IE: What’s up Jai, please tell us who is in the band. 

Jai: Overthrown is myself Jai (Shahrizal Zainal) and I play the guitar, my younger brother Ratchy (Racthmad Zainal) sings, Yusof Ismail is the drummer and Hotdog (Fadhli Osman) is the bassist.

IE: Your band bio says you guys were founded in 1996 but didn’t actively start  playing shows until 2004. What were those early years like for Overthrown?

Jai: Yeah we started the band officially in 1996, after naming it Overthrown. Prior to that we had been jamming together doing cover songs just for the fun of it. Although OT was formed and we wrote a couple of songs, we didn't record anything or play shows. During that era the hardcore scene here was good and there were quite a number of established bands but local shows only happened like only 3-4 times a year with a mixed genre of punk, oi, indie, metal and hardcore so those hardcore bands would play. Bands like Stompin Ground, Voiceout, 4 Sides, Retribution, The Jabs and Tools Of Society to name some. We were just gig goers then and since we were still in high school, we didn't have that money to spend on recordings or even buy our own instruments. Lucky for us, all practice studios in Singapore are equipped with full instruments. Ratchy was only 13. I was 16 and both Yusof and Hotdog were 18. Right after school, both Yusof and Hotdog went to serve the mandatory national service for 2 years. After they had completed, it was my turn and then a couple of years later, Ratchy's turn. So our time was quite limited especially with me being sent to the army and hardly coming home but we did play a few local shows and 1 show in Malaysia between 1998 and 1999. So from the year 2000 until the end of 2003, with irregular meet ups and practice, the band went on a hiatus. Until  2004…I started putting on shows myself and that's when we decided to move forward more actively especially when all of us were free from National Service.

IE: How long has this lineup with these members been together and who are original members?

Jai: We started off as a 5 piece band with 2 vocalists, Ratchy and Hotdog until 2004.Hotdog, took over the bass when our bass player decided to move on to other interests. So basically it's still the same line up from 1996.

IE: When Overthrown started playing shows in your area in 2004 what was the local scene like then and how has it changed if any to today?

Jai: When we started playing shows again back in 2004 most of the pioneer hardcore bands here already became less active and hardcore was getting harder to define. It was quite complicated both musically and image wise (although many argued hardcore isn't just about the image). It wasn't the hardcore we used to know. New bands playing metal or screamo or crusty or whatever they called it and looking gothic  but branding themselves as “hardcore” while some older hardcore bands moved on to progressive music. So it was quite hard to see hardcore bands sounding like the hardcore sound we know. You know, that 90’s kinda sound. There were still some hardcore bands around that stuck to the traditional sound but since shows rarely happened, the scene got watered down. See back then, most bands here just waited to be invited to play shows. It's just how it is here. And sometimes you have to hangout or be nice to those cool scene kids or promoters to get recognized to play shows. I told myself, we are not going to get anywhere if we wait and wait and we will not suck up to cool kids. So I started doing my own hardcore shows in 2004 and 2005 with the help from the owner of our practice studio. I gathered the relevant and current hardcore bands and added a couple of the “new hardcore” bands on the bill. My motive was to re-live the hardcore scene back to how it's supposed to be. The plan did work but it could have been better if I could do it regularly. In 2006 when I finally got my full-time job as a nurse, I began to move forward to doing more. Using half the money I got from my pay, I started the Bound By Honour Fest which  I not  only looked for local pioneer bands who were basically inactive, but also bands from our neighboring countries to join in with a couple of new bands. At the same time OT had started recording old and new songs. Myspace.com made things easier for the networking and communications and with bands like Champion, Terror, Comeback Kid on the rise back then, the new chapter for the hardcore scene here begun. The real identity re-emerged again. From 2007, the hardcore scene here got better. More American hardcore bands played in this region. I started my booking thingy. Shows started happening regularly and today it just got better, everyone is supportive. More new kids putting on shows and we have sick new bands too.

IE: When touring bands play in Southeast Asia we usually see Singapore and Thailand as stops with some also being in the Philippines and Malaysia.  How do the scenes from each one of these countries get along?

Jai: The Southeast Asian Hardcore scene is tight. We work together as a team. When I started the Bound By Honour thing in Singapore, we had friends in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia doing the “Bridging Oceans” Fest. Same motives…same goals. We invited Indonesian, Thai and Filipino bands. Sometimes Japanese and Korean bands. From there it just grew bigger. The Malaysian and Thai scenes were the biggest back then around 2007. We continue to work together and started booking American and European bands. Most of these bands were surprised with what we have here. That's why every year, more western bands tour Southeast Asia. Everyone here gets along well.

IE: Tell us about the hardcore scene in Singapore now. What are some bands to look out for and are there cool record shops... venues... etc. 

Jai: If you look on the world map, Singapore is a tiny dot. Likewise, the scene. haha. So basically most people know each other. Although people come and go every 2-3 years but we're cool with it and the new faces get along well quickly with the older ones. The current hardcore scene here is very much alive and kicking. Lookout for new generation bands like Straight Forward, 2FOLD, Tipping Point, Furious Mind, Radigals (all-girl band) and older bands like Recover, The Jabs, Bloody Rejects and Slow Burn. Not sure if these older bands are still active but they're worth checking out! It’s very hard to get venues for shows here. Most cool venues where I used to put up shows are not allowing shows anymore and they weren't cheap to begin with. We have a small club here called Home Club which supports our gigs and I personally think it's a good spot. But we can't do all ages shows there. Another venue that still allows hardcore shows is called The Substation and Emily Hill White Room. There's a couple of record stores left here. Roxy Records started bringing in American hardcore bands records and CD’s back in the early 90’s and another surviving one is Straits Records but kids here prefer to order their stuff online.

IE: You toured Europe in the summer of 2012 and are set to go back again very soon at the end of July. At the shows that you played last year did the crowds know your music well and how was the tour in general?

Jai: We toured Europe last year after the summer in October. That was the first time ever  we went out of South East Asia after 16 years as a band,. It was a really good tour. We had so much fun. Some European kids were singing along to our songs at a lot of shows and we had good crowds. We sold almost everything that we brought. Credit goes out to our friends in No Turning Back and A Strength Within for spreading the word about us and helped with the tour. NTB was the one who motivated and encouraged us to tour Europe and gave us a lot of good tips. ASW supported the tour and booked the first half of the tour, with some of it headlined by us but to us it doesn't matter whoever was headlining. The other half of it NTB invited us to support their album release tour. We experienced the real touring life for the first time. In Southeast Asia, the show promoters would provide the backline and PA system. Bands tour with only merch and their guitars and some with their drumming kits. So it was totally different when it comes to touring in western countries. We made a lot of new friends and then kept in touch with them. After the tour, we realized it wasn't gonna be a one time thing anymore as we initially thought it would be. We got invites to come again and we thought it's best to come back in summer, with our new EP.

IE: What do you hope will be different or better for this next tour?

Jai: We chose to come back this summer because we wanted to experience playing a hardcore festival there. Even if we are not coming as a band, it's something that we wanted to go to. So I wrote to Fluff Fest, New Noise Fest and Ieper Fest. Received positive replies but we are only able to play Fluff Fest because we only have 12 days in total so we had to give the other 2 fests a miss. Quite bummed but it's all good. At least we know we are welcome. We will be playing at new places for this tour and we just hope to continue spreading Asian hardcore.

IE: When a tour like this is over and you figure in all the costs does the band end up losing a lot of money or can you actually make your money back? We all know that airfare is not cheap.

Jai: When we first decided to tour further, losing money wasn't our main concern. I mean we are not a full-time band that goes on tours regularly and people don't really know us. We take the tour as a band holiday. We get money from shows and the merch we sold which is good enough to cover the van rental and gas. We could cover the cost of the tour if we toured longer, but unfortunately we can't, due to our full-time job commitments. So we don't mind having to spend like $800 each to see Europe and experience the scene there. We know, if we travel to Europe on a holiday as a tourist, we would have to spend way more than that. Like maybe $3-4k!

IE: You have a new EP coming out called “Unbroken” which is a co-release with Insurgence Records in Canada. How did you hook up with them so far away and how is the arrangement working with them?

Jai: I met Steve from Insurgence Records here in Singapore when I booked The Oppressed for their Southeast Asian tour early last year. IR did a couple of releases for The Oppressed and a local Oi band, The Bois so Steve tagged along on the tour. We got to know each other and gave him a copy of our last album. He got in touch with us when he got home after that and we talked having OT signed to IR and came to an agreement where IR would re-release our last album and release this new EP. We paid for the recordings on our own and they will do the pressing. We will receive a fraction of the copies pressed.

IE: You have been very instrumental in bringing bands to Southeast Asia with your Reconstrux Bookings which used to be known as Bound By Honor Events. Can you tell us how you got your start with booking bands from other countries?

Jai: I started out booking Southeast Asian bands. It was easier and cheaper because the bands only asked for transportation fees, sometimes they were willing to come at their own expense as long as I could put on shows for them. In the beginning, I used the name “Reconstrux Records” to start booking bands since BBH wasn't actually a booking/label name. Reconstrux Records funded our debut album pressing cost so I thought maybe by putting it there to book bands and promote shows, maybe it would help promote the label too. The first international band I ever booked was Antagonist AD from New Zealand, with the help of my friend Feroze who is friends with the band. I invested 3/4 of my salary to run it as a start. After that it was Have Heart. I was also open to booking independent musicians of other genres which slowly got the attention of local media. I decided to form Reconstrux Booking and got it  registered to avoid confusion because the record label basically dealt with the OT debut album CD pressing and that was it. I got more serious with band bookings and show productions. Everything was done by myself and self-funded. From there, I worked with booking agencies from Indonesia and Malaysia and sometimes I spoke to bands personally. After Have Heart, Reconstrux slowly got established and began booking more international bands. I told the bands to spread the word about our scene so I guess they really did.  

IE: Who are some of the bands that you have helped bring to your area to tour?

Jai: Here's the list of bands which I booked myself, and the ones I booked together with my buddies DYS BOOKINGS (Malaysia), Deep Insight (Indonesia) and Holding True (Indonesia): IGNITE, HAVE HEART, FIRST BLOOD, ALCATRAZ, NO TURNING BACK, BOLD, RUINER, CALIBAN, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR, CARNIFEX, TERROR, A STRENGTH WITHIN, NAPALM DEATH, SUICIDE SILENCE, ALL SHALL PERISH, BACKTRACK, THE OPPRESSED, WE ARE THE IN CROWD, ARCHITECTS, THE TOASTERS, ALL FOR NOTHING, MXPX, MEMPHIS MAY FIRE and YOUTH OF TODAY.

IE: How important is social media like Facebook for both Overthrown and Reconstrux and where do you think you would be without it?

Jai: It definitely helped us with networking which is important to us and myself. The thing that sparked OT to progress was actually My Space. I got in touch with old and new bands and also show promoters from overseas. So if it wasn't because of social networking media, I don’t think I would be doing what I am right now. Maybe still doing things locally.

IE: Your most recent band to visit was Youth Of Today. When the foreign bands come do you usually take them out to hang out and when you do where do you like to show them in Lion City or elsewhere?

Jai: It depends on the amount of time they have. Most of the time we take them out to try local food and do stuff like going to the beach and visit places of interest.

IE: Do you have any funny or interesting stories from when bands from other countries came to visit?

Jai: Most of the bands were quite surprised with how modern Singapore is and the fact that everyone speaks English. Some thought it would be like something they saw in Rambo. And with the strict laws here they kinda got freaked out.

IE: Out of all the people and bands that you have brought over on tours which people or individuals made a lasting impression on you and why?

Jai: Almost every band… especially hardcore bands…most of them are very humble and down to earth…and also very professional. I have learned a lot from them.

IE: I used to work with a guy from Thailand and he told me that Singapore was a very safe country because there are very strict laws. I am guessing a lot of people reading this may not know this. I remember him telling me you can get a ticket for not flushing a public toilet after using it. Is this true and do you enjoy living where you do?

Jai: It's true that we have strict laws here and what your friend said is true. You can get a ticket but you got to learn how to deal with it. I think the best thing about living here is the cleanliness and safety.  

IE: What about some of the worst things about living in Singapore in your opinion?

Jai: The worst? I think this tiny country is over-populated with foreigners. Don't get me wrong, I am cool with foreigners working and living here but when it's too much and overpopulating the locals, it's unhealthy. The transportation system is going from bad to worse. Frequent breakdowns at the substations and buses are always packed. Housing costs are getting ridiculously too high. A 90 square metres 3 bedroom flat cost something like USD 200k minimum. A Japanese 1.6L sedan car with only a 10 year validity to drive cost USD 100k. A local’s average monthly income is like USD1.7K. Imagine that.

IE: I noticed the band has a list of endorsements on your Facebook page. What kind of deals do you have and are the companies you deal with more smaller companies or larger ones?

Jai: The endorsements are mutual. They give us stuff to wear and we are free to wear it at shows or not. No contracts. Mostly independent clothing line from Indonesia. We were once endorsed by SRH (a Singapore distributor) and currently still receiving stuff from Macbeth (Singapore).

IE: What would you like to tell the world about the hardcore scene in Singapore that they may not know already?

Jai: Lion City Hardcore is very much influenced by American Hardcore since the early days. We have good young bands and kids here are well-informed about the scene. It’s a very small scene but quite active. Although most of the scene kids here are very young, we do have older guys as old as 38-45 still attending shows…not moshing but they support shows, buy merch and stuff if the time doesn't conflict with their work and family. We don't have huge hardcore festivals happening but we do have American/Europeans playing here quite regularly.

IE: Thank you for the interview Jai and Overthrown.