Exclusive video interviews with SuperBand Top 4

Mere minutes after MiLu Bing was crowned champ, we were already grabbing the Top 4 bands for video interviews! Come on in for your last chance to see these guys!

Text by Kwok Kar Peng

Photography by Angie Ng, Dion Tang and Kwok Kar Peng

After seven months of rehearsals, jamming, costume planning and being chased after by adoring fans, where will Lucify, J3, SOUL and MiLu Bing go now that the journey has ended? We posed this question and many more to the guys on Saturday night after the curtain has come down on SuperBand.

SuperBand Grand Final - an insider's recap! (Click to view!)

SuperBand Grand Final Photo Gallery (Click to view!)

MiLu Bing – Singapore’s first SuperBand

MiLu Bing, comprising of guitarist and lead singer Nicodemus Lee (21), keyboardist Chan Weiqi (21) and drummer Samuel Wong (19), wins a one-year contract with music record mogul Warner Music. The attraction of these three friends who have known each other since age 4 in their church Sunday class lie in their natural charm and boyish shyness. While the boys may not play music as well as fellow bands AMBER or JADE, possess nifty footwork like SOUL, or dress up as dramatically as Lucify, their many ‘patterns’ on stage and innovative outfits drew crowds of uncles, aunties and young girls alike. Their SuperBand journey nearly came to an early end when they were eliminated in Quarter-Final 10 but they bounced straight back into action the next week in the Comeback Show 2, triumphing over stellar bands the like of QI:NOBE, AMBER and Juz-B. With the record tucked in their pocket, what will the future hold for Nic, Sam and Weiqi? Will they be a one-album flash in the pan? No one can answer that, but Warner Music has enough faith in MiLu Bing to invest a six-figure sum in their debut album, said to be released end of the year!

- How does James Kang, a representative from Warner Music, feel about MiLu Bing? James remembers the first time he saw the band on stage and one of them stuck his tongue out! What he likes best about his new ‘recruits’ is their natural boyishness. Click here to view the video! - How does MiLu Bing feel about their win? (Part 1) MiLu Bing feels honoured and happy that Singapore voted for them. They have no regrets because they’ve already come so far in the competition and were given the chance to perform all four songs in the Grand Final. Nic is so elated that he’s almost at a loss for words! Click here to view the video! (Part 2) Sam and Weiqi add that what’s happening to them is so surreal that they feel they just had a very long dream. They have never expected MiLu Bing to come so far and only wanted to give their best to the audience. Now that they have won SuperBand, it’s the perfect ending to the dream! Click here to view the video!

- Why did Nic and Weiqi appear so nervous during the competition yet Sam was a face of playful ease? Weiqi claims that Sam has always been the steady one among them; both he and Nic were a little flustered after their costume change and to make things worse, Nic’s guitar string snapped during their first song! Click here to view the video! - What do you think of your performances tonight? Nic regrets that he missed playing some chords after his guitar snapped during the first song. Also, he feels his pitch was off in his last song (Yong Qi by Fish Leong) because he was too emotional. Still, Weiqi is still very happy that their efforts paid off and all agrees they still have much room for improvement. Click here to view the video! - What does the future hold for MiLu Bing? The boys aren’t certain of the road ahead; all they know is they will continue making even better music and the rest is just ‘wait and see’. Click here to view the video! - What preparations do you have now that they will soon release an album? Even though they’ve won, they still must improve themselves and create breakthroughs in order not to let their supporters down. The competition may have ended but this is just the beginning of the new chapter in their dream. Fellow SuperBand contestants will not be forgotten and if given the chance, MiLu Bing will want to play music with them again. Click here to view the video!

MLB in the Big Jam	MLB in the Quarter-Final 4	MLB in the Quarter-Final 5

MLB in the Quarter-Final 7	MLB in the Quarter-Final 8	MLB in Quarter-Final 10

MLB at the Comeback Show 2	MLB at the Semi-Finals 1

SOUL

Justis Tan (25), Ashleynawi Ismail (26), Andy Lee (25), Ishi Lau (24) and Alfred Ng (18) were still brimming with humour despite their loss, and while the rest of the bands were visibly exhausted, these five guys appeared to have bountiful energy left, even after a night of spectacular dancing in three out of four songs!

- How do you feel now? Not that they think the experience was dreadful but the guys are happy and relieved that the competition is over. They have already reached their target by reaching the Finals and feel that MiLu Bing deserves the title. It has been a great night with the other SuperBand contestants joining in the performances! Click here to view the video! - Are you upset that you came so close to winning but didn’t? They hoped to get into the Finals and being one of the Top 2 is already more than what they had hope to achieve. They feel only excitement, not disappointment. “Nothing in the world could ever change the fact that we came together and grown so much through the experience,” Ashleynawi adds. Now, the boys can finally have a good rest! Click here to view the video! - Which was your favourite performance of the night? The boys are torn between ‘Xiao Wei’ and ‘Kai Shi Dong Le’ but ‘Xiao Wei’ wins by one vote! “’Kai Shi Dong Le’ was our third song, after knowing we got into the Top 2. We were feeling jubilant but it was a sad song, so while everyone was hugging each other, I hid in a corner and tried to feel sad! It was certainly very challenging for me,” Andy said. Click here to view the video!

- Are you going to continue being a boyband or will you disband? They were intent on pursuing the boyband dream even before SuperBand and if solo opportunity turns up, they will discuss it. Click here to view the video! - What’s on your plans? Invade Taiwan perhaps? And how come you guys are so good at posing?? The boys didn’t think so far; right now, they want to improve their singing and dancing, heal their injuries and catch up on their sleep! As for the poses, Andy says, “It’s a ‘dancer thing’! We need to look good all the time in dancing so posing becomes natural and easier for us.” Click here to view the video! - What did you gain from this SuperBand experience? Experience, knowledge, injuries and a great story to tell their grandchildren! Click here to view the video!

- Why did you think you lost to MiLu Bing? Justis thinks everyone’s a winner; it’s a politically-correct answer but the boys swear it’s the truth! Simply put, both SOUL and MiLu Bing are good in their own ways but MiLu Bing got more votes! Click here to view the video! - What’s the first thing you want to do when you reach home? Sleep first and foremost, and then the guys are going to reply all their SMSes and stuff themselves with ‘heaty’ food! Click here to view the video! - Now that the competition is over, will you miss having all the girls following and screaming for you? Strangely enough, they claim that they still have gotten used to the attention! “It’s strange that our fans write to us and tell us they will miss us and that they won’t see us again. It’s like we are going to pass away!” Andy exclaims. Click here to view the video!

Lucify

It won’t be an overstatement to say that singer Shinya (22), bassist Kuek (22), guitarist Misaki (23), guitarist Kelvin (22) and drummer Vics (17) has shaken local mainstream music and local TV audience with their brand of Visual Kei J-rock. Dark dramatic makeup, coupled with colourful exaggerated costumes and long spiky hair, made them the ‘love ‘em or hate ‘em’ band in the competition. It is this uniqueness that could possibly land them a contract with Warner Music!

- All you look so crestfallen; are you very upset that you lost? Not in the least, Shinya claims, all of them are just so exhausted from the late nights and tight rehearsals! Click here to view the video! - How do you feel about not winning the competition? The band isn’t concerned with winning or losing; they are satisfied just being in the Finals. What’s most important is that they learned a lot in the process. Click here to view the video! - What does the future hold for Lucify? Lucify will still continue playing their style of music and again, it’s a wait-and-see attitude for them. Click here to view the video!

- Do you think MiLu Bing deserves to win? MiLu Bing is young, energetic, talented and has an affinity with the audience, so they sure deserve to be the SuperBand! Click here to view the video! - Why did you think you lost? “It should be our lack of popularity; after all, Singapore has never had a Visual Kei band on TV before so even though some people have accepted us, it doesn’t mean most of Singaporeans have,” Shinya says. Click here to view the video!

J3

Made up of Alex Tan (23) on keyboard, Nique Tan (26) on guitars and Jacky Chew (20) on vocals, J3’s main signature trait is their almost-Xinyao feel and clear smooth vocals. Their jazz version of Huang Pinyuan’s Xiao Wei in the SuperBand Grand Final took the ‘live’ audience by storm and had every judge duly impressed with them.

- How do you feel now? All three members feel a huge sense of relief now that the hectic competition is finally behind them. Although Jacky feels disappointed at how things work out, they are very pleased with their performances that night. Click here to view the video! - Which is your favourite performance tonight? All three agreed it was their rendition of ‘Xiao Wei’ because the injection of jazz elements into the song made it very soft, soothing and comfortable. Click here to view the video! - What was most memorable about the SuperBand? experience? Plus, will Jacky finally take his cap off for us?? The Grand Final night wins hands down, for the huge stage, the 5000-strong audience, the ‘live’ feel and the costumes that they would never wear otherwise! Click here to view the video!