Basic ingredients to make a decent band:

1) A fucking good drummer. Someone that's steady, knows his songs well, and can adapt to the various shitty drumsets that the venue is capable of throwing at you.

2) A decent singer. Not necessarily have to be really good, but at least can keep in pitch and has a decent vocal quality. Just as long as he/she does not sound like a out-of-tune guitar, it's good enuff.

Optional: It wouldnt hurt if any of the band members looks good/pretty/handsome/cool.

Yea, yesterday's recital at OMS shows how important these factors are. Opening band was by Point Blank. A ensemble of Sri Lankan students ( i presume there were no Indians there lol! Tamil Tigers!), playing an assortment of rock covers. Guitarist was decent, bassist was really groovy, and they had 3 singers to rotate around like a karaoke session. BUT. The drummer girl sucks ass. Yea she's really crap, like worse than anyone i know who plays drums. Even i can play better than her, in terms of time keeping, stick control, fills, crash-ins. She totally ruined the band la basically.

Point to note is that i was the soundman for the night, so the mixer was right beside the drum set. Imagine how much pain i was going thru when she was hammering away at the drums with no inkling tt it sounds crap. I think my ears were ringing already after their 2nd song.

Next up, was a solo acoustic performance by Anderson Quah, who's quite the looker haha. Score points already. But he played some of his own original stuff which can't really connect with the crowd at all. Or at least i can't remember how his songs sound like at all. Can't hear the structure, the chorus or anything at all. Just a mish mash of chords here and there with lyrics layered over it. Ok maybe shall not comment anymore, cos really, i wasn't listening at all. Too busy with my partner in crime, Gang. Chang and Gang, tt rhymes haha.

Third up, was by Temasek Hall's dB! Yea they were the show-stealers that night, belting out 2 great tunes ala Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol and Time is running out by Muse. They are what i call a good band. Solid drummer with plenty of church gig experience, and a good singer who's also into acapella stuff. And the singer guy is Mr NUS too, so yea, plenty of TH chicks there giving him support. The band is tight becos of the consistent drumming and the singer sings well, so yea they're really good. Impressive.

After dB, it's another band by TH, ala Mark and Friends. Yea tt one with Clara on vocals and tt wanky guitarist. Not as good as dB though, cos they introduced another singer called Shumin i think, and she wasnt really good i felt. Or maybe their harmony din go very well. But it's still ok, cos tt Shumin looks damn bloody hot la! Clara's not bad too la. Tip: If ur band is not tt good, INTRODUCE SOME EYE CANDY! At least u get the guys' attn. Mark continues to do his wanky solo, which got the crowd quite "???". Yea, no one appreciates wanky solos. Especially the laymen. Overall still ok performance. Can be better though.

And then, this 2 guys appeared out of nowhere, one drummer and a bass fella with a stingray bass, and they started jamming like RHCP style. Bass fella was good, did a check on him and found out tt he's NUSJAZZ's head. No wonder so power, with all his slap licks and fingers all over the board. But again, the audience is like "???". Yea, quite wtf. No one cares la really.

By then, most of the crowd has left, cos it mainly comprises of the supporters for TH and Point Blank. So yea, quite realistic la, mostly everyone left cept for some poor souls supporting the last band Liminal X. Well well, for Liminal X, i wouldn't say they are good, but they arent that bad either. Funny thing is tt they keep changing instruments ard, which kinda kills the consistency in a band. Esp the drums. And they look like a bunch of nerdy misfits, esp the lead singer who looks way out la. If i wasnt at the gig, i would have never knew he's a lead singer of a band. But anyways he can't really sing la, so yea, nerdy + weak singing powers = GG.

*Just checked the forums and found out tt Liminal X is looking for a new vocalist. Haha... tt guy really GG-ed*

Anyways, i felt tt Weixian (TH band head and my apprentice) has got the formula right this time. Fill the band with pretty/talented people. Now Th band has Mr NUS, Temasek Hall King 06/07, pageant finalists and a good supporting cast. Marketing at it's best.

Now i kinda regret leaving hall. Haha, how come my year the band is filled up with MISFITS!?!?!?!