Armless Dentist: The brutal couple behind viral grindcore songs about mala and bubble tea

I’m a bit of a grindcore man myself. My youth was filled with pasting pictures of Pig Destroyer album covers and The Locust lyrics on my looseleaf binders that I brought to school — to the disgust of classmates and some lecturers of course, but I relished in being the non-conformist. Ah, such cringeworthy days. 

Today, grindcore remains a genre that’s still very much considered abnormal for being highly-niche heavy-metal music that has a relatively small but fiercely loyal fanbase. But thanks to Armless Dentist — a grindcore-gone-acoustic outfit — the genre is getting (some) recognition among the normies. 

Why though? It’s because couple Darell Sungkono and Claire Choo bring the brutality to basic things beloved by Singaporeans and seemingly everyone in the Subtle Asian Traits Facebook group.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/armlessdentistgrind/videos/639806139834016/[/embed]

Although Armless Dentist has been around for quite some time (they’ve put out records on Bandcamp since 2016), it was only in recent months that their irreverent songs got bigger attention. Their hit single Ma La Xiang Guo attracted over 173,000 views on Facebook — mainly after it was shared on Subtle Asian Traits and some Singaporean publications jumped on it.

Now, on the eve of a weekend in Kuala Lumpur as an opening act for Spanish grindcore band Teething, Darell and Claire are back with a savage new song about their violent love for bubble tea. 

I got hold of them (not that difficult, especially since we hang out pretty regularly) for a vicious interview that's appropriately in all caps. We’ve left their answers unedited, as you can tell. 

---

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=894707547565568[/embed]

Q: HALLO. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WRITING PROCESS.

A: DARELL (GUITARIST/SCREAMING PERSON) WILL COME UP WITH SOME FACE-MELTING SOUL-CRUSHING GRINDING RIFFS ON HIS ACOUSTIC GUITAR AND SONG STRUCTURE IN HIS OWN TIME AND THEN ONCE THE RIFFS ARE READY, CLAIRE (SCREAMING PERSON) WILL TRY TO DO SOME EARTH-SHATTERING EVIL DEMON-SUMMONING SCREAM BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO THE NEXT STAGE OF WRITING THE LYRICS 

Q: PLEASE PROVIDE THE LYRICS FOR YOUR LATEST SINGLE.

A: BEFORE BREAKFAST BUBBLE TEA 
AFTER BREAKFAST BUBBLE TEA 
BEFORE LUNCH BUBBLE TEA 
AFTER LUNCH BUBBLE TEA 
BEFORE DINNER BUBBLE TEA 
AFTER DINNER BUBBLE TEA 
BEFORE SUPPER BUBBLE TEA 
AFTER SUPPER BUBBLE TEA 
I HOPE YOU DON’T CHOKE ON YOUR LARGE PEARL MILK TEA WITH 50% SUGAR AND AIYU JELLY TOPPING BUBBLE TEA TILL I DIE

Q: IS THIS GOING TO BE A PLANNED SERIES FOR EVERYTHING YOU LIKE?

A: NO WE USUALLY DON’T PLAN; WE JUST DISCUSS OKAY, WHAT TOPIC WE SHOULD SING ABOUT NEXT, MAYBE NEXT SONG COULD BE ABOUT DIM SUM OR ABOUT PING PONG WE'LL NEVER KNOW, LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES WE WILL WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT WE HATE ALSO

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/armlessdentistgrind/videos/2107822449463122/[/embed]

Q: HOW DO YOU GUYS FEEL ABOUT THE FAME FROM YOUR MALA VIDEO?

A: INTERESTING FEELING. WE DIDN’T EXPECT TO GET THAT MUCH VIEWS BUT IT’S COOL THO 

Q: THOUGHTS ON BROWN SUGAR BUBBLE TEA?

A: VERY DEADLY YUMMY 

Q: IN YOUR COLLECTIVE OPINION WHICH BUBBLE TEA BRAND IS BEST?

A: R&B TEA HANDS DOWN PANTS DOWN

Q: WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T GET GRINDCORE?

A: DON’T BOTHER

ilyas@asiaone.com