Quotes from the Lesser-Known: Part 9

'Hi Nick.' 

'Hi. (laughs)' 

'So... what's a place you would like to visit before you die and why?' 

'I want to visit... well I want to go to the Montreal Jazz Festival. It's the biggest jazz festival in the world. I went for the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta recently and that was one of the best experiences I've ever had. It's just so inspirational... I want to know and see the music scene outside of Singapore.' 

'Do you have a particular role model or musical artist whose style you admire?' 

'Marcus Miller. Hands down.' 

'That was quick! (laughs)Why?' 

'(Laughs) Well, I only really started to admire this guy when I watched this video of him from his biography. Sometimes you think that these guys are made out of pure talent, that they come out into the scene and they can just play everything. But what I realized was that they actually put in a lot of effort into playing and practicing... not everything is given to you for free. You have to work for it, there's a certain amount of effort you have to put into the theory.' 

'Okay. So why bass? Out of all the instruments...' 

'The groove. For me, music is all about the groove. It's the groove that attracts me to it, it's the rhythm. When I first started playing music, I didn't like piano... I tried guitar for a while and it was fine, but the bass just really attracted me. It's just such a cool instrument! There's really nothing quite like it.' 

'Talk about what inspired you to learn music. Your first experience, or pivotal moment you remember. and said 'Oh my goodness, I must learn the bass!' 

'The video that changed my life was... (laughs) Level 42 playing Mr. Pink. That video of Mark King playing that song was just... I mean, that was the point where I decided I wanted to take bass more seriously. Bass and music. And after that I started exploring a bit more... When I went to Poly and got into jazz band, that was when I started to take it even more seriously because it was there that I got introduced to Jazz. Prior to that I was just playing for fun. I mean, I liked it and all, and I was trying to get better, but I didn't take it too seriously.' 

'Can you imagine the world without music.' 

'No. (laughs)' 

'Why?' 

'Music is just so integrated into everyone's lives. It's so much a part of one's existence. It's like taking music out of a movie. The movie would just die, I think.'

Nicholas Lee, 19.

Engineering student, tres charming, & hands down the best 19-year-old bassist I know