What do you do when your band celebrates its eighth birthday without having tasted fame? Keep playing or call it quits? Singaporean Adrian Tan is faced with such a question. Lead vocalist in the punk rock band Pensionstate – which he founded in 1997, with three friends: guitarist Daniel Ang, bassist Terence Teh, and drummer Dex Wong – drummer Dex has decided to quit the band to pursue other interests, leaving band members introspective about their futures.

Adrian has said that Pensionstate "was conceived as a bedroom hobby birth out of a rock star dream of four seventeen-year-old teenagers." But now, Adrian is twenty-five and a high school teacher. Will he continue to play in obscurity, or follow Dex out the door? Chinastic recently spoke with Adrian about his life, and learned a lesson about the difference between loving music and loving fame.

Chinastic (C): Let's get started with the name of your band, Pensionstate. It sounds like something related to social welfare. How did you come up with the name?
Adrian(A): Well, we started by picking a lot of ideas for a name and it's very hard to come up with something original. Actually, in Singapore we have something like pension funding. Everyone works their whole lives just to prepare for retirement, and everyone ties their futures to this idea. We just wanted to write about this kind of stuff, so we came up with this name.

C: How is your new album coming along? I remember you said you hoped to produce an album later this year. (Pensionstate has released an EP, but not an album.)
A: Okay. We just want to start writing new songs and playing them as much as possible. We still don't have a release date; we are still trying to get recording time in the studios.

C: Will you write all the lyrics?
A: I'll write most of the lyrics, but I'm trying to get the rest of the band involved because I really want it to be everyone's band.

C: Where do you get inspiration for your lyrics?
A: Well, I usually keep a notebook wherever I go. I wrote in it when I was traveling and when I was in the army. Well, anywhere, anything that I was involved with I wrote it down. Yes, I like to keep a diary. This is where I get inspiration for my lyrics.

C: Pensionstate celebrated its eighth birthday this month, right? However, you said in a post that "Maybe it's time to end this Pensionstate chapter… and move on to the next." What did you mean?
A: Cuz our drummer told us on our birthday that he wanted to leave the band and something like he just wanted to move on and do something else. At the time, we were kind of sad, because we grew up together. We started this band when we were seventeen or eighteen, and now someone wanted to leave. We talked about whether the rest of us would continue to do this. We decided we would still keep our music going.

C: Do you listen to a lot of Chinese punk? What's your impression?
A: Not much, but I did hear of a big and thriving punk scene in Beijing in a Time magazine article way back. I'm sure there's so much more to it culturally. In fact, I think China is one of the places I really want to visit, but have not gotten over to doing so.

C: As a singer in a rock band, could you tell me your ultimate dream? Do you want to become famous?
A: I guess I want to be famous, which means I want to succeed at what I'm doing. You know, fame is something that has different meanings to different people. I just want to be happy and to do the things that make me happy.

C: Many view punk rockers in a negative light. But there doesn't seem to be anything negative about you. Are people wrong, or are you just different?
A: People tend to judge each other based on appearances, so punk rockers are always viewed negatively. However, the punk rockers I have met and grown up with are mostly intelligent, highly aware of social issues, and many of them have university degrees. I grew up listening to lots of punk and it appealed to my teenage instincts on life, governance. But I don't think I'm an exception because there are a lot of people like me.

C: I know that you are also a teacher. What do you think of the two roles: teacher and rock band signer?
A: Yes, I am. And I'm going to teach geography and English in high school for the record. I don't think I need to ever balance the two. The band was always there through the different phases of my life: high school, college, even when I was serving in the army for our national service.

The band was our avenue, the weekend thing to do. Now, the only difference is that I'm older, and perhaps I write about different issues. Sometimes, people are shocked to learn I sing in a rock band, but my students are pretty cool. They find it amusing. I'm myself, and I like what I do. I know of other teachers who write plays, or even play Diablo 2. Everyone has their own poison. Mine happens to be music.

C: Can you play any instruments?
A: Growing up, I played the alto saxophone in the school brass band.

C: And you can also play the guitar, right? I know this from your sister's blog.
A: Yes, I can, but only a little. I would like to pick up more.