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Fans of local indie music will be no strangers to Lunarin. The power packed trio comprises of Linda Ong on bass and vocals, guitarist Ho Kah Wye and Loo Eng Teck, drummer/pianist. Part progressive rock, accentuated with unyielding metal influences and branded with Linda's distinctive vocals, Lunarin has proved its mettle not only in its staying power, but also in carving out a niche in the scene with a definitive sound that cannot be easily mistaken. It really does not matter what you drink to Lunarin, as long as you rock out.

There are three things one may look for in a musician/band - good live shows, well produced album and personality. Cheating Sons passes all three criterias with flying colours.

The band exploded into the scene last year, practically a buzzword for the best local music has to offer and boy did they live up to it. From Baybeats in Singapore to Strawberry Festival in China, they proved their mettle with a relentless energy matched with their refreshing take on rock and roll.

Their music, a robust blend of anthemic hooks, melodies and signature banjo/guitar riffs, is made all the more poignant by the lyrics, which evokes a Bob Dylan-esque sensibility to the way it delivers stories of the common man. Songs like Out of a Job, Ah Long on the Run, The Kids Ain't Right from their debut album, Masters, Wives and Daughter, cuts into the mundane to deliver the raw emotion that is experienced in this city. Haunting but never pretentious, it is a narrative that is intrinsically local, yet relevant to the world in its themes on angst and heartbreak. Very much the band for people who are past the days of bourbon coke and now go straight for the whisky.

We caught up with the Cheating Sons in the videos below. Their album - Masters, Wives and Daughter is available at major record shops and on their bandcamp http://cheatingsons.bandcamp.com, where you can sample their music as well. Stay updated on their facebook, http://www.facebook.com/cheatingsons

Many thanks to Cream Pictures for the use of their premises.

_Plainsunset

"We don't have a touring industry, we can't go out on the road, where you want to play? Pasir Panjang? Bukit Ho Swee?" quipped Daniel Sassoon in our panel discussion on local indie music.

Well maybe not yet, but some bands can now tick Tiong Bahru off the list.

"Local music sucks." Is that what you think? And can you back this opinion up?

The independant music genre is typified worldwide as an alternative to what one perceives as "mainstream" pop music, which panders to popular tastes and hardly attempts anything outside of its comfort zone. In Singapore, we can probably count the number of commercially successful musicians with our fingers. An independant scene making music that goes against the grain of pop seems almost unfeasible.