From Dropbeat Heartbeat to Sign of Five

On Mar 2, local five-piece band Sign of Five and soulful singer-songwriter Jaime Wong performed at Pioneer Secondary School for the *SCAPE Invasion Tour.

After their performance, we caught up with three members of Sign of Five – Rozaihan Ramlan, Fyq Hameed and Matin Wallister – to talk about the rebirth of their band, formerly known as Dropbeat Heartbeat.

So, what has changed since then? “The members, our ages, and the name of the band,” said the trio of Republic Polytechnic graduates. The other two members, Sham Ma’Arif and Eugene Ryan, could not make it on tour.

Dropbeat Heartbeat first hit the local music scene in 2011, with their first EP Gettin’ Outta Here. In 2013, they were the opening act for the All Time Low concert in Singapore.

After completing their national service (NS), they regrouped to start Sign of Five in 2014. Their sound took on a different turn.

“It’s less of that teenage bubblegum pop,” Matin said.

Fyq added: “The lyrics we write now hit you on a more personal level as compared to the ones we wrote back then about puppy love. Now, it’s more about the hard facts of life, about how tough it is to get by, and questions like, does it matter?”

Despite the band’s reshuffling, they remain close to each other.

“I’ve known Matin and Ro for five to six years, and they’ve known each other since primary school. So, the dynamics of the band is still the same, it’s just that I feel like it’s less chaotic,” Fyq said.

Changing the sound of the band is one thing, but why rename the band? Matin recalled: “I think it’s because we’ve been on too long a hiatus to bring back the name Dropbeat Heartbeat.”

“Also, we wanted a new, cooler name. If you were 30-year-olds and still doing music, would you want to be called Dropbeat Heartbeat?” joked Fyq.

During their performance at Pioneer Secondary School, the band performed ‘Closer to the Sun’, a song that they collaborated on with Narelle Kheng from The Sam Willows. They also threw in ‘Sorry’ by Justin Bieber for good measure.

The boys also enjoyed their time on stage during the performance. Ro said: “It brings back memories. We miss secondary school. It was the most fun and carefree period of our lives. It’s a little nostalgic, and it’s great to see the students enjoy our performance just like how when we were kids we would watch some other artists as well.”

Finally, we asked the trio what their most embarrassing school moment was, and these were their answers:

Catch up with Sign of Five on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.