For those of you who don't know the seminal Concave Scream, well tough. You should know them simply because they are one of the most promising and exciting new bands around. Barely fresh from the crib two years ago, they already have had 2 recordings under their belt, one being the 6 song EP aptly titled "Scarred" and a 11 track self titled album. And the belt is still getting tighter for these laddies with an upcoming awesomely produced album, "Erratic".
Substitute's Agent Spacedog speaks to the man behind those sexy vocals, Sean Lam.
Spacedog: Tell us about the new additions to the band.
Sean: Well, there are 3 of us who are signed to Springroll, which is me, Pann and Angus the drummer. We like put it in the record that there are 4 people in the band, the fourth guy, Victor did not sign because we didn't want Victor to be tied down be the black and white because he's doing his own project as well as army right now.
Spacedog: So, how did you get the rest of the guys in?
Sean: I don't know about Angus but it was through Pann, he's his cousin. After we did the first album, we wanted to move on to a new sound and we needed a real drummer and. It's pretty hard to find one. Pann's cousin had been playing jazz for a long time. Before we spoke to him, he had not been playing in a rock band, he was playing in the army.
Spacedog: MDC (Music and Drama Company) ?
Sean: So after he ROD, he was damn bored so he joined. Hehe.
Spacedog: So, from Scarred to Erratic, what major differences has there been?
Sean: I think there's a very, very big difference between the 2 albums. From the first album if you noticed, it consisted mostly of folk guitars and a drum machine and I think it was a lucky fluke for us that we got this unique sound. And also, we couldn't afford electric guitars last time so we had to use our old Yamaha guitars. And we just wanted to record our songs, and not form a band, so that next time when we listen back, shiok lah. Then later things got a bit more serious...
Spacedog: Tell us about this new direction then.
Sean: So, for the new sound, now that we are given a budget, we are no longer concerned with time. Unlike the first album, it was like we had this watch and we would keep looking at it and go, " Wah, one hour later and still haven't gotten the thing done."
Spacedog: I know what you mean, it's like you go in and keep reminding yourself," One take. Only one take!" But, in the end, you screw it up even more.
Sean: Yah! Yah! Something like that lah! We worked under major pressure on the first album, the second album is in a more relaxed pace, taking our time.
Spacedog: And what about the new songs?
Sean: Well, the new drummer's done a lot for the music. And also for the heavier songs, Pann plugs in his guitars and churns out some metalish licks.
Spacedog: Yeah, I heard Erratic and the production is really good. Your sound really comes across powerfully.
Sean: The mastering was really quite fantastic. Before, it was pretty ok but after it came back from 301 studios in Australia, the sound levels were like, wow! Quite solid. But going back to the album, even the title Erratic represents our differing sounds within the album.
Spacedog: Lyrically and sound-wise, what are the most different?
Sean: From the first album, there was a lot of frustration but there's less in Erratic, there are more milder songs on this one. Even one or two happy tunes because we wanted to chart out mood for the second album, which is erratic. We are not always happy or angry, so it's like an up and down trip.
Spacedog: It seems that a lot of Concave Scream songs are about repression and the drudgery of life, but personally what do you think of your own life?
Sean: Well, so far in truth, I'm very satisfied with a lot of things. Umm, at the time of the first album, me and Pann were feeling very shitty about things. (ed. Mainly army?) Yah! You get in there people literally spit on you, you have no life in there. Sometimes you get good people around you but most of the time is those old NSF, old bastards and they really give you a lot of shit.
At this point in time, we launch into a political debate about the plight of fellow ex-countryman
Tang Liang Hong which isn't really pertinent but bloody funny. But that's for us to have fun and you to read on about the band... The general consensus being a) TLH is so poor thing. b) He looks stupid at the inquisition. c) Sean and the rest of Singapore is politically apathetic.
Spacedog: So where did you record Erratic?
Sean: At BOSS, same as the first one.
Spacedog: What was the studio experience like this time around? You said it was less stressful but what else?
Sean: The sound engineer there is quite fantastic. His name is called Phillip and he is a really solid guy, he's really patient and does things our way. Even though we were an independent production, he still gave us attention and no attitude. I prefer to work with better people than equipment.
Spacedog: I know what you mean, analogue studios are so much nicer to work in.
Sean: That's right, the guitars sound so much warmer and less digitized.
Spacedog: Tell us about the equipment that you guys use.
Sean: Well, I use a 12-string Rickenbecker. Pann owns an Ibanaz "Ice-man", because for metal sounds, can't fight lah! Ibanaz and metal zone you get hell man. For the slow songs, we still use our old Yamaha guitars. The Rickie does all the swirly sounds because it's rich in natural chorus.
Spacedog: What are your preferred amps you guys use?
Sean: Definitely Peavey although in recording we used Marshall amps because there is more punch with distortion.
Spacedog: But I always feel that the Marshall amps are much too bright, very hard to control.
Sean: That's true. But for live shows, we always get the best sound using Peavey amps. I trust Peavey.
Spacedog: By right, I'm supposed to ask what equipment you guys use but since everyone's not here nevermind.
Sean: I don't know but in particular, my drummer likes to use Sabian.
Spacedog: Ok, so why monosyllabic or one-word titles?
Sean: Uhh, quite a number of people have noticed that. The reason is because we like to keep things simple. Just single words is easier to remember than a sentence, also there's more impact and let the titles speak for itself.
Spacedog: That's cool, so who does most of the song-writing?
Sean: Songwriting is done be me and Pann and the rest of the guys back us up on the instrumentation.
Spacedog: But lyrically? Who does the work?
Sean: Well, both of us contribute to the words, we put down what we are not happy about and try to make it into a song. We share our ideas but mostly, I pen the lyrics.
Spacedog: So which song are you most satisfied with so far?
Sean: So far, my favorite is "State" and "Caged". These two songs really mean something to me because I'm writing about a person very close to me. Also, from some very personal experiences. And I could say, I was very satisfied with the mood portrayed by the two songs.
Spacedog: But the song that I feel that is most out of Concave Scream's context is Driven. Why?
Sean: Yeah, basically we wanted to capture the 80's sound. Because we grew up with 80's music, whatever that was Ah Beng at that time. Erasure, DM and all, so we wanted to capture sounds that reflect us till this day. It sounds a bit like U2's early stuff, it was really a side project for us.
Spacedog: Which incidentally is turning out to be a real hit. But why do you portray yourselves as dark, moody and somber.. black knights and all but no horses?
Sean: Actually, we didn't lah! But black is the safest color. So I don't have to think of what to wear when we play gigs! (laughs) But seriously, black looks good for all occasions, it blends with every color! It's mostly a uniform for us but for the first album, black represented our anger but this second album.. uniform lor.
Spacedog: Which gigs have you all enjoyed playing most and why?
Sean: School gigs are good and in particular, the one in held in NUS, LT 13 or something. Quite a long time ago, with the then Suchness. The sound was amazing and fantastic. It's really rare to play live and hear your sound come out 100%.It was the dream gig but after that, it never happened again.
Spacedog: Describe what's it like being in Concave Scream ?
Sean: Well, its like a hobby to me, a very serious one. I like being in the band.
Spacedog: What's the future like?
Sean: Not to sure but I guess we want to go on writing new songs and making albums.
