Every country has its own music scene/venues where bands and fans alike gather and hang out. For people who are into Singapore music and indie rock in general, Home Club, situated at 20, Upper Circular Road along the Singapore riverside, is definitely a venue on the top of the list.

“Home is named Home as it’s a project involving a lot of friends. It’s a platform for everyone – bands, DJs, live acts, graphic designers, graffiti artists – to come and show their work,” says Kelvin Tan, manager and promoter of Home Club. “The philosophy of Home is to have a good time. No attitude, no nonsense – just straight up passion.”

Beat! Indie DJ Night (Photo by: Shirley Ong)

Part club and part indie hangout, Home Club is just as its tag-line suggests – a DIY yet “glamorous underground” hot bed where one could discover the local indie music scene as well as the hottest indie rock ‘n’ roll from around the world. To date, the club has played host to international acts such as Anberlin, Copeland, Horse The Band, Handsome Furs, regional bands such as Couple from Malaysia and Chicosci from the Philippines, as well as various local indie luminaries like I Am David Sparkle, TypeWriter, The Great Spy Experiment and Astreal to name a few.

Other than live music, the club is also renowned for its weekly Friday indie night called BEAT!, where the indie lovers could immerse themselves in a hot fervor of high octane indie rock, electro and garage punk ‘choons. According to Kelvin, “The atmosphere of the night is also one a kind – raucous but communal.”

“It’s really great and rare that the scene has such a club to turn to for gigs and club nights, as well as a club that is constantly looking for local talents to showcase,” says Ginette Chittick, one half of the BEAT! DJ duo and lead singer/bassist of local band Astreal. “For me, it’s so powerful to see the whole floor singing to songs they know and love so well, punching their fists in the air and faces all full of smiles.”

Joe Ng on the decks (Photo by: Shirley Ong)

As the purveyor of fresh and cutting edge music, Joe Ng, the other half of the BEAT! DJ duo, film and television music composer and ex-frontman of the now-defunct The Padres that led the pack of the local music scene in the ’90s, also shares his thoughts about the song that best epitomizes the spirit of being indie.

“My list is endless but off the top of my head right now is Fugazi’s ‘Repeater.’ Fiercely independent, Ian MacKaye’s band has never compromised. It’s the same kind of fire you see when you look at local indie bands like Astreal, Stomping Ground and The Observatory. It is the same enduring spirit that will always inspire new music.”

Other than Home Club, other venues such as *scape (Youth Park, Somerset Road), Timbre, Prince Of Wales (101, Dunlop Street) and Esplanade also have their regular local music showcases going on, be it weekly, monthly, or yearly. Next time you are walking around town and wondering where to go for some live local music, you know where to head to!

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Do you have a favorite indie live venue in your country? A “secret” underground venue where you go in search of gigs and check out new bands on the radar? Where should one go and discover the local music scene if they were to visit your country? Let us know!