You liked our first Charlie so much we thought we’d bring you another one. Meet Charlie Hagger, our next Man About Town. This one’s with the band.
Ship broker by day, barfly by night, this 24 year old Hendrix fan from the UK has lived here for just ten months. Loving life and learning the ropes of the lion city, he’s on the prowl for intimate live music venues so he can fully indulge his love of music – and reconnect with a sub-culture that’s always been part of his life. Back in the UK he had a band and played gigs part time for a job. He can serenade us anytime!
Hey Charlie!
London has tonnes of small intimate live music venues, are there any here in Sing? (Brix doesn’t count)
There are a few great places you can go for one-off live DJ nights here, like Loof, TBC and Vault but in terms of new live bands and musicians I haven’t found them just yet – I suppose I’m still pretty new though. To me, Singapore is quite difficult to compare to London in that respect. It seems all a bit too pristine to be ‘edgy’ in the same way that London is but maybe I’m just not looking in the right places. Singapore does have some great cover bands though – and we all know where the best ones play!
Photography by Rohan Rees
If you were forming a band, living or dead, to jam with you for your next house party who would you choose?
I’m a bit of a young fogey when it comes to my music taste – much to the amusement of my flat mates. So I would have to go old school and get someone like Jimmy Hendrix along for a laugh.
Tinder or the club? Where are the best hotties to be found in Sing?
Haha! Who told you I’m on Tinder? It’s a bit of a running joke, practically every single person in Singapore seems to be all over it, so in all honesty it can be quite a good way to meet new people. It fits in quite nicely with the expat mentality that everyone is that little bit more open and outgoing in order to meet new people – it can also be hilarious at times too.
And what do you think of the women in Singapore?
Lovely, of course!
What do you like to do in Singapore on weekends?
Well…I went to the Tanjong Beach Club Full Moon Party which was pretty cool.
But I’m probably not as adventurous as I should be out here when it comes to nights out. The expat hot-spots usually make for a pretty safe bet. The general format for an evening involves post-work drinks at Club Street…usually followed by one of the nearby nightclubs. I like that it’s a surprisingly small and close-knit expat community out here, and you find yourself constantly bumping into familiar faces on a night out.
You entertain clients a lot, where in Singapore have you had your best steak?Singapore has so many good places to eat, it’s difficult to pick a favourite spot. Variety is definitely the spice of life here – where cuisine is concerned. I’m keen on Dempsey Hill and some of the stuff they have up there – Chopsuey is a personal favorite (not really steak but more Asian fusion). If it’s steak you’re after then Luke’s on Club Street does a seriously good sirloin.
Your Dad comes out from London a bit, what’s the best dad and son thing to do in Singapore?
My old man comes out pretty frequently, mostly for work. So by the end of the day we’re usually on a pretty similar level, and some decent food and a few beers around Duxton Hill are likely to be on the evening agenda. Last year we snuck in a weekend trip to Bali and did a cycling tour, which I would definitely recommend.
How did you come to be in Singapore?
It was basically a bit of a lucky break for me. I started working at a London Shipbrokers a couple of years back, and knew they needed to expand their Singapore office at the time, so I pushed quite hard for the opportunity to come here. I wanted to live somewhere outside of the UK, and Singapore was always pretty high up the list!
What’s the best thing about living here?
This is definitely a massive expat cliché, but it has to be the ludicrous potential to travel around. I’d never really spent much time in Asia before last year, and now it’s all there on the doorstep. And with the airport being (like most things in Singapore) so smooth and efficient, you can pop up to Thailand for the weekend with ease and be back in the office come Monday.
What do you miss most about home?
Apart from the obvious friends and family, I’m a proud Brit, and so a big fan of the UK in general. I grew up in the countryside, and there are few better places to be on a decent English Summers day - it’s just unfortunate they don’t come around too often back in the UK!
Thanks Charlie!
Thanks Rohan Rees for the photography and thanks to our mates at The Black Swan for letting us shoot in the sultry and splendid Powder Room.