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Mohd Affandy A. Razak, Tan Shung Sin, Magdelene Han, Khairyl Hashim, Saiful Idris. These five names may not immediately register with most people but mention the name Great Spy Experiment and you’ll get a very different response. Currently Singapore’s hottest rock band at the moment, the Great Spy Experiment has rocked audiences as far as Texas and New York with their rollicking new album “Flower Show Riots”. Sit down with the band as t’s uncovers their secret connection with TP.

So who are the Great Spy Experiment? Saiful is the lead singer and guitarist, Fandy (nobody calls him Mohd Affandy) is the drummer, Song (nobody calls him Shung Sin either) plays guitar, Khairyl is on bass and Magdelene is on keyboards.

With most of the band members having been teachers at some point in their careers (Khairyl, Saiful and Magdelene are full-time teachers), how did the Great Spy Experiment start out?

“Actually Saiful and I met in secondary school.” Fandy revealed. “We’re from Victoria School and we started playing in a band. And we’ve just continued ever since…” The Great Spy Experiment actually have their roots in SuperSpy (named after a song by the band Save Ferries) – a band Saiful and Fandy were a part of before Saiful left for his studies in 2000.

“When I came back from London in 2004, we wanted to do something different.” said Saiful. “But because it was still just the two of us, we wanted to keep the ‘Spy’ element as homage to the previous band. At the same time, it was an ‘Experiment’ because we were bringing in new people. As for the ‘Great’ part of our moniker...it simply sounds better that way!”

Having met Khairyl and Magdelene in college and Song through a friend, Saiful and Fandy invited them to join the band and the Great Spy Experiment was born. But what about the band’s secret connection to TP? As it turns out, Khairyl and Magdelene are graduates of Temasek Polytechnic.

Khairyl was a graduate in Visual Communication at TP. “TP was the place where I grew up and learnt to be street smart. I was fortunate to have good lecturers like Iskandar Jalil in TP.” said Khairyl. “Lecturers like him and Richard Wee taught us there’s more to life and school than just the books, that life is an ever learning process.”

For Magdelene, who graduated in Intelligent Building Technology, her journey through TP was one which moulded her for the challenges in life, “I was juggling work and school as I had to fund my own studies in TP. I remember living on a loaf of bread for two days and getting worried whenever the lecturers told us to buy hardcover books. I actually grew up a lot at TP and became stronger as a person.”

Now a primary school teacher after leaving her job as a Senior Surveyor, Magdelene is finally fulfilling her twin passions in life – teaching and music. Together with Khairyl and the guys, we’re sure their fervour for life will continue to drive the Great Spy Experiment onward to better things! Rock on guys!