Wendy Phua

BIG THANKS to everyone who made it down to the show! It was brilliant having such a great responsive audience and my heart leaped when everyone clapped along to the jam section in Veerasamy
I’ve performed at the Waterfront a few times before it was newly renovated, but the vibe remains just as great as before. Against the beautiful skyline and cool river breeze, this has always been one of my favourite platforms to play at.

Truly it was one of the most exciting shows I’ve performed in a while, not least because it was the FIRST time that my solo bass songs were performed in a band setting. And I owe it all to the musicians in the quartet who made the show possible - Randolf for his amazing midi guitar works, Jamal for kicking up the mood with his mind-blowing ethnic percussions and Audrey for her wonderfully tasteful additions on Western percussions.

Photos will be up in a while but first here’s the link to the videos which are up!

Song List

Veerasamy/Mata Variations
Run With The Bulls
Lost In The Woods
Stormy Weather
Where The River Flows
Sojourn
Between Here And Then
Windchimes

For a taste of what to expect, here’s the 20min fusion track Veerasamy

Veerasamy/Mata Variations Part1 - Esplanade At The Waterfront 22 Jan 2010

Veerasamy/Mata Variations Part2 - Esplanade At The Waterfront 22 Jan 2010

Hello Everyone!

This Fri at Esplanade On the Waterfront 7.30-9.30pm, I’ll be playing songs from my EP and new songs ranging from progressive fusion to funk and world music.

It’s the first time I’ll be playing my solo bass songs in a band setting. Supporting me are some very fine musicians midi-guitarist/looper Randolf Arriola (Embryo http://www.myspace.com/theembryo), Audrey Tang on Western Percussions (Walking On Water www.myspace.com/walkingonw) and Jamal Khairi on Turkish Percussions.

We’re going to explore some really interesting middle eastern and western rhythms along with bass tapping, and of course some far out looping with Randolf. You definitely won’t want to miss out on this!

Shern Wong www.myspace.com/shernwong will be taking over the last set at 10pm-10.45pm.

THE EVENT IS FREE ADMISSION

For more info, go to
http://www.esplanade.com/whats_on/programme_info/instrumentally_rock/index.jsp

You can check out videos too at http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wendy%20phua&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1

See you there!

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD BASS?!!

PLACE: Yamaha Beatspot Showroom Plaza Singapura
DATE: 12 December 2009
TIME: 3pm

This Yamaha workshop sees Wendy Phua spearheading a unique DUO BASS workshop demonstrating the WIDE variety of TONES available on the YAMAHA BBNE-II bass guitar.

Wendy partners up for the first time with drummer Audrey Tang on bass to explore the idea of rhythm, and what it takes for the bass to step out of a RHYTHMIC role to function as a MELODY-making instrument.

Performing new original songs, specially arranged for bass duets, Wendy challenges preconceptions of the BASS role once again!

sometimes when I get too deeply involved in the music making process, it’s easy to forget that a world exists out there in the periphery of my musical world. so it’s nice when I received an invitation to do interviews with the revered Bass Frontiers Magazine (USA) and Musikus Magazine (Czech Republic)

Thanks for the love!

Wendy Phua – Session and Solo Bassist
By Brent-Anthony Johnson

http://www.bassfrontiersmag.com/wendy-phua-session-and-solo-bassist

“Masterful Diminutive Powerhouse” is the easiest way to describe my friend Wendy “Wen” Phua! A “player’s player” beyond all doubt, Wendy approaches the instrument with tough-guy technique and a huge sound while blissfully wringing the instrument, producing a continuous cascade of notes. As I listened to the cool demo and read the press kit “Wen” sent to me last week, I was reminded of how much better is my bass world as a result of chatting with her (she is one of my favorite people on earth) and how much the readers of Bass Frontiers Magazine could benefit from reading her story.

Read on…

Groove V Sukni - Wendy Phua
By Ibrahim Hassan

http://www.muzikus.cz/pro-muzikanty-serialy/Groove-v-sukni-Wendy-Phua~30~cervenec~2009/

Obcas se najde mezi lidmi nekdo, kdo se nenechá spoutat stávajícími hranicemi. Cas od casu si nekdo položí otázku „a co je vlastn? za hranicemi?“ nebo „kam až dosáhnu?“. Mezi basovými hráci je nekolik takových velikánu, kterí pretvorili basovou hru a urcili jí nové hranice – at už je to Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Tony Levin ci Michael Manring. Ze Singapuru se zacíná ozývat cerstvý prírustek do rodiny objevitelu a inovátoru basové hry – mladá a puvabná basistka Wendy Phua.

Read on…

You can view the articles

One more thing folks, I’ll be playing with Shern Wong today at Vivo City 5.30pm for the Street Festival. The stage is right outside the Food Republic. See u there!

So much has happened since my last entry many moons ago. The economy has collapsed, global warming is baking Singapore up, Singapore big sale has arrived, and the massive IT show has come round a second time this year…and in the midst of all that, I’ve been travelling quite abit for work (just returned from Music Matter 2009 in HK, fantastic experience for another future post), studying part-time and of course, performing/recording/writing music.

Instead of going through the whirlwind of details here in one post, I’m just going to list a couple of the more important details here:

1. Thanks to Fretboard Frenzy and Terrabox Management, I recently did a show under the series Localisation in Esplanade Concourse in May 2009. Supporting me wonderfully on percussions, is Audrey Tang, founder and drummer for the all-female R&B/Jazz band Walking On Water.

Thank you to those who managed to turn up, I had a great time and hope you folks did as well. For those who couldn’t make it, here are some VIDEOS I’ve finally uploaded As a quick peek where is the video to a brand new song I wrote and performed for the first time here, called “Windchimes”.

Windchimes - Localisation Series at Esplanade Concourse 2009

2. I recently signed with MTV Asia which will be featuring me in a dedicated page on MTV Asia with articles, music, video in about 2months time! With a huge viewership spanning across including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, it will be a very interesting blast across the Southeast Asia region where I can hopefully connect with more like-minded instrumental music lovers. More news very soon.

3. An online Czech musician magazine has invited me to do an interview at http://www.muzikus.cz/ for a female bassist article. I’ll put up the link to the article here once it’s up.

4. One of the most exciting projects I have undertaken, scoring for a short animation movie this month. I’m working on its theme song now and have been having loadsa fun so far! More updates soon.

5. Another exciting project I am in now is recording/sessioning for Shern Wong, a very promising up-and-coming guitarist, on his intrumental rock EP. In the band is Mapex endorsee Alfe Kim on drums and Yamaha Singapore Asiabeat Best Guitarist Simon Lai on rhythm guitar. What makes Shern stand out from the rest is his vision to appraoch instrumental rock as a SONGWRITER rather than a steroid-pumped guitar shredder (which is often the case in most instrumental rock albums). Not to say he ain’t got the chops either, case in point on the song “Superheroes”! Check him out and get his EP NOW!

Aritey, for the moment I’ll leave you folks with these updates. I promise I’ll be back pretty soon now that I’m a little less busy, so talk soon!

cheers,

Wendy

Join Yamaha endorsee Wendy Phua 14 Sept 08 2pm Yamaha Tampines Mall and 27 Sept 08 2pm Yamaha Plaza Singapura where she will hold an endorsement appearance/workshop. This is a post-lunch event you won’t want to miss!

Wendy will be performing her solo bass songs with the use of a live-looping rig on and not forgetting her nifty violin bow.

Appearing together with her will be fellow Yamaha endorsee Rosli Mansor.

“There is little reason to understate the immensity and diversity of Wendy Phua’s musical journeys, as all one needs is a little time and separation from the world outside to fully appreciate the spectrum of what she has to say in her patient storytelling.” - Bob Tan, music critic of Audioreload

One of Singapore’s most visited music portals and avid supporter of the burgeoning local music scene, Audioreload has been kind enough to feature a very positive review on Between Here And Then.

‘nuf said, CLICK HERE NOW to read the review on Between Here And Then!

Click on this PayPal button to buy the EP, at only SGD 5 (excluding international shipping costs - Local shipping costs will be waived)

“Between Here And Then” recently received airplay again!

This time it’s the sexy folks from Unpopular Radio who were kind enough to feature the song in their program The Tiger Wanchai Tan[g]kap Black Show

The introduction about my song begins at 55.35min of the clip which you can download at the link above.
“Between Here And Then” lists as track 11 in the program, alongside other songs from esteemed acts like Force Vomit, Leslie Low, B-Quartet, Lunarin, Black Dog Bone and I Am David Sparkle. Enjoy!

it’s funny how things you’ve always relied on to be there all the time can suddenly give way without warning.

coming right off after a very encouraging response at the Lodown In Music bass day, where I virtually sold all the EPs I brought down to the show, I was all geared up to work on more new songs and recordings…then Murphy’s Law came crashing through the roof

FIRST - my 6yr old laptop which has been my trusty DAW recording unit finally gave up the ghost. and so my recordings are stalled just when I was most inspired. well thankfully I always back up my work so I still got the old recordings with me. Taking it to the repair shop, I was advised that the motherboard was most probably fried. I ended up getting a 2nd hand Asus which anyway promises to be a tremendous working horse. While I’m pretty psyched about that, I however need to wait a week before I can get it back from some warranty repair.

if losing my old laptop’s not enough, then came the SECOND bummer - my right arm got dislocated in the middle of the night while I was soundly sleeping.

alright so I dislocated it 10 yrs back and it was bound to happen sometime. still it hurt like HELL and I was screaming all the way to the hospital in an AMBULANCE. I know some folks who actually dislocate their shoulders as part of their life routine and they actually attach it back themselves. but i guess i haven’t got the stomach for that. and it’s not funny for a musician to injure the hand/arm much less dislocate an entire shoulder.

so my laptop and I are in dormant mode right now.

well I’m slowly working up my arm to start playing abit on the bass but the shoulder still feels kinda funny, like it’s just hanging on in a fragile grip. hopefully with some physiotherapy I’ll be tapping away like the old times again

moral of the story? nothing much except that all you musicians out there should take REALLY good care of your hands/arm and I guess this is the best time when I can truly appreciate tremendous courage and effort of legendary one-arm bassist Bill Clements