About.
Traipsing from cascading guitar textures to intense soaring vocals and unusual time signatures, Ootini! is a spectacular gamble of neo-soul and inflections of math rock. Citing influences from Porcupine Tree, The Cinematic Orchestra, and Pink Floyd, the band’s music tips a nod to the intrepid listener with an appetite for ethereal raptures.
Ootini! has held numerous performances at the 313FM Weekend Tuneup at 313 Discovery Walk, as well as packing in a full-house and playing to a rousing reception at the Blujaz Café, where the band has held ticked conceptual performances. On 24 Mar 2013, the band was invited by Esplanade to perform at an SPH Gift of Music" sponsored series "Drumming Up a Spirit" held at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre.
On 1 Oct 2013, the band released its debut EP “Dreams & Alchemy” at a successful launch party at Hood Bar & Cafe, and is currently focused on gigging actively this year in 2014 to promote the CD.
The Band
Charmaine Pelaez
Main Vocals
Newest member to the band, Charmaine is a professional singer/guitarist and Electro-Voice endorsee. Winner of "Overtime Acoustic Challenge 2011" in Singapore & 1st Runner- Up in Kuala Lumper, Malaysia, she also emerged as the finalist in the highly publicised televised talent competitions "Singapore Idol 2006 Top 28" and "The Final 1 2013 Top 40". Charmaine has also collaborated with chart-topping soul singer Gary Cao in the Malaysia Music Festival 2011, performed for HBO Asia in Hong Kong and was invited to sing an original French song in a movie called, "The Golden Couple", directed by Malaysian pop star Ah Niu.
Wendy Phua
Electric Bass, Acoustic Uprigh Bass, Backing Vocals
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A Yamaha endorsed bassist, Wendy has performed with Akira Jimbo (Casiopea), James LoMenzo (Megadeth), Mel Gayner (Simple Minds), Shaggy, Emma Shapplin, The Looking Glass Orchestra and Riki Hendrix. She has appeared in many well-profiled events including Singapore Wine & Jazz Festival, MTV Asia Awards, ESPNStar Sports X-Games Asia and Baybeats Music Festival. Her debut instrumental EP “Between Here And Then” (2008), Singapore’s first solo bass studio release, received glowing reviews by Musikuz (Czech) and Bass Frontiers Magazine (US). In music production, Wendy has composed and arranged music for short films, slot machine games and mobile ringtones, and produced inflight radio shows for clients including Singapore Airlines, Air China and Thai Airways. As a Yamaha endorsee, Wendy has judged at several Yamaha Asian Beat band competitions, and regularly conducts bass clinics for Yamaha since 2008.
Boey Yinghao
Drums, Tabla, Cajon
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Starting out as a designer, Boey later pursued his passion as a drummer and underwent intensive drum programs in Yamaha, Drummers Collective (Manhattan NY) and Player’s School of Music. As a session drummer, he performed in the opening band for Avril Lavigne’s Best Damn Tour in 2008, appeared on Mediacorp Channel 5 TV music talent programme “Live n Loaded”, and played at the Youth Olympic Games Celebrations held in Singapore. He was the drummer/band leader for the now-defunct pioneering live electronica band Breakbeat Theory who was known for their brand of breakbeat, DnB, dubstep and House music. Boey has also performed at the annual Taiwan Spring Scream Music Festival with Mandarin pop band LGF from 2011 to 2013.
Dan Wong
Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Cross-genre trumpeter Dan was old-schooled through years of playing the scene, having recorded with Electrico, DJ Koflow, Michaela Therese & Bevlyn Khoo, and performed with Broken Social Scene, DJ KFC, Jeremy Monteiro's big band, latin groups IRESON & Clave Plus, jazz bandleaders Greg Lyons & Nicole Duffell, at events such as Gilles Peterson Worldwide Festival, Esplanade Mosaic & CHIJazz. Existing in the aesthetic realm, he
is also an Architecture & Interior Spatialist, exploring the edge of reality & hyperreality.
K.C.
Synth Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Ukulele, Backing Vocals
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The principal songwriter in the band, K.C. has been playing guitar for over
20 years, performing mainly in the indie-alternative music scene in locally known bands like Camra and Sea Bed Sound. A huge fan of Pink Floyd,
Led Zeppelin and King Crimson, K.C. is inspired by the "wall-of-sound" approach to music and his extraordinary use of the synth guitar has contributed to making Ootini!'s music highly cinematic despite the band's
use of only 3 instruments.​