Mini Raves, Mega Vision: Enter Wild Pearl, Possibly The Smallest Club In Singapore
Have you set foot in Wild Pearl yet? (Credit: Qi An)
What started out as a wandering myth soon became a fledgling legacy in the making. Chatter of “the smallest club in Singapore” began to scurry through the scene; an elusive entity that had to be seen to be believed. Like a rarity concealed, Wild Pearl sits sequestered within the enclave of Pearl’s Hill Terrace just waiting to be discovered. I just had to find it first.
Past the Bohemian buzz of Kult Yard and up the staircases that wind past vibrant murals and peculiar statues, you’ll find an inconspicuous sign on the third floor that gives away the venue’s existence. There’s no flashy entrance or any sort of invitational feature, just a grey soundproofing curtain that reads “Sound Barrier”. Its discretion breeds a natural temptation to peek your head in and see what’s on the other side. Enter the door behind it, and you’ll instantly see that the rumours are not unfounded.
The entrance of Wild Pearl is easy to miss if you’re not looking
Footwear not necessary but recommended (Credit: Qi An)
The most unusual identities are the ones that you can’t quite define, and Wild Pearl does just that. It is indeed a club in the sense that it’s an enclosed room for music-seeking merrymakers, fitted with professional sound and lighting equipment that would put complacent party venues to shame. It’s a recording studio with a custom-fitted DJ booth that resembles the format of live radio shows. And it’s a social space that brings together an amiable, like-minded community with complimentary tickets and a BYOB policy (Wild Pearl isn’t a bar). It executes all this within the limited constraints of its space – it can fit a capacity of just under 40 – yet it never feels uncomfortably stuffed or overcrowded. It’s an intimate configuration that doesn’t compromise the sanctity of the party experience, and it’s all thanks to its two masterminds behind the scenes.
Wild Pearl is the work-in-progress passion project of Christopher Shearmon and Andy Lines, serendipitous buddies who’ve been living in Singapore for over 10 and two years respectively. Enamoured with the potential of our scene and its post-pandemic renaissance, the two have turned the idea of Wild Pearl into a flourishing reality that gives back to the community. In a climate where local party venues have become a scarce resource, Wild Pearl has become a haven for pop-up promoters and aspiring DJs to showcase their craft. And even beyond the four walls, Chris and Andy have even diversified into sustainability efforts, like building a Wild Pearl solar-powered DJ booth that soundtracks beach clean-up activities. Their project is one built on altruism, positive happenstance and a devotion to the music – big elements in the small world of Wild Pearl.
In the midst of their set-up for the second episode of their live radio show, I speak to Chris and Andy to divulge more about the Wild Pearl story.
Meet Chris and Andy, the dynamic duo behind Wild Pearl (Credit: Qi An)
So let’s open this oyster. How did the two of you meet and stumble upon this idea of Wild Pearl?
Andy: Shout-out to Alfie; It was quite a serendipitous meeting. Chris and I had a mutual friend’s birthday party. I was kinda taken aback that we were going to this guy’s place in the city when we could’ve gone five minutes down the road to my place. We ended up in a cab and had a 30-minute conversation, and we realised that we had a lot in common and that we could get along.
Chris: We spoke a lot about music and had a good time. We talked about my old house in Bugis where I’d basically built a nightclub in my spare room just because I wanted to have fun with my friends. I used to work in a nightclub, so I knew what it took to turn a DJ room into a nightclub. And for a while I hosted all these parties – Andy was a big part of it – but it got to a stage where, from a practicality point of view, it didn’t work that frequently. I also ran out of ways to make the space better because it was a spare room.
You’ll find professional lighting equipment inside Wild Pearl, and then you’ll also find odd props like Wilson, the volleyball (Credit: Qi An)
So I kept seeding the idea that we should go and rent a little room and do this on our own. Perhaps it’ll be like a gym membership but for house parties. Eventually, Andy was the only person who came along and when we explored, we actually walked past this unit. We told our landlord that we wanted an art studio where we could play music loudly because we thought that’d be less suspicious. But then there was a really cool sign outside that said “recording studio” so we had a look. We opened the door and just kinda fell in love with the space. We then had to convince our landlord that we wanted to make it a music studio. Then we started building; a lot of serendipitous stuff happened like finding stuff on the street and getting gifts from friends.
Sounds like a really spontaneous origin story. How did the place begin to grow amongst the community?
Andy: When we first took over the place, we were living with social distancing restrictions. So I think for the longest time, we weren’t able to share the space with more people than just us two. Fast forward to this year, we decided to throw an open-house party because we hadn’t had people in the space and we wanted to see who’d turn up. Props to the Singapore music community – the people we had were the perfect group of people who told their friends of friends and all of a sudden we had 10 people, 20 people, 30 people in the space. It was cool ’cos we didn’t try to necessarily do anything but have a good time. We were just trying to have a house party outside of your house. It was really cool to see how the community has shaped this place.
Bongomann and The Professional performing as Super Enjoy for a live radio session, a new series by Wild Pearl (Credit: Qi An)
We invited people from Kult Yard and Pearl’s Hill Terrace. We then had a cool mix of DJs one night just going back-to-back without any rhyme or reason. And from there, things spread. You have a good mix of people who are somehow in the scene but are really just trying to hang out and have a good time. It’s a different vibe from a show or a festival. I think that also rings true for any artist that comes here. You kinda just play for yourself and have fun. I think that takes a lot of the pressure off from anyone. People can just take a breath.
I love how it really does feel like a club despite its size. The sound is deceptively great.
Chris: I think we’ve done a few things well. We’ve quite selfish in setting this place up. The booth is like the best booth I’ve ever been in for a DJ, because it’s not just about hearing the mix and playing to the crowd. You’re playing to yourself because the speakers are so loud and you have your own subwoofer. And we try to make the speakers outside sound really good as well. We also just house a bar area with old drinks from our house. Whenever our friends used to come, they always asked, “What can we give you?” and we ask them to find us weird spirits. And sadly when some friends moved back and they had a stash that they couldn’t take with them, we’d collect them, put their names on it and drink to them.
You’ll be familiar with every face in the room by the end of the night (Credit: Qi An)
Has your personal experience in the local scene shaped the way you’ve developed Wild Pearl?
Chris: I was always going to those parties at HQ and Kilo, but not that regularly. I felt it was different from when I was living in London and had a different lifestyle back then because it was all about work. So it felt like I was falling out of the scene although I was always checking back in. But now it’s slightly different. We’ve got this space. I can now do all the things that I love with music, but this time, people come to us. I guess I made it easy for myself.
Andy, you’ve been here in Singapore a shorter time than Chris. How did you respond to the energy from the scene? Was it something you expected?
Andy: Everything all happened by chance really. I was here in 2019 for four days and I caught one of the last shows at Kilo. When we moved here, we couldn’t do anything for over a year. But as things have opened up, it’s been incredibly eye-opening to see how fun it is here. Everybody’s genuinely trying to have a good time and you can feel the energy wherever, even in a 20-person space.
Wild Pearl doesn’t sell drinks but has a communal BYOB policy (Credit: Qi An)
From what I’ve seen and heard, Wild Pearl seems to be a lot of things. What would you say is the purpose and role of Wild Pearl in our community?
Andy: Wild Pearl is whatever you want it to be. I know it sounds like a cop-out [laughs].
Chris: I don’t think we want to be one thing. We wanna record the best music here, and to me that’s a blend of good equipment to record the music and videos which we’re getting the hang of. It also sounds more alive when you have your friends in the room. But it’s not like recording a massive rave and playing it after; you miss out on the vibe. We’re trying to get that sweet spot between a good crisp mix that a DJ can make and also the fun of having their friends in the room. Often, the promoters who come here are all friends and DJs and they go back to back. They never really get to do that because of the formats of how they perform elsewhere. Sometimes they’ll tweak what they play for a crowd, but here they get to mess around. We want the music to sound alive.
“People are not trying to front. There’s no ego about the people that are in the room.” (Credit: Qi An)
Because of the space’s constraints, what measures do you take to control the crowd and how do you make operations sustainable?
Chris: We’ve definitely come to a stage where these parties are too big. It doesn’t take long to get many people in the room. But since we now have a new concept that is ticketed (but free), we now know how many people there are in the room. That’s why we’re trying to programme it a little bit more so we have some content to help promote people. We’re trying to make it next-level. If I had it my way, it’d be great if everyone who came to the room had a free night and we could pay the DJs. We’re trying to work on that concept. We’re not gonna charge like it’s a club night, but maybe we’ll accept donations in the future. We spend a lot of money on cables every week.
Another appealing trait of Wild Pearl is its surrounding habitat. How has it been operating in a space like Pearl’s Hill Terrace?
Andy: You have legitimate business people here trying to do business, but I think we found a way to coexist with them as we have our events after business hours. There are two sides to it. On one hand you have business people running shops and having customers and we absolutely want to be respectful neighbours. However, you see something interesting in every nook and cranny of this place. There are murals on the walls and art studios and sometimes that almost feels entirely un-Singaporean. But to me, this is Singapore, and that’s why it’s been so eye-opening. From the outside, you would never suspect this. You could walk by this daily and never have any clue there’s this artist enclave. And in here, there are different styles of music being played. People are not trying to front. There’s no ego about the people that are in the room.
Outside of the studio, Wild Pearl has collaborated with sustainability efforts like the Ocean Purpose Project. Is sustainability a huge part of the Wild Pearl ethos, and if so, do you have more plans to keep it going?
Andy: Sustainability has been a part of Chris’ DNA since the first time I met him. His commitment to sustainability is something I admire. So when he met Mathilda D’Silva who runs Ocean Purpose Project and mentioned that she was doing something with us, I felt it was a match made in heaven. As soon as the new year starts, we’ll be doing that quite regularly. Part of why we got in, besides our commitment to sustainability is that we built a solar-powered DJ setup. We have a solar panel, we’ve got a generator, and we figured out a way to not suck too much power from the decks and the speakers. Basically, we have a fully portable DJ setup and we have the ability to do it without power. Given that solar power is a certain part of the Ocean Purpose Project, they were interested in how we could set up and showcase what we were doing.
Chris: We’ve also teased the cargo bike. We’re super inspired by Dom Whiting in the UK and we’re gonna do our own version of that. We're gonna start really small and learn from it. It’s going to be about sustainability and good music and getting together. We’ll then try to do something nice afterwards like find a bar to host us. We wanna be like those uncles on the bikes playing music. At first we can be seeded that way, and if it scales, we can see how to do it more formally and get brands involved.
Wild Pearl first gained traction with its open-deck jam sessions, but it can also be booked for rehearsals for aspiring DJs (Credit: Qi An)
And to finish off, there’s a clear charm in the current iteration of Wild Pearl. But is there an urge to evolve and move on to bigger things?
Chris: We’re gonna work with Manifest further. Mary [Arumeidas, founder of Manifest] wants to support more up-and-coming DJs. We’re gonna do more nights in the studio with her and get some of these DJs –who are used to using controllers – onto CDJs which is the next step so they can go out and play gigs. I think we’re figuring out how to use the space a little bit more; like how do we expand the radio show thing or do we wanna work with other radio shows? Do we do some regular after-parties for some of the bars that close at midnight? Or do we do regular pre-parties for some of the late-night venues?
Andy: We always wanna be mindful even as we do events or partner with folks outside the space. We want to stay true to our roots. We have talked about having a bigger space in here, or doing something with a promoter or club or bars. But for now, we’ll be partnering with one-off events. There’s certainly the urge. But it’s a delicate balance of staying true to what we’ve created.
(Credit: Qi An)
(Credit: Qi An)
(Credit: Qi An)
Wild Pearl, #03-58, 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace, Singapore 168976. Visit its Instagram page for more information on events and bookings.
