Sing Jazz Club presented a band with no name that became The Flux

I don’t know if they really felt out of place. They said they did and perhaps they were. As they were out of place in their previous gig location as far as I am concerned. Even though they inherited the JJ Atlanta’s gig from Heritage and are playing a similar music style, they appeared out of place at the Duxton rd bar.

I always thought that was part of the charm of going there. We would sit somewhere in the front, close to the stage and listened to the music, ignoring everything going on in the back of the room.   That was another world out there. 

A world that, to many people, would characterize the bar as sleazy. 

With comments made on jazz, while introducing their own, quite nice I may add, occasional jazz renditions, the band members attempted to create an opposite impression of the Sing Jazz Club, where they were playing this time. I believe they hinted towards the idea that Sing Jazz was thought to be too upscale for their attitude to music.

It is true that many of the covers they played are tunes I heard for the first time in a dungeon style youth club back in my home town. A dark place with old couches, rugs on the floor and walls. The place was always suspected, by outsiders, of being occupied by a pot smoking crowd which was then still illegal. 

 

JJ reminded me of that place often. Not because there was any kind of drug use going on, but the scruffy decoration and the idea that the entertainment in the back was not talked about at home, made me draw this parallel.

On the other hand it may not be their ex-venue that made them feel out of place but more the reputation of those 60-70 rock bands like the Doors that made them comment on being out of place at Sing Jazz. 

I do not study much on music history etc. but what I understand about the stars from back then, it may very well be that the attitude of sex, drugs and rock&roll was really developed by some famous jazz musicians though sex drug & jazz doesn't have the same ring to it I am sure the meaning is not far from the truth.

"So gentlemen why is it so inappropriate for you to play at Sing Jazz for some of those Jazz snobs."

There was a Band Without Name (Band Zonder Name) in Holland. Of  course I was thinking of them as soon as this band at Sing Jazz mentioned they did not have a name. I read about BZN for a little bit. Apparently they started out as a rock band in the late sixties and didn’t quite make the cut like our own Golden Earring did. 

 

In their quest for success they started to create songs that most of the serious rock and pop audience considered tacky and silly. I have a sneaky suspicion that they may have thought the same, and that’s why they wanted to stay anonymous. No name. But sales on top of sales and hit upon hits they became gradually the most successful band of the Netherlands. 

What is my point? ( Do I need one) Open mind. An open mind can make a big difference. Some people are capable or tuned-in to search and find, other people need to be surprised and converted. I think it is a positive development that Sing Jazz is becoming more of a music lounge than a Jazz Club. The different styles will bring in different audiences. Sometimes a Jazz Snob may accidentally step into a gig of a cover band and be amazed.

  

We at least are always entertained by Singapore’s "Band Without Name". Be it from our trusted bar stools at Sing Jazz, or at JJ's, listening to their fun covers and some really cool originals that will, they threatened, one day be recorded and distributed. 

I sent the link of this post to the band-members to which I got a quick response with a thank you and that they had made up their minds on the name for the band: The Flux. I saw an immediate relation to my angel on open mind and change. Sometimes I am not sure about the meaning of a word so I look it up before I make such statements. I was correct in my assumption that flux is change related but it also means flowing of liquid. My guess is that the band is more leaning to the latter. 

Cheers

The Flux are

Neal Goldberg - guitar & vox

Aynsley Green - keys, bass & vox

Mark Boatman - drums