I've played drums in many bands. The summary below gives an overview of my music career in very recent years. Of course, if you'd like to know more, please feel free to contact me.
Me ~ Songwriter, Performer (Guitars, Keys, Bass, Drums, Arrangement)
Wherever I May Roam (Currently in Los Angeles)
Asian Pop/Rock/R&B/Hip-Hop, English extreme metal/rock
Some of my individual works are Asian pop/rock. I've written, arranged, and performed on all the recordings. At the same time, I played drums in many different bands. The most recent ones are Lightning Swords of Death (2006-2008), Phlebotomy (2005-2006), and Hammerstroke (2003-2004).
I am a huge fan of Jay Chou. His music inspired me to write. Of cos, there's John Longstreth, who challenged me to play extreme metal drums. Finally, there's David Beckham, who never fails to remind me never to give up and stay true to my passion.
Tea West Wolf was re-born from Cherry Coke. Wu Luan and 910 left the line up and we found Koso to fill in the role. Koso (vocals) and Dato (bass) have inclinations towards modern rock sounds, while AK (guitars) and myself tend towards traditional old school rock. Of cos, there's the exception of the new breed of Taiwanese pop that combines all elements. So suffice to say, we have a new sound, a new band, and of cos, a new lineup and a new discography.
We played together for the first time on new year's even in Rowland Heights and the event was covered by TTV from Taiwan! Ha!
Lightning Swords of Deathhas a unique sound. On the one hand, it has very raw black metal roots. On the other, arrangements are characterised by extreme rhythmic intensity, without enhancement from keyboards. Dark melodies accompany the brutal and blistering onslaught of cadence.
Lightning Swords of Death responded to my ad for a metal band back in 2005 right before I left for an exended adventure in Europe. However, things never worked out after I returned. A year later, they called me and I decided to give it a try. And the rest is history.
We have 1 album released under BlackMetal.com, and will have another to be released soon. Of cos, we've played countless gigs and toured the west coast of the U.S. Unfortunately, for personal reasons, I had to depart in 2008. But hopefully, the band will take off from where I left my swords... Behold... snippets from my last show with my brothers-in-arms.
Phlebotomy'ssound comes from old school death metal. however, we play around with time signatures on the slow parts and go insane on the fast parts. there are two most impressive things about Phlebotomy's music. First, our speed and precision. Listen to the blast beats - they were done with a single hand. Yes, the gravity blast inspired by Origin. The other thing is the solos. The flangers and insane shreds were inspired by Morbid Angel's solos. And these two major characteristics make our hybrid sound. The slow parts are inspired by Messhuggah's odd riffing, which parallels our cryptic style of riffing. I use Messhuggah's 2 simultaneous time signature patterns to give the crytcism an odd feel to a limited extent.
Phlebotomy was formed in 2005 when Eddie and Memo of Infamy fame decided to re-enter the death metal scene. The fire was strong and the chemistry was apparent. We were missing a bassist for a long time, until Sean, a friend I met in Ireland, joined. However, he had to leave and now we have Oreo - the death metal machine from Hell to hold the low notes permanently. Phlebotomy was complete!
Things got slow and approached nothingness in 2007. We've tried many times to work things out but they never did. Finally, Eddie re-joined Infamy, and I reckon this is where Phlebotomy lies dormant... only to be awakened if destiny decrees... Watch our rehearsal scratch video! Phlebotomy is by far, the best band I've played with in LA.
Hammerstrokewas formed in 2003 when I just returned to PA from a summer in Los Angeles. There was much I wanted to achieve and most of all, I wanted to regain my metal roots. I was a little rusty since I stopped playing for a long time. So I placed an ad for a metal band to cover Metallica.
Gus and Bob responded to play guitar, and later came Todd on bass and Josh on vocals. Gus' feel is inclined towards old school thrash metal while Bob was definitely a technical metal freak. Todd liked nu-metal a lot and Josh growls. Together we had a wierd combination. But things worked out and we played several gigs around central PA - awesome times. However, things had to go when Gus and Bob announced their departure in the summer of 2004. But the legacy lives on... Watch our last live show!
Cherry Coke (2005 to 2006)
Me ~ Drummer
Based in Los Angeles, California, USA
Chinese Pop/Rock
We got together as a result of several advertisements posted online and flyers posted all over Los Angeles. Dato is a groovy bass player with the likes of Flea. Our lineup is now complete with further east Richard on keyboards, and Alain on guitars. Our main highlight is Joy, who leads the band in the frontline.
Surprisingly, I am no big fan of the harder side when it comes to Chinese music. Although I play extreme metal, I really wanted this band to go in a mainstream direction. Dato and I are the remaining members and we're trying to re-form Cherry Coke.
Hamyzfear was formed in 1999 when I decided I didn't like nu-metal which I played with Source of Raw Energy in Singapore. At that time, I was also playing in a hard rock project with Tenxion, also in Singapore. So I decided to go back to the roots of 80s metal when power metal bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray and Iron Maiden ruled.
With Shahril's (from Ossuary) recommendation, I joined vocalist Haniff, guitarists Zaedi and Adzam, and bassist Hamzah to form Hamyzfear (formerly Sick My Duck). We covered many songs from Helloween, Gamma Ray, Iron Maiden, Stratovarius, Rhapsody, etc. The force was still strong with us whenever I returned to Singapore for a home visit. But my commitments have reduced the frequency of my trips and we've since disbanded. But we are, and always will be, good friends.
During my time with Phlebotomy, I thought it's a good idea to try out the mainstream scene. So I joined Helm's Fire and played 2 gigs with them. After which, things were in a mess and we disbanded.
Drako and Marc form the foundation of Helm's Fire. They write the songs and the guitar riffs. Bruce follows with his basslines and Dave sings with his wide range to augment the songs. The songs are pretty good and retaining that rock and roll element. Some parts are quite technical too. Unfortunately, things couldn't last long and now everyone is moving on. We did open for Warrant though. That was amazing cos I grew up with Warrant on my wall on the other side of the world. Never did I expect that 15 years later, I'd share the stage with them on this side of the world.
