Show: “Show Us Your Indies”
Interviewer: Steve “Legman” Legg
Interviewees: Kym Huynh, Cameron Driessen and Clayton Driessen.
Date: 23/06/05

Steve: Welcome back to the show. Program is ‘Show Us Your Indies’. You’re here with, let me say, Kym and Cam.
Cam: How are you man.
Kym: How are you.
Steve: And a little extra on the side there, is that right?
Cam: My brother.
Steve: Whoa microphone flies out the air, that’s how excited I am. Alright what was that? Maybe If? Is that what it was called?
Kym: Back Where I Begun.
Steve: And what’s all that about?
Kym: It’s about a girl, like my other songs.
Steve: Aren’t they all?
Cam: Isn’t it about your mom?
Kym: … No!
Steve: What about this girl?
Kym: It’s pretty indie punk rock. She’s with another guy but you want her to be with you so, write a song about her.
Steve: And then did she come to you after that?
Kym: No, she ran away further.
Steve: Keep writing there Kym, you’ll get there. What you been up to since last you were in here? Was it about a year ago was it?
Kym: I think months ago actually.
Steve: Yep
Kym: Pretty busy with the song writing. Still performing a lot. Gigging a lot now.
Steve: Where at?
Kym: Frostbites, just around the area, South Yarra.
Steve: What sort of material are you performing?
Kym: Mostly RnB but I’m doing a lot of rocky ballads now so it’s interesting.
Steve: Are you getting a chance to do your original stuff?
Kym: Yep, all originals now.
Steve: All originals?
Kym: Yep.
Steve: That’s good. How’s it coming across to the audience?
Kym: Pretty good reaction, but everyone supports us anyway so it’s good.
Steve: So you have your own crowd that comes along and screams.
Kym: Yep!
Steve: All the girls?
Kym: Ahh… I’d like to think so!
Cam: They’re all guys!
Steve: How did you hook up with these two lads?
Kym: They walked into my house one day.
Steve: Right.
Clayt: We were debating what we were originally going to do. We decided to sorta sing together.
Kym: I’m like, “Yo let’s wring a song instead!”, and they’re like, “Yo ok!”
Cam: No originally we were…
Steve: We got some seriousness here. This is what I like.
Cam: Serious!
Clayt: Serious faces!
Cam: Yeah we started off being in the same singing class, working in the same genre so eventually decided to write stuff together.
Steve: Have you done stuff prior to doing stuff with Kym? Have you done stuff on your own?
Cam: Yeah. Me and my brother have started singing before we went to singing school and since then have been writing stuff own our own and getting it produced, cause like Kym’s pretty good at song writing and everything.
Kym: Awww thanks.
Cam: You are man.
Clayt: Talented in the music area.
Kym: Awww… I’m touched!
Steve: Do you guys play any instruments at all with your songwriting?
Clayt: I play guitar and drums.
Cam: I play bass and drums.
Steve: So you do the recordings yourself?
Clayt: Yeah we got a little studio at home to do demos.
Kym: They’re hot tracks.
Clayt: Yeah they’re fli!
Kym: So fli!
Steve: What sort of style are you guys into in terms of your recording?
Clayt: We do a lot of RnB and pop.
Cam: Our RnB stuff has a more hip hop backing to it though but we sing RnB with it and do a lot of pop stuff as well.
Steve: And you two sing together?
Clayt: Yep.
Cam: Yeah we do but we do solo stuff as well.
Steve: Does someone take the lead more than others?
Clayt: When we sing together we try to divide it up evenly,
Steve: Do you get into fights?
Kym: All the time!
Steve: C’mon give me some dirt here! You can’t be completely perfect!
Clayt: The word on the street is…
Steve: That’s what I want to hear! Any plans to bring your musical part into it as well and form a band where the three of yous go out and do it in a live situation?
Cam: We do things where we can have our stuff produced and performed in public together. Not so much with instruments but I prefer to have it all put down in the studio rather than play live.
Steve: How are you finding you’re getting your music out to people? How are they getting access to it?
Cam: A lot of live venue stuff like what we did here, sending it out to you guys and sending it out to other people.
Steve: Getting much of a response?
Cam: With the live stuff we are.
Clayt: Yeah. Big response with the live performing.
Cam: It’s huge.
Steve: Where abouts are you playing. You’re saying Frostbites?
Kym: Yeah. At venues around South Yarra. Chapel off Chapel, Frostbites, Mostquito, Caramel.
Cam: South Yarra, south Melbourne area.
Steve: Who does the running around and booking for you? Is it something you guys do or do they just ring you up and know how talented you are so they say, “Come and play with us?”
Kym: It just happens, it just all falls into our laps pretty much.
Clayt: Some of it we organize ourselves.
Kym: Or like this one, we talked with you guys. It all depends. You just gotta be there at the right time. You gotta perform a lot. It’s like the snowball effect. The more you perform, the more people notice.
Cam: Yeah build a bigger fan base.
Steve: Do they have bands that back you or do you take in tracks?
Cam: I’ve been given the option… myself, and me and my brother to have a band backing with us. I’m thinking of trailing them to see what they’re like with us.
Steve: Would that involve a degree of rehearsals or do you just throw in some charts and say, “this is what I want to do”?
Clayt: Definitely a lot of rehearsals.
Cam: We do a lot of rehearsals non-stop every week, every day.
Clayt: With the band it’ll be more intense. It’s a different situation working with a band rather than backing.
Steve: What’s the plan with you guys? Where to from here?
Kym: Hmmm…
Clayt: To the movies!
Kym: To the movies! We’re going to gig a lot. At the moment, we’re just looking at gigging. Play a lot of shows. Keep writing, of course.
Cam: Always writing.
Kym: Always writing, and we’ll see where it goes from there.
Steve: You got enough to write about? Other than girls?
Kym: Girls seem to be a big crux of what we write about.
Cam: You’re obsessed man. You need therapy!
Steve: It’s not a bad subject though, really.
Kym: No no, it’s not too bad.
Cam: It’s always easy to write songs about chicks.
Kym: For sure!
Clayt: Or parties. Parties and chicks are the easiest things to write about.
Kym: Or cars.
Cam: Experience. Experience!
Steve: Alright we’re going to put on another track off your CD.
Kym: Sweet.
Steve: Track 4 was it?
Kym: Yep.
Steve: What one this one called?
Kym: Motherland. This was written by Adam Tsen and I. Adam Tsen was in here last time but he’s not here today because he got through to Australian Idol.
Steve: Is that right? How far into it is he?
Kym: I think he goes to Sydney.
Clayt: Yep!
Cam: I think he’s in the top 100. Do he’s done really well with that.
Steve: Did you guys go into it?
Kym: Nope.
Cam: Nope.
Clayt: Nope.
Cam: Not really the direction I want to take.
Steve: What about the exposure and all of that?
Clayt: We sort of want to do it on our own.
Kym: They want to put in the hard yards.
Steve: That’s certainly admirable. A lot of the indie sorta rock bands are saying the same sorta thing but I think from the style you guys are heading in, I would’ve thought it would’ve been a great leg up.
Kym: We’ll see in the future.
Cam: Yeah it’s definitely an option if we need it there.
Steve: So you think at the moment, you’ll do it your own way?
Cam: Yeah we’re happy doing it our own way. It’s flowing the way we want it to.
Clayt: We got producers from New York who want to meet up, work with us…
Steve: So you got your contacts there anyway.
Kym: Yeah it’s flowing along the way we want it too so we’re not too fussed.
Cam: I think I’ll save that as a last resort anyway.
Kym: Anyway this song was written about the happenings in Bali. We sang it last time as well but this is the actual track.

<Applause>

Kym: Thank-you! Thank-you!
Steve: Ah yes. Big reaction there from the 9-7.9 FM audience.
Cam: Thanks guys!
Steve: Oh wait, that wasn’t live was it! Hold back crowd! All right we’re going to get you in to do a live one. Before we do, is there any upcoming gigs or anything you want to promote?
Kym: We’ve got mid-year concerts coming up at Chapel off Chapel.
Cam: That’s the one we’re doing with singing school. It will be on 1st, 2nd or 3rd, any one of those dates. To see me and Kym…
Kym: We’ve got an original show case coming up three weeks after that.
Steve: Cool.
Kym: If you want information, visist my website kymhuynh.com. That’s K-Y-M-H-U-Y-N-H.COM. And it’s got gig information.
Steve: Thanks for clarifying that for us.
Kym: Haha yeah. No one knows how to spell my name.
Clayt: Hyundai!
Steve: I actually gave it to the host before hand because he was asking who was on the show and I gave him the CD and he goes, “… Kym! Is on the show!”
Cam: Kym Hun!
Clayt: Kym Huuuynnnh!
Cam: Huh– huhhhh
Kym: Ok Kym!
Steve: Actually what is on your website? You got some downloadable tracks?
Kym: Yep a few sample tracks. Gig information.
Steve: Yep.
Kym: Basic information.
Steve: Few pictures?
Clayt: Nude gallery.
Kym: My private gallery.
Clayt: But that’s $4.90 a month by the way, you gotta pay for that!
Steve: Call now!
Kym: But wait, there’s more, these are not actors.
Steve: Alright so when you perform, the two of you together, it will be this song that you’re about to do?
Kym: Yep. It’s a new song. It’s called Dirty Ways. It’s about a girl.
Clayt: Funnily enough!
Kym: What’s interesting is that she’s a pregnant prostitute… so… yeah.
Cam: Not anyone we know by the way!
Kym: Not anyone we know.
Clayt: It’s a made up story.
Steve: Does she exist?
Clayt: No.
Kym: It’s a made up story… but it’s a good story.
Steve: Ah you gotta make them up sometimes.
Clayt: It’s a good eye opener for things that actually happen out there.
Steve: Well make your way out there! Thanks for coming in! Send us your stuff as soon as you can and we’ll put you on the show!
Clayt: Thanks!
Cam: Thanks!
Kym: Thanks!
Steve: Cheers!

Show: “Show Us Your Indies”
Interviewer: Steve “Legman” Legg
Interviewees: Kym Huynh and Adam Tsen.
Date: 13/01/05

Steve: Hi welcome back to 97.9 FM, “Show Us Your Indies”, that was Kym and Adam and we have Kym and Adam with us in the studio. How you going fellas?
Adam: Hi
Kym: Pretty good
Steve: That’s great mate, that’s a very slick recording you’ve got going there. Tell us a little bit about where you recorded it, how you did it and what it’s all about.
Kym: The recording was done with a friend of mine called Marcus Jilla. We wanted to fun of the genre because every song is about a girl right?
Steve: Absolutely.
Kym: So we thought there’s drug addictions, there’s booze addictions, why not girl addictions.
Steve: Do you think we’re all singing about the same girl.
Kym: Definitely.
Steve: So how did you guys hook up together? What’s the story?
Adam: We’re part of the same singing school so we just get together sometimes, sing a few songs, do a few songs, write a few tracks.
Steve: What’s the school?
Adam: Jaanz School of Singing.
Steve: Where’s that based?
Adam: Australia wide.
Steve: Did you guys have to travel far to get here tonight? To sunny Melton?
Kym: It wasn’t a bad trip. It was pretty scenic.
Steve: Yep.
Kym: I love the grass.
Steve: And with your recording, are you doing it at home?
Kym: My friends have studios around. We just go to them. We have fun and muck around. This song was actually written in two hours and recorded in two hours, so it was pretty quick.
Steve: Have you got any plans to take it into a live situation?
Kym: Definitely! We’re just writing songs at the moment and aim to get a whole collection of songs. We’ll see how things go from there.
Steve: Any plans to release an album, an EP or what do you do with this sort of genre?
Kym: The next song you hear from us, we will release as a single and this is basically written about…
Steve: A girl?
Kym: Not a girl… although…
Steve: It could be!
Kym: It was written about the tsunami. When we release it as a single, we’re going to use the funds to send out and help out a bit.
Steve: That’s great. That’s something a lot of bands are getting behind at the moment. It’s a bloody disaster what happened over there. Have you got a website?
Kym: I had a website! I don’t know what happened to it. My dog must have eaten it or something. It just disappeared.
Steve: We’ve got you down as Kym and Adam. Are you going under that sort of monica as a name or something else?
Adam: We’ll have to think of one and get back to you.
Kym: We want something cool like Neptunes.
Steve: Yeah! That’s it!
Kym: Something iconic and historic, so when people see… they’ll be YEAH! SUPERMAN!
Steve: Yeah! That’s it! With your singing, is this the style of music you’ve always wanted to do or felt like you wanted to do? How long have you been singing this thing?
Kym: It’s my lovechild, soul. Most of the singers from the school love soul as well. This was just a natural progression from that.
Steve: What sort of artists and bands are you into?
Adam: A bit of Boyz II Men, just all that RnB, American soul singers.
Kym: Aretha, gotta have the Aretha.
Steve: She’s the queen.
Kym: She is!
Steve: Is there any type of independent artists or bands out there that you can hook up with and network with?
Kym: Definitely! There are so many people out there in Melbourne. The thing is it seems to be all underground as well so you really got to get in there and meet people.
Steve: Are there venues that are doing this sort of stuff?
Adam: Definitely. The Jaanz School of Singing has café nights they offer for us. We know a lot of people so we’ve been singing at clubs as well. A lot of clubs around Melbourne offer young, rising artists a chance to sing so Melbourne’s pretty good for rising artists.
Kym: The culture really gets behind people and supports them as well so it’s a great start.
Steve: Tell us about the school. We have a lot of bands who come through this program but I don’t think any of them have been to a singing school.
Kym: The singing school is pretty much like a school. Rather than math, science and English, we study singing.
Steve: Is it a full time sort of thing?
Kym: Its part time, but you’re in classes of four. You really feed off each other. Watch other people perform. It’s great!
Steve: Is it all different styles of music?
Kym: They let you develop your own style. You bring in whatever you want to sing. A lot of people start with RnB for no reason.
Steve: Do you have your traditional indie rock styling coming through?
Adam: Definitely. There are some people who do rock in the school. There’s actually a teacher who teaches rock in the school. He’s a great teacher too. A lot of rock people go to him.
Steve: A lot of famous people there?
Adam: Delta has come from the school. Holly Valance… Anastasia has been to the school so it’s a pretty big school… international as well.
Steve: Anastasia we know of… she’s not from Aussie land is she! Noooo. I’ve seen the signs around Bell Street. I think there’s one of Bell Street and thinking, “Oh yeah, that looks familiar. I wonder what goes on in there!” How do they fund it? Is it government or are you guys paying tuition?
Kym: We pay, but it’s worth it because they really develop you as a singer. Because there’s so many people that sing there, you really get into the whole atmosphere and you really want to start writing your own songs, singing on TV, going out clubbing getting gigs.
Steve: So they’re developing and image and things like that.
Kym: Oh yeah!
Steve: So what drew you guys to singing? Did you wake up one day and think, “I’m going to be a singer!” or did someone push you in the right direction? Someone’s dad’s out there!
Kym: That’s my dad!
Steve: Hi Kym’s dad!
Kym: Actually my sister started singing a while back. She came home while I was sitting at the computer and she started singing all these Aretha songs and I’m like, “What! How did you sing that!” and she’s goes, “Jaanz!” I’m thinking, “Oh yeah! That’s my school now!”
Steve: You’ve always felt musical?
Kym: I’ve always been doing music. Whether musicals, singing in choirs and all that. Pretty big history.
Steve: You’ve been in theater music?
Kym: Definitely.
Steve: What sort of musicals have you been doing?
Kym: Godspell, Pirates of the Caribbean.
Steve: I thought that was a movie wasn’t it?
Kym: Well Peter Pan’s a movie and I’ve done that. I was the kid Michael running around in over-sized pajamas.
Steve: Is that something you want to get into as well? Acting?
Kym: Possibly but I’m just concentrating on the music at the moment because it’s more fun.
Steve: Will you guys form a band and get this out?
Adam: I guess so. We’ve been writing a few songs together. Putting music together with producers. We want to be moving along and putting stuff out now.
Steve: Obviously it’s electronic based backing stuff. How would you go about putting a band together for that type of stuff?
Kym: There are so many options out there. Just because you have an electronic computer doesn’t mean you have to have an electronic sound. There’s a lot of flexibility out there now especially with programs people can freely get.
Steve: So you may have some percussion… some decks?
Kym: Yep!
Steve: Ok so we’re going to have a little listen to you live so to speak. From this point on, are we able to promote you somehow for people to get a hold of your music.
Kym: They could contact the Jaanz School of Singing and just ask for us.
Steve: I’ll want Kym and Adam and they’ll know who you are?
Kym: Oh yeah!
Steve: You guys are famous there.
Adam: Yeah.
Kym: Of course!
Steve: You’re on radio now.
Adam: <laughter> Yeah!
Kym: Actually, if you go to the Jaanz website www.jaanz.com.au we should be listed there.
Steve: Ok! And do a search for you? You got your pictures up there and all that?
Adam: Profiles!
Kym: We’re working on the pictures actually because we can’t seem to take pictures that make us look really good.
Adam: We’re working on it!
Steve: No worries. Well head on in there and thanks for coming in. It’s been a pleasure and good luck with all your singing in the future. We’ll be looking out for you and we’ll be keen to have a listen to what you’re about to do for us.