So What want to set their music free - literally. The pop-rock band, featuring three local female musicians, plan to give away their new EP on their website (sowhat-music.com).
So far, the idea has received a mixed reception from friends. 'People look at us as if we are morons,' says Shirley Choi, the band's bassist/keyboardist. But So What are more than happy to fly in the face of record company doomsayers who declare that downloads will be the death of the industry. 'We absolutely embrace the concept of digital distribution,' says Choi. 'We believe music should be free so [that] more people can hear it.'
This gratis policy fits well with So What's DIY indie ethos. Choi, singer Jan Lee and drummer Rani Ho put together their Happiness EP - a collection of seven original songs - entirely on their own. But they had no choice. An earlier venture with a so-called producer came to grief when they lost contact with the man after a six-month recording hiatus. He disappeared with all the band's tracks, leaving the band song-less and sullen.
Had it all gone to plan, Happiness might have come out six months earlier. Instead, the girls found themselves going from studio to studio, re-recording and mixing tracks a little bit at a time without help.
As a result, they believe they could write the 10 commandments for indie bands looking to produce their own material. The first would probably be: 'Thou shalt always make backups of thy tracks'. Despite all the hard times the band feel they've come out the better for all their experiences. 'I can't say we're wise,' says Choi, 'but we're a bit wiser.'
So What's music is standard pop-rock, but it comes with some jazzy twists and edgy political messages. They hit out at the US government with War Monkey, and assess economic disparity from on high with Cloud, in which Lee imagines herself as a cloud floating from country to country. Other songs tackle lighter subject matter, such as love and relationships, but there is heavy-duty emotional fare too, especially in Silent Tears, which mourns a lost soulmate.