Melodic punk rock and country-folk seem to be worlds apart; yet industry veteran IMAN traverses this huge gap with ease. He's best known as the frontman of his band, Iman's League, who have been around for nearly 25 years – longer than I've been alive! They've toured extensively, bringing their unique blend of "traditional punk rock with elements of Japanese anime punk" from Asia to Europe and Australia.

Recently, IMAN released a solo project called Midlife Tunes. We had the pleasure of sitting down with IMAN for a chat at the LASALLE Rock and Indie Festival after his set in February – read on to learn more about his process, glean insights from his decades of experience, and discuss his genre pivot!

‍

IAAS Music: The first question we wanted to ask is why you chose to change genres. I noticed your work with Iman's League being very rock, and sort of punk – but for this project, it's more acoustic country. What was behind the decision to switch genres and go solo?

IMAN: Alright, so Iman's League have been around for almost 18 years. This year we are 18 years old.

As old as I am!

Oh, wow! For the longest time, up to now, we've been playing the genre called melodic punk rock. So I have a lot of songs that I've written, that don't suit Iman's League.

Most of these songs I took inspiration from [American singer-songwriter] Tony Sly, one of the solo acoustic guys. He's from the [punk rock] band No Use For A Name... I noticed that, when I started writing for this solo project Midlife Tunes, I also listened to a lot of Frank Turner and Beans on Toast.

The change of genre... I grew up listening to all kinds of music, not just punk rock. And I think that folk is very tightly associated with punk rock as well, because of the tempo when you strum the guitar, the pace of the songs.

This album was very inspired by this folk-solo-acoustic dynamic.

We noticed that you strummed your acoustic like you were at a rock concert, during your show!

Yeah, you have to – because of the tempo itself.

Sounds like this thing I've heard about how metal is just surf rock with distortion – have you heard of that?

Yeah, you got it. With punk drums [and distortion], it would sound like punk rock too.

Interesting stuff! Then, what's your usual process when you arrange and write your songs? Is it any different from your process for punk melodic rock?

Songwriting-wise, I didn't change much. As a songwriter, I usually start off with certain melodies in my head that I record down on my phone. After that comes chord progressions and arrangements. For my band, I usually write the skeleton of the song – just melody and chords. My other bandmates will do the arrangement of the songs.

But for my solo album, I tend to keep it simple. Mostly intro, verse, chorus, probably a bridge... The songs are pretty short at less than three minutes.

The lyric-writing process for this new album, it's more focused on what i'm going through right now with life. At this age, you know, with jobs, responsibilities, family, the band... From track one [The Bucketlist] to track ten [Ayah, the last], it's all about the issues I'm facing – especially aging. Of course, it's lyrically very different from Iman's League.

I tend to keep it very light, easy for people to understand. I don't really try to... Some songwriters write like poetry, you really need to read the lyrics to understand. But for me, the lyrics are more straightforward. It's easy for you to understnad.

I feel that as an Asian artist, it's very important for me to relate to the people who are listening. Of course, I can never replicate the way Americans or Europeans talk – the way they sing, it's totally different. But I try to put in a bit of the Asian touch.

Definitely something I felt! It sounds like something my grandfather would listen to.

I noticed that you always have a strong rhyme scheme going whenever you sing. How do you go about it?

[laughs] I look through the dictionary! Now we have ChatGPT, "what rhymes with this", "what rhymes with that", you know. And then you pick and choose which words carefully.

I don't use AI fully [in the writing process] definitely – just to find the right word to rhyme with this. And then I add some other lyrics to make it a song... To me, rhyming is quite important for my songwriting style.

Especially for the vibe and the phrasing of the melody. As a listener, even for me when I listen to music, I automatically always look out for the rhyming parts of the lyrics. When you sing along with it, it kind of makes more sense when the lyrics rhyme or the vibes are there. As compared with other songwriters who maybe don't use rhymes.

Guilty as charged there!

Yeah, but sometimes it works for them. It's like... a style.

Speaking of your style, who would you say are your biggest inspirations overall? Apart from the ones you mentioned earlier [Tony Sly and Beans on Toast], that is.

I listen to a lot of 60s stuff, like The Beatles, as well. I mean, if you listen to my chord progressions, The Beatles like to use a lot of seven chords.

A lot of 60s Malay music also. People like P. Ramlee, they like to use all these very nice chord progressions. And even Japanese bands – rather than using the typical C-G-A-F, Japanese music has an added 9, an added 7, in between, so on when you look at the chord sheet. But usually I don't really use that full chord – sometimes you can get that kind of sound from barre chords.

IMAN performing.

Fascinating! We love 60s music here at IAAS Music – I actually wrote a feature on its return to modern pop music back in January. Apart from this, I noticed that you write in English and Malay – you performed two songs in Malay during your set, I believe, one of which is my favourite from the album. What's your favourite part of performing in each language, and how does each song tell you what language it should be in?

Usually it depends. For performing, of course if I performed overseas in Malaysia or Indonesia, I'd try to play more Malay songs to relate better to people there. If I toured Europe, then that's where English songs would come more.

I feel that because I'm Malay, it's always good to write something in my world's language. Especially because this kind of song, when brought overseas – for example to Japan – is something very different. The Malay language itself is something they haven't heard before. It makes the listeners more curious to know what the song is about. So after the show, they come back to me and say, "Oh, I love that song, what is it about?" Then I can actually tell them about the songwriting process and more about the song. It creates a connection between different countries.

Songwriting-wise, it depends. Sometimes I feel like writing in Malay, sometimes I feel like writing in English. But to be honest, writing in English is simpler than writing in Malay. Because there's only a certain kind of genre that fits with the informal Malay words, so sometimes it just doesn't work.

Is it anything like Bahasa Indonesia [Indonesian], where there's literary language and casual language?

Correct, the casual language especially. The song I sang, that's more casual. But if I were to write a ballad, I can't use casual language because it sounds strange.

Do you have any tips for people looking to write in their second language? For me, I want to write in Bahasa more – but it's very difficult even though I speak the language.

I think to master the language, literally master it, is really a job [on its own]. Sometimes there are words that don't go with the phrasing of the song – I mean, if you're a songwriter, you'll understand. There are some words which sound nice in a sentence, but don't work in a song. So it's always good to write what you feel, because you know that honest songwriting will relate to people. I always tell myself, if I write about something that is not true, something that I force, it just doesn't work. It just doesn't relate to people. So regardless whether you are a good lyricist or not, it's always good to start, to be honest through your music.

Are there any concepts that don't translate well to English? In Bahasa we have jantung and hati, they mean 'heart' in two different ways. (More details on that in our article on Indonesian indie jazz-pop!) Do you play with this in your work?

Yeah, so, coincidentally, Iman's League has this song. The title is Hati. Okay, so like you said, we were saying this, right? Hati can mean heart, which can also be jantung. So in our context of writing, it means 'heart'. Yeah, so I think that's where the confusion comes in. For that particular song, it relates more to people in Singapore and Malaysia because of the common language that we use, Hati. But maybe if I bring the song to Indonesia, it may mean a different thing.

In Bahasa, 'hati' is emotional and 'jantung' is the scientific organ.

Ah, I see. Yeah, so that's where the confusion comes in.

Coincidentally, for this year, Iman's League is targeting the Indonesian market. In June, we're going on a one-week tour to Indonesia to promote a single. So that's where I was talking about the songwriting process for the new single – it became a bit complicated to write, because we need to make sure that the lyrics can relate to Indonesian listeners.

It doesn't mean that you have to copy their style, it's just that, to me, the Indonesian market is huge. There are thousands of good bands, so what makes you stand out is your songs. If we were to write songs the way we do in Singapore or Malaysia, it wouldn't work in Indonesia.

I think you guys can do it! Indonesians just like good music, no matter what language it's in.

You've been in the game nearly 25 years – longer than I've been alive! Do you have any words of wisdom you'd like to pass along to aspiring artists, in Southeast Asia or wherever else?

I think the only advice I can give is, you know, I was saying this now, it's always good to be honest with yourself. Honest songwriting, number one. Number two is resilience. You need to have that value if you want to get into music, doesn't matter whether it's Singaporean or the global industry.

For me, I'm already 40 years old. I just want to continue doing what I love, without the target I had maybe 20 years back when I started to make it big and do music full-time. When you reach this age, it's more of filling up your time, to write songs and go on tour.

I think the [second piece of] main advice, especially in the Singaporean music scene... People tend to give up very easily. Probably they form a band, maybe it lasts for 3 years where they're huge, then that's it. They don't know where else to go, and the band stops. 5 years down the road, they'll say, "Oh, let's reform the band, let's do a reunion show." That's the trend that is coming up here in Singapore, reunion bands. There's nothing wrong with that – it's just that whatever we are doing now, is representing the Singapore music scene. We do not want people to see the scene as one catering only to reunion bands.

We also want to honour musicians who have been there for the longest time, who have been consistent in doing their work. I think that's what's lacking in the Singaporean scene – so I really hope that the newer generations have this mindset that it doesn't matter how far you go, it's how long you can sustain doing it. I think my biggest achievement is getting the band to last for 18 years – it doesn't matter where we go after this, because there's nowhere to go anyway. We're all 40 years old already.

We have to be more resilient, because you guys are the new generation of the music scene here in Singapore. A lot of big bands, big artists, come into Singapore... When I go on tour, when I talk to all these overseas people, they say, "Singapore must have a good local scene!". Because they judge it only based on Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters...

The reality is, sorry to say, we are still a baby [in the music industry]. But I'm really proud to say that there are bands that have gone out of Asia – for example Forest, in Europe and the US... Most of them are doing this full-time. They're doing what most SIngaporeans don't want to do.

I've heard it said that Singaporeans can find our audience better overseas. Because people overseas tend to go hunting for indie music – covering this festival really opened my eyes to the scene here.

Yeah, that's why. I think as Asian musicians we have our own brand of sound – doesn't matter if you're Singaporean, Malaysian, Japanese, Indonesian... We have that Asian signature sound that Europeans and Americans won't have. That is something to be proud of, and that's why I think Singaporeans are bigger in other countries – because we sound different.

When you copy other people, yeah, maybe you can go somewhere. But can you sustain that for a long time?

Does it ever feel like too much, to be so vulnerable and fully open in your work?

Always. I always feel that, especially when I play solo shows. Because solo shows are a different ballgame.

By nature, I'm very quiet guy, I don't really talk much. But when you are playing solo acoustic, you always need to have something to talk about. Your storytelling especially, you need to tell people what your song is all about. And then sometimes if the crowd doesn't vibe with you, that's where it's very difficult for you to get into that performance.

For example, just now when I was playing, the first few songs people were not really vibing. Then when you start playing songs, when you start interacting with the crowd – that's where the crowd gets the vibes, and then you yourself as a performer get the vibes as well. Again, it's honest songwriting, honest music... and honest songwriting.

IMAN performing at the Campus Green, at LASALLE's Rock and Indie Festival 2026.

Alright, we're down to our last question for today. Can you recommend to our readers here at IAAS Music a Singaporean or Malay song you've been loving recently?

I've been listening to... a lot of bands. I think Floral Sky (on Spotify, Bandcamp and Instagram) is one... Slump (reviewed on RIF Day One and on Instagram) as well, they played here yesterday. And of course, I've been listening to a lot of Forest (on Spotify, Bandcamp and Instagram) recently.

Lots of younger musicians nowadays – I feel that whatever they're playing now is the brand of music I grew up with back in the 90s. It's a very big nostalgic period coming back – like shoegaze, in my time it was called alternative rock.

When I listen to a band playing, I think, oh, this song is very familiar from the 90s... It brings a lot of memories, whatever the kids are playing now. I think it's good, the city is healthy now. It's growing. Social media too – when I started, it was super hard. But now, I think the kids are getting it.

‍

You can keep up with IMAN on his Instagram and Spotify. You can also keep up with his band, Iman's League, on their website and Instagram.