By Dawn Wee (18S03G), Chairperson, Timothy Robin Chin (18S03B), Vice-Chairperson, Sarah Leong (18A03A), Secretary, and Shane Tan (18S03T), Quartermaster

If you’ve ever ventured near the fourth level of Block D, you might have heard some mysterious noises coming from a dubious looking room with a shady red sign above it. You might have wondered about what sort of magic happens behind that big white door. You might have even sneaked a peek through the little glass window. Rest assured, nothing illegal goes on in the jamming studio. Instead, the door is a magical portal, taking you to the wonderful land of Raffles Rock, a land of music, fun, and noise-induced hearing loss.

However, one does not simply walk into the Jamming Studio. How might you gain entry? First off, come for our OPEN JAM! We’ll be holding a chill jamming session before auditions, so come and jam with us! If you wish to gain permanent entry into our home, come to our auditions and show us what you’re made of! Play us a song of your choice as well as a set piece (which will be released to you during JIP)! You could even just shred a guitar solo over the Chainsmokers’ hit single, Closer. You’ll be showing your stuff in front of us, our teachers-in-charge as well as our esteemed instructor. Don’t worry – we’re a fun bunch and there’s really nothing to be scared of! It’ll be just like your first jamming session with us and we promise a really good time.

We usually accept 2 vocalists, 4 guitarists, 2 keyboardists, 2 bassists and 2 drummers, but band allocation for the next batch (that’s you!) will depend on the talent pool next year. The possibilities are endless! No matter the number of bands, the small batch size means you will find some of your closest friends in our Rock family. From CCA camps to gigs to our weekly CCA dinners, the shared experiences you’ll enjoy in Rock will definitely be some of your fondest memories in JC.

A typical CCA session begins whenever the first person steps into the studio, which, for the more enthusiastic of us, typically happens right after dismissal. After a few minutes of disorganised jamming to whatever tune we fancy (a hot favourite is Sweet Child O’Mine), everyone gets down to practicing for our upcoming performances. Bands get to choose their own setlists, with our instructor, Ian, stepping in to help us with the nitty gritty details like band cohesion and instrumentation.

Who is this random Chinese man with a perfectly formed man bun? Ian is the founder of Thunder Rock Music School. When he’s not complaining to us about obnoxious concertgoers from Glastonbury or catching Pokemon on his Pokemon Go watch (we’re not kidding), Ian helps us prepare for our various events and gives us life advice (As a wise, old Chinese man with a man bun once said, “Life sucks, but you don’t have to”).

Our main events are Rockin and our main event of the year, ROCKOUT, which will be held at the SCAPE Ground Theatre, complete with flashing lights, full-out costumes, glitzy makeup and professionally mixed sound — everything that you’d expect of a full-fledged rock concert! Beyond that are many other smaller gigs like internal school events such as National Day and Teachers’ Day, or even external gigs at cafes or charity concerts.

Above all, we’re not looking for guitar gods that belong in bands like Journey or The Eagles — it doesn’t matter if you’ve been playing for a month or your whole life! As long as you’re enthusiastic, genuinely love music and are willing to put in effort to improve, trust us when we say Rock is not an experience you’d want to miss out on.

Follow us @RafflesRock on Instagram!

Quotes:

“Life sucks, but you don’t have to” – Wise Old Chinese Man
“SHUT UP” – Everyone to Everyone
“I’M GOING DEAF” – Everyone except Kevin
“Don’t be a nerd” – Wise Old Chinese Man
*Plays one chord* “WRONG” – Wise Old Chinese Man