Downtown Singapore

Unapologetic about their less than pioneering place in the emo pop scene, Maryland quintet Downtown Singapore closely followed the schematic as laid down by earlier and more successful bands like Jimmy Eat World and Cave In: local gigs and self-released demos, followed by relentless touring and online community building, a buzz-building debut EP, and finally a full-length album overseen by the hot producer of the moment. After all of this, Downtown Singapore then quietly and without fuss disbanded. The first lineup of Downtown Singapore (the name is claimed to have been cribbed from a skating magazine's tourism narrative about the skateboarding scene in that Asian city-state) formed in Waldorf, MD, in 2001 while its members were in high school. Eventually coalescing into the core group of singer Jerry Scott, guitarists Matt "Spud" Van Gasbeck and Jake Rabadi, bassist Josh Louge, and drummer Matt Thorsen, Downtown Singapore signed with the Washington, D.C., indie Dcide Records to release their debut EP, 2005's Understanding a Guarantee. An increased tour schedule, playing with bands like the All-American Rejects and He Is Legend, both solidified the group's streamlined and unabashedly commercial sound and brought them into contact with hot producer Matt Squire, whose work with Panic! at the Disco, Cute Is What We Aim For, and other hot indie bands of the time informed his work on Downtown Singapore's full-length debut, Don't Let Your Guard Down. Released in the spring of 2006, the album featured the first single "Choir Boy," featuring a guest vocal by Larry Soliman, lead singer of another Squire act, My American Heart. Following another tour, Downtown Singapore officially went on hiatus in the fall of 2006.