White Shoes & The Couples Company
Written by Amanda Rizkita
Wet grass. Mud-dipped legs dancing to good music in the rain. Vintage goods. Neon paper bracelets. Flavored beers. Music video screening. Motley band posters clashing against white walls. In Singapore, this could only mean one thing: the super merry and jolly UpToTheSky festival!
UpToTheSky festival was the first ever indie music festival in Singapore that specifically highlighted and promoted regional musical acts. In addition to an certainly powerful musical lineup, the festival also boasted a gamut of interesting arts and music-related events which managed to enliven a precious yet hidden space in Singapore, Old School at Mount Sophia.
Really, we hoped that we could at least be in two places at the same time. The self-dividing ability that some bacteria are capable of would’ve come handy during the day.
First of all, there were both indoor and outdoor stages showcasing equally mesmerizing musical performances. Unfortunately, we had to choose between the two. And then there was an exhibition of music posters behind the indoor stage. Again, we had to pick between the three. A super swell flea market was just a few steps away down the building. Four options were then available. By evening, a series of movie and video screenings were held at the cinema. Yes, five activities that brazenly examined our decision-making ability. You might have found us running around like madmen from one place to another in the rain. Or in the inevitable pools of mud. But happily.
The poster exhibition.
Here are some of our Indonesian friends’ views of the festival as both volunteers and as parts of the audience at the same time. We even had a friend who currently studies in Indonesia flying straight from Jakarta just to volunteer for this event! Hats off for such determination.
Kevin Wiyarnanda, 18, Management Development Institute of Singapore
The acts performing there were the reason why I wanted to volunteer in the first place. I love all the Indonesian bands that they invited. And as for the other bands, lots of my friends said that they were all awesome. One of the coolest things about volunteering at uptothesky is that I got to hang out with the bands and took pics as many as I wanted to! Other than that, I could also meet new people who also volunteered from different schools in Singapore.
Muon
Ican Chandra, 17, Australian International School, Singapore
At the start of the day it was pretty awkward since very little people came, and the delay made the organizers panicky for sure but it all worked out in the end. In my opinion, the delay was a good thing as more people got to see the first performance. If there weren’t any delays, They Will Kill Us All would only have had five people in the audience. I didn’t get to see the whole lineup but I got to admit Deerhoof was my favorite performance, even when I caught only their last three songs. Out of half the shows I went to, they have the most responsive audience; hence a better feel of the whole concert experience. It was rather a shame that the screenings clashed with the musical acts and it was really hard to choose between the two. Sinema at Old School was a stellar place though, and Vincent Moon was the b0mb!
Overall the festival was a great experience for meeting new people, broadening our music taste and dancing in the rain to various musical acts.
Besides, I also got to hang with the musicians (Ed. – Ican was an artist liaison for the band Zebra and Snake). I don’t really know how to describe it with words. I mean, who would have thought musicians would be so nice? Seriously, they were all surprisingly nice. My friends kept reminding how nice Deerhoof was, and how the band members were the ones that approached them and not vice versa. It really did give you an insight of the music business when you talked to those guys. Oh, and also the life of a filmmaker when you talked to Vincent Moon. I was so starstruck when he came by our circle and started discussing about his screening. That, and him dancing freely to White Shoes.
Zebra and Snake
Omar Prazhari, 16, United World College of Southeast Asia, Singapore
Deerhoof’s performance was amazing, the crowds were amazing as well, but my personal favorite was White Shoes and The Couples Company. They were very entertaining. I didn’t get to see Vincent Moon’s full presentation, but it was nice, and the venue was pretty cozy. I also bought shirts for my bros – the merchandise booth was awesome even though the price of each shirt is quite expensive.
What bothers me the most was that the festival got delayed for a couple of hours, and the heavy rain was pretty annoying, but overall it was fine. But it could’ve been better if there were more crowds. Other than that it was great, I got to see awesome bands for free, hangout with some of the bands, free lunch and dinner, and an all access pass bracelet. Awesome stuff bro!
Hanging with the musicians was one of the best moments of my life. They were so nice to the volunteers; Greg from Deerhoof greeted me in the morning before the event. Me and Deerhoof chatted about music and Singapore. I got to hangout with White Shoes as well, and took a few pictures with some of the members. Working for this festival was an unforgettable experience, and I’m looking forward to do it again.
Summing up the day as “awesome” would perhaps do the event minimal justice. I mean, of course you might have had some difficulties in picking the right activity in several particular points of time. But by the end of the day, whichever activity you decided to immerse yourself in, I’m pretty sure you would have had no regrets.
(L-R) Vincent Moon and Omar Prazhari
Although Indonesian musicians were the highlights of the festival (common views in the audience included heads bobbing to Sore’s “Somos Libres”, whole bodies swinging to White Shoes & The Couples Company’s “Windu Defrina”, eyes simply unable to take themselves off The Trees & The Wild’s “Saija”), we found other not commonly discovered amazing talents from across the region as well, such as the magical Little Fox from Thailand, the energetic and eccentric Cambodian Space Project from Cambodia, the very composed and nuanced Muon from Singapore, and the electronically poppy Tenderfist from Malaysia. Not to forget the ear-shattering (in a good way) Deerhoof and the chill and wavy (yeayer chillwave!) Chad Valley. We won’t forget the moment Greg of Deerhoof, the back of his shirt completely sweat-stained, grabbed the microphone and did a couple of announcements–one of them was to switch the arrangement of the band members for one song (if I remember correctly, it was Satomi the vocalist on the drums, and Greg on guitar and vocals).
They Will Kill Us All
I found the festival to be a very helpful exercise in familiarizing yourself with large-scale music festivals, should there be bigger ones in Singapore in the future (did I just hear a chorus of amens?). We are hopefully catching up with world-class music festivals in neighboring Australia and in other countries!
