Interview: Singaporean band The Observatory and Norwegian band MoE are unlike anything Hanoi has heard before.
The Observatory, ‘a study in delusion, insanity and obsession’, and ‘loud and violent’ experimental noise rockers MoE will play HRC on 27 June supported by Hanoi’s own homegrown band, Xai. & Of Other Things caught up with Vivian Wang, The Observatory’s classically trained synth and keyboard player, and MoE’s Moe Guro on the road from Kuala Lumpur five days before their Hanoi gig.
Singaporean avant-rock band The Observatory
Norwegian experimental noise rockers MoE
Interview by Sadie Christie ● Photography: Asia tour photos by Vincent Yap and Yuni Hadi, MoE press photo by Erik Furulund, The Observatory press photo by Philip Aldrup.
&: How did MoE and The Observatory come to find each other and how, if at all, does your music relate to one another?
Vivian Wang: We started doing our albums in Bergen, with a Norwegian producer, so naturally we’ve made lots of friend in Norway. We just felt a connection. I’m not sure musically it’s really connected, but both bands are super committed to challenging ourselves to write what we think is interesting music. And actually someone on our Italian tour said, “ah, now I understand why you two are playing together—The Observatory is the head or heart and MoE is the gut.” And I was like, oh yeah, perhaps, we are the philosophical ones and MoE is the primal Viking insides, they are the ancient ones. So after these tours we’ve been extremely influenced by them, we share the same kind of ethics, the same values, we don’t mind roughing it out, doing it DIY while on tour. There’s no real deep underlying reason, we just feel for each other.
&: MoE have been described as seeking “the absolute presence in the execution of music”, how does the band go about that?
Moe Guro: It requires a lot. It’s more like the goal. Just find this extreme presence in every place, under any conditions, and – in the joy of touring – to be able to do this every night. I feel personally in some ways to have managed that, but that’s an ongoing challenge because this presence is never the same, we’re always in such a different environment. There’s a real excitement towards this, because I know my thing and my focus, but I don’t know how it will be perceived, and that’s true joy. Not knowing.
I am [also] very focused on the noise aesthetic. The primitive, primal strive towards bass sounds, it invites or forces you to be present, also because you cannot escape.
The Observatory in concert
&: How do you feel audiences in Southeast Asia have responded to you so far?
Moe Guro: Openly. I feel that they’ve really reacted to our music.
Vivian Wang: Yeah, they were head banging last night. I think the KL audience was really into the MoE set. I think it gave [MoE] energy as well because it got more and more insanely crazy energised. It was really fun to watch. I was head banging in the audience. I mean I’m a bit too old to head bang but I didn’t give a shit.
&: Do you feel like there’s a difference between the response you get from an audience at home compared to on tour?
Vivian Wang: In Singapore we’re a little bit better known because it’s our hometown, so the response is as warm as you get when you have lots of friends in your audience. But the challenge for a musician is to play new audiences, to people who aren’t your friends; it’s quite a different response. [We’re] communicating through the music, through the energy, through the vibe in the room. So you know the vibe in the room with a bunch of people you’ve never met before can be quite electric.
Moe Guro: It’s the same [difference] playing in Oslo or Norway and playing in Mexico or here, and other less developed places. This hunger for this kind of expression seems so much more immediate, and it’s so much closer to them to show it as well.
Vivian Wang: Yeah, they seem freer. You know when you play in places that are less “hip” or less developed, there is this, I don’t know, they seem freer to express themselves. I mean they might be a bit shy initially, but just genuinely interested and you can feel that.
MoE in concert
&: So Viv, your band name suggests you are a platform or have a platform in which to observe life and people. What’s the most memorable thing you’ve observed so far on your tour?
Vivian Wang: When we were in Thailand playing in a small town called Nakhon Pathom, it was in this small pub, there was hardly any space, we were crammed in there, but for some reason the crowd was really amazing as well. I mean this music is rather strange, even for some of our friends. So with the crowd embracing it as much as they did, and shouting for more, I thought that was quite heartwarming. It’s strange that sometimes in a very urbanised city you don’t get that kind of response – that innocent, unfiltered, sort of immediate response. Whereas when you play in a small town, sometimes it feels more genuine. Not to say that the crowd in Bangkok or KL weren’t genuine, but sometimes it takes them a while to warm up. It’s not an epiphany of any sort, just an observation.
Also, this group of ten people [on tour] are constantly hungry, they are always eating, that’s about the only other observation I can remember.
The Observatory and MoE on tour in Southeast Asia
&: We’re curious about the music scene in Singapore right now. Could you tell us a bit about it and a few artists to watch out for?
Vivian Wang: There’s so much going on there—a lot of pop bands, a lot of indie bands, a lot of hardcore and punk. In every city you can find an underground scene but the scene I’m more involved in is slightly more experimental. So there’s a whole lot of improvisational gigs in Singapore that we’re [connected with]. We have a few names like AWK WAH and then there’s Worm Rot, they’re really famous overseas now but they are more hardcore punk, and then of course my friend, Leslie, our front man, he plays in another group called Hanging Up The Moon, they’re a little bit more folky.
But actually what I’m interested in is the way Singaporean musicians are starting to push themselves more, get themselves out there. We’re also welcoming a lot of overseas experimental musicians to Singapore and we help organise shows for them, [plus] people are also singing a lot more about the political and social situation in Singapore. The whole world seems to think that Singapore is a wonderful place, it’s paradise and everyone is rich and happy. But things are never quite as they seem.
We’ve actually got a remix album called ‘Behind These Eyes’ that we’re going to bring to Hanoi [to sell] on vinyl. It’s a remix album, you can check it out online. A lot of our favorite musicians right now are on there. So in terms of a scene it’s not super connected in Singapore but there’s a lot happening and it is growing. But it’s hard to do music in Singapore as it is in Hanoi or Saigon, musicians find it hard to survive just playing music, but that hasn’t stopped a lot of people from making music and I’m very encouraged by that. Hopefully things continue, I don’t know where musician are going to end up. Touring is hard, you literally fund everything yourself. That’s the biggest, singularly most challenging thing for us. We’re an endangered species. So support musicians!
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The two bands will play at Hanoi Rock City on 27 June with support from Xai. Tickets are 100.000 VND at the door. Event info can be found here: TRANSITIONS: THE OBSERVATORY + MOE + XAI
