10) The Revival of The Falcons

The first EP of The Fabulous Falcons

Second Single with me in the band

Third Single with me in the band

Since Form 4 was considered the honeymoon year for most of us students as we had a year to relax before preparing for the Senior Cambridge Examinations School certificate exam in Form Five, it was back to music again for me with the guys. I was actively playing for gigs with Kenny, Vincent and the other guys in the Drifters until the end of Form Four and the following year with be a crucial year as I will have to take the Senior Cambridge School Certificate Exams. At this juncture, we decided to split up and go our separate ways. So this was the demise of the band called The Drifters.

Meanwhile, Christopher and Tommy Ong who was another of our classmate, teamed up with Thomas Ham and Tony Lee aka Kar Chat (which means cockroach in Cantonese) to to revive The Falcons. Christopher played lead guitar while Thomas played rhythm, and Tommy on bass while Tony went on drums. Together they played for roadshows in both east and peninsular Malaysia. It was also at this time that Christopher penned his composition ‘Midnight Express’ which they later recorded on the EAP label. Road shows were very popular in those days as it generated income for the band and more importantly gave them more exposure and created a larger fan base. Many bands in Malaysia like The Teenage Hunters,and The Strollers and Singapore bands like The Quests, The Checkmates and The Cresendos did Road Shows too. Of course, The Falcons had to jump on the bandwagon too and had a busy schedule performing at major towns all over Malaysia and had a huge following.

I wasn’t part of the band as yet for I felt I owe it to myself and my family that I had to concentrate on my studies as I had always made music my priority over my studies up until now. I had to put aside music for this one year and will get back to music after the exams so while The Falcons were performing all over Malaysia, I was preparing hard for my Senior Cambridge School Certificate Exams