The adopted country of Pug Jelly found them cool enough to grant the band considerable commercial success.
Has recognition of an expatriate punk outfit's marketability and careful targeting of the same
demographic spawned a Pug doppelganger?
Their fanbase might be mainly made up of tweenage orchard road infestations largely affected by jealous guys poking fun at the metrosexual boybands their predecessor generation were obsessed with. This results in them trendily declaring their non- allegiance to boybands but rather to the presentlypopular pop-punk/goth getups popping up everywhere.
Angsty "nobody loves me anymore" teenagers in Singapore now have a reason to do their version of the celebratory chicken dance.
Listening to SET FOR GLORY bestows the same exclusive smugness an underground band might bring to the "rebellious" non-mainstream listeners who will grumpily also find themselves among the same fan-crowdof Pug Jelly, for that is SFG's appeal.
Set for glory is ambitious and due to it's fortunate timing in pop ascension, looks strongly
marketable particularly because of its music's genre and ethnic mix. The young band is still in their teens and shows great promise in the music it can churn out. Also featured in their growing resume is their confident and engaging showmanship capable of causing a high-pitched oral eruption in the largely female crowd.
Enough about music, the orders from my co- overlords at prosaic were to write about the evening spent with the band...
Initially startled by the melodic beeps on my glossy-steel futuristic milky pink bracers, i crawled
out of my room where i have dictatorial rulership over the sea monkey civilisation that i have carefully nurtured from a $24.95 bag of eggs which i bought at 7-11 to a bustling metropolis with an unhealthy interest in bukkake, folded paper and chowing down on marine creatures raw. I then hopped onto my pterodactyl megazord and made my way to a coffeeshop in Potong Pasir.
The band in person displayed an almost alien sense of humor to native singaporeans which proved almost offensive and unacceptable in our own established decorum. Maybe its the three seasons of living with lydia that we have secretly/passively encouraged to be prolonged that has killed off our tolerance and ability to appreciate actual giggle worthy humor. Relating their encounter with irate Mcdonald's staff who told them off for behaving "like an american" and then getting labeled "lame" by "requested to be anonymous" voluntary viewers of the interview footage is proof enough of the rift between asian conservative chuckles and the modern satiric-hyperbolic cocktail of humor.
Shameer, the most charming of the three, joked about how "i heard that when the (hall)doors opened, a hot air of steam rose out" after someone commented about how stuffy the venue of their previous gig was. Lead singer Nico's anemic reply to the question "what inspires you when you write your lyrics" was met with a frank protest by the resident american-indian punk- rocker as he teased, "dude, its an interview! make something up! make it sound smart!"
Nico, notably the looker of the band appeared reserved and jittery, fumbled with a few questions and was fortunately saved a number of times by band member, Shameer. Titus however, looked comfortable and exuded that boyish, slightly-goofy charm as he posed for photographs and answered questions in his eager ear-to-ear grin.
The band collectively disagreed about being "the next" or "another" Pug Jelly, declaring instead the preference to be synonymous with the definition of pop-punk that Simple Plan has established themselves to be. When quizzed further, Shameer reasoned that "because both our band names start with an S" , prompting Titus's turn to remark that "that was the lamest thing ever dude!"
The band's unintentional, politically-correct disposition of members happens to be "regardless of
race, language or religion and for happiness and equality"(band members are malay, chinese, indian and eurasian), much to their gleeful delight. Although missing member, Faris, a malaysian wasnt there to be critically, unfairly judged and assessed by the crew of prosaic, the band has, overall, stifled laughter and all, charmed my socks off.
links : Set for glory
