THEY may be teenagers but indie band Caracal have clawed out an image as a wildcat of rock.
Indie gig-goers have been raving for months about their energetic live shows and emo-rock tunes, which intertwine cleverly layered melodies and meaningful lyrics.
The quintet named their band after a wildcat found in Africa and southern Asia.
"Our songs come from our hearts. It's about what people wish to have - relationships and families," says drummer Martin Kong, 19, a full-time national serviceman.
His bandmates are singer Chris Ng, 18, a Ngee Ann Polytechnic student; guitarist Field Teo, 19, a full-time national serviceman; guitarist Gabriel De Souza and bassist KC Meals.
The latter two, both 17, are Montfort Secondary School students.
It is apparent early in the interview that they have no rock-star pretensions but just want to make good music.
Indeed, music producer Leonard Soosay concurs: "They approach their music from a mature standpoint even though they're young which is rare among bands here."
Soosay, 41, who runs recording studio Snakeweed Acoustic Labs in Keong Saik Road, has recorded over 300 home-grown bands in the past 12 years, including Electrico, Ronin and West Grand Boulevard.
He is now recording Caracal's five-track EP album entitled Welcome Change, Goodbye Gravity which is slated to be ready by June. The self-financed album costs about $2,000 to produce.
The band, formed by Kong and Teo in 2002, started out playing covers by the likes of Green Day and Oasis.
"We don't know any music theory so we listen to a lot of music and we teach ourselves how to play," says Teo.
After numerous line-up changes, the band finally firmed up in December 2005 with members made up of church and school friends.
They got their break last August, opening for West Grand Boulevard at a gig at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre.
"The fact that we were invited to open for them made us feel like we were worth something. From then on, the band just caught on," says Kong.
This has also brought headaches, because some people just cannot pronounce the band's name, calling them Caramel or Carrot Cake.
"Our band's name kind of backfired on us but Carrot Cake is original and we find it nice," says Teo, setting off guffaws from his bandmates.
