Some of Asia’s most exciting independent bands tell us about the indie scenes in the cities they call home.

Singapore – Midnight Marvel
The spirit of the Singapore music scene is all encompassing. The people who define a scene are not just merely the bands and artists. It’s the fans, the gig organizers, the label owners, the fanzines, the photographers, the studio engineers who are bonded by simply one thing – their love of music. Without any of the parts, there wouldn’t be a scene to speak of. That being said, Singapore is a small country. There are no different states to route your own tours or mass audience to reach out to. Despite brief sparks of success in the 60’s and the 90’s, the Singapore music remains fiercely underground and DIY.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Killeur Calculateur
The local music scene here is saturated, thriving, jaded, brimming with exciting new people, shitty, and downright awesome all at the same time. It explodes, then implodes, then explodes again… It goes on, and has been going on from way back when. We sure hope it’ll go on for a bit more. We’re surrounded by a massively inspiring and talented bunch of people, and that in itself makes us whole. It’s overwhelming, and we’re so grateful, it surpasses basic human
logic. Good and bad vibes all around.

Beijing, China
-Hedgehog
Beijing has one of the best underground music scenes in the world, with new bands coming up all the time. Rock music is gradually becoming young people’s first choice of entertainment. With various genres booming here, similar to the spring of rock that appeared in London and New York before, Beijing is staging a revolution of new music. Here you can find deep roots of rock music and many young, heartquaking bands.

-Carsick Cars
The music scene here is very special because everyone really loves the music and supports each other whether they are famous or not. Everyone is the same. We all discovered new music at the same time, and we have been friends for many years. There are two clubs where the musicians feel like most like their home – D22 and What Bar. Nearly all the musicians started out there. All the young musicians and artists go there to hang out and meet the older musicians.

Manila, Phillipines – Ernville
To put it simply, the underground music scene here is a cult, in a good sense though. It has its own world occupied by an array of very interesting denizens. You have¬ your punks, emo’s, the 80’s buff, the 90’s glam, the R&B and Blues men, the worldlypeeps, the very-indie people, the rockers, the heavier rockers, the heaviest rockers (pointing out to the very edgy metal scene), the avant-gardes, the electro kids, the hipsters, the alternative boys and girls, the miscellaneous, the god-knows-whatthey’re- listening-to, and the like. Everyone is different but everyone fits well with each other; everyone has managed to keep their arms wide open.

Kolkata, India – Span
Over the past few years, the Indian underground music scene has been really blossomed. There are tons of bands in every major metropolitan area and even in the smaller towns. Kolkata has always been a hotbed of rock ‘n roll music, and even more, the prime city for original rock music, whether it be in English or in the indigenous Bengali language. Kolkata is also one of the only cities in India where you can party till the wee hours of the morning. Even though there are only a handful of venues that offer live music, they offer a varied range of music to choose from. One of the most important venues is The Park Hotel’s pub, Someplace Else, which hosts live bands seven days a week, all through the year.

Thiruvananthapuram, India – Avial
In India we describe underground music as something that is “non-filmi” (be it Bollywood, Kollywood or Tollywood). There is no escaping a movie song and its re-mixed versions in this country but there are a few watering holes in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata that encourage bands to showcase their talents. Our band, Avial, originates from Kerala’s capital city, Thiruvananthapuram, which is a low-key coastal town in South India. Music here can be found on its most popular beaches - Kovalam and Varkala - that shot into the limelight during in the psychedelic 70’s. The remnants of that period are still visible today (if you look hard enough). It’s mostly about being at the right place at the right time.

Bandung, Indonesia
– Teenage Death Star
Teenage Death Star was born in Bandung (a capital city of West Java) in late 2001, but actually we’ve been in the scene since around the mid 90’s. At that time Bandung had many bands: from hard core, metal, alternative to punk rock. Scenes grow so fast – sometimes they’re dead ends as others live on. Bandung was just like heaven at that time – watching cool live bands every week and having tons of fun. Nowadays everything’s changing – some cult places have closed and we miss them a lot. Thanks to technology, Indonesia has tons of great bands but we still miss something about Bandung in the 90’s.