SINGAPORE - Home-grown indie-rock quintet Stopgap have been making music since 2011 and have played at major local shows such as Baybeats and *Scape Invasion Tour, but they still get the jitters when they face their audience.
Their catchy song Nervous, a single off their recently released debut album Totems, is exactly about that. According to the band - comprising singer Adin Kindermann, guitarists Calvin Joseph Phua and Lee Yewjin, bassist Grayson Seah and drummer Eldad Leong - they each have their own way of dealing with public performance. Lee, for example, is known for painting his whole arm black for gigs.
Watch them play a stripped-down version of Nervous in a back alley near Little India:
Stopgap were one of the sterling new acts that were part of the 2013 edition of Noise Singapore, an initiative for creative youths by the National Arts Council. As part of the programme, the band were mentored by the now-defunct Great Spy Experiment frontman Saiful Idris, who ended up helping to produce Totems.
In an ST Sessions video, they talk about wearing fancy shirts, the power of diplomacy and why they named their album Totems:
Released in December last year, their debut album includes Crossing Swords, which has been picked up by local radio, as well as crowd favourite A Tough Nut To Crack.
Here, they play an acoustic version of Mind Made Up, also from the debut album, a song about break-ups:
They say their music has won over dedicated fans, including one who started up a tribute Instagram account for Kindermann:
