The Electric New Paper :
S'pore's 44th Birthday
'We know how Lions feel that night'
Local band Electrico, which performs at NDP tomorrow, knows how S'pore fans can be 'unpatriotic' when it comes to foreign teams like Liverpool
IF David Tan, 33, wasn't a rocker but a Lion facing Liverpool at the National Stadium two weeks ago, this is what he might have done.
By Ng Tze Yong
09 August 2009
IF David Tan, 33, wasn't a rocker but a Lion facing Liverpool at the National Stadium two weeks ago, this is what he might have done.
'I think I would have thrown my jersey onto the pitch,' said David, the frontman of Electrico, the local band behind this year's National Day song, What Do You See.
The exhibition match between Liverpool and the national soccer team had generated a heated debate over where loyalties lay for many Singaporeans.
The discussion had gathered steam, especially as the match was played just 14 days before the nation's 44th birthday.
A 45,000-strong crowd turned up at the National Stadium to cheer mostly for Liverpool, sporting their jerseys and raising their scarves, largely ignoring the Lions.
You'll Never Walk Alone, the anthem of the Liverpool team, was belted out with gusto, but Majulah Singapura was not played.
David doesn't hide his disgust for what happened that night, and not because - as some would think - he's an angsty young punk.
He was quite the opposite - jovial and articulate - when he met The New Paper earlier this week at a cafe at Iluma shopping centre.
In the National Day song music video, David is the pensive man walking through the streets of Singapore.
But isn't throwing the Lions jersey on the ground also a sign of disrespect?
'I know it's not a nice thing to say, throwing the national jersey on the ground, but as local musicians, we can understand how the Lions felt that night,' he said.
'It's like when a foreign band comes to Singapore and you get a local band to open the show for them. Few people bother to support the local band.'
He emphasised that it's not sour grapes.
'I think it boils down to respect,' he said.
The Liverpool fans 'weren't thinking', David said.
'If they were, they would have made more noise for the Lions,' he said.
Ask the young men of Electrico to answer their own question ('What do you see?') and it comes back to the same thing: A thinking nation.
'I want to see a people who can think for themselves and not blindly follow others, who are responsible for what they say and support what they say,' said David.
Added bass guitarist Desmond Goh, 33: 'We're not saying, go out there and start a riot.
'We're saying: Think intelligently and sensibly. Think about this country. It's not just a place where you live. Take ownership of it.'
An alum of Nan Chiau High School and Singapore Polytechnic, Desmond used to work as a graphic designer, designing posters for Alley Bar and Acid Bar.
He comes across as the kind of good-natured chap that friends like to poke fun at.
Among his many nicknames are Nugget Boy ('They say I look like a character on a McDonald's ad'), Papa Smurf ('I look like him') and Psycho Boy ('Because of the way I dance on stage')
There's also another, an unprintable one, given to him by his 'encik' (slang for warrant officer) in the army when he found out Desmond belonged to a band.
The 'encik', evidently, was an ardent fan of the Sex Pistols.
David, 33 and a full-time musician, is the band's frontman onstage and offstage, taking most of the questions head-on.
He describes himself as an 'ACS boy, but not your typical kind as I was a Catholic in a Methodist school'.
After he failed his O-level Chinese, he enrolled at the University of Oregon in the US, where he pursued a degree in economics.
Drummer William Lim Jr, who came from Montfort Secondary School, is the only married member of the band.
His wife is Thai, they have no kids, and he teaches drums and guitar at a music school.
Their different backgrounds tell the Singaporean story in different ways but their goal, when they step onto the Marina Bay floating platform tomorrow evening, will be the same.
They hope to, in William's words, 'promote Singapore to Singaporeans'.
'Our Singaporean identity is being stifled by the media and as long as that is happening, the only thing that we are feeding on are things from Western culture,' said David.
'As a result, the West is best mentality permeates everything, from music to sports.'
To critics who said the band sold out to a national agenda, David had this to say:
'There is nothing to sell out. We were already the biggest local band before NDP. There is nothing that the NDP can give us which we do not already have.'
Arrogant or frank? A thoughtless or thoughtful comment?
What you see is what you get.
Even David's tattoo - a phoenix sprawled over his upper right arm - is fair game for the interview.
He said he got it five months ago to 'mark the start of a new phase in his life'.
Will he show it at Marina Bay tomorrow?
'No lah, ' he said. He's planning on a long-sleeve shirt instead.
But that's not very emo-rock, is it?
David laughed. He doesn't have a nice outfit that has short sleeves. And he doesn't have a great body, he said.
But he made it clear: 'I have no qualms about showing this tattoo to 27,000 people at the Marina Bay floating platform.
'At the same time, I wouldn't show it just for the sake of showing it.'
Tattoo or no tattoo, emo-rock or cheesy National Day tunes, Electrico just hopes Singaporeans will give their support to one of their own when they take centrestage tomorrow.
Otherwise, who knows, they might just throw their shirts into the Marina Bay.
