Tracking The Trekkers: 60's Music Trail: Part Two

Hey, it's a Leap Year 29th February today.

Continuing the Story of The Trekkers:

Performing

We played in many contests like the Great World Cabaret and charity shows at the YMCA and schools such as St Patrick's and the Presbyterian Schools. In the Town Convent Girls’ School and the University of Singapore. Charles's sisters were often there to watch us perform. They were our biggest fans.

Our first win in a talent show was actually at the Great World Cabaret in the Battle of the Combo Band. We won a prize even though we were competing against some very accomplished jazz musicians. We gave them the new Duane Eddy sound, and they liked it. Charles was also a favorite of the voting dance hostesses. We also played in Swee Leong friend's club, the Rosi D'or at the old Lido Theater a couple of times. Performing at the old Britannia Club on Beach Road was another favorite because they had a lively crowd of British service personnel.

We experimented with adding vocals to the group. The Jaywalkers, comprised of Charles, his sister Ng Pau Yin, and the late Susan Lim, joined one of our practice sessions. They won a trophy at Rediffusion and were only twelve and thirteen years old at that time. Another singer (Aniz ?) also sang in our group. He had a voice for Buddy Holly and Cliff Richard hits, and the Britannia Club crowd loved him.

In our last year together, we accomplished resident group status in the Rediffusion Discovery Series together with Cynthia Hay. She had a voice like Connie Francis'. The shows were hosted by Larry Lai and Joseph Goh and pre-recorded at the old Odeon Theatre. When the show ended we remained in contact with the late Tan Swee Leong and were guests in several of his Rediffusion shows.

Finally Tan Hock Lye had us play his Make Mine Music program on the radio, and Steven Lee invited us to play the opening and closing number for the first live broadcast on Singapore Television. That was our last performance.

Disbanding

Unlike many bands in Singapore The Trekkers never cut a record. It simply was not an option in the period pre-1963. We had an offer from the old Rank Organization in UK while playing at the Britannia Club, but we were disbanding. First George left to join his siblings in the UK, and I left Singapore next to go to college in the United States. Charles studied law at the local university. Only William continued his musical career, going on to play with the Stray Dogs. We accomplished plenty in the short time we were together and had fun doing it. 

The only recording that remains of that special time is a tape of our last jam session. William’s cousin Ah Siong recorded it with his new sound recorder, and my brother Johnny saved the tape for us all those years. The tape resurfaced in 1980, and we took it to Swee Leong for an interview on Rediffusion. Later, we submitted the tape together with The Trekkers old photographs to a contest by the Singapore National Archives. We won a consolation prize thus sealing our legacy as part of the Singapore pop scene of the 1960's.

In Perspective

When I arrived in Los Angeles, I was surprised to find that the 4-piece guitar band was an international phenomenon of that time and not just in Singapore. Playing Ventures and Shadows music was popular everywhere. The Ventures are still popular in Japan today among the Baby Boomers.

YouTube currently has a lot of guitarists playing Ventures and Shadows music using a Line 6 type device and Apple Garage band software. Ramon "RJ" Jacinto of the Philippines who started playing Ventures in the 60's is about the only one who is still playing in a band. 

The Memories

When George, Charles, William, my brother Johnny and I are together, we always talk about The Trekkers and the good times we had playing music. We talk about the music scene in Singapore and listen to our favorite tracks from those days. When we disbanded, we were at the crossroads of our lives. I'm happy with my decision to go to college in the US even though it meant never recording an album with my friends. We accomplished plenty in the relatively short times we were together.

Like many guitar groups, we had our own unique sound. For The Trekkers that sound was a presentation by four musicians who played to complement rather than compete with each other. In The Trekkers rendition of the old hits by Ramon "RJ" Jacinto, Mashi Mashi, you can clearly hear the distinctive rhythm of Charles, the bass of William and the drum beat of George; all synchronizing and complementing the lead guitar. Thus I believe we had fulfilled our aspiration (and my demands) to play the best music together. We now still talk excitingly of our music and share one of the most wonderful memories of our moments in The Trekkers.

With this I end my memories of being a Trekker with the first lines of Don McLean's American Pie:

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while...

Thank you for reading.

A special thanks to my daughter Carolyn for editing this short history.

Article, Images, You Tube Videos: 
Copyrights Reserved by Henry Gan.

Tracking 'The Trekkers' 60's Music Trail: Part One

A Chap Goh Meh CNY Posting:

This article is a Chap Goh Meh (15th Night Chinese New Year Celebration) treat for readers and friends who have been regular patrons of this blog. 

The Trekkers' leader has written a short article about the history of the band. Henri Gann, who lives in Los Angeles (USA) since he left Singapore in 1964, frequents this blog and wrote to me when Mr. Tan, owner of TMA Music, passed away recently. 

I asked if he could do an article of the guitar group and he obliged.  Although the group has never recorded on vinyl, Henri has managed to salvage some music tapes. You can listen to them on his You Tube connection.

Thank you very much Henry for your detailed, informative write-up, the video tribute to my blog (above) and the lively tea-time chat we had in Singapore.

Remembering The Trekkers 1960-1963

by Henry Gan

Background

In those days, we were the Katong boys who played music for fun and walked along Marine Parade to feel the ocean breeze. We were entertained by Rediffusion, got the latest hits at the local town record store, and saw Elvis’ movies at the Roxy Theater. Guitars were affordable and to some extent drums were, too, so a lot of kids got together to play music. 

Many bands formed in Katong at that time, including the Muskrats and the Tornados. We had no musical training and played by ear. We measured our progress by participating in talent shows. We didn’t dream about becoming recording artists. There wasn’t even a recording studio in Singapore at that time. 

The Band

We called our band The Trekkers. We met in the Presbyterian Boys' School where we all attended. Drummer George Wang still had baby fat at the age of fourteen, but he also had a full set of Premier Drums. Charles Ng, thirteen, played an acoustic guitar that was as big as he was. He was a gifted musician who could detect the slightest wrong tune on a guitar and played very expressive chords. My favorite was his rendition of Stardust. 

Our bass player William Tan was the oldest at sixteen and another gifted musician. He had never seen a bass guitar when he joined The Trekkers and learned to play the instrument proficiently in a very short time. I was fifteen and the tallest in the group. I demanded perfection for our music and encouraged the others to practice. My older brother Johnny Gan was our unofficial manager and toughest critic; he inspired us with his extensive record collection. 

The Equipment

The late Mr. Tan of TMA was our best friend. He always had a solution to our equipment problems, and there were a lot of them. It was hard to find the musical equipment we needed to make the sound we craved.

Solid body guitars were rare in Singapore in the early 60s and when we found them, chances were some of the frets were positioned out of tune. There was also frequent feedback from the guitar pickups, which caused the amplifier to hum embarrassingly on stage. The amplifiers we could get were usually compact and designed for roving jazz players, and we would be lucky to find ones with multiple inputs for our guitars. And to make the popular reverb sound, we relied on vibrating the tremolo arm to prolong the sound of the guitar. Still, we loved to play our music.

The Music

We played Duane Eddy first and tried to replicate his deep base note and reverb by playing at the back of the guitar and using the tremolo arm. This was especially true when we played Rebel Rouser.

                               With Compere Tan Hock Lye's Voice

We liked The Ventures because we had to go through a learning curve for each track. By the time we learned all the songs on their first few LPs, we could play almost any new guitar hit simply by listening to it. We went through these Ventures tracks: Night Train, Caravan, Hawaiian War Chant, Gandy Dancer, Poison Ivy, Sleep Walk, Morgan, Ginchy, Guitar Twist, Bumble Bee Twist, No Trespassing, Detour, Moon Over Manakoora, Home, Torquay, Mexico, Harlem Nocturne, Blue Tango, Torquay, Josie, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Cherry Pink, Red Top, White Silver Sands, Yellow Jacket, Honky Tonk, Lullaby of the Leaves, Walk Don't Run, and many more.

We played the Shadows, too, and were good at it even though we were unable to reproduce their unique Vox sound and delayed reverb with the equipment we had. However we could never get ourselves to do the band's distinctive walk or kicks as we were four shy lads on stage. That cost us a trophy in a Shadows contest. We were better off playing the music of groups that did not require stage choreography. 

Our favorite Shadows songs were Apache, Quarter Master Store, Midnight, Blue Star, Gonzales, Find Me a Golden Street, Frightened City, FBI, Savage, Mustang, Shane, 36-24-36, Nivram, Shindig, Man of Mystery, Shadoogie, Kon Tiki, Back Home, Atlantis, Geronimo, Guitar Tango, Peace Pipe, Dance On, Foot Tapper, Theme for Young Lovers, and The Stranger.

We had many great jam sessions playing music of surfin' guitar groups such as The Astronauts, Chantays, Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, Dick Dale, The Bellaire, Surfari and The Marketts. The amplifiers built by Mr Tan and our new Fender guitars reproduced the surfing sound well. The tracks we played were Let's Go, Baja, Movin', Pipeline, Vaquero, Bulldog, Misirlou, Hava Nagila, Mr Moto, Wipeout, Penetration, Out-of-Limits and Let's Go.

We all had our favorite songs to play. George’s favorites were Duane Eddy's Lonely One where he could play his bongo drums; the Ventures Walk Don’t Run and Perfidia because he’d perfected the rim shot on the drums; and the Surfaris' Wipeout where he did his long roll on the drums. 

Charles liked the Ventures’ McCoy because he could play lead in part of the song; the Ventures' Guitar Twist and The Shadows' Frightened City where he demonstrated his rhythm skills. William liked all the Ventures and Shadows because their bass was fun to play. 

I enjoyed playing Arthur Smith's music namely Guitar Boogie because it was so long and elaborate on the guitar; Boomerang because it was fast on the beat; and I H Boogie because it had a good rhythm to it.

Part Two will appear in another posting.

A Happy Chap Goh May everyone!

Henri Gann (with shades) is still trekking today.

Images and You Tube Videos: The Trekkers from Henri Gann (Copyrights Reserved.)

You Tube Connection:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC-aLb_WHd52RntpVPppXcg

Guitarists Henry Chua And Horace Wee Pay Tribute: Post II

The TMA logo on most of Mr Tan's shop offers. Pix by Gordon Pan from FB. He explains: "The guitar is a 1962 or 1963 Fender Jazzmaster identifiable by the Spaghetti logo bought from TMA around the same time. It was probably the 2nd most saleable Fender model at the time when Surf bands were using it instead of Stratocasters."

The Tributes:

The letters keep pouring in about Mr Tan in response to his passing away last week. Henry Chua, the former bassist of The Quests and Horace Wee, guitarist with RTS Orchestra, wrote a comment each for the blog and because both had much to share I decided to share their stories. Thank you, Henry and Horace.

Mr Tan of TMA by Henry Chua.

"My recollection of Mr Tan is still vivid in my mind. This man struck me as a kind and helpful human being.

I studied at Raffles Institution at Bras Basah Road in the 60’s. I was given just 20 cents for bus fare to and fro to school from my home in Tiong Bahru. Had to change buses for each trip. One the way home I need to take the STC bus from the St Andrew’s Cathedral and then changed to a No 6 Hock Lee bus at North Canal Road. Very often just to save 5 cents I walked from school to North Canal Road.

The walk was money saving and also it provides me some time to visit the music stores along the way. The first was Swee Lee at the Capitol Cinema complex. Then Sassoon, next to the Union Jack Club at the open car park next to Capitol. Sassoon was the importers of Vox guitars and amplifiers [image: Henry Chua].

The last stop was TMA at the junction of North Bridge Road and High Street. It was opposite the Metro departmental stores. There was also B.P. de Silva and Polar Café along TMA’s side of High Street.

I would always make a visit to the TMA shop to look and drool at the guitars. I was a 12-year-old kid and had dreams. There was a circular display in the middle of the shop. Vinyl record racks on the left and a glass showcase on the right as you enter the shop. On this glass case were displayed a few Fender guitars. 

I recalled seeing a Stratocaster priced around S$700, megabucks in those days for a kid with 20 cents in his pocket. There was a sound room to listen to the records you wish to purchase. I remembered the friendly uncle who put on a Dave Brubeck LP for me to listen. My first introduction to jazz including the 5/4 Take Five and 7/8 rhythm.

Some years later in 1964, we (The Quests) got to befriend Mr Tan. He was helpful and loan us the whole set of Fender guitars and amplifiers for our gigs. We just had to pick them up at his home along Mountbatten Road. That house is still there. He even allowed us to pay for the things we purchased from TMA by instalments. No contracts, just gentlemen’s honour.

He even rewired Reggie’s Stratocaster to achieve the neck and bridge pick up combination. He kept this rewiring secret between the Quests and him alone. That’s where we got our sound. Thanks to Mr Tan. Of course these days most would know how to acquire this fix. 

He was the service engineer for TMA. I usually find him in his little room fixing and repairing things. No matter how busy he was he would always find time to have a chat. He was a very patient man and I had never seen him enraged even on a difficult day.

We bought a Fender spring Reverb (S$400) from him and most of our guitars from him. At one stage he loaned us a Fender analogue tape echo to test, but unfortunately, there was just too much wow and flutter and the echoes were flat so we couldn’t use it. Finally, he imported the famous German-Swiss Echo and that was our tape delay for all our recordings since Shanty.

How could I not remember him as the friendly, kind uncle who helped us in our musical journey?

RIP Mr Tan, the Singapore music world loves you."

"Hi, Andy,

My take on Mr Tan of TMA 

This has to be one of the kindest persons I have ever known. Besides being a great salesman, he was able to relate to and support the young of that time who aspired to be a famous band or musician. The comments on your blog attest to this.

Every time I look at my Fender Twin Reverb, Stratocaster guitar and Swiss Echo machine (all of which I still own) I still think fondly of Mr Tan of TMA from whom I bought these instruments in the sixties. Much has been said on how he offered the Fender instruments on loan, instalment payments and other generous offers of sponsorship and promotion. 

But the friendship I formed with him was a passion for electronics and at that time the dawn of guitar effects pedals. He would share his information on circuits with me and likewise, I would do the same. 

When he was about to leave for Canada, he took the trouble to see me in order to introduce his US contacts to me in order that I might be able to have some business connections with them. Something that he did not have to do, but it illustrates the generosity and big-heart of this man [image: Horace Wee].

In all the years that I've been in music, there have been very few music stores or salespersons (IN THE WORLD) that I can say that I was happy to have bought from them. Mr Tan of TMA is one of them.

RIP M. Tan. It was a privilege to have known you, I shall never forget you and I hope to meet you or someone like you again, in some other lifetime.

Sincerely,

Horace Wee."

Part One Connection:
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2016/01/godfather-of-local-pops-tan-peck-soo.html

Images: A Private Collection.

Articles: Henry Chua and Horace Wee Copyrighted.

Godfather of Local Pops: Tan Peck Soo TMA Music: Post I

MRS TAN PECK SOO passed away exactly 4 years after Mr Tan. A fine woman, she was 93. You may remember her as the elegantly dressed very friendly and soft spoken "hokkien" lady who stood behind the violin counter at the old TMA store on High Street. I bought my first guitar [a Harry Belafonte Calypso] round hole guitar from her. [From Henri Gann - 14 January 2021.]

UP TO 2,000 VIEWS, 30+ COMMENTS

I received a note from blog reader Mr Henri Gann who announced the demise Mr Tan Peck Soo, former owner of TMA Pte Ltd. @ High Street, a music shop in the 1960's. Any band boy who played decent guitar would have met and known him. He was the Godfather of local 60's pop.

Mr Tan passed away on January 11th, 2016 in Vancouver B.C., Canada. A fine and generous man he was a friend to all who met him. He is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and two grand children. 

According to Mr Gann, he was the man who sold the first Fender Stratocaster and Fender Reverb in Singapore to pop guitar group, The Trekkers ( 1962 ).  Mr Tan and his equally enthusiastic electrician assistant helped the Trekkers build their first guitar amplifiers to simulate the sound of the Fender Showman and the Fender Bassman. 

Thank you Mr Gann for your personal tribute.

"The Trekkers tribute to the man they called Mr Tan of TMA (Pte) Ltd - Singapore 1960's.

Peck Soo had vision
The year was 1960. The 2 major guitar shops were Swee Lee and TMA. The former had an advantage guitar product being the sole agent for Gibson. TMA only had the Belafonte calypso guitars and ukulele and was focused on Hohner harmonica and accordion. 

I had just met Peck Soo. He had returned from a tour of the musical factories in Europe TMA represented. I showed him a Fender catalogue. He convinced his dad to import Fender even though Fender was a little unknown custom shop company in America. The Fender Stratocaster was later made famous after the death of Buddy Holly and the surfing music of the 60's. 

Peck Soo was a born banker
I was just a kid. Peck Soo offered me one of his first Stratocasters on credit. Buying things on credit was almost unheard of at that time least of all to a kid with no credit. The man knew relationship was key to business success.

Peck Soo was a gifted salesman
Store products were primarily displayed in the showroom and occasionally advertised in the newspaper for early Singapore. Peck Soo went a step ahead of the others. He had the Trekkers played his showcase amplifier on stage and especially at the British R n R club on Beach Road and the stores would be filled with British servicemen asking for the Fender products the next morning.

Peck Soo loved his electronics

He scanned his Heathkit catalogues daily like some people shop Amazon today and owning a Fender Showman and Bassman then was like having a Tesla today. Peck Soo saw it in our (Trekkers) eyes with the Fender amplifiers and said that he could build us one and he had a very sharp electrician who could do just that. Peck Soo knew his speakers well which was key to designing a good sounding amplifier and Geylang had great custom cabinet maker. The Trekkers build the first look alike and sweet sounding Fender tube amplifiers in Singapore in 1960.

Peck Soo was a funny man
We had one travel together from North America to Singapore. The year was 1985. Yes we did travel on SIA business class. Our first stop was Taipei,Taiwan. Peck Soo had his Sherlock Holmes rain jacket on and moved impatiently from one line to another as we were clearing immigration till I lost sight of him. 

When I found him after clearing customs he was the only person left at customs and they were making him empty his pocket and unroll his US$100 bills while another official was looking closely at his passport. He looked bewildered after the cross examination by customs.

Peck Soo said to me many times that he had a full life.
He was a good son to his father and moved to Canada only after his father decided to close down the business in 1980's. He immigrated to Canada to give his children and wife a better life. And he achieved his Canadian dream by having a good life in his retirement years. 

Thank you Peck Soo and I like to send this closing song tribute to you...
Would you know my name, if I saw you in heaven - Eric Clapton."

Eric Clapton's: Tears In Heaven: Tribute to Mr. Tan Video.  

YouTube Video from Epitaph.

Many band members from the 1960's are familiar with Mr. Tan. 

If you are, do write in to tell us.

Part Two:
Henry Chua (Quests) and Horace Wee (RTS Orchestra) tribute. Connect here:
http://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2016/01/guitarists-henry-chua-and-horace-wee.html

Further reading: 
http://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2015/10/a-picnic-with-first-sg-chinese-guitar.html

Images: 1) Courtesy of Lee Kip Lin and National Library Board; 
             2) Henri Gann's Private Collection.

Video: YouTube by Toni Charlie - cs.

Article: Henri Gann Copyrighted.

SG First Pop Group: Fender, Hofner, Roger, Picnics

Part One with The Mates

1960 - 1970 中国器乐吉他乐队

Was it picnic music and family get-together that this group was trying to encourage in the 1960's on the cover of their EP?

With a pleasantly luscious lawn setting here's a brief write-up of the first local group called The Mates playing Instrumental Music as indicated on the front cover.

"During the heyday of the recording industry in the entertainment world while many local artiste and music groups were joining this flourishing profession, a local six-man  music band group calling themselves, The Mates was formed. It was the first local electronic guitar band formed in Singapore.

The band leader, Simon Toh himself, was a talented electronic organ player. Michael Chua, the lead  guitarist, was the most adept and experienced veteran. Although this group performed as an accompanying music group in the talentime contests organized by the Community Centres, they also performed in the night clubs and theatres.

The group was spotted by the owner of the Super Star Records Company 震星 who appreciated their talents. They were then commissioned to compose some songs for production.  Their first original debut piece entitled, ‘’马车夫之恋‘’  was excellently composed. Its music  was melodious and soothing to the ears."

[The above passage is a translation of the back sleeve cover (image 2) by a good friend who wishes to remain anonymous. Thank you YSP.]

Part Two With The Family

Thousands of Chinese-recorded vinyls by Singapore bands had been sold during the 1960's and 1970's. These bands would be using less expensive Hofner guitars (image on record sleeve) and drum-sets like Pearl or Olympic so budget could be minimised, although there were groups that used the more sophisticated Fender guits and Roger drums. 

There were also different models of amplifiers used like the higher end Vox, Marshall, Fender series but inexpensive ones were seen too. The mass market was the target and profit the final achievement for the record producers who employ these bands.

The 12 to 15 minute recordings were popular and the price of each vinyl, usually with four songs, was less than S$3.00. Extended Playing (EP) vinyls were compact and less than half the size of a twelve inch Long Playing (LP) record which could cost much more for the average teenager. To seal the deal there were attractive, colourful cover pictures on the Mini LPs.

Like their counterparts in the West where many dance records were also sold in Long Playing (LP) size with an average of about 12 songs, our local copy-cat industry did the same with Chinese ones. For both sides A and B the music would last for at least 40 minutes.

Chinese recordings would have been the best sellers bought by locals and instrumental ones were purchased for its music value as these melodies were needed for picnics, small dance parties and friendly get-together (Images 3 n 4). A portable record player was used to play these discs.

Hey come on guys, tell me about your first portable record player and picnics in the 60's.

Don't tell me about the ants!

Images: A Private Collection; Google; You Tube

Images: Black/White https://prettywhenyousmile.wordpress.com/

Chinese 60's Bands: Planets; Travellers; Silver Stones; Tones.