Fan Tattoos And The Importance Of Performing Live: How Singaporean Band brb. Came To Be

brb. may be one of Singapore's hottest pop trios at the moment, but they still face mundane hiccups like regular folks. Like not being connected for our interview. They can see us; they just can't hear us.

“We'll have to log out and log in again," says keyboardist Auzaie Zie (pronounced “zee”). Brb, in other words.

The reason we’ve got the brb. boys ­— Zie, Clarence “CLO” Liew (vocals), and Marc Lian (guitars, vocals) — on the call is because they'll be headlining Homegrown 2026, the annual music festival showcasing the talents of our Lion City rockers.

Happening from 11 to 13 Sep at the plaza of Paya Lebar Quarter, the line-up also includes co-headliner Regina Song, rockers Forests, 10pm Noise Complaint, Ice Cream Sundays, TP Music Vox, as well as the Music & Drama Company’s own Dominic Chin, RINES, Gail Belmonte, Khim Ng, Aaron Bunac, Izzathy Halil and Cut The Cabbage.

“It's amazing that we have a platform for local musicians on a scale this big,” said Zie about Homegrown. “Usually, it's a gig in a studio, in a club, or in a room, and the general audience tends not to go for (that type) of show.

“With big stages like this, it’s great to showcase not only artists who are already around, but newer acts… especially in an era where everything's online on TikTok and Instagram.

“Physically being there in a space where you can actually watch a new act is quite refreshing, and it's great. We should have more of these festivals,” he said.

Their headlining stint at Homegrown is just the latest notch in brb.'s belt, marking their ascent in Singapore's pop scene since 2018.

"That's a lot of people!": Going from awkward to hype

At the time, they had their own solo projects or were in other bands, but they were fans of each other’s music and wanted to create music together.

“It was more of a passion project at the time. Mark was the one who pulled everyone together,” said Zie. “Like, ‘let's try writing songs together’, you know? It all just came together after that.”

Despite coming together and compiling a catalogue of tunes, they still needed a band name.

“I don't know why, but we were thinking of acronyms, Internet speak,” said Marc, adding that they toyed with several others — gtg, omg, otw — but those "didn’t feel right”.

“I don't know why Clarence blurted out 'brb', but Zie and I just looked at each other and said, 'Wow, that sounds kind of cool',” Marc added.

A band name now in hand, they released their debut single, “Cool With It”, which struck a chord with fans — it now has over 17m streams on Spotify alone.

A slew of subsequent tracks through the years all chalked up millions of streams: nine went past 20 million streams, with one of them, "my type", breaching the 60-million-stream mark.

"When we started seeing the streams go up, I started to feel like, 'okay, I think we have to take this seriously now'," said Marc. "It's a sign that people actually kind of like this, so we should make more of it."

What followed was an output that many can envy: three EPs, one album and more million-streaming singles.

In 2026 alone, they've already put out one EP and five singles, with their latest, “Can’t Be Without You”, already raking in more than 775,000 streams in less than two months.

“It still feels very surreal to drop a new song, and then we see the numbers rise. How in the world do we have a million people listening to that one song?" said CLO. “That's a lot of people!”

In tandem with their online success, the band started doing shows. First in Singapore, before travelling the world — Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and the USA.

"When we first started, it was just really small shows, like at the Esplanade Concourse," said CLO. "At that time, we were still kind of trying to figure out who we were.

"We had three songs, and we were doing covers and all that stuff. It was definitely awkward and very... interesting, to say the least.

"I was just holding on to the mic stand for dear life. I did not dare to move from the mic stand or look at anybody that's watching, just closing my eyes and just going at it," he added.

"Fast forward eight years, and now, we're just jumping all around the stage and all that stuff."

"I want you on my tattoo!"

It's not all sunshine and roses for brb. IMAGE: brb.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing. For example, on the first stop of their US tour, the band landed in Austin, Texas, only to find that their equipment wouldn’t work.

They had to scrounge around a few guitar stores to source a quick fix so that they could make the gig. “We ended up buying a super-small interface, like a beginner-level one, to just get through that show," said Zie. (They only managed to fix the issue midway through that tour.)

But there were also pleasant surprises.

“In New York, there was this girl," said Zie. "She just pulled up to the VIP meet and greet. She gave us some markers, and she's like, ‘Could you draw some stuff on my arm? Because I want to get it tattooed.”

“We were like, what the hell?” said Marc. “I don't want to draw on your arm. It's going to be there for life!"

“But the commitment, man!” nodded Zie.

“Yeah, and it really happened at the end, because she sent us a picture on Instagram, like, ‘I really got it tattooed’,” said CLO. “And it was our scribbles."

Marc: “I feel like that wasn't the only...”

CLO: “There were a few, yeah. But she was the only one that sent us a video.”

Zie: “Yeah, that's insane!”

"It feels very human": Why brb. love performing live

Eight years on, the band know that they're on the road less travelled. And if younger aspiring musicians are planning on going on that same journey, they have one thing to say about that:

"Don't do it!" laughed Zie. "No, it's just, like, stick to your guns and believe in yourself."

He elaborated: "It's not an easy road. It's not an easy path. I'm pretty sure your parents also tell you don't do it, but we stuck to it, and we really believed in ourselves.

"And even though there were days where we were like, 'man, (we're not) doing well, what do we do?' We could've just quit, but we just pushed on, and we just kept going."

Marc added: "Just don't give up so easily. Don't let some setbacks stop you in your tracks. You got to push through sometimes to get results, really. So hang in there."

"That is what I think everyone should do," said Zie. "Really believe in your craft. This is why you started in the first place – because you have something in you that you want to create and you'll put it out there."

Before they released their 2025 single, brb. asked the Internet to share what "last goodbye" meant to them, and incorporated those moments into their MV for the song. Video: brb. YouTube

So where does brb. see themselves in the next eight years?

"We might just be friends. Like, hey, we used to do music together," said CLO. "I really don't think we know what brb. would look like in eight years, because I mean, the times have been really erratic.

"All we can say about that is, we don't take these things for granted, and cherish every moment.

"I mean, obviously, we didn't give up instantly, right? We've been doing this for eight years, but, like, you know, yeah, don't let that pass so quickly."

"I mean, it's been quite a journey, you know, like seeing how we were just three awkward dudes in a room trying to write a song, to now," said Zie.

"It's a very strange relationship that I feel like not a lot of people have, you know? You just don't pull up with some of your boys, like, let's run some music.

"It doesn't happen to a lot of people. So I think this is a cool relationship."

But in the meantime, there’s the Homegrown set, which they're looking forward to, if only because they get to perform live, which brb. say is important for a band.

“Because AI is taking over,” laughed Zie. “I mean, there's so much AI music now, right? And so much AI slop (online).

“So, it really feels great to be physically there, in a place where you can physically see the artists, hear their flaws, hear their writing and everything.

“It feels very human.”

Homegrown Festival 2026 is on 11 to 13 Sep at PLQ Mall. It’s free entry. brb. performs on 12 Sep. Get more info about Homegrown here