Far from m1ld
David Siow of M1ldl1fe shares about his experiences as a musician
By Trevor Wee
Published 7 August 2019
At first glance, you would not expect much from David Siow, but under his signature curls lie a wealth of insight and a gung-ho attitude.
David Siow is the bassist and a founding member of the local Indie-pop band M1ldl1fe, previously known as Take Two. He is also the president of The Music Society, Singapore (SGMUSO), an organisation that aims to build the Singaporean music industry and empower the people who make music in Singapore.
Being a musician has thrown David in situations he would not normally face. In 2016, David found himself in a near-death experience during Ignite, a music festival organised by Republic Polytechnic. “After the set, I just collapsed on stage,” he says.
“I had just gotten married… we went for our honeymoon [to Australia],” David mentions. “I think it was five degrees most of the time, and we stayed in a camper van so we were in the cold all the time. After a week, my body adjusted to that kind of cold.”
Being a musician has thrown David in situations he would not normally face. In 2016, David found himself in a near-death experience during Ignite, a music festival organised by Republic Polytechnic. “After the set, I just collapsed on stage,” he says.
“I had just gotten married… we went for our honeymoon [to Australia],” David mentions. “I think it was five degrees most of the time, and we stayed in a camper van so we were in the cold all the time. After a week, my body adjusted to that kind of cold.”
Upon flying back to Singapore, David immediately took a taxi straight from Changi Airport to Republic Polytechnic to play the show. “After about the third or fourth song, I realised something was not right,” he mentions. “I wasn’t sweating! Usually, I would be dripping by now. The other boys realised something was wrong, [I was] breathing much harder and couldn’t sing as much,” David says.
Because of the sudden environmental shift, David’s body had not acclimated to the Singaporean heat and his sweat glands had shut down. He was carried off stage and the Ignite crew saved his life by packing his body with cold towels and ice before he could have sustained any major brain damage.
“That was memorable, nearly dying after a gig,” David jokes.
Not every band gets the opportunity to perform on national television, however, M1ldl1fe was able to perform “Always Been Right Here” from their first Extended Play, Pairs (2015) for the National Day Parade 2018. “Playing NDP 2018 [was a big milestone],” David says.
“Always Been Right Here” was representative of how the band felt about Singapore. David also mentions that “Expressing [this feeling] to an entire nation and connecting with new people is a very magical experience and it’s a new level of impacting people.”
Peng Sing adds that the move to SGMUSO was a huge sacrifice for David. “Compared to what he was earning before he quit his job, [he earns] less than half of his previous pay... because of this, we really look up to David. [He does everything with] the band at the back of his mind.” Peng Sing added: “Even though Dave wouldn’t consider himself the leader of the band, we really look up to him and the things that he says and does hold a lot of weight.”
"It was super epic because we worked really hard for it. Every Saturday we had to attend rehearsals. We couldn’t tour and had to sacrifice a lot of festivals,” David adds.
When asked if David felt that performing for NDP 2018 was considered ‘making it,’ David said that ‘making it’ was subjective. “To me, my own personal goal was [playing] Glastonbury [Music Festival], but I’ve changed it to Coachella [Arts and Music Festival].”
“It’s tough to unite everybody [in music]... once the funding comes in [to SGMUSO] we would be doing more Singapore showcases… [but for] now it’s smaller scale, bring one band around [at a time],” David says. M1ldl1fe and SGMUSO have big plans ahead, but none of them would be possible without the positive outlook of David Siow.