Email interview with Singaporean hobbyist-musician, "Su the Bandit"

Another email interview with a musician (these days I'm into finding out what makes creative people tick). This time I interview a fellow Singaporean Carrie Chan, who goes by the online moniker "Su the Bandit".

This interview comes five years later (an online longitudinal study of Singaporeans and their creative adventures? Heh).

I've blogged about her in my art-blog here and here. My previous musician-interview somehow led me to wonder what my musical friend was doing lately in the creative space. I emailed Carrie to ask if she would be interested in an email interview. Here it is (maybe someday her kids would find this interesting):

---

[Rambling Librarian = RL]
[Carrie]

[RL] What were the five things that have happened, musically speaking, since this 2008 interview?

[Carrie] I have:

• Performed in public for the first time with the songcraft circle in 2009
• Compiled a demo of 13 songs in 2010
• Submitted a song written on ukelele for an NEA song competition in 2011

[RL] I noticed your last post on your blog was dated 9th Aug 2011 (over two years as of this interview). Have you abandoned your blog? :) Why did you stop blogging?

[Carrie] Blogging, like songwriting, brings you back to that spot of vulnerability where you are saying something private, to heal
yourself, with no audience in mind or anyone who would like to read. If a post or song makes that connection or a reader or listener responds, that is a bonus.

I guess it takes a lot to dig deep and search yourself for the things which really matter; enough for you to express something creatively
about. Guess I've just been lazy about bringing myself to that spot of vulnerability and to dig deep to create an experience in words or
song. I used to blog or write songs late at night but lately, I crash out really early before 10 pm. Lao liao*!

(*Dialect; meaning: "old already")


[RL] Are you still making music? What are some of the new works you've done in the last two years?

[Carrie] These are the recent works:

• Love song for a vegetarian
• Hide
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• 3 words

[RL] I've always wondered if your family knows you've a blog and post music online. If the don't know, do you plan to tell them at some point? And do you see those pages as a legacy you're leaving for them?

[Carrie] Yes, they know. I've made friends through these pages, and know them in real life now. I keep it for sentimental reasons, to archive and for enabling connections - gosh, that's how I go to know you!


[RL] What keeps you busy these days?

[Carrie] After work, which takes up most of my day, I try to squeeze in some exercise - run, swim or spinning. After that, I have an hour to run through homework with the kids. Then I crash out.


[RL] What keeps you creative these days?

[Carrie] I am hardly creative these days but if the inspiration hits me, I will pick up the guitar and sing about potatoes and climbing up a volcano.

---

Thanks for this interview, Carrie. Perhaps I'm biased but I really found it a fun interview to read. Love the potato song! For someone who was initially shy about letting the world know her real name, you sure have progressed and been prolific in your online appearances (I'm still chicken about performing in public).

Incidentally, it would be awesome if Singapore TV programming had some documentary called "Singaporeans are Creative". I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons for creating such a series.