surrealist love scene

More will be jumping for joy.

Irregular Choice Men is exclusively available at Surrealist Love Scene.  Prices start from $199.

Look out for Irregular Choice Launch Party in December 2007.

Tell us more about you and the people behind the brand Rotter and Friends. Let the Singapore people know who you are!
Greetings people. Rotter and Friends is a tee shirt line highlighting some of my favorite tunes and artists from the past. The illustrations are all hand-drawn, wickedly whimsical prints paying homage to our heroes like Bobbie Gentry, Neil Young, and John Phillips. Our tees are made with care and packaged in record sleeves, representing our love for the tactile music/style experience.

You guys are promoters for bands in NYC, any up and coming bands that we should look out for?
Theres a lot of really cool psychedelic bands coming out of Brooklyn like my buddies It Lives and Heavy Hands. I am really excited about Anthology Recordings, a retail/educational forum for unreleased and out of print 60’s and 70’s records that made the direct jump from vinyl to mp3. Their Anonymous album “Inside The Shadow” made me fall out of my chair the first time I heard it. Plus internet radio is the light to my darkness.

The music scene in NYC is really exciting right now, with The Strokes,Interpol, The Rapture all gaining commercial success. We can see your tees are heavily influenced by music related icons and subject. Why choose music as the main source of inspiration?
Listening and experiencing music always went in tandem with my artwork. I can get inspired from an old record more than a Chelsea gallery these days, so it seemed fitting for me to focus and reflect on pieces of moving music that some people aren’t familair with. It kind of stems from doing PR for rock bands-when I get letters from kids who bought my “Wolfking of LA” tee, then immediately sought out to buy the record, then I know I’m doing something good. That not to say painting doesn’t still influence me just as much as music, but it all seemed like a fitting theme for tee shirts.

Who or what inspires you every season? Any personal muse?
Traveling is a huge inspiration and meeting new colorful characters gabbing about their favorite musical moments. My friends play a big part in my ideas, production, and images. We have serious discussions over wine about what works and what does not, and I value their conversations dearly. Whether its film, books, tunes, or the pigeon on my window cill, I just try to keep watching the wheels. Its very easy to nod off and stare at the ground as you walk. My Dad’s record and comic book collection is also a huge influence.

Why should people wear Rotter and Friends?
We welcome people to wear Rotter and Friends for a nice change of pace. You can’t deny these tees are certainly different in a world of carbon copied skull and deer graphics and ironic phrases. We set out to make genuine pieces that are easy to wear, bear a sense of nostalgia, and highlight some amazing jams.

Any exciting plans in 2008? Peek into Spring 2008?
We are just coming to the surface after throwing a monster event during the CMJ music festival with good friends Mooka Kinney at the Salmgaundi Art club. For 2008, watch out for our first guest artist, Ron Paolillo-aka HORSHACK from 70’s show “Welcome Back Kotter”. Who knew he drew amazing stoner wizard art? Our Spring collection is going to rule, highlighting Roky Erickson, Linda Rondstadt, and Willie Nelson.

Anything to say to your fans in Singapore?
Much love to Singapore, I hope to visit there someday. I would love to hear some good vintage tunes from there-send some over!

If you were to form a band, what kind of a band will that be?
Anything would be better than my high school band, The Fallopian Tunes. Did I just reveal that out loud?

xx JESS

That’s our lovely Jess all the way from NYC. Thanks for interview Jess, we heart! Check out the Mooka Kinney party pics that Rotter And Friends threw here at NYLON online.

We started with the power of 3 (designs).  Now the rest are in!  We’ll be uploading the pictures on our online catalog soon.  Meanwhile, drool over them in this editorial feature in DISORDER.

Johnny Shameless And His Minions

Cigarette Sex
You know it’s thriller, thriller night. You’re fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight” – Thriller, Micheal Jackson
Yes you hear it right, it’s creep tonight! Johnny Shameless And His Minions will be playing tomorrow night @ HOME Club BEAT! Halloween Horror party! Also on the bill that night are Cigarette Sex, they are a bunch of psychotic rockers! Hope they will drop one or two Guns N’ Roses tunes tomorrow night. Not forgetting Ginette Chittick, George Chua and Joe Ng as hosts to BEAT! to end the night with their usual mix of indie tunes. It’s sure to be a riot!

Come dressed as an indie undead to gain free entry before 11pm! We’ll do the Thriller all night long! Most horrifically dressed wins a return ticket to Bali!
Cover charge (1st drink) at $12 before 11pm, $15 after. $5 beers before 11, 1-for-1 housepour glasses till 12, $99 housepour bottles, Graveyard’s at $15 all night!

Show starts at 9pm! Cigarette Sex will go on stage at about 10pm, Johnny Shameless & His Minions will kill the stage at 11pm. Party goes on till the undead crawl back to their graves!

Irregular Choice has opened it’s first store in the heart of New York.  Word has it that there are plans for another store in London.  Maybe the third one will be in Singapore?  You’ll be the first to know..

This entry is for those of you out there who have this burning question. Should I cut my long hair? 

In fact, over the weekend, many customers came by, saw my new hairdo (not that new really, just that I finally had time to trim it shorter!) and asked where I got it done and if they should do it too.

I had some time to look at what the runway has been telling us.  And this is what I gather. Short is definitely in this season.  In fact, it has gotten “Boy Short” if I could use this term.  It basically means in my perspective, the shorter, the better! So forget the bob fashion darlings, that’s SO yesterday.

Take the cue from models like Agyness Deyn (face of Burberry Prorsum print ads), Anja Rubik (face of Chloe print ads) and Ceceilia Mendez.

What’s good about having short hair that is this stylish?  You basically just STAND OUT from the rest.

So get inspired.  Here are some tips before you make that cut:

1.  Get a great hair stylist who can work the trends with your hair.  Try Serena from Toni and Guy at The Heeren.

2.  Get a strong hue together with the great hair cut.  Think dark colours please…….you don’t wanna end up looking like a light bulb.

3.  Stock up those eyeliners!  Work those eyes baby!  With strong eyes, pale lips and great skin, you will nail this new rock and roll hairdo.

4.  Time to experiment with different looks.  Try the feminine, do the andro look.  Stock up on classic dresses, wide pants, skinny jeans and white shirts.

(Photos courtesy of Style.com)

Which band in this world can pull off such a brilliant idea! A pay-as-you-wish,or should I say pay any amount you like for their new release In Rainbows. Having said that I would still prefer to get my hands on the actual cd complete with sleeves all. I love the smell of opening a mint cd case! I always think to myself how can Radiohead keep outdoing themselves album after album. Radiohead is king. Now bow down and show your R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

All you metalheadz you are in for a treat! Double metal weekend here in Singapore! Megadeth and Heaven And Hell will kill you back to back at Fort Canning Park on 26 Oct and 27 Oct. Bought to you by the kind folks at LAMC Productions. Though both bands are way past their peak of their career, but this is a concert not to be miss u fools! We waited for years for this to happen. So don’t kill youself if you miss it and start regretting later! We are bringing our our tight ass leather pants for this one! Just hope our pants didn’t shrink that much over the years. *Note it’s our pants, not us.

Here’s Surrealist Love Scene top ten albums of all time! Or should I say this is what our playlists are in our store.

No.10 – Appetite For Destruction – Guns N’ Roses
Who can ever forget the most dangerous band in the world? And that opening riff of Welcome To The Jungle. Axl, Slash, Duff, Steven and Izzy at their finest.

No.9 – Ringleader Of The Tormentors – Morrissey
Moz’s has to be in our top 10 list! This one of his very best album to date. With songs like, Dear God Please Help me, Life Is A Pigsty. Moz a modern poet.

No.8 – Pablo Honey – Radiohead
I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo. The song that nearly runied them, but not. Enough said.

No.7 – Suede – Suede
The duo Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler is often compare to The Smiths Morrissey and Johnny Marr. This debut album from Suede is the best thing ever happen to British music. So Young, Animal Nitrate, The Drowners, Sleeping Pills, Metal Mickey, The Next Life still get heavily airplay at our store.

No.6 – The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
Mani bass line of I Wanna Be Adored kept repeating in our head. John Squire guitar quietly comes in and when Ian Brown start singing in his heavily british accent voice. This is definately a classic. The legendary madchester baggy scene never look back. This is ressurrection man!

No.5 – Nevermind The Bollocks Here’s Sex Pistols – Sex Pistols
Even though Sex Pistols only had one official album, this album is enough to be a all important punk album. Never had anyone seen or heard anything like that back in the year 1977. This album is still so revelant till today. I always believe Sex Pistols were a manufactured band by Malcom Mclaren. But who cares! This is Anarchy!

No.4 – The Queen Is Dead – The Smiths
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead was a tough choice to pick from the many Smiths classics. But we chose this as our No.4 because of one song, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. Our all time fave Smiths song.

No.3 – Nevermind – Nirvana
We were torned and fighting with ourselves whether to put Nirvana biggest album Nevermind or their debut album and much heavier Bleach in out Top 10 list. After much debate, it was Nevermind that stole our hearts. We can’t denied the guy they invented grunge, Kurt Cobain a spot here. Hmmm, Grunge, can you find this word in the Oxford dictionary? I believe they must have reprinted the entire series of dictionary just to add that word in since is so widely use by music journalists back then. Kurt was a genius, a legend and left a legacy behind. That Teen Spirit hit was just way too big a hit to denied. The energy in that song never fade away. We still get goosebumps listening to it till now.

No.2 – Disintegration – The Cure
One of the most important albums of The Cure. This album is a masterpiece, an epic. Which band in the world have achieved so much for so many years? Which band now can write such beautifully crafted songs? Which band is not influenced by The Cure? With such a huge following and diverse audience all over the world. Roberth Smith brings us into his world. How many bands have come and go, but not The Cure, they are here to stay.

Our No.1 album of all time *drum roll*
No.1 – Master Of Puppets – Metallica
Hahahaa I know is a shocker right? This is brutal, this is heavy shit. But we all have a little metal in us. right? One of the defining albums of thrash metal, Master Of Puppets is arguably Metallica’s best album in their entire catalogue of albums! To top that off, this is their last recording with bassist Cliff Burton, a farewell before his sudden and unfortunate death. Metallica may look and sound like shit now, but always remember James, Kirk, Cliff and Lars once rule the metal world. As we always say, Surrealist Love Scene, rising hell with pride! We are metal! hahahhaa

That’s our Top 10 albums. We should have done Top 100 instead as we left out so many other bands/albums that we love! Ride, My Blody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Mudhoney, Janes Addiction, Iggy & The Stooges, Juliette & The Licks, James, Happy Mondays, The Clash, Ramones, GG Allin, Slayer, Sonic Youth, Manic Street Preachers, MUSE, Placebo, The Verve, Inspiral Carpets, and so on and on…Maybe next time. lol.

I am impressed with Chanel’s Spring 08 collection.  Not that I have been less than impressed for the past collections.  This new collection has far exceeded my expectations and has once again confirmed that Karl is the love of my life.  Check out the shoes in this collection….Hey, bags and shoes do go together! Simply BRILLANT!

(Photos Courtesy of Style.com)