Any mention of the Obedient Wives Club would probably conjure up feelings of ridicule and disdain, but unlike the pro-polygamy organisation, their Singaporean namesake is making headlines for all the right reasons. Comprising vocalist YinQi Lee, guitarist Keith Tan, Sulaiman Supian on bass, Cherie Ko on guitar and Lennat Mak on drums, the chatty fuzz-pop outfit is the region’s answer to noise pop favourites Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast following the release of their self-titled debut EP last December.

You guys probably get this a lot, but how and why did you settle on ‘Obedient Wives Club’ as a band name?
YinQi: If we got a dollar for each time someone asked us that, we’d be about [pause] $5 richer? You know how small fishes cling on to whales in the ocean? We wanted to ride on the buzz that the real Obedient Wives Club was generating for us.
Lennat: Keith came up with the name. He said it was a band name waiting to be used. We just joked around the other day that we could go on a Family Reunion tour with Cheating Sons (a band from Singapore), Twin Sister, Sons and Daughters, and even Scissor Sisters. But as you can see from the line-up, a good Husband is hard to come by.

Do you have any plans to perform in Malaysia? What kind of reception will you expect if you did set foot in Malaysia, especially with the stigma attached to your less musically inclined namesake?
Keith: If we’re invited, why not? I’m sure the organisers will protect us from the non-musical OWC should they decide we’re serious enough to warrant a threat.
YQ: We will nominate Sulaiman to front the band in Malaysia instead! hope the crowd who turn up for any possible show in Malaysia will be discerning enough to know that we do not mean any malice with this band name. It’s merely tongue in cheek and we have no relation whatsoever the original club!
Sulaiman: I hope we don’t get detained [laughs]! Maybe we could change our name to ‘Isteri yang Solehah’ just for Malaysia?

Are there any Malaysian bands that have caught your eye recently?
K: Tenderfist. I played a show with them alongside my previous band, and I absolutely love their sound.
YQ: Sadly I’m not familiar with Malaysian bands, but I caught Furniture at the Esplanade once and they were pretty cool!
L: I got to know some Malaysian bands like Ferns, Couple, Citizens of Ice Cream and Free Deserters when I was playing with my previous band as well. I saw Sphere live once in Singapore and I really like them. They kind of remind me of Local Natives. Aidil from Couple has been giving me a list of bands to check out like Love/Comes, Partimelovers and The Garrison. I must say you guys have a lot of really diverse and great sounding bands!

Congrats on your debut EP selling out within a month in Singapore. What are your plans this year?
L: It would be great if we could release a full-length album. Right now, we are concentrating on writing more songs and playing more gigs. We didn’t plan to release an EP actually; the opportunity just came by and we took it. We’ll see how it goes; we are all freewheelers that way!

With 2012 being touted as the end of the world year and all, what song would you listen to if it were your last?
K: ‘Emmylou’ by First Aid Kit.
L: ‘Goodnight Bad Morning’ by The Kills.
S: ‘True Blue’ by Dirty Beaches.
YQ: It’s been more than a month, but I’m still hung up on ‘Candy Girl’ by Trailer Trash Tracys. It must be love! Wong Boon Ken

Obedient Wives Club’s debut EP is available at www.obedientwivesclub.bandcamp.com