Photography courtesy of Kopicats
It’s around midday when I meet with Kopicats over Zoom. Claudia and Axel are completing their morning routines in Singapore–the former still in bed, the latter eating a breakfast of dumplings and coffee–and Aaditya sets his phone down somewhere in his UK accommodation to join the call while he washes the dishes. On the tail end of a summer of gig-upon-gig, the members of this DJ-events collective are settling into their respective lives of school, work and artistic projects. Claudia Park, the founding logistics manager and ‘big boss’ of the Kopicats operation, works as a filmmaker and production designer by day. Axel Timothy Chee, resident DJ and correspondent, is an emerging creative studying fashion design in our very own Melbourne while Aaditya Sundar, resident DJ and copywriter, is a photographer and agriculture student in Reading.
Together, they are the ‘masters of the mid-afternoon’; a group of independent event curators making a name for themselves with their daytime music sessions hosted in heritage and sentimental locations across the island. Their name is, of course, a play on ‘copycats’ (though one mustn't be fooled–the group’s unserious charm and unique, earnest personalisation earns them trendsetter status as vanguards of the local scene). ‘Kopi’ translates directly into ‘coffee’ from Malay, but refers specifically to the strong, sweet Nanyang coffee found in hawker centres and cafes across Southeast Asia. After chancing upon a YouTube video of Vietnamese DJs spinning in a barbershop, the group developed a founding ethos of community-building and ‘just hanging out’.
Claudia tells me that a background in production design and filmmaking equipped her with the planning experience to develop Kopicats. Her experience with logistics and event planning was apt preparation for the challenges and limitations the group are met with, and must work with (or, often, around).
She says that the location for their first ‘volume’ is the place where she gets coffee before her haircuts: Tong Ah Eating House on Keong Saik Road. “Really?” Axel interjects. “That’s the lore? I didn’t know that was where you cut your hair. I thought you just picked a place with a lot of heritage and shit, what the fuck.” Aaditya laughs. “Yeah, me too.”
Heritage venues define Kopicats’ novel atmosphere, and I am eager to inquire further. Why had they decided to DJ in all these niche historic venues?
Their answer is simple : these are all locations with personal significance. Places they have ‘already been … and have personal connections to,’ says Claudia. Axel shares that the venue for their second event, Basheer Graphic Books, is an independent bookstore frequented by local creatives; one that the group “personally all go to… to peruse the materials”.As the only indie bookstore in Singapore, it has special meaning. Likewise, their fourth venue, Good Year Seafood Restaurant, is an establishment in the East that happens to be the collective’s go-to dinner spot. It’s a casual family restaurant that Claudia says has “Chinese New Year vibes”, with big, round tables to host large groups of guests and a location ‘in the middle of nowhere’, which allows them to be loud and have fun. They’re such regulars at this place that the owners recognise them as “the kids that came here last month”. The sharing of these spaces which are “important to [the group], or important to the heritage of Singapore”, invites people to involve themselves in each location’s cultural significance.
The group muses that the intersection of old and new has serendipitously come to characterise Kopicats.. “One of the things I realised,” Claudia reflects, “is that… before we ask the location owners for permission, they’re usually quite wary… but after the event happens, you’ll always see them very, very happy… And this happens almost consistently… not only the people who come for Kopicats, but people who we intrude upon, are usually very happy to be intruded upon… We also talk to the uncles and aunties who are there, and people walk past and they dance, and these are very unexpected occurrences… I wouldn’t say that we specifically sought out to merge the elderly and the young, but it happened naturally, which was very beautiful.
It’s something that eclipses entirely the question of keeping up with current trends, the current trend being the epidemic of ‘unconventional’ or party projects populating the nation. We’ve seen DJs in hawker stalls, DJs in coffee joints, DJs in moving convertibles, DJs in… toilets? Whatever (literal or otherwise) hole in the wall artsy Singaporeans can fit a set of decks into–they are probably considering it as a venue for their next live-streamed event. Some of these seem like genuinely ‘DIY’ initiatives, and others come off as slightly gimmicky, as if the absurd aesthetics are just a lucrative marketing ploy. I hypothesise that the phenomenon also arises from a lack of local accessible creative and social spaces, and Kopicats agree.
“Historically, there’s never been much support for the arts [here],” Aaditya says, “but what’s good is that people have found a way to navigate past it, and find their own ways of having fun, as we’ve done. I’m glad there are more people doing it.’ No flex though, but I think we were one of the first…”
Axel elaborates. “After we did our first edition, others started coming out and advertising themselves as like, ‘hey, we’re doing stuff in the afternoon at a coffee shop’, and it’s… a bit too coincidental”…” (Aaditya indulges him with a laugh) “... that they all came out at the same time. Like … that’s all I’m saying.” He puts his hands up and laughs.
Claudia has not previously considered Kopicats a part of this movement, but now that it’s mentioned, she agrees that they are. “As we previously mentioned, it’s just about sharing spaces. We travel around to different places, but it’s out of necessity. Again, Singapore doesn’t really support the arts, but that’s actually what I like about it. We have restrictions … but the unique thing about Singaporean artists is we are always trying to fight these restrictions and there’s always this little rebellion … If we were in another city, like New York or something, we’d just be doing these events in like… like a club or something. Being punk and rebellious is a very important thing.” Axel scoffs and does a punk hand sign.
Claudia continues. “I don’t think all the DJs should like… come together and fight the government lah… it’s just the little acts … Creating Kopicats is our way of saying: This is what I want, and if nobody is going to support me, I’m going to do it my own way.”