SINGAPORE, June 6 — It’s hard to stay objective when talking about The Great Spy Experiment (GSE). For many of its Singapore indie music fans, the relationship has been, to borrow from one of their song titles, a Class “A” love affair.
“We have an ardent fan who painted a mural of our faces and the band logo on his bedroom wall,” shared bassist Khairyl Hashim.
To which vocalist and guitarist Saiful Idris chimed in: “We have a fan-turned-friend, Ashri Aman, who’s been a constant at our shows. The best thing about having him around was that he always danced and sang along with us, even if no one else did. And on more than a few occasions, he has single-handedly got a good dance floor going.”
But it’s common knowledge now that this special love affair is coming to an end. Tonight’s triple-bill show, House Of Riot, which will also feature label-mates Charlie Lim and Inch Chua, will be the band’s swan song.
It’s not quite a sad song, though. After all, it’s been 10 years since the band’s ascent in the mid-2000s and, in that span of time, it has compiled one very impressive resume.
The band, which also comprises drummer Fandy Razak, keyboardist Magdelene Han and guitarist Song, has made a name for itself with its catchy songs and energetic performances both here and abroad. Apart from playing at noted festivals in Singapore, such as Baybeats, Singfest and ZoukOut, GSE also took to the stage at New York City, Perth, Cannes and Taipei. Its most recent jaunt was in London for the Singapore Day event earlier this year. The band’s first album, 2007’s Flower Show Riots, garnered rave reviews, while 2013’s Litmus went straight to the top of the iTunes album charts in Singapore within 24 hours of its release.
Having achieved most of the milestones they had set to achieve over the past decade, it seemed the right time to end GSE, though frontman Saiful expressed a note of regret: “As a songwriter, I haven’t written a good song that would do justice to the band since Litmus. Whatever it was that made the songs what they are was just not there anymore,” he said.
Despite not seeing a future as band anymore, its members cherish the memories they shared and identified two events critical to the band’s history, the first of which was a performance at Baybeats in 2012.
“That was our third Baybeats show and the energy from the crowd was just amazing,” recalled Song.
Han concurred: “The best crowd response, and the chemistry among us on stage was electrifying.”
Equally memorable was their gig at the Prince of Wales bar in Little India a decade ago. “Our humble beginnings,” said Khairyl, “in which we started playing to no one, but by the end of the set, the floor was filled with people dancing to our songs.”
“Without those, the biggest gigs wouldn’t have happened,” added Fandy.
While life as GSE may have run its course, its members say that doesn’t mean that they would stop making music. Fandy has been “messing around with a couple of guys”, while Khairyl plays with rock quartet Riot !n Magenta, which will be recording its album this year.
Song chipped in: “Perhaps I’ll try doing some stuff on my own, start meddling at home and see where it takes me. Or if there’s anyone out there looking for an average guitar player to strum some chords, there’s one available now!”
For Saiful, saying farewell isn’t going to be easy. “I’m really bad at moving on, even if I’m awfully familiar with the concept. I’ll miss everything. But mostly, the illusion of mattering. And thanks, Song!”
Catch the band in the triple-bill House Of Riot tonight at 7.30pm at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Limited tickets available from SISTIC. — TODAY
