Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe

♬ Evil Ways

The port of Singapore was, and still is, an active hub for international travelers and merchant marines, who bringing with them their favorite pop records from around the world. During the Vietnam conflict, American soldiers brought the sounds of rockabilly from the stateside while the British nationals in camp at RAF bases introduced the British Invasion bands. The area was fertile ground.

The Shadows played their first concert in Singapore in late 1961, which marked the beginning of the Beat group era with bands who were strictly instrumental. Most times, singers were only an addition to the band. After the arrival of The Beatles in 1963 gave birth to “Malay Pop Yeh-Yeh” – a term derived from the song “She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)” – and changed the emphasis from the instrumental band scene to self-contained units with singers and musicians

I have not been able to find any information about The Spiders. Of course, these are not The Spiders from Japan. And, as far as I know, this is the only record that they released.

As for Santana… They were apparently quite popular in South East Asia. Their Latin influenced rock with its use of cowbells and timbales, mixed right in with the Non-Stop Dancing / A Go-Go music that was popular in Singapore in the 1970s. Although Santana did not originally write this song (or “Black Magic Woman” – which is the very next track on this record) covers of their versions of these songs were common.

In 2003, Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) commissioned a six-part series documentary for television on the Singapore music scene from the 1960s to the present day, entitled Jammin’. If anyone knows how I could get a copy of that documentary (especially the first two episodes), I would greatly appreciate it.

If you any information about the band, please contact me.

Catalog number JR 302 on Jubilee Records Trading Co. of Singapore. No release date listed.

Thanks! This is great!

Comment by Thomas October 26, 2008 @ 10:22 am

Spiders were actually Trailers in disguise. They were signed to a major so did this LP anonymously. There are two other EPs also credited to Spiders.

Comment by Joseph Pereira December 11, 2009 @ 12:02 am

I heard this recently on WFMU’s Bitslap, which made me come here and find this wonderful collection…you’re doing great work everyone!

Comment by sebastian August 19, 2013 @ 7:55 am