Mannerisms of Mild

It is hard to chase dreams that do not pay the bills - it is a fact and an especially undeniable reality for people who live life on the "milder" side but will the wisdom of age pull through, and for Club Mild, will the love for music become more whole than the simple desire to stand on stage and sing to a crowd?

- Charmaine Tan

Club Mild, formerly Take Two and MILDLIFE-made up of bassist David Siow, lead vocalist Paddy Ong and guitarist Tan Peng Sing is one of the pioneering acts that spearheaded the growth of Singapore's indie and post-punk music local talents, Club Mild may have come a long way but they find themselves further away from their eventual destination which they have yet to pinpoint. Just before the release of their latest single "Sun Gazer" - and a second line-up change, Club Mild shares what they have learned from actively making music while pursuing full-time day jobs, the pros and cons of choosing this double life, and how they have grown to love music in a means comfortably mild but fulfilling.

Firstly, we need to address your band’s name before I ask anything else. Why have you gone from Take Two to M1LDL1FE and now Club Mild?

Paddy: The running joke is that every body of work comes with a new name. But really, the change from Take Two to M1LDL1FE was because the latter felt more representative of ourselves as “mild beings”. Take Two was from our university days.

David: By “mild beings”, we mean we don’t really party that much. We indulge in simple, small gatherings. Whenever we go on tour, we head back to the hotel right after. For full transparency, there’s also an Australian band out there called Mild Life. These guys are also starting to expand their reach in Asia, and we are seeing them more often, so we felt the need to distinguish ourselves.

Peng Sing: We get tagged wrongly, or people will see us and say, “Congrats, man. You’re playing at this or that festival.” But I’ll reply, “Yeah, it’s cool, but it’s not us.”