Okay. Finally, I have decided to continue the chronicle of my experience of being a musician in Singapore. Though I stopped at 1994 the last time out, I really skimmed through 1993, which was a watershed year for me. So… for the sake of completeness, here is my account of 1993.
Back to the Egg
Signing a recording contract was a dream come true. Honestly, I never thought it would ever happen for me. But there I was in the offices of Odyssey Music, putting my John Hancock on a legal document that basically obliged me to record music in exchange for royalty payments. Much of the credit for that deal lay with the BigO guys viz. Michael, Philip and Stephen . Definitely, they were instrumental in helping me secure the Odyssey contract. It did not hurt that my first proper studio recording – Orchard Road – was getting airplay on national radio and generally good reviews in the media.
If memory serves me, I believe I inked the deal sometime in March 1993. The plan was that the album would be recorded together with Patrick (who played drums on Orchard Road), with the song selection leaning towards 80s alt-rock, typically guitar rock actually. But quite out of the blue in May, one of the Watchmen (viz. Tony) returned to Singapore from the USA for his summer break. Basically, he called me at the most appropriate time (or so it seemed at the time) and I asked him whether he wanted to play on the album. Of course, he did.
Remember that the recording contract was signed in my sole name. (Tangential trivia: – Wilco’s deal with Nonsuch Records is in Jeff Tweedy’s sole name as well). Honestly, I did not want money matters to entangle Tony’s participation so he agreed to play on the album in exchange for one song on Odyssey’s dime. And that was the arrangement. We met up with the engineer (Chan) of Boss Studios to work out how the recording would proceed, Tony brought home a Roland R8 drum machine to program and we finished the sucker in 7 sessions. Since Tony was involved, I changed the song lineup significantly to reflect his contribution – including more songs that we had co-written (and featured on Watchmen demos) previously so that recording could be faster.
The sessions went mostly as planned. Memorably, Eric came by to video me recording the vocals of My One & Only (I wonder what happened to that video). I was very very nervous about recording My One & Only cos I realized the song’s potential to be a hit and did not want to screw it up so to speak. To this day, I am rather unhappy with the recording especially the vocals but I guess everyone says that. I remember Nazir Hussain popping by as well as Mark Shaw. They were quite amused by Gum. Heh.
Listen/Download
Interestingly enough, the label rejected the new version of Fast Forward (from This Savage Garden) and opted for “Details” instead (where my vocals were a little pitchy). The label also objected to Tony’s song – How Can You Say You Love Me (If You Hate the Food I Eat) – which they felt was too derivative of the Police. Believe me, I had to fight long and hard to persuade them to put it on the album, which I had called Democracy. Seemed like a good title to get attention in Singapore.
Eric designed the cover – partially inspired by Jurassic Park – in the form of a food chain. I still think it’s such a distinctive looking cover – very comic book styled. Remember, all of this happened before Eric had even made Mee Pok Man.
Before Tony flew back to the USA, I made sure that he was involved in as many interviews and photo opportunities as possible. He was properly credited in the album sleeve and all the press releases but when the album was released, of course, it was left to me to do all the album promotion alone. Which is fair cos it was my name on that recording contract after all. So, the truth about Watchmen? It was all about me. Just before release, my wife asked me why did I use the Watchmen name? Why not “Kevin Mathews”? Effectively, it WAS a solo album but I was not personally comfortable with using my name at the time and so “Watchmen” it was. This would of course, return to bite me the following year.
When the album was released, it really felt like the culmination of all my musical ambitions. Holding the physical CD in my hands was surreal and thrilling. Talking to the media about the music, hearing the music on the radio, reading about the album in the newspapers and magazines was an amazing feeling. NTUC Radio Heart (91.3 FM) was really supportive – I think they played almost every track on the album and when My One & Only hit #1 on its Radio Charts, the sense of achievement was amazing. I had begun to play a couple of solo gigs (I did really know many people then which whom I could collaborate with – most people my age, I was 32, would not be interested in playing music) at Ngee Ann City, MPH Power House, outside Shaw Centre and so on.
Back then, 98.7 FM was the top radio station and even when My One & Only was #1 at Radio Heart, 98.7 FM seemed less than enthusiastic. Only DJ Suresh would play Democracy tracks on his Home program, even the hidden track, Gum. And it was Suresh who invited me to TGIW (Thank God It’s Wednesday – don’t ask), a 98.7Fm event held at Zouk to open for 80s pop princess Tiffany. The only thing I could remember about it was that Zouk was packed with kids, I was extremely nervous and when I got to the chorus of My One & Only, ALL the kids sang along. I was so shocked I almost stopped! Apparently, the 98.7FM DJs did not expect it either. After my performance, they were all keen to congratulate me and compliment me about the song. Before that no one (except Suresh, bothered). Florence Lian was so excited about it that she gave thanks to the “power of radio”! Well, more like the power of Radio Heart, heh! So from that moment on, 98.7FM was behind My One & Only and the song stayed in their charts for an entire quarter (it seemed) and rose up to #3.
The year ended in a bit of sour note and perhaps a portent of things to come. Without doubt, My One & Only was the top rated local song of 1993. But when it came to the 98.7FM awards for the year, My One & Only was snubbed and all the awards went to Kick! The ride was well and truly over…
…still there’s more…