Still The Most Popular Band

On a lazy Thursday afternoon, I was woken up by a phone call from one of my friends, who was at central forum, telling me that the results of the semi-finals of Jam aloud were being announced! As I held on the line, eagerly awaiting the word from the judges at the central forum, Nips was off his seat as well standing next to me, while I held on the line. And as I heard the MC scream “Peroxide!” over the phone line, Nips and I were yelling for joy! This was it, Peroxide made it into the final 5 of the 24 bands that signed up for this national battle of the bands competition! We quickly decided to get working on our songs and jammed and set everything right that night.

As Friday dawned, the only thing on our heads was Jam Aloud! Sham and Satya, poor souls who had exams on the same day, had a tough time concentrating on their papers! As we arrived at Central forum and took our seats, we were really impressed by the bands who were currently doing their sound-checks. Aight, it was time to brace ourselves for some hard competition! Of course, the faithful fans of Peroxide turned up as well, giving us some needed mental strength!

As Sponge, The Identified, Conmen, and Die Mic Stand finished their sets, it was Peroxide’s turn to take the spotlight. The stage was set, the lights were flashing, the sound system was tip top, and as the MC announced “Peroxide!”, our faithful fans reciprocated with their wild screams! That felt great, the feeling I experienced a few weeks ago at FLY re-surfaced. After a short, cheesy interview of Nips by the MC, Sham did the honors to start the song, “To Love Somebody”, a classic by the Beegees.. but aye.. Peroxide style! With tight breaks from Satya and Ian, emotion filled vocals by Nips, and soulful solos by Sham and me, we rendered the song with finesse, only to leave the crowd open mouthed in awe! Honestly, when we finished this song, I felt inner satisfaction, a kind which I had never experienced before, a perfect rendition with brilliantly balanced sound levels from Peroxide’s members and (of course the sound engineer :P).

As Lynn came on stage to help Nips out with vocals, and Pulak took over the drums, The crowd began the “Peroxide” chant!! Aah, that feeling from FLY surfaced again! Next came our original, Little Miss Perfect! By the time we finished the song, which had all the elements of a “Peroxide” song, as mentioned before, the crowd was wild!

We got off stage, only to be congratulated by our loyal friends and fans! We are more than lucky to have such wonderful fans!

It was time, time for the results. The MC’s took stage. and announced..3^rd place…… SPONGE!!! 2^nd place… CONMEN!!! 1^st place….. DIE MIC STAND!!

We were all shocked, for we were expecting a place atleast in the top three, but I guess it was touch and go. We certainly learnt a lot from this show, especially the fact that a band cannot get good over a week or two, Its constant practice and fooling around that differentiates a good band over a bad one. It’s the chemistry that matters on stage.

But no matter... After the results for the top 3 places were announced the MCs announced that there would be a prize for the most popular band as decided by the Crowd votes. And as we expected we bagged it by a landslide. Although it would have been a nice feather in our caps had we got into the top 3. But hey Top 5 out of 24 of the best bands in Singapore and winning the most popular band is just as good. The main thing was that our friends and fans loved our performance and had fun just as much as we did. At the end of the day thats all that matters. Having fun doing what you love...

A big thank you goes out to all our friends and fans. Thank you guys, if we are inspired to play music, it’s because of YOU GUYS! A promise to you guys, we are getting better every show we play, and we will continue to rock your socks!! So long then, signing out.

- Sridhar -