should've done in Singapore while we were there being the people that we are?