Behind The Scene: Among Laymen Tunes In With An Unconventional Spin On Music Podcasting
Among Laymen podcasts unveil a side of underground local bands most don’t get to see (Credit: All images and videos courtesy of Among Laymen)
Welcome to Behind the Scene, a mini–series spotlighting the unsung heroes who help preserve our local music history. From photographers to zine-makers, these individuals ensure that the stories of our scene will continue to be told for generations to come.
Picture this – You’ve got a rising star in front of you, and you’re eager to get them to open up. Throw awkwardness out the window; the optics can take a backseat. Right now, what you’re after is authenticity.
There are several ways to approach this. For one, you could ask extremely heartfelt questions that tug at your guests’ heartstrings, creating a safe space for them to open up.
But if you don’t feel like beating around the bush, you could go the opposite direction, ambushing them with obscure and deeply personal facts that catch them off guard. The devil’s in the details, and in this case, it’s all about digging up the skeletons in their closet.
Among Laymen featuring local alternative emo band, camping
Canadian celebrity interviewer Nardwuar is most famous for this tactic, asking questions that hint at the extensive amount of personal research he conducts on his guests (see Nardwuar’s most popular interview with Tyler, the Creator, in 2019). For Nardwaur, boundaries are meant to be broken, and the more bizarre the question, the better.
Local podcasters Among Laymen are fans of this unique approach, citing Nardwuar as a huge inspiration. Beyond sharing origin stories and inspirations behind songs, they want audiences to know the bands they interview on a more personal level, even if it means uncovering the lore behind certain band members’ unusual eating habits (see Among Laymen’s episode with alternative emo band camping).
Formed in 2022, the crew has featured some 11 bands, from hip-hop and indie rock fusion band 730BEDSIDE to post-punk band Intermission. Here, they share the beginnings and inspiration behind their podcast, a medium that is fast gaining popularity today. This is their story.
It’s been almost three years since your first episode. Can you share more about how Among Laymen started?
Brenda: The initial members of Among Laymen actually met in Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Arts Business Management course! We had to do a one-minute podcast thingy for one of our assignments, which was how Among Laymen started. Once that was over, I was like “wait…this is kinda fun!” so I texted in our group chat and suggested that we start a podcast. It was a very spur-of-the-moment thing.
Moira: Over time, some members (Gillean and Adam) left. That’s when I roped in my friend Jesryn. He’s a gig photographer, so I thought that he would be a good addition to the team. We also roped in Larissa, because we would go to gigs together.
Brenda: And then about a year ago, we saw Timo posting this write-up challenge on Instagram, and we thought…why not throw a writer into the mix? So yeah, that’s the whole gang!
Behind-the-scenes action tends to be a riot with the Among Laymen team
Of all topics to focus on, why music? Is there a role that Among Laymen hopes to play in the local music scene?
Moira: As arts business management students, we are exposed to different kinds of art forms. So when we were thinking about what to talk about on the podcast, we initially wanted to cover more than just music, including art forms like visual arts and dance. But it was also at that time that Brenda and I started going to a lot of local gigs. Since we were so exposed to the local scene, we thought that we should focus on local music and interview bands that we really appreciated.
Timo: For us, we see Among Laymen as a platform to not only connect with bigger artists, but to springboard newer artists that we like. Our podcast gives the band some publicity, a boost and followers, which is important, especially if they are just starting out.
Moira: The podcast is also sort of like an archive for the current music scene. When we were still in poly, it was very hard for us to find any evidence or information on Singapore’s arts scene, beyond the more commercial and mainstream artists and bands. We want to document the flourishing underground scene that’s happening right now, and give people in the future something to look back on and appreciate.
Brenda: Yeah, something for bands to look back on when they’re old and grey. It’s cute lah.
Jesryn: Speaking of archiving, as a gig photographer, we don’t have a shortage of photo archives. With Among Laymen, we wanted to share a bit more about a band than just their performance or music. A podcast gives you a little more insight into the people that you look up to. For example, you could be a huge camping fan, but after watching the podcast, you’ll realise that these people are just human beings like you and me. Like, eh, actually, the guitarist is just some dude from Pasir Ris haha.
Timo: Also, we did our research and found out that the whole scene is so interconnected. There are a few very big bands, and these band members would branch out and create other bands across different genres. Everyone is sort of related to one another, and we wanted to give people more insight into how the scene works and serve as a bridge between various scenes and genres. I remember in our episode with Nosedive, we talked about how CCAs in school play a huge part in the scene. Many local bands came from places like ITE Central, SP Media, Arts & Design, Laselle and SOTA. And it’s a bit cheesy to say lah, but we wanted to show people that these artists are just laymen like us.
When thinking of current local music podcasters, YouTubers or radio DJs, Indiego (by Mediacorp) immediately comes to mind. How does Among Laymen seek to differentiate itself or stand out in this area?
Timo: If you look at Indiego, the bands featured tend to be very established and have been in the scene for quite some time already. You’ll also realise that they are all somewhat connected to each other – either as friends, or within the same music space. For us, we try to approach bands that we think deserve to be heard, but are not established enough to go onto a platform like Indiego.
Jesryn: We were also inspired by Nardwuar, who is this Canadian guy known for doing extensive research before interviewing artists. I remember one of the first few episodes I watched was his interview with Arctic Monkeys and Clairo, and he would ask very random and specific questions, like “your primary school teacher was so and so, and you threw a paper plane at her”, haha. I really liked the questions he asked. I thought they were very funny, and I wanted to portray that in Among Laymen, because whenever I watch interviews by other companies like Genius, they tend to be bloody boring. Like they ask the same questions over and over and over again. I don’t want to just feature the band, I want people to know the band members as individuals.
Timo: Jes and I wanted to try and push that idea as much as possible in all of our episodes, especially since we were already friends with some of the bands. We will text various people, like their friends and stuff, to find out weird quirks about the band members, or stalk their social media so that we can stun the interviewees with very personal and specific questions. But besides these, we will also ask serious questions that we find relevant to the band. For example, we asked Nosedive to share their experience as an up-and-coming band in the scene, and their struggles playing at so many gigs despite their lead guitarist studying overseas.
Brenda, Moira, Larissa and Timo from the Among Laymen crew
After drawing out all of these unique quirks about the band members, are there any memorable nuggets to share?
Jesryn: Bellied Star meeting on Carousell.
Brenda: The Bellied Star episode had a lot of inside jokes, because Jes is friends with them haha.
Jesryn: And the camping episode, too. That was hilarious. I didn’t even ask the question, but – wait, what was her name?
Timo: Desirée
Jesryn: Yeah, omg Desirée went all out – like a full-on rant about Nex for a good five minutes. Like the shopping mall Nex. And another quite surprising one was when we asked her how she got into music, and she mentioned that her cousin was the drummer of Caracal. I remember everyone, like the interviewers and the crew behind the camera, we all just gasped and looked at each other like WHAT???
Moira: It’s pretty fun interviewing artists that we like, because we get to learn more about their personalities and characteristics beyond the image that they portray of themselves. It’s also quite crazy that people now recognise our name and logo when they see our stickers around different gig spaces. We started Among Laymen because we look up to a lot of different bands and artists in Singapore, and the fact that these people now recognise us is quite crazy.
Spinning off from a school project, and being so green to the podcast scene, what were some challenges that you encountered along the way?
Jesryn: A challenge would be the time limit we have to film. I don’t have an external battery for my camera, so each run lasts around 30 minutes. If it’s a much longer episode, we would have to cut in between to charge the batteries. Another issue would be getting everyone together at the same time and place.
Brenda: Yeah, that's for sure, but we’ve also been pretty lucky in that we’ve been able to find venues to shoot at without much trouble. Shoutout to PK Records, Nineteen Eighty studios and this random staircase at Yishun haha. It’s not too bad because we don’t have too much equipment to set up. Mics are an issue, though. We don’t have enough, so sometimes up to three people are sharing one mic, which is not ideal.
Jesryn: Subtitling is another one. If you read the subtitles and it doesn’t make sense, or if you notice a few spelling errors here and there, it’s probably done by me, haha. It’s so annoying because I edit in DaVinci Resolve, and they don’t generate auto subtitles. I used to be able to do it on CapCut, but they have since made it a premium feature. So now, I have to borrow someone’s Premiere Pro, export the transcript, put it into DaVinci, sync it with the edited video and then watch the whole thing back to ensure that it’s all good. I also can’t spell to save my life, so it gets frustrating sometimes.
From camping to LongKang Ginas, with 11 features under your belt, are there any new episodes in the pipeline? Who do you hope to have on the podcast in the future?
Brenda: We’re currently on a bit of a hiatus because everyone is busy with life right now. Half of the team is in uni, Jes is stuck in NS, and I’m working full time, so it’s been a bit hard. That said, Mun from Alter Start (zine) reached out to us not too long ago! She was interested in a collab, and we are too, so we’ve been talking about it. Hopefully, she will be featured in one of our next few episodes. We’re also thinking of other bands like Carpet Golf.
Timo: Oh! We might also interview Gary, from Boplay Photos. I needed him for a school project, and I was like, fuck it, just add him haha.
Cool stuff coming up, can’t wait! Lastly, any music recommendations or current spins to share with our readers?
Jesryn: Hive Mind (by False Plaintiffs).
Moira: Come Clean (by Blush) and Dakota (by Forests).
Larissa: Jazz Ruined My Life (by Forests), Cats, Cats and Cats Again (by Cosmic Child), and also Come Clean (by Blush) LOL.
Timo: Something About Trains (by Xingfoo&Roy), Beautiful Crash (by B-Quartet) and KNOW ABOUT IT (by AE$OP CA$H).
Brenda: There is Nothing to be Upset About (by Long Live The Empire), and To Be Clean by (Xingfoo&Roy).
This feature wraps up the three-part Behind The Scene series, also featuring DIY zine Alter Start and hardcore gig photographer 760coremedia. Follow Among Laymen on socials to stay connected.
This contributor feature was written by Cherie Wong.
Cherie is a human whose life revolves around music – except, you know, playing it. Ask her for the lore on any band and she’ll give it to you. Just don’t ask her to sight-read. You can find her at @shuhreee_ on IG.
