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Singaporean band Deon responds to comments they have been receiving

By on December 7, 2015

Deon

Singaporean band DEON has posted quite a lengthy post regarding some beef they’ve been getting from people regarding not honoring commitments since they receive government money in order to pursue their art.

The only reason we’re re-posting this is because we can’t believe just how petty people can be. The main member of this band Deon Toh articulates immaculately his response and thoughts about the comments he’s been receiving but we think that for people to be wasting their time to complain about this is quite INSANE. But this has been the case for decades and decades…people are so quick to bitch and moan and complain about things that they may not know much about because they’re the type of personality that jumps on the whatever-the-fuck bandwagon.

Anyway…read through his thoughts and let us know what you think. We don’t know how it works in Singapore but here in Hong Kong it is impossible to get any support from the government hence why there are not many full-time bands in Hong Kong.

If anything – his post allowed me to check out his phenomenal music…so through the shit that he’s receiving he’s at least making more fans 🙂

Enjoy:

“This is my band performing in Liverpool in 2014. There’s a reason why I’m posting this photo today. I’ve got wind of a major asshole (btw I know who you are) who launched an official inquiry about us and another Singaporean band – that we waste grant money from the government to go on tours, to perform in other countries to foreign audiences, and instead of fulfilling our performances, we go there for holidays.

Let me be clear on this. Yes, we’ve received grants from the government to perform overseas. We’ve always been extremely transparent about this and so has the government board. (You can trace all details here about myself and other artistshttps://www.nac.gov.sg/grants-schem…/grants/grant-recipients). However, these grants only cover 30% of all our touring costs after all our expenses. And touring is expensive. Where does the remaining 70% come from? Our own pockets. Over the years, we’ve spent thousands of dollars of our hard-earned money on tours just so that we can have a chance to promote our music overseas and have crack at a different market. Because we are confident in our works, want to elevate our standards, and give ourselves a chance.

Out of the 17 shows that we’ve played on mini-tours, 11 of our shows have been sourced outside of festivals we were playing. There were a total of 5 music videos put together in our own time, on our own accord when we toured. There were 3 cases of food poisoning and 1 severe case where we had to send a band member to the hospital straight after a show cause he played the entire show with a sprained back while shifting our own equipment. We’ve spent 170 hours on flights and transit which is a major pain in the ass, just to get to shows outside of Singapore. At the same time, we’ve managed to lock down 3 major festival organizers to give us more opportunities in the future. These tours have also spurned me on to release more works. During our tours, we’ve also crossed paths with 4 other local bands, of which we will help with transporting their equipment, and supporting them at their shows with sound or merchandise duties. We’ve gone ABOVE AND BEYOND our duties of performing at the festivals we had grants to go to (even if it only covered a small portion), and we’ve played each and every show like it was our last. Have you ever tried playing a show while suffering from jet lag? Its shit.

If you have any questions about how we do our shows, or what exactly went down, buy me a coffee, I’ll sit with you for hours and show you VIDEOS and PHOTOS of us performing. Many of which we don’t post here for various reasons, but rest assured, the governing boards always get them. Don’t waste people’s time and make complaints just because. Don’t complain that I’ve been to Canada 3 times with my band because you find it useless to yourself, why not ask the other 2 Singaporean acts that have been there 3 times each, and other Singaporean act that has been there twice? Is it because you are friends with their managers? Or is it easier to pick on us because we are generally nice and are self managed which makes us look like easier targets? Why can’t we post photos outside of the tour, of us enjoying ourselves? Do you expect us to be playing shows every other hour? WHO DOES THAT?! We’ve worked hard to enjoy every moment of the tour, and we’ll do what we want, as long as we’ve fulfilled our duties and promises.

Our arts council has been extremely supportive of us. And we love them to bits. Please show them more respect and support instead of complaining about everything single thing that irks you. You don’t even deserve that attention.

The reason why I posted this photo of us performing in Liverpool in 2014, our last show of our tour, is because this leg of performance was never funded by anyone but ourselves. It was sourced out on our own and we were invited to more festivals. Not everything is about grant money. We perform for each other, our loved ones at home, and other bands in Singapore that have worked so hard over the years. We hope that over the past 3 years and 17 shows we’ve done overseas, we’ve done deserving Singaporeans proud.”

More info on the band: https://www.facebook.com/deontheband/

UniteAsia.org is an underground Asian music news website created for the sole purpose of supporting our own world. We support all bands and genres HOWEVER we do not support nor have any sympathy for homophobic, racist, sexist rhetoric in lyrical content or band material. UNITE ASIA!
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