Lunarin is one of six acts set to rock the stage at Celebrate AWARE’s 25th Birthday Party. Vocalist and bass player (and full-time family lawyer) Linda Ong tells Debbie Sim why AWARE’s work is so important and gives sage advice to budding musicians.

I understand that the song Coralline is about a girl who was never born. What made you choose this track to be a free download on UNIFEM’s anti-sex trafficking website, Sound Out Singapore?
Coralline is a song about the loss of a human life and the pain of a mother coping with that loss. I thought it was suitable for the UNIFEM cause because I believed it was important to bear in mind that every victim of sex trafficking is someone’s child, sibling, friend. We leapt at the opportunity to be able to have our music be put to good use and it was an honour for us to be able to contribute to the Sound Out cause.

We’re so glad you’re giving your time to sing for us. What makes you want to support AWARE?
I am a family lawyer and have done my fair share of taking out applications for personal protection orders and maintenance summonses for clients. I wish more could be done, especially to help women from low-income backgrounds to understand their rights better and have more access to help. As a band, we all feel strongly about discrimination against groups of people based on gender and sexual orientation.

What does AWARE mean to you?
AWARE has always been at the forefront of pushing for gender equality. It may be viewed as a tad too progressive or controversial by some right-wing traditionalists but my personal take is you need a group like AWARE to constantly push the envelope in order for change to take place.

We completely agree! What can the crowd expect from your performance at Celebrate?
Our drummer can’t make it for the show, so we have no choice but to play a quiet acoustic set. We will be playing some B-sides off our new album Duae and will be assisted by our friend Natalie Soh on violins and my brother Victor on cello.

Wow, violins and cello? How did an alt rock band incorporate strings?
Natalie is a violin player for local band called Serenaide and played in two songs on our first album. We’ve known her for years and thought it would be a fun addition. She has done a wonderful job so far, so we can’t wait to let you guys hear them.
My brother Victor recently picked up the cello. I sent him a rough MP3 recording of a new song we wrote and he immediately starting playing along to it on his cello. We thought we’d get him in to try and work out some cello parts for us, given his interest. To our surprise he was able to accompany almost all of our acoustic songs. The cello has certainly added a new dimension to the music.

Last question: If I want to start a new band, what advice would you give me?
You need to really love music and be prepared to continue playing even if no one is listening. Playing original english music is tough in Singapore because mainstream media is not receptive to it. You have to know the true reasons why you play music otherwise you will get easily discouraged and disband. The three of us have been playing together for almost 16 years now. The reason why we still keep doing this is because we love playing music and creating music together. We know that we will continue playing music together for as long as we can even if no one buys our music.

Read other interviews with Baracuda Batucada, MICappella, Like A Band and Aarthi Sankar.