Wendy Phua

Some pictures taken from a gig I played with Walking On Water (WOW) at Suntec City’s Balaclava on 4 April 2008. Being a specially themed gig called Sugar & Spice that features especially female musos that night, we were playing alongside other wonderful musicians the likes of Shirlyn (IMHO she’s Singapore’s equivalent of Robert Plant ) and Joan (her virtuosic violin playing will rip you apart) in The Unexpected Band, Alemay Fernandez (great singer), Bong (such awesome swagger on the bass! cool!) etc. Hope there’ll be another at Balaclava someday

Heads up folks, I’ll be playing alongside FRETBOARD FRENZY mastermind and solo guitarist Rosli Mansor on 3rd May 2008 at *scape Youth Centre. The second installment of FRETBOARD FRENZY: RISE OF THE STRINGERS 2, this event will be focusing on the guitar works of Shern Wong + Malik + Addy Rasidi + Rosli Mansor.

For those not in the know, Rosli last released a full-length instrumental guitar album called Dragged and is currently playing with a self-custom made double neck guitar with a wonderful fretless board on the 2nd neck.

I will be playing 3 songs with Rosli and Raman (veteran Bushmen percussionist) including a latest cool new number form Rosli that is not featured in Dragged. See ya’ll there!

FRETBOARD FRENZY: RISE OF THE STRINGERS 2
3 May 2008
12pm
*scape Youth Centre
Co-presented by SOFT and terraBox

FRETBOARD FRENZY, the brainchild of instrumentalist Rosli Mansor and produced by terraBox, aims to provide a platform to showcase local experienced and aspiring musicians with a common factor: their unbridled passion for the fretboard. MySpace.com - Fretboard Frenzy - All - Rock - MySpace.com - Fretboard Frenzy - All - Rock - MySpace.com - Fretboard Frenzy - All - Rock - www.myspace.com/fretboardfrenzzy

Finally I got hold of the pictures taken at a gig I performed in Bar CoCoon, Forbidden City by Indochine recently. It was a party organised by the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations to celebrate Women’s Day 2008. Here they are

Performing with the half-size violin bow

Performing with the half-size violin bow again and feeeeling the mood

Cropped up picture of the 1st

Performing with Yani in acoustic pop duo SKIN

Performing with Yani in acoustic pop duo SKIN and soaking up the lovely Indochine ambience….lurve those chandeliers..doncha??

You got the EP and now you can also get to hear an interview done at Lush 99.5FM on “Between Here And Then”. Thanks Asha!

hooray I finally got videos out on my performance at bass day. Here are the songs I played and my rig on that day is as follows:

4-string Tobias Classic > GT6B > L/R out to Line 6 DL4 > L/R out to 2 Line 6 Bass Amps (1 EQ to focus on highs and one EQ to focus on lows). “Between Here And Then” included use of a violin half-bow.

Where The River Flows

Stormy Weather

Sojourn

Between Here And Then (live looping)

Someone once said to me that I was one of his favourite FEMALE bassist. It took me abit of of effort to refrain from asking him who was then his favourite MALE bassist.

Ever since the Suffragettes took to the streets burning bras in protest against gender discrimination, females across the world finally felt it their due right cast aside the gender labels and fight for their basic self-worth. I am most definitely not a bra-burning Suffragette but I must admit I did used to get rankled when someone points out that I was a FEMALE bassist. I mean like, do we have to point out the OBVIOUS?

But you know what, I’ve gotten past the prickly stage of being too conscious of being a female bassist and never getting full credit for the bass playing itself. Anyway in this post-modern word now, it’s always best to laugh it off and throw a sock in its face. It rocks being a female bassist in Singapore, and I’m not ashamed to say that.

So in the spirit of this post, I’ll be performing at an event held to celebrate being a woman. Details are as below and I hope to see you there!

In-Gear Party – Celebrating women and being a woman!

Bar CoCoon, Forbidden City by IndoChine ( 3A River Valley Road, Singapore, 179020)
8 March 2008
8pm-11pm
FREE ENTRY
Females and their male friends are invited

In-Gear Party – Celebrating women and being a woman, an event hosted as part of Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) International Women’s Day celebrations. I’ll be performing solo bass songs from “Between here And Then” and selling the album at the venue itself. I will also be playing guitar and singing on original songs with talented singer-songwriter Yani in a duo outfit called Skin.

Other artists featured are: Ginette Chittick, Neomi Ogo, PopMyCherry!, Nicole V., and Prema Sommaya.

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

good news! apart from buying the EP as a physical CD package, you can now buy my songs from Between Here And Then individually. just click on the song below to make your purchases.

For those who made it down to the bass workshop yesterday at *Scape Centre, thanks for the support! It was indeed an awesome event and definitely should be a precursor to more shows like this. My fellow bass performers Din Safari, Bani Rahman, Matnor, Melvin and Anis were inspiring as always and it is an honour playing alongside such bass heroes. Supporting musicians Paul Das, Alvin and Munir were great as well, a big shout out to you all for making it down. Thank you James from soft.com.sg for making this happen :)And of course my personal thanks to those who managed to buy a copy of my EP. Your support makes it all worthwhile.

To recap, my rig set up for yesterday’s bass workshop was as follows:
4-string Tobias Classic > GT6B > L/R out to Line 6 DL4 > L/R out to 2 Line 6 Bass Amps (1 EQ to focus on highs and one EQ to focus on lows). “Between Here And Then” live looping song included use of a violin half-bow

“BETWEEN HERE AND THEN” EP online purchase:

I will be continuing the sales of my EP here at only SGD 5 (excluding international shipping costs). Local shipping costs will be waived.

The EP contains 3 of the songs which I played at yesterday’s Bass Day, replete with string orchestrations on “Sojourn” and drum tracks on “Stormy Weather” (these 2 were played with just the bass as a solo instrument yesterday). The live looping song “Between Here And Then” features the violin half bow. All songs were recorded, mixed and mastered TOTALLY diy at home with the help of my life mate Mo who has been the biggest support in my music. For those who own a copy of the EP, I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I did making the recordings.

I’m helping James from www.soft.com.sg organise a bass day and will be playing in it too.featuring also new bass solo songs that include a live looping composition I just came up with lately.

Event: SOFT Gathering
Date: 2 Feb 2008 (Saturday)
Time: 12pm - 6pm
Venue: *scape Youth Centre (indoor) www.scape.com.sg/
Ticket: FREE!!
Amps: Line6 - www.citymusic.com.sg

The LoDown in Music -
Bass Day Workshop

2pm - 2.30pm : Din Safari
Ten Ingredients In Music
Intrepid bassist Din Safari is best known as the low-ender in professional working outfit Jive Talking, a highly popular band touted by lifestyle publication IS Magazine (Singapore), as “THE BEST CLUB BAND IN SINGAPORE”. Din is also the organizer behind the highly successful Bass Music Camp held in Asia, comprising teachings on Musical Awareness, Principle of Music and the role of a Bass player. For this module, he will be providing an insight into another upcoming Bass Music Camp he is organizing in June with discussions on The Ten Ingredients in music.

2.30pm - 3pm : Bani Rahman
How To Groove Hip
As one of Singapore’s busiest bass sessionists, Bani Rahman’s distinctive bass tone has landed him numerous performing and recording sessions with notable artists like Tanya Chua, Art Fazil, Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah at his “Thank you Concert”, Rosli Mansor, Nathan Hartono, Blindspot and Brinal Chua. Bani has also co-produced and recorded on music for various Cartoon Network’s productions. In this module, apart from sharing useful tips on the trade of being a professional session bassist, Bani will demonstrate on the tricky technique of locking a tight groove with a live drummer in various rhythmic situations.

3pm - 3.30pm : Matnor
Harmonic Highlights
With more than 20 years beneath his belt as a professional working bassist and music educator, Matnor has come a long way since his days as the bassist in Singapore’s earliest hit band, Teacher’s Pet. He has also done various session performances with known artists like Zubir Abdullah and Nuradee. Best known for his meticulous pedagogy as a bass teacher, Matnor will extend his knowledge of the bass with a specific attention to details on the technique of playing bass harmonics without breaking into a sweat.

3.30pm - 4pm : Wendy Phua
Tapping into Harmony
Solo bassist and composer Wendy Phua first began exploring the outer boundaries of bass whilst playing in a prog-rock band under her lead called ZHEN. Since then she has been actively composing bass solo songs with a distinctly keyboard approach on the bass, using ambidextrous tapping methods. Wendy will discuss the technique of bass tapping and how it can be used to deliver conventional bass lines while simultaneously spelling out chordal harmonies. Wendy is currently in the midst of recording an album featuring the bass as a solo instrument, and she will perform songs from the album demonstrating bass tapping methods.

4pm - 4.30pm : Melvin Wong
Bassically Trading
In a constant strive to hone one’s playing on the bass, most bassists would often overlook the finer details of the instrument anatomy itself and the various options of sound each type of bass produces. Avid bass collector and bassist Melvin Wong throws a light on the murky approach to evaluating and purchasing basses, especially used instruments, and how to avoid pitfalls of bad electronics and warped necks. Expounding on what a buyer ought to look out for, from the make of the bass, its electronics and even its re-sale value, this fascinating module is especially useful for both new players and bassists who are looking to start a bass collection.

4.30pm - 5pm : Anis
Married To Rock!
Let your hair down and hang loose with the teeth-grinding bassist Anis from Ministry Of Rock, Singapore’s best known export of Heavy Metal fronted by Legendary Jatt Ali and Singapore’s known “Guitar Shredder” Paul Danial. Anis will share about what it takes to deliver 200% night after night as a member of the high-energy resident hard rock & metal band at the HOUSE OF ROCK club. Anis will also impart his secrets on effective speed picking, cross-string fingering coordination and how to apply bass effects tastefully. This is the ultimate workshop for bassists “married” to their bass!