Behind The Scene: Alter Start Is A DIY Zine That Gives The Scene Something To Write Home About
(Credit: All images courtesy of Alter Start)
Welcome to Behind the Scene, a mini–series spotlighting the unsung heroes who help preserve our local music history. From photographers to zine-makers, these individuals ensure that the stories of our scene will continue to be told for generations to come.
History wasn’t just revisited, but celebrated at The Blackbird bar earlier this year. 12 music veterans – including Singapore’s pioneering all-girl hardcore band Obstacle Upsurge and one of Singapore’s earliest punk bands, Opposition Party – shared a stage in a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
Titled BigO: 40 Years of Counter Culture, the two-day festival was held in commemoration of BigO (Before I Get Old), a local magazine that championed the Singapore alternative music scene from 1985 to 2023. From music news to album reviews, the publication celebrated the people and bands who helped shape the music landscape we know today. Independently run and fully DIY, it became a platform where many aspiring writers, photographers, and designers cut their teeth in the industry. While it’s been over a year since the publication closed (and over 20 years since its last print), BigO continues to be remembered as a vanguard for the local music scene.
Publications like BigO play a crucial role in giving musicians a voice beyond the stage, offering audiences a deeper insight into their favourite artists. Even as print media slowly becomes a dead letter, a new wave of self-published zines is beginning to ripple around the island. In today’s digital age, where content is rapid and on-demand, print invites you to slow down – to savour the stories being told, page by page.
In the second instalment of this mini-series, we speak to 23-year-old Mun AM, the creator and wordsmith behind Alter Start, a DIY zine celebrating our music scene today. Despite being a new kid on the block (with just one print to their name), Alter Start welcomes all music with open arms. Genre, popularity, and origin are but secondary considerations; if it sounds good to Mun, it’s in. This is her story.
23-year-old Mun AM, founder of local music zine Alter Start
Over the years, long-standing lifestyle and music publications like BigO, LIME and JUICE Singapore have gradually shuttered or shifted online. Given the exodus of print media, what made you decide to launch Alter Start?
Honestly, I’ve been thinking about making a magazine for a very long time, ever since I graduated from Secondary School. It’s something that’s been sitting at the back of my head until maybe about a year ago, when I felt this spark and urge to create for the sake of my mental health. It was also around this period that I started going to more gigs, meeting various people in the scene and getting inspired by all the DIY stuff that I saw.
I get the whole “print is dead” kinda thing. But at the end of the day, Alter Start is a passion project, and I really just want to do what I like. I’ve also always been a very DIY person my whole life, so it made sense for me to push out a physical zine. There’s satisfaction in creating something with your hands. I mean, it’s pretty much arts and crafts for adults.
This is also the only time in my life where I get to create something for myself, so I decided, why not make a zine? When I’m grey and old, I want to be able to look back (at these zines) and be like, aha! I was a creative! It’s like a memory box in its own way.
It’s also very healing to meet people who buy the zines, because you can tell that they have a big appreciation for art. I still remember this girl from our first booth at (alternative rock festival) Dogfest 3. She mentioned that she had been looking forward to the zine since we announced it on our socials, which caught me off guard because I didn’t think that anyone would even know or care about the zine.
It’s nice meeting people who come down and support us, because it’s a chance for me to listen to their stories and find out more about them. These conversations make me realise that all the hard work that went into making the zine…it’s all worth it in the end.
Alter Start’s booth at Laselle’s Rock & Indie Festival (RIF) 2025
As you mentioned, creating a zine is no stroll in the park; it is hard work. Walk me through the whole creative and creating process. Was it a one-man show, or were you supported by a team?
I’m still new to this, so the process might change in the future. But as of now, I start by doing a lot of research on the creative direction for each print. After that, I zero in on the print that I want to start working on and niche it down to how I want it to look and what content to include.
Once that’s locked down, I will reach out to various people who are down to work with me and bring the print to life. Creatives have their unique style, and I try to give my designers and photographers space to contribute their own flair, on top of the general direction that I have in mind.
People often ask me who’s on the team besides me. I wouldn’t say that there are permanent members, more so recurring members who constantly work with me. It’s a collaborative experience, so I try to work with different people for different prints. It’s also an opportunity for them to stretch their creative boundaries.
Right now, my recurring team members include Joa and Zhang Yu, who are my graphic designer and photographer, respectively. I find most of my team members through the gigs that I attend. By the way, big shoutout to my best friend Nisa! She’s the other mastermind behind the zine, and oversaw the graphic design for the first print. She was also the first person that I reached out to, since I trust her work.
For Joa, I met him at a gig. I knew that I liked his work because he has been making posters for quite some time already. He then introduced me to Zhang Yu, who was just starting out as a photographer. Other members who helped bring the first zine to life are Bella, Sam, Anis and Nisha. I wanted to work with people who have some experience, but who are still finding their legs.
Malaysian band Dogtooth was featured in Alter Start’s debut issue
It’s interesting that your first zine didn’t just feature local bands, but also bands from across the border, such as Dogtooth and Hawa. How did you decide which bands to feature, and were there any memorable experiences?
Oh my god…deciding which band to feature was so tough. I didn’t know who to feature for the first print because I was terrified to ask my favourite bands, so some of the bands that I ended up featuring were friends of mine. Genre-wise, I wanted something a bit more diverse, instead of focusing on a specific archetype. That said, the bands that eventually made the cut were very different from what I initially pitched, due to unforeseen circumstances such as time constraints and mismatched schedules.
In fact, (Malaysian alternative rock band) Dogtooth and (Malaysian indie band) Hawa were both added in at last minute. I already had plans to attend the TONGTONG Fest in Kuala Lumpur last year, only for it to be suddenly postponed. At that point, I was still trying to find bands to interview and I thought, why not Malaysia? I’m going anyway, and now I have even more time to spare.
The whole meet with Dogtooth was super memorable. I remember trying to find some place to shoot in KL that was not only free, but gave me the freedom to conduct an in-person interview with the band. That was when I found a random park outside of the city, called Batu Metropolitan Park, and it had everything – there was a skatepark, a lot of greenery and nice spots. We spent hours at the park before grabbing dinner together, and I remember thinking, wow, this is so fun! Experiences like these are so rare in Singapore.
Photo from the shoot and interview with Malaysian indie rock and grunge band Hawa
It was also really nice to talk to (Malaysian indie rock and grunge band) Hawa. In fact, I was surprised that she even agreed to talk to us. Not only is she a veteran in the scene, Alter Start was also just starting out, and had barely released anything on our socials. The interview was also held at our Airbnb (which is so not suspicious at all haha), so we told her to come with someone she trusts, and she brought her fiancé along.
And oh my god, it was so fun to talk to her! I remember yapping for so many hours that I lost track of time. One of the best parts of making the zine is definitely the connections and conversations made; listening to other people’s stories, learning more about their personal lives and discovering how everything translates into their music.
[Going over to Malaysia and featuring the bands there] was such an impulsive decision and I am so grateful that the bands agreed to meet us. We had barely anything out at that point in time, and the fact that they trusted us, that meant a lot.
Alter Start’s first print, featuring Malaysian indie band Dogtooth
Now that the first print is out, what’s next for Alter Start? Is there a band that you would love to have on board?
Hmm…I’m a big shoegaze fan, so for regional bands, I would say Death Of Heather (from Thailand), and the world ends with you. (from Malaysia). Those two are my favourite Asian shoegaze bands.
For local bands, most of them have either disbanded or are currently on hiatus. The one band that stands out is (emo band) Curb. They are my favourite local band! Shoegaze-wise, there are a few that I would love to interview, such as feelslikeyou. I’m actually friends with Raul (from feelslikeyou), and we would talk about the zine sometimes, so yeah, I would really love to have them.
Speaking of the future, I was in a pretty big slump during the past couple of months. I knew that I wanted to push out another print, but I wasn’t sure what to include in it. Instead of forcing it, I decided to take a step back and focus on doing other things that I love.
That being said, while there are still a lot of things that I have to work on, the next print is currently in the works! It will be a bit more DIY than the first edition and super fun, so I’m really looking forward to pushing it out, and hopefully, people are too. Spoiler alert – it’s based on a genre that I really love, so…IYKYK! That’s all I’ll say, it’s a secret for now!
Super stoked for the upcoming print! Thanks for being so honest about your struggles; it’s important to put your mental health first. What were some of the challenges you faced when creating the first print, and how did you overcome them?
My biggest struggle is being consistent with pushing out content. No matter what anyone says, print zines are very time-consuming. There’s a lot of planning and collaboration involved, just because of how DIY it is. Alter Start is also a passion project, so I have to juggle between creating the zine and other aspects of my life, like work and school. To push out multiple zines in a year is just not sustainable in the long run. That’s why I’m planning to push out more online content, so that there’s at least there’s something for people to look forward to, while we work on the next print.
Another challenge has to be the binding of the zines, especially since this is my first time creating a print. I remember crying the first time I did it and straight up panicking because I had a bunch of zines left to bind before an event. Huge shoutout to my art school friends, though, who taught me how to bind. Not gonna lie, I literally poured my sweat and tears into Alter Start haha, but it was all worth it in the end.
Ultimately, there’s no shortcut to overcoming challenges. The pressure to create will always be there. When you feel overwhelmed, it’s important to take a step back and remember why you started in the first place. If you start stressing about it, that’s when it will start to feel like a job. This is a passion project, so just have fun with it!
Speaking of passion projects and having fun, any tidbits to share?
Yeah, actually! I’ve never really talked about the inspiration behind the name Alter Start, except to few of my close friends. It’s a bit cheesy, not gonna lie haha, but the name was something that I had been struggling with since the start.
I was at a point in my life when I was being washed with waves of epiphanies, y’know, classic Aquarius stuff. But it was also around this period when I reconnected with a loved one at a gig.
I hadn’t seen this person in a very long time, since I was maybe around ten, and seeing them for the first time at that gig felt crazy, like I was reminded of how small the world is. We reconnected but eventually lost touch. About a year later, I saw them again, at another gig. And we reconnected, again.
That was what inspired the name Alter Start. It’s about reconnecting with the past and starting anew. As corny as it sounds, it’s the idea that we can all alter our starts. In a way, it also fits in with the local music scene. Different people are involved in different bands, and that’s okay. You don’t have to wait for the perfect opportunity or be great at something to be a part of it. You just need to start.
Also side note, but the person who inspired the name is unaware of their role in it, so maybe this feature is how I break the news to them.
Thanks for sharing! Being in your 20s is all about self-discovery, and it's liberating to know that you can always just start again as long as you want to. To end off our chat, any local music recommendations to share with our readers?
This is tough, there are so many bands that I would like to feature! My latest recommendations would be (alternative R&B duo) nkei and (hardcore band) RELOAD, if people haven’t already discovered them. My favourites from each artist would be Cherry (by nkei) and 500 (by RELOAD).
This feature is the first of a three-part series. Follow Alter Start on socials to stay connected.
This contributor feature was written by Cherie Wong.
Cherie is a human whose life revolves around music – except, you know, playing it. Ask her for the lore on any band and she’ll give it to you. Just don’t ask her to sight-read. You can find her at @shuhreee_ on IG.