Being as young as they are, it was no surprise that the crowd was a bit agitated at the decision the organizers of the event made when they slotted new local metal band from Singapore, Lepak into the bill to perform with Death Grind/ Black metal heavyweights Hydrophobia and Defiled from Japan. Some weren’t too thrilled at that fact whilst others, such as myself, were intrigued as to what this band was all about. Knowing they weren’t completely supported by everyone in the crowd, they went ahead and gave it all they’ve got. For that, I give this band big kudos for not giving a shit. And to be honest, I don’t think they’re all that bad either. After their slot, I got together with the band to have a little chat about their music. The experience of interviewing Lepak was quite an entertaining one. Shiv, Keith, Mike, Bran and Mark, ranging from the ages of 16 to 18, are pretty much as laid back as their band name suggests.

Shout!: For the convenience of our international readers, can you explain to us the meaning of your band name and why did you decide on such a name?

Shiv: The word Lepak basically means “chill out” or “relax” in (Bahasa Melayu).

Keith: We didn’t want people to take us too seriously. We felt it suited the band and our nature.

S!: Tell us more about the band.

Shiv: We have a wide range of influences. We’re obviously heavily influence by black metal. All the hardcore, death metal..

Mike: ..dark, dark shit

Shiv: yeah, dark shit. [laughs all around]

Keith: We try to incorporate them in all of our songs.

S!: Do you think you’re similar to any bands?

Shiv: We definitely listen and look up to a lot of bands but hopefully we have our own unique sound.

Keith: We just wanna sound like lepak.

S!: I went to your MySpace page, and you guys are really young! How do you cope with being in a band and being involved with the heavy schedules of school and such?

Keith: That’s the big problem we have. But we made the commitment to meet up every Saturday to jam.

Shiv: It’s all about commitment.

Keith: We try to keep to our schedule but someone always chooses to be late for jamming…[everyone turns to guitarist Mike and laughs]

S!: You guys are considered to be new in the scene. What was your first reaction when you were called to perform with huge names like Defiled and Hydrophobia?

Keith: Honestly, we were really intimidated. We actually had the thought of not performing today but we decided to give it a shot. We thought that maybe if we just express ourselves musically, they might just like us.

Shiv: We’d like to thank Subash from “Truth Be Known” for hooking us up with this gig. It really means a lot to us.

Keith: And playing with them is amazing by the way. It’s a great honor.

S!: How do you think your slot went?

Keith: It went better than expected. We were quite nervous at first because we thought no one was going to appreciate our music.

Shiv: Quite a number of people turned up so we’re grateful for that.

Keith: We really didn’t expect that many people to be there.

S!: What do you think of the Singapore metal scene?

Shiv: Honestly, I think the true local metal scene is pretty dead. They’re not many kids that are into metal these days.

Keith: We don’t really want to say anything bad about the kids in the scene. I mean, it’s their own personal choice to listen and do whatever they want. What goes around comes around so we’re not gonna say anything bad about that.

S!: Tell us about the track, Eclipse Of A Devil, your demo that is up on MySpace.

Keith: The song came about before I came in the band actually. [laughs]

Shiv: We were just chilling and decided to jam because we were bored. All of us went into the studio and came up with the riff.

Keith: We’re all actually from different bands and just decided to go jamming one day and realised that we kinda had that particular connection as all of us have a wide range of influences.

S!: So you guys actually wrote the song even before then band was ever formed?

All: Yeah yeah sort of.

Keith: Things all started to fall into place when I joined the band.

S!: So when can we expect more music from you guys?

All: Soon soon.

Shiv: We’re probably going to record our EP at the end of the year, when we’re all done with our exams and shit.

Keith: But of course, cash is a bit of a problem for us, cause someone is ALWAYS late..
[turns to mike]
[mike laughs]

S!: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Keith: [turns to band members] Do we ever think that far?

Mike: No way man!

Keith: We pretty much have high expectations but we don’t really think we’ll ever get there. [laughs]

S!: So no plans to tour the US?

Keith: That would be a dream. A HUGE dream.

Shiv: We’d be psyched to just tour Japan probably. And with so much shit coming up like National Service, there’s definitely going to be a strain in the band. Hopefully not too much. [band laughs]

S!: Any last words?

Shiv: We just want to everyone to chill and have fun. Check out our music at www.myspace.com/lepaksg

Bren: And I just wanna say to all the kids that play metal. Keep it real and old school. Don’t do all that weird stuff. [everyone laughs]

• MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/lepaksg