Pete Teo is an independent recording artist. He has just released his debut solo album ‘Rustic Living For Urbanites’. PM asks him to describe his average day. In pictures.
By Pete Teo & Luke Elliot, PM Magazine (Unabridged)
10.15am
A lot of my work is conducted through email correspondence. So the first thing I do every day is to check my email. There are some interesting emails from Japan, where I will be going on a 3 cities tour in September. The Japanese organisers are amazingly detailed and professional. Osaka wants to know how high my stage stool should be. Chuckle.
11.30am
I am a shameless food-hogger and donít feel safe unless my fridge is fully stocked. So I check my fridge after the emails are done. A few things look as though they are about to sprout legs and crawl out any minute. Time for a clear out and re-stock. Toast and coffee for brunch.
12.30pm
Time to go out and meet the world. Change into something presentable. While walking out, I note that my shoes are a wee bit sad. Need new ones soon. May be a pair of trendy PUMA next? Nah. May be not.
1.30pm
Meet with Jackie, the nice lady who runs Warner Chappell Malaysia, my music publishers. She suggests that I should turn some of my tunes into ring-tones. By the way, thatís Jackie’s left hand in the photo, straight after she’d punched some weird numbers into her calculator, and emerged with potential loot.
3.00pm
Bolstered by the thought of potential loot, I go down to China Town. I read somewhere that Japanese people love giving and receiving gifts. So I buy a sack full of small gifts for when I am in Japan. I also wonder around aimlessly and bought some junk food. China town is cool.
4.45pm
I pop into my regular supermarket and buy tonnes of food. I love food shopping. I buy milk, juice (photo), salad, steak, Korean Ramen, biscuits, canned curry, sausages, Ribena, shampoo, cheeses, fruits and some chocolate.
4.59pm
I think about buying some fish too. But I don’t really know how to cook fish. So I’m giving that a miss. Hm. May be…
6.45pm
Home again. Clear out fridge and re-stock fridge. Put on my friend John’s CD (UK indie band, Geist) and check for email again. Then I cook myself some dinner. Steak, egg and salad. Burp.
9.00pm
Head out to see Australian band Cat Empire play at the Heineken Green Room Sessions. They are really good. The nice people at Heineken will be sponsoring my concerts at the end of this year as part of the Green Room series too. Most likely date is mid-November. Looking forward to it.
Midnight
Back home. Catch some football on television. It’s a seriously boring match. That’s Newcastle Unitedís Solano in the photo. Heís not great. Yawn.
1.30am
I try writing new songs for the next album. I’ve been writing absolute rubbish lately. More rubbish tonight. Sigh. So I practice for the Japan Tour instead. Learn a new Leonard Cohen song as my obligatory cover number. Check and reply email again.
4.00am
I wash and shower. Time for bed. I read my Japanese phrase book for half an hour. ‘Wakarimasen’ means ‘I don’t understand’. Read Italo Calvino’s ‘Invisible Cities’ for a bit, then sleep.
Good night.