It takes a rare kind of musician to dedicate their craft to the music of just one band – driven not by fame, fortune or the spotlight, but by deep admiration and enduring passion.
Welcome To The Machine, a Singapore tribute band honouring the legendary 1970s English rock group Pink Floyd, is a testament to that kind of devotion.
For the past 12 years, the band – consisting of current members Noel Ong, 53, David Baptista, 55, Lim Kiang, 75, Arindam Chatterjee, 51, Laurence Bucci, 51 and Andrew Yerkes 58 – has been performing Pink Floyd’s songs at shows ranging from pub gigs to live music concerts.
On Sept 12 and 13, they will be taking on their biggest, most ambitious project yet – a two-night production of Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre, which features a live orchestra and choir, as well as lasers, large projection wall, and actual (faux) brick walls.
The other interesting bit – it is fully self-funded. No management, no big sponsors, just six friends with day jobs from banking executives to sales managers pouring their heart, time, and savings into a show.
In fact, since the independent band debuted in 2013, its members have not pocketed a cent from their show’s profits. All the money that they have made along the way has gone back into the band either for its next show, for their practices, making merchandise and more.
Welcome To The Machine shared with CNA Lifestyle what has kept them going all these years.
It all started at a shop, Guitar 77, that Lim used to run where Ong and Baptista hung out frequently. The three shared a love for music and had talks about playing in a band together for a long time.
That same year, Bucci was introduced to the group through mutual friends. Other members, past and present – such as Chatterjee, who joined in 2018, and Yerkes, who came on board in 2024 – also found their way into the band through their social networks.
Welcome To The Machine performing at The Projector in 2023 for a show titled Dark Side Of The Rainbow. (Photo: Instagram/Welcome To The Machine)
“It all happened by accident. We didn’t do any advertising,” Ong shared about gaining new members.
Case in point: Their newest member, Yerkes, first saw the band perform Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon at The Projector. He ended up selling a piece of used musical gear on second hand online marketplace Carousell to one of the band’s former members, who then, through the platform, invited him to try out.
Since their formation, the group has typically performed once every two to three months – from smaller pub gigs at live music bar The Blackbird and urban food park Timbre+, to larger ticketed shows at venues like The Star Theatre, the annual Beerfest Asia, and Phil's Studio at GR.ID Mall.
But what truly binds the group beyond chance meetings and mutual friends is a deep, enduring love for Pink Floyd’s music. The legendary British rock band, made up of David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and the late Syd Barrett and Richard Wright, continues to inspire them decades on, even after their disbandment in the late 90s.
“I think it's poetry in motion,” Chatterjee said about the band’s songs. “I think the most difficult part about composing is putting music to lyrics and Floyd has probably done that.”
Ong said that he started to really take interest in the band when he first listened to Pink Floyd’s album The Wall.
“It was like a musical; it was like Les Miserables – it had art and a story and all kinds of different songs. It had a sense of drama. It just pulled me in,” he said.
Welcome To The Machine at Tribute Fest. (Photo: Welcome To The Machine)
Yerkes explained that the band’s modernist lyrics and social commentary drew him into the band’s discography.
“Also, I love the challenge that this music poses,” he said, explaining that their songs have complicated instrumentation, especially for the keyboard parts, which are harder to play than the usual rock fare.
But their love for the band extends beyond Pink Floyd’s art.
“It's not just the music, it's the friendships created and kind of the mission of trying to get things done together with people,” Bucci told CNA Lifestyle.
“Trying to be creative together and honor the music while putting it out there to share is not easy,” he added. “Because you can easily give up with a lot of things here and just go, ‘ah, forget it’, just play the song and don't care, but there's so much more to it that I think a lot of other bands don't bring to the shows or bring to their music.”
But being an independent band has not always been smooth sailing, especially in Singapore.
“When we started doing this, I think as a band we were earning about 600 bucks a night,” Bucci shared. “We didn't pocket that; we put that into practice, into getting some shirts made and to hopefully make some more money.”
Ong explained that at that time, the only venue that was willing to give the band a shot was The Barbershop at Old Parliament House, now closed down. Slowly, the band began drawing full crowds eventually helping the venue thrive and earning better pay in the process.
“Every cent that we've made along the way, it's gone back into the band. So we haven't, personally, ever taken a cent back home, it all goes back into lighting and putting on bigger shows,” Bucci added. “We're not in it for the money.”
That commitment meant learning how to stretch every dollar just to keep Welcome To The Machine going.
“The amount of practice you have to do, the amount of effort that goes into it; you're paying for studios, equipment, et cetera, it’s not easy,” he said.
The group's second production meeting for The Wall, including members Chatterjee (first from left), Bucci (third from left), Ong (middle), Baptista (second from right), and Yerkes (first from right). (Photo: Welcome To The Machine/Instagram)
Part of that pressure comes from performing music by a band with a cult following – loyal fans who know every note by heart.
“There are hooks in Pink Floyd's music that you just cannot fudge. So you have to spend a lot of money practicing it, getting the sounds right,” he explained.
“To get noticed, to put on a big show, to share the passion and the love of the music – it’s not easy in Singapore especially when you’re independent, 100 per cent, and it can be quite nerve wrecking."
The group said that they usually aim to stage one major show each year – a goal that began in 2018 after six years of saving up to fund their first large-scale production titled Brain Damage.
The group's first large-scale production titled Brain Damage in 2018. (Photo: Welcome To The Machine)
Held at the Pavilion at Far East Square in Chinatown, the show, which included a circular truss, lasers and a huge round projection, sold out 600 tickets.
When recreating Pink Floyd’s sound and stage presence, the band members said they were “quite lucky” as they described the on-stage personalities of Pink Floyd, except for its singer Roger Waters, as “drab and dreary”.
“They stand around and do what they do, and they let the music and the projections speak which is so good for us, because we're at an age where we don't want to be pretending to be Blink 182 or Backstreet Boys moving around the stage,” Bucci explained.
“We're just disciplined on stage and let the music talk.”
Despite over a decade of performing, the band’s passion and dedication have never waned.
“There's a satisfaction we all get out of playing, even if it's not our own music, but it gives us an opportunity to kind of share the love of music with other people,” Bucci said about what drives the band.
“People that enjoy not just hearing a song at a pub, but instead, having an emotion attached to it, it's very different to someone who's in a rock band and you just kind of like pumping a song and people are drinking and crazy. At our shows that does not happen,” he explained.
“Instead what you'll see is that people will stop and either close their eyes, pull their camera out, or just watch what's happening with the band. I don't think I've ever seen anyone dancing at our shows.”
Welcome To The Machine performing at The Projector for a show titled Echoes Odyssey. (Photo: Instagram/Welcome To The Machine)
According to Bucci, many in the audience know every lyric by heart, often singing along from start to finish.
“It gives me goosebumps, too. I think that's what kind of keeps me going doing these shows also – talking to the people; they have memories and interesting stories of seeing Pink Floyd themselves some years back,” he shared.
But it’s not just those moments of connection that fuel the band, it’s also the uphill climb of staging ambitious shows in Singapore’s challenging music landscape.
“I've found that with the right people around you, with the right attitude, with the right kind of gusto, you just keep going,” Bucci said.
“And we've had a lot of people tell us, ‘no, you can't do that’, ‘you can't afford that’, ‘I'm not going to allow that’. But well, I think the crowd tells a different story, the people want something different.”
Yerkes also added that it was the drive of the band that convinced him to join last year.
“These guys want to get it perfect and precise and sound as much like the real thing as they can,” he said. “I've been in other bands before where the point is to just let off steam, play some songs that everyone knows but this band is, I think, setting a higher bar for themselves.”
More than being able to practice the craft, the members said they had also attracted a network of creatives willing to volunteer to support the band from shooting videos for their shows to coming on to play their saxophone.
“All these people are attracted to this project because we're all so passionate about it,” Yerkes said. “I think that energy is like a magnet for other creatives, and there's a whole network that's formed around this band that supports it. That's part of the story.”
The band at Tribute Fest performing a show titled Hammers. (Photo: Welcome To The Machine)
Their upcoming show will be the group’s most elaborate production, featuring an orchestra led by conductor Amanda Kye Tan, as well as a choir with members such as Singapore theatre actors Andrew Marko, and Fahim Murshed.
The production will also take bits of ideas from Pink Floyd’s 1982 The Wall fantasy movie.
Bucci, however, added that he feels the arts scene in Singapore is in a “challenging situation”, with rising costs and the growing use of AI making it harder for musicians to thrive. As a result, many end up playing it safe and choosing more commercially viable music simply to cut costs.
“There are people who truly have this (drive) in their system. They're not going to be bankers, they're not going to be lawyers, they're great musicians and they don't have a chance,” he said.
Said to be the only tribute band in Asia making such moves, Welcome to the Machine thus also hopes to expand overseas as well.
The band has even performed self-funded shows in Thailand, Vietnam, India and Malaysia. After their upcoming production, the members are looking to return to India for another four charity shows.
Bucci said that many creatives have approached the band to tell them how their different way of operating, of being willing to pay to put on local and overseas shows, had inspired them as well.
“It's a nice thing to kind of think we can maybe set a little bit of a different way for all the rest of the bands that are around us,” he said.
“I think the other bands are not stupid enough to risk all their earnings after 10 years in a band to do that.”
Tickets to Welcome To The Machine’s production of The Wall are available via this link. Starting Sep 1, tickets will be eligible for redemption using SG Culture Pass credits.
Continue reading...
Welcome To The Machine, a Singapore tribute band honouring the legendary 1970s English rock group Pink Floyd, is a testament to that kind of devotion.
For the past 12 years, the band – consisting of current members Noel Ong, 53, David Baptista, 55, Lim Kiang, 75, Arindam Chatterjee, 51, Laurence Bucci, 51 and Andrew Yerkes 58 – has been performing Pink Floyd’s songs at shows ranging from pub gigs to live music concerts.
On Sept 12 and 13, they will be taking on their biggest, most ambitious project yet – a two-night production of Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre, which features a live orchestra and choir, as well as lasers, large projection wall, and actual (faux) brick walls.
The other interesting bit – it is fully self-funded. No management, no big sponsors, just six friends with day jobs from banking executives to sales managers pouring their heart, time, and savings into a show.
In fact, since the independent band debuted in 2013, its members have not pocketed a cent from their show’s profits. All the money that they have made along the way has gone back into the band either for its next show, for their practices, making merchandise and more.
Welcome To The Machine shared with CNA Lifestyle what has kept them going all these years.
KEEPING THE SPIRIT OF PINK FLOYD ALIVE
It all started at a shop, Guitar 77, that Lim used to run where Ong and Baptista hung out frequently. The three shared a love for music and had talks about playing in a band together for a long time.
That same year, Bucci was introduced to the group through mutual friends. Other members, past and present – such as Chatterjee, who joined in 2018, and Yerkes, who came on board in 2024 – also found their way into the band through their social networks.
Welcome To The Machine performing at The Projector in 2023 for a show titled Dark Side Of The Rainbow. (Photo: Instagram/Welcome To The Machine)
“It all happened by accident. We didn’t do any advertising,” Ong shared about gaining new members.
Case in point: Their newest member, Yerkes, first saw the band perform Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon at The Projector. He ended up selling a piece of used musical gear on second hand online marketplace Carousell to one of the band’s former members, who then, through the platform, invited him to try out.
Since their formation, the group has typically performed once every two to three months – from smaller pub gigs at live music bar The Blackbird and urban food park Timbre+, to larger ticketed shows at venues like The Star Theatre, the annual Beerfest Asia, and Phil's Studio at GR.ID Mall.
But what truly binds the group beyond chance meetings and mutual friends is a deep, enduring love for Pink Floyd’s music. The legendary British rock band, made up of David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and the late Syd Barrett and Richard Wright, continues to inspire them decades on, even after their disbandment in the late 90s.
“I think it's poetry in motion,” Chatterjee said about the band’s songs. “I think the most difficult part about composing is putting music to lyrics and Floyd has probably done that.”
Ong said that he started to really take interest in the band when he first listened to Pink Floyd’s album The Wall.
“It was like a musical; it was like Les Miserables – it had art and a story and all kinds of different songs. It had a sense of drama. It just pulled me in,” he said.
Welcome To The Machine at Tribute Fest. (Photo: Welcome To The Machine)
Yerkes explained that the band’s modernist lyrics and social commentary drew him into the band’s discography.
“Also, I love the challenge that this music poses,” he said, explaining that their songs have complicated instrumentation, especially for the keyboard parts, which are harder to play than the usual rock fare.
But their love for the band extends beyond Pink Floyd’s art.
“It's not just the music, it's the friendships created and kind of the mission of trying to get things done together with people,” Bucci told CNA Lifestyle.
“Trying to be creative together and honor the music while putting it out there to share is not easy,” he added. “Because you can easily give up with a lot of things here and just go, ‘ah, forget it’, just play the song and don't care, but there's so much more to it that I think a lot of other bands don't bring to the shows or bring to their music.”
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN INDEPENDENT BAND
But being an independent band has not always been smooth sailing, especially in Singapore.
“When we started doing this, I think as a band we were earning about 600 bucks a night,” Bucci shared. “We didn't pocket that; we put that into practice, into getting some shirts made and to hopefully make some more money.”
Ong explained that at that time, the only venue that was willing to give the band a shot was The Barbershop at Old Parliament House, now closed down. Slowly, the band began drawing full crowds eventually helping the venue thrive and earning better pay in the process.
“Every cent that we've made along the way, it's gone back into the band. So we haven't, personally, ever taken a cent back home, it all goes back into lighting and putting on bigger shows,” Bucci added. “We're not in it for the money.”
That commitment meant learning how to stretch every dollar just to keep Welcome To The Machine going.
“The amount of practice you have to do, the amount of effort that goes into it; you're paying for studios, equipment, et cetera, it’s not easy,” he said.
The group's second production meeting for The Wall, including members Chatterjee (first from left), Bucci (third from left), Ong (middle), Baptista (second from right), and Yerkes (first from right). (Photo: Welcome To The Machine/Instagram)
Part of that pressure comes from performing music by a band with a cult following – loyal fans who know every note by heart.
“There are hooks in Pink Floyd's music that you just cannot fudge. So you have to spend a lot of money practicing it, getting the sounds right,” he explained.
“To get noticed, to put on a big show, to share the passion and the love of the music – it’s not easy in Singapore especially when you’re independent, 100 per cent, and it can be quite nerve wrecking."
The group said that they usually aim to stage one major show each year – a goal that began in 2018 after six years of saving up to fund their first large-scale production titled Brain Damage.
The group's first large-scale production titled Brain Damage in 2018. (Photo: Welcome To The Machine)
Held at the Pavilion at Far East Square in Chinatown, the show, which included a circular truss, lasers and a huge round projection, sold out 600 tickets.
When recreating Pink Floyd’s sound and stage presence, the band members said they were “quite lucky” as they described the on-stage personalities of Pink Floyd, except for its singer Roger Waters, as “drab and dreary”.
“They stand around and do what they do, and they let the music and the projections speak which is so good for us, because we're at an age where we don't want to be pretending to be Blink 182 or Backstreet Boys moving around the stage,” Bucci explained.
“We're just disciplined on stage and let the music talk.”
THE HEART BEHIND THE MUSIC
Despite over a decade of performing, the band’s passion and dedication have never waned.
“There's a satisfaction we all get out of playing, even if it's not our own music, but it gives us an opportunity to kind of share the love of music with other people,” Bucci said about what drives the band.
“People that enjoy not just hearing a song at a pub, but instead, having an emotion attached to it, it's very different to someone who's in a rock band and you just kind of like pumping a song and people are drinking and crazy. At our shows that does not happen,” he explained.
“Instead what you'll see is that people will stop and either close their eyes, pull their camera out, or just watch what's happening with the band. I don't think I've ever seen anyone dancing at our shows.”
Welcome To The Machine performing at The Projector for a show titled Echoes Odyssey. (Photo: Instagram/Welcome To The Machine)
According to Bucci, many in the audience know every lyric by heart, often singing along from start to finish.
“It gives me goosebumps, too. I think that's what kind of keeps me going doing these shows also – talking to the people; they have memories and interesting stories of seeing Pink Floyd themselves some years back,” he shared.
But it’s not just those moments of connection that fuel the band, it’s also the uphill climb of staging ambitious shows in Singapore’s challenging music landscape.
“I've found that with the right people around you, with the right attitude, with the right kind of gusto, you just keep going,” Bucci said.
“And we've had a lot of people tell us, ‘no, you can't do that’, ‘you can't afford that’, ‘I'm not going to allow that’. But well, I think the crowd tells a different story, the people want something different.”
Yerkes also added that it was the drive of the band that convinced him to join last year.
“These guys want to get it perfect and precise and sound as much like the real thing as they can,” he said. “I've been in other bands before where the point is to just let off steam, play some songs that everyone knows but this band is, I think, setting a higher bar for themselves.”
More than being able to practice the craft, the members said they had also attracted a network of creatives willing to volunteer to support the band from shooting videos for their shows to coming on to play their saxophone.
“All these people are attracted to this project because we're all so passionate about it,” Yerkes said. “I think that energy is like a magnet for other creatives, and there's a whole network that's formed around this band that supports it. That's part of the story.”
The band at Tribute Fest performing a show titled Hammers. (Photo: Welcome To The Machine)
Their upcoming show will be the group’s most elaborate production, featuring an orchestra led by conductor Amanda Kye Tan, as well as a choir with members such as Singapore theatre actors Andrew Marko, and Fahim Murshed.
The production will also take bits of ideas from Pink Floyd’s 1982 The Wall fantasy movie.
Bucci, however, added that he feels the arts scene in Singapore is in a “challenging situation”, with rising costs and the growing use of AI making it harder for musicians to thrive. As a result, many end up playing it safe and choosing more commercially viable music simply to cut costs.
“There are people who truly have this (drive) in their system. They're not going to be bankers, they're not going to be lawyers, they're great musicians and they don't have a chance,” he said.
Said to be the only tribute band in Asia making such moves, Welcome to the Machine thus also hopes to expand overseas as well.
The band has even performed self-funded shows in Thailand, Vietnam, India and Malaysia. After their upcoming production, the members are looking to return to India for another four charity shows.
Bucci said that many creatives have approached the band to tell them how their different way of operating, of being willing to pay to put on local and overseas shows, had inspired them as well.
“It's a nice thing to kind of think we can maybe set a little bit of a different way for all the rest of the bands that are around us,” he said.
“I think the other bands are not stupid enough to risk all their earnings after 10 years in a band to do that.”
Tickets to Welcome To The Machine’s production of The Wall are available via this link. Starting Sep 1, tickets will be eligible for redemption using SG Culture Pass credits.
Continue reading...