Visionary is a strong word. If often conjures images of those with abilities to see into the future or those who impact the entire planet in some way. Without a doubt, the word is grandiose. Steve Jobs is the most modern example of this. It’s important to understand that the way in which Jobs excelled were his ideas, not the actual process of implementing those ideas. He was able to conceive of something that we would want before we even knew that we wanted it. It is this very concept that Adrian Puan shares with the former CEO of Apple Inc. This comparison makes Puan uncomfortable when it is mentioned but the fact is that the strength of both men in their chosen field is having the vision of greater things. Adrian Puan is a Malaysian songwriter; one who is unlike almost any songwriter you have ever heard of before. Steve Jobs had the foresight to understand how he would change everyday life for most people; one wonders if he understood that he would change the approach to songwriting that Puan is pioneering. To understand what is happening with Adrian Puan’s career is to understand how technology is increasingly changing human life. Rather than replacing the career paths of people, technology is working in tandem with it to increase the possibilities. Adrian’s story is an exciting glimpse into the symbiotic relationship that we share with machines.

Adrian is a songwriter. His career is a bit of a dichotomy. To begin with, Adrian doesn’t play any musical instruments. I don’t mean to say that he is not accomplished on any musical instruments. In fact, he does not play anything at all on a musical instrument. He doesn’t read music. He’s not a hobbyist who picks up an acoustic guitar around the campfire. He literally does not play a single note on any conventional instrument. The word conventional is paramount in this conversation because Puan uses his iPhone as an instrument. It is mostly utilized as a high tech recorder and it allows him immediate access and recall to his musical ideas, much in the same way that a pianist might sit down and work out an idea in their head and then write it down on staff paper. Purists scoff at this title for Puan. He acknowledges that some consider his unusual approach as unorthodox, even sometimes invalid. Before agreeing with them you might want to consider the notable achievements he has attained.

Although Adrian is not a band member of the Malaysian band Beat The System, the group asked him to move to the US with them as a part of the writing and recording process for their first major American recording. Puan has a five year history with the band with a large fan base and has been recognized with many awards in their homeland. With success topping the charts (with multiple weeks at the number one), Beat The System(BTS)’s recognitions since Adrian’s involvement include; Asian Voice Independent Music Awards – “Shine” won Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, & Best Genre Bender. In the same year, “Shine” won Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, and was nominated for best Vocalist at the Asian Bite My Music Global Awards. In 2013, BTS won Best Rock Song for “Hero” at the Asian Bite My Music Awards. The primary songwriting team in BTS is Gerald Sellan (bandleader, drummer) and Adrian. It was Sellan who first approached Puan about writing for BTS. “Shine” was a song which partnered BTS with Malaysian Idol winner Jaclyn Victor. When Gerald was having difficulty with the lyrics for the tune, he approached Adrian for assistance. The BTS bandleader was so pleased with Puan’s contribution that he again approached him in 2013 when he was composing “Hero.” The result of the songwriting partnership resulted in two of BTS’s most successful hits. Whatever the reason, Sellan recognized the power of the chemistry the two writers created and approached Adrian to be an exclusive writer for his band. Gerald confirms, “Adrian’s songwriting is exactly the direction that Beat The System is going for. His lyrics are deep and heartfelt while his melodies are undeniable. He is one of the main reasons that American labels became aware of us and interested in signing us. I don’t think there is any way we would have gotten here without his contributions.”

Adrian’s assistance to BTS and the proof of his talent are most clearly depicted in the band’s signing with Monster Hits Music by (A&R and CEO) Diana Meltzer. Meltzer is known for signing Grammy award-winning band Creed, Evanescence, Alter Bridge, Seether, Drowning Pool, and many others. Diana travelled to Malaysia to meet and work with the band after being convinced by ten songs the band recorded in hopes of interesting her. Gerald Sellan turned to Puan to compose half of these songs. The first of the songs that Puan wrote to convince Meltzer was “Last Lullaby.” Both Sellan and Meltzer confirm that the song was so strong that it was a deal sealer. “Last Lullaby” will appear on the soon to be released American debut by BTS. Adrian reveals, “The song is a love song but not the typical one. There are so many love songs about romantic love but a love song can be about the love you share in a family. I think one of my strengths is that I don’t approach every song lyrically or melodically as everyone else does. While others might consider my approach to songwriting a weakness; it has turned out to be my greatest strength. My songs are different because I don’t approach them like 99% of the writers out there.”

Adrian has experienced his share of resistance to his process. Both back home and in the US he has heard from musicians who consider his approach invalid. These opinions are overshadowed by the awards his compositions have achieved as well as the overwhelming recognition of music industry professionals both in Malaysia and the US. Mokhtza Ahmad (Head of A&R Warner Music Malaysia) states, “Working with Adrian was a great experience. The attitude and work ethic with which he approaches his craft has placed him in the top professionals here.” Diana Meltzer echoes this sentiment stating, “I’ve seen so many different approaches to songwriting in this industry. When you have it, you just have it. Adrian definitely has it.” So the next time you see or hear of someone like Adrian Puan doing something highly unusual in their approach, you might want to consider the fact that they are not only breaking the rules; they are pioneering a modern approach.

“Addicted To That Rush” is the first song off the debut record by American band MR. BIG. It’s about a romantic relationship but it’s also an analogy for anyone who feels the compulsion of an uncontrollable force in their life. It’s the way Gerald Sellan feels about drums. Even though Sellan is the leader of his band Beat The System (BTS) and a composer of many of their songs, he quickly confirms that he is a drummer through and through. When asked if he had to don just one role in his band, he quickly exclaims, “Of course I’d play drums! That’s what brought me to music. When I was going to church in my home country of Malaysia, I’d always watch the drummer. The band was playing music like Hillsong which is basically rock music but with a spiritual message. It’s funny because now I am living in New York and playing Hillsong music.” Truly a child of his generation, Sellan also credits YouTube with having a great impact on his abilities. The easy accessibility to watching amazing drummers (known and unknown) from around the world supplied a boundless curriculum for his education. Sellan’s story is truly a modern one which epitomizes the ever increasingly communicative global community. Being influenced by the music from the opposite side of the planet has led to Gerald and his band relocating to New York, thanks to talent and technology.

Gerald Sellan is not the norm for drummers. Ask any musician and they tell you that bands love to tell drummer jokes; the most common is “What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians? A drummer!” Tell this joke to Sellan and he laughs, partially because he has proven time and time again how incorrect this is. Gerald has been co-writer on many of BTS’s award winning hits. In 2010 BTS won the award for Best Rock Song for “Penipuan Berwaris”as well as Tipped to be the Next Big Thing. They quickly followed this with “Shine” (featuring Malaysian Idol winner Jaclyn Victor) which won Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, and Best Genre Bender at the Asian Voice Independent Music Awards. Gerald was involved up to this point as a co-writer but as the band started to make a move towards a mixture of pop and rock influences, he began to take a lead role in writing and the overall direction of the band. The dichotomous nature of Sellan’s musical tastes have always mixed well in his writing and drumming approach. He comments, “I’ve always loved both rock and pop music. I’m just as happy listening to Mariah Carey as I am with Iron Maiden. I remember the first time I saw Iron Maiden in concert in Malaysia. I was crying I was so happy. I’ve always loved visual and musical drummers like Nicko McBrain, Tommy Lee, Tommy Aldridge, Taylor Hawkins. I feel their excitement. As an audience member I want to be excited as well as enjoy how well they are playing. That’s important to me when I am performing as well. That being said, the music has to be catchy to me. If you can’t walk away humming that melody…maybe the songs aren’t that great. I can’t separate the two; melody and great drumming go hand in hand.”

The enthusiasm that is essential to Gerald’s approach is readily apparent when you witness him perform; it belies the fact that he has become the primary songwriter for BTS. Names like Phil Collins and Dave Grohl serve as well known reminders that these two vocations are not incongruent. The same spark of inspiration and emotion that creates an infectious groove can be applied to a melody. Sellan has proven this quite often recently as a writer of songs such as “Hero” and “Journey” which will be on BTS’s first US release, also entitled Journey. Songs like this are what convinced Diana Meltzer (A&R, Chief Executive Officer of Monster Hits Music) to sign BTS and convince them to relocate to NYC to work with her on the band’s American debut. Meltzer notes, “I have worked with many great songwriters and drummers from Creed, Evanescence, Alterbridge, and many more. Gerald has exactly what it takes to stand among these artists in the US music industry.” During one of their initial conversations, Sellan promised Meltzer he would deliver 10 songs in 30 days that would be better than the ones that initially peaked her interest. As proof of the results, BTS soon relocated to the US at Meltzer’s prompting. Being driven has always been a character trait of Gerald’s and an asset to his band. He confirms, “I always want to improve myself and be a positive influence to others. Rick Allen (drummer of Def Leppard) is so inspiring! He was in a car wreck, lost and arm, and pushed himself to get right back into drumming. He is as good as or better than so many great drummers out there. The world needs people like that who don’t let their circumstances dictate who they are.”

Often, the dream does not live up to expectations once you are there. In Sellan’s case, it’s even better than he had hoped. Journey will soon be released and another box will be checked off of Sellan’s list in becoming a successful musician in the US. The record was produced by Andy Anderson (four time Dove award-winning producer) and engineered by Grammy-nominated Damien Page Lewis. Gerald is especially happy about this revealing, “We were given several different choices as a producer and we all agreed that Andy was the best choice. A lot of the producers were great but Andy in particular has a real sense of modern sounds. We needed someone who is really on top of some of the more modern sonic approaches and Andy delivered extremely well on that.” Sellan states, “I typically use a 14 inch rack tom, 16 inch and 18 inch floor toms, and a 22 inch bass drum. Those are big rock and roll drums. I love that sound but the band also loves the modern sound that utilizes electronics. For most of the songs on the new record, we mixed my acoustic drums with loops, etc…so the approach to the parts I played was dictated by that. Most of the time, the drums are the last thing to go down when we are recording. As a songwriter who is also a drummer, that is ideal for me. It gives me more choices and a wider range of things to choose from. It also makes me push myself as a drummer to come up with a great drum part that serves to support the song rather than just my ego.”

Beat The system’s forth coming album JOURNEY will soon be released. The first two singles “Hero” and “Be Your Own” are currently available.

In the early 1800’s, people would refer to a railway steam locomotive as the “devil’s wagon” and proclaim, “You’ll never get me on one of those things. Who needs to go 20 miles per hour anyway? Nobody needs to go that fast.” This proves that things change. It’s better to figure out how to make new templates work than to accept defeat because you cannot acclimate. The latest version of this example might be the statement that print is dead. Although literal “print” does not fair well, the discipline of telling tales and delivering news is just as alive as it ever was; it has simply taken on a new form. As proof, you are reading this on a screen right now. Our current day writers, like Sarah Gooding, are more comfortable with a keyboard than a pen or quill (if you are from the 19^th century). Sarah and her peers cast a net as wide as any of the great auteurs of the past and with greater immediacy. That’s not to say that current day writers are necessarily more gifted, simply that they have acclimated to the pace and focus of society. The freedom of content is wider than ever and yet, there are limitations…you sometimes have to be brilliant in 140 characters. Sarah Gooding arrived at her career just as everything was changing.

Originally from New Zealand, Gooding has worked with a variety of publications. Most of these have been online and one of the most notable was Einstein Music Journal (EMJ). This award-winning site, devoted to music and art, is the place to which Gooding credits a great deal of her writing DNA, but she did not set out on that course originally. After studying communications at university, Sarah interned at Real Groove magazine in New Zealand. Writing for Real Groove (and its sister magazine Groove Guide), she interviewed artists such as; The Velvet Undergound’s John Cale, legendary singer Mavis Staples, Keith Flint of Prodigy, and (a somewhat grumpy) Ryan Adams. Interviewing these iconic musicians is an achievement in itself. Most importantly, she discovered the widely creative possibilities of writing based on her own interest and love of pop culture. But just as importantly, an article in the magazine covered a new music blog and its founder Nick Fulton. Fulton was looking for a writer and soon the two were working together. This venture morphed into Einstein Music Journal.

Einstein Music Journal gave Sarah the frequency and volume to hone her craft at a fast pace as well as the platform to reach a global audience. Gooding’s writing became so respected that many US artists premiered songs on EMJ (as on online publication, EMJ displays both written articles and video/audio) and many of her articles were syndicated on websites around the world like The Guardian and Art Rocker. The romanticism that surrounded record shops in the ‘90s was being realized in a new medium with EMJ. Writers like Gooding and Fulton were writing about things that they were extremely passionate about exposing. Gooding reveals a lesson which she learned at EMJ that still hold true for her, stating, “I really enjoy giving a voice to people that are doing really important and interesting work; work that might not otherwise get attention. It’s important on a personal level, but it also makes for valuable writing.” It’s that type of heartfelt sincerity that led to achievements like EMJ’s recognition as a finalist in Concrete Playground’s Blogger Awards and New York City’s Breakthru Radio’s Blog of the Week. In this new era, the music blog is what the original version of San Francisco’s Rolling Stone was in 1967; young passionate writers who felt music and social change intertwined.

EMJ was interviewing artist like St. Vincent, Vampire Weekend, and Beach House as they were just beginning to emerge onto the global scene, as well as developing a presence for New Zealand bands. At the same time, due to her writing with EMJ, Gooding’s career was having an inverse correlation to this. Major publications were noticing her ability to transfer her enthusiasm in an online format as well as her cross-genre relatability. REMIX magazine asked her to write the cover story (a lengthy eighteen pages) about New Zealand’s top fashion designers. This led to Sarah taking over the official onsite daily newsletters for New Zealand Fashion Week and eventually, a staff role with New Zealand’s biggest selling magazine New Zealand’s Woman’s Weekly. Giving further weight to her writing credentials and online presence, New York Times columnist David Carr shared an essay which Gooding wrote with his 250,000 Twitter followers. This archetype using the vehicle of Twitter validated Sarah to a young generation as well as possibly a more traditional one. Steve Duck of Complex magazine investigated Gooding’s writing skills by assigning her a story about a jacket; one that was created for pop icon Kim Kardashian. The content might seem mundane (with the exception of Kardashian’s noteworthy status), but the article presented much more than the obvious content. Duck notes, “I was particularly interested in the references to French philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s ‘Simulacra and Simulation.’ I was thrilled with the story. It did great page view numbers for us. I sent it on to my peers at Complex in the US, who republished it on their site, where it once again did great numbers. The piece was a perfect blend of accessible content, intelligent analysis, and fun storytelling.”

The application of writing in an online platform is commonplace nowadays. While Einstein Music Journal gave Gooding a foundation for her writing and approach, the proliferation of feedback online has created a new dynamic for modern writers. Rather than shying away from this, Gooding basks in it. She reveals, “There’s nothing better than being a part of a global community of readers and writers on the internet. When a US magazine published a response article challenging my essay on Medium, I didn’t expect that. I also didn’t expect to be contacted by an author in Las Vegas who wanted to quote my writing in his new book about business communication but that also happened.” It is serendipitous that so many writers and publications in the US are taking note of Gooding’s skills and achievements as she has a great affinity for American culture and writers. Sarah confirms, “I have always felt like the most exciting voices, publications, and organizations are in the US. I’ve always thought working there would be the pinnacle. I travelled there on holiday and instantly felt at home.” The original moniker of EMJ was “Einstein, Disguised as Robin Hood” taken from a Bob Dylan lyric. Perhaps the most widely know of Dylan’s lyrics is “The Times They Are-A-Changin”…which is also the most appropriate description of current day writers and Sarah Gooding’s role.