Live4MusiC

Yes we are giving away free invites to members of Live4MusiC! These invites will entitle you to a closed door performance by Syndicate. It will be on a first-come-first-serve basis and will be based on the availability of invites. 

Here's what you need to do:

1. Simply RSVP on the event page (http://www.live4music.com.sg/events/profile/513)  as an attendee.

2. Accepted attendees will be contacted through private message on Live4MusiC.

3. Each winner is entitled to 2 invites.

4. This offer will close on 26th Oct 10pm. 

RockOn!
Yuda

By Denise Cheong

Ahead of their sold-out shows at TAB in July, the twins of Jayesslee, guitarist Sonia and vocalist Janice, tell Denise Cheong how they became overnight pop sensations – and how they’re dealing with their sudden fame

What is it like being YouTube stars? Were you surprised by the extent to which your videos became viral?
We are still getting used to being called YouTube stars. We are two very ordinary 24-year-olds who are lucky enough to do what we love doing. We still get surprised when we are stopped in the middle of a shopping mall for photos and autographs.

However, this has made us more conscious of the way we treat each other and the way we act in public, as we realise that people do recognise us. The morning after we uploaded our cover of [Tamia’s] ‘Officially Missing You’, we were shocked to see that it had gone viral. Even to this day after 7 million hits, we can’t believe that people are watching our videos worldwide.

What are your day jobs?
As of 2010 our full-time vocation has been recording, touring and performing. Prior to this, we’ve had part-time jobs where Sonia worked at a juice bar and Janice was scooping ice cream. It got to a point where we didn’t have time or flexibility to commit to everything, so we decided to make music our lives.

She sings and she plays guitar so we know Kate Cooper (one half of An Horse along with Damon Cox) can multitask - which is apparently helpful if you’re giving an interview amidst coordinating movers at your new Montreal apartment. 

The Australian indie-pop darlings will be performing at TAB on October 15 but before that, Kate takes some time to chat up inSing.com about being discovered while selling records instead of making them and the origins of their grammatically quirky moniker.

How did the name An Horse come about?

It came about from my sister and her boyfriend actually. She’s a bit of a grammar freak because she’s an editor. We had a disagreement about the use of “an” before “h” so she used to always tease me about it by using “an horse” as an example. Then one day I had to do a solo show, before all this came about and before Damon came onboard, and I needed a name - so I used An Horse. It just stuck and grew from there.

Indie lore has it that you guys were discovered by Tegan & Sara while working in a Brisbane record store. How much of that is true?

That’s partly true actually. Damon and I were working together in this little record shop that Tegan & Sara used to frequent during their Australian tours. That’s how we got to know them, really casually. I gave Sara one of our demos during one of these visits and two weeks later she called us up and asked if we wanted to go on tour with them! It was quite surreal.

Bands tend to make their living touring instead of selling records now. How do you think the Internet has affected the music industry, especially coming from the perspective of a smaller indie band?

Yeah it kind of sucks...because the old business model is gone and there’s no getting it back. Bands definitely don’t sell records well anymore and I can tell you this from personal experience...it is what it is. At the same time the Internet does a lot of great things too in that getting your name out there is so much easier. Our music is heard in faraway places, like Singapore for example, markets that we wouldn’t normally be able to break into and we’re grateful for that.

How does song writing work for you two back then versus now, since you live in Montreal and Damon still resides Down Under.

The way it’s always worked is that I would write the demos first and then send them to Damon to work on them. He’ll listen to them, tweak things and add in his input, and then when that’s done we’ll just get together and record somewhere. That’s how Rearrange Beds got made pretty much. So although we live on different continents now, that dynamic is still the same. I’ll write a few lyrics, come up with shards of melodies and I’ll send them to Damon. The back and forth continues until we’re satisfied and we’ll fly to Vancouver to record or something. It’s been fruitful for the new album so far.

Any word on how the new record is coming along?

Well right this moment, as we speak, there’s an email pop-up from Sara (Quinn, from Tegan & Sara) right in front me on the computer. She’s helping with production and she just sent the latest mix for our new album - so yeah, we’ve finished recording! We’re polishing it up. We all should be done mixing it in next month or two, well, hopefully before the end of the year. No promises but chances are you’ll see it early next year. We’re really excited about it.

An Horse is playing at TAB on 15 Oct. Get your tickets here!

- InSing (Noor Hidzir Junaini)