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Unless you've been living under a rock, you must have at least once enjoyed a night out at the St. James Power Station complex.

Having attended Movida's (St. James' world music bar) launch, Nu You's "Men we love" party at Dragonfly (St. James' Mandarin live music outlet) and the Nokia "Play Music" press conference at Mono (Karaoke lounge), I was awed by St. James' scale. A sneaky questioning around their technical staff revealed that the budget for cordless microphones alone was already $60,000 SGD.

I had the privilege of scoring an interview with Andrew Ing, the Chief operations officer and Dennis Foo, the chief executive officer of the massive entertainment complex, lauded as being the largest Singapore has seen yet.

Dennis himself is almost a mythical figure in the local entertainment circuit, being the owner of Devil's bar and mentioned alongside names such as Michael Ma of Indochine fame and Michael Lu (formerly owner of Centro). He is arguably the single most powerful person in Singapore Nightlife right now.

We showed up half an hour earlier, but the entertainment mogul skidded in with his tweed jacket and round collar shirt half an hour late. His first words were nothing short of diplomatic: "I know this guy who does development in Dubai. The reporter that was meant to interview him showed up about an hour late. This guy was very tolerant, I hope the reverse is the same (laughs)."

This meeting with Dennis has inconceivably special meaning for me personally as I was working in entertainment for nearly 8 years... 5 years ago, I was introduced to Dennis by Hotstuff (A Boat Quay disco-bar)'s manager Leslie Chua and Dennis then was sitting alone in a Devil's bar booth seat with nothing but a bottle of Johnny Walker's black label for company.

I was applying for a bar attendant position and Leslie made a chance introduction. Dennis didn't so much as raise his head back then, but now he shook my hand and looked me straight in the eye...

Dennis and Andrew, how many years do you guys have between you in regards to life in the club industry?

Andrew: 22 years

Dennis: 27 years

BarmanGuide: Amazing. Being such veterans in the club industry, what were your first club stints?

Andrew: I did a club in Sydney called Ozone around '84. It was sort of like an underground club, but the concept was... a bit too... dare I say... ahead of its time. During that time, most clubs had loud music, dark lighting... a very industrial look. Our concept was brighter and had a bit more art. It was more like a Berlin cafe meets Tokyo lounge sort of thing. It didn't last that long, but I have very fond memories of it.

BarmanGuide: What about you Dennis?

Dennis: My first was Europa Changi in 1980. It was different. It was very much a live entertainment venue. Changi village was sort of out of town, but it was the only place I had. I sort of inherited it from my dad.

I told myself I would definitely not be a coffeeshop operator all my life, so I brought a band from Orchard Road and gave it a bit of twist. Instead of the usual evergreen tunes and drum machines in lounges, we set it up like a mini concert stage with full production; lights and a soundman.

I remember when we first started it wasn't easy. We had a pretty low ceiling so we had to invent two things: Firstly a remote controlled spot light that we made out of a regular spot in some kind a can below and a mirror that moved via remote control to light a space on the stage.

Secondly, we attached a transmitter to a Shure SM58 microphone using a radio. I wish I still had that. I'm pretty sure that was Singapore's biggest cordless microphone (Laughs)

BarmanGuide: What inspired you both to start in the club industry?

Andrew: It was something that I fell into and couldn't get out of it. I couldn't get a job outside the industry and decided to stay in it... no one would hire me (laughs) I just couldn't get a job outside it! Trust me I've been trying for 10 years to find a 'proper' job.

Everyone kept telling me 'this what you do best, just keep doing it.' I always loved partying when I was young. I always wanted to be on the other side of the bar, the other side of the stage, getting involved. You sort of see things and learn interesting things. You meet people and it snowballs.

BarmanGuide: How did you envisage St. James Power Station? How did it come into Fruition?

Dennis: It came in a flash! The story is during the Europa days, we were on an expansion spree. After Devils, the first thing I was thinking about was a Chinese bar. And after that I was thinking of going after different market segments.

When I saw St. James, I thought to myself, 'hey, since we are on an expansion spree, why can't everything be housed in one?' Then I went back to the management at Devils and asked all ten of them - if we were to expand, would it be better if we have 10 different clubs across the island or just one big one? All the answers came back as the latter...

BarmanGuide: I guess it's more manageable this way?

Dennis: Not really! (laughs) From then, we knew, that each part of it must be different and cater to different segments and it must be integrated; it can connect - as people love to bar hop. One door charge will give you access to all the rest. This synergy would be powerful. This is when Andrew came on board and I showed him my rough plan. This was the fine tuning phase, which we worked on together.

BarmanGuide: Andrew when you came in, it was already past the conceptual stage I take it?

Andrew: Dennis had already done his basic space planning already in terms of what he saw the potential product to be. When I came on board, we just went into a bit more detail and tweaked it here and there. I was working more on what it could become.

Dennis: The cream on top of the cake.

BarmanGuide: Is this there any significance why there is going to be 9 integrated venues in St. James? Why not an auspicious 8?

Dennis: As far as I concerned, 9 is more auspicious than 8. 8 is the standard lucky number, it's very Cantonese ('fatt'- prosper). From a numerology standpoint 9 a very strong number, it is only next to the perfect ten. You should have asked me why it isn't ten. If you want to count the restaurant, its 9 + 1 which is ten (smiles).

BarmanGuide: Dennis, I've noticed that your son Gordon works in Devils Bar. Do you think that he is following in your footsteps?

Dennis: Gordon is in the system. The first thing I must say is that this isn't a family business. The structure of company is held by FJ Benjamin, Metro holdings- the holding company of Breadtalk and E.K holdings. St. James is corporatised. Even though Gordon is my son it isn't whether he is following in my footsteps, it's a question if he can. It's purely meritocratic. Trust me if he can make it in the next ten years, I'd be the happiest man alive.

BarmanGuide: Do you think St. James' remote location is a problem?

Dennis: I have been posed that question before, but today you can see the reality of the development of the whole precinct; it's the fastest growing precinct in Singapore. The critical mass, for me, is the second highest outside of Orchard road.

Andrew: We had a million people through the first week at Vivocity.

Dennis: ...And that excludes Sentosa, Office Park and the cruise center. It has a higher critical mass than Clarke Quay and boat Quay. We have transportation via Harbourfront MRT and over 4000 parking lots here, so it's very accessible.

BarmanGuide: How will the opening of the I.Rs have an impact on St. James Power Station?

Dennis: I think it would have a positive impact! I've signed a non-disclosure agreement with one of the I.R bidders, so I cannot go further than that. Let's keep it for another day... its more exciting that way (laughs)

BarmanGuide: Do you think that St. James Power Station will be the biggest entertainment complex in Asia?

Dennis: If you say Asia, one must look at the outlets in Bangkok, Thailand for size. But if you included the term 'comprehensive' then St. James would be it! Nightlife in Thailand is going through a bad phase due to the policies implemented by their government... it is not as vibrant as it used to be, while nightlife in Singapore is opening up.

Comprehensive is where I'm coming from - possessing a variety of entertainment as well as many dance music genres. Hmmm... Largest and most comprehensive, the adjectives don't gel, perhaps you could find the word for me?

BarmanGuide: A sensitive question, what do think about Zouk and Ministry of Sound?

Andrew: We are targeting PMEBs, mid 20s, late 20s type of crowd, so I think we are not aiming at the same people... in fact I think we complement our competitors in the market. We do, however, have Powerhouse, an outlet for commercial dance music, which is going for a younger audience, but it doesn't take up the most space in St. James.

Dennis: We'll take some business from them, that's for sure.

Andrew: But it wont be a big impact. We are growing the pie.

Dennis: We're giving people more reason to come out. Giving them more variety.

BarmanGuide: So is there a social dimension behind St. James? You guys are taking it upon yourselves to grow the market?

Dennis: Growing the pie will always be of interest to anyone in the industry and we, of course, are deeply entrenched.

BarmanGuide: There is a bit of secrecy that has been maintained over your Power Station outlet: can you shed some light on it? We've only heard that it's 'big'.

Dennis: It's a good size. I think it's the right size for its function.

Andrew: It's not as big as people think it is, it's designed for 1000 pax.

BarmanGuide: Will it have a live music element?

Dennis: We have so many outlets in St. James that already have live music. I'd say that we have the capability to do occasional live acts. But it is designed as a live club.

BarmanGuide: Being so heavily entrenched in live music and this is a question people have been dying to ask you, do you support local original live music?

Dennis: I've been asked this before. I come from an angle of 'total entertainment'. It's not about live music alone. Wait... I avoided the question. We support our local artists, that's for sure.

Why, if we have good local artists, do we still need to incur more by incurring foreign artists and get hit by passage fees, taxes, accommodation and a whole run of costs. As long as there are local talents that can meet the expectations of our audience, we will endeavor to look for them. We've shown in Dragonfly, where nearly 100% of the performers excluding the dancers are from Singapore and they have done a great job so far.

BarmanGuide: Sorry Dennis (laughs), you didn't answer my question. I was asking about local original music

Dennis: Oh! Local original music! (laughs) If a local group can produce music that has appeal that has commercial value, we will look into it. To most extent we have to be commercial. There are serious investments involved. This is not for fun. Despite our passion, we have to look at it in a very practical manner. (Stern face)

Andrew: Apart from Gashaus, Timbre, Prince of Wales and Home club, there aren't many venues that support local original music.

Dennis: In 1993, someone from Substation in Armenian street... a member of 'Oddfellows' issued me a challenge to put them in front of an audience. 'Will you give us a chance' he said. I put them up for a month and they had to leave on their own accord. People were not ready for that then, but perhaps they are now.

Andrew: You can do one-offs. Our cover bands have a wide repertoire, playing 3 one-hour sets. Original bands cannot do the same. Electrico even said to me, 'We can't work in a club'. All they got is enough for an hour. Customers wont come back unless we rotated original bands, like what Bar None does, we cannot have just one of them holding everything together. It's a supply and demand situation.

In the old days of Zouk, they used to give an original band a one-hour set- they used to put on Stoned Revivals, Concave Scream. Its good for one day, you can't do it regularly

BarmanGuide: Do you guys think original bands have commercial value to the market as a whole?

Dennis: I think they have potential but it may not be that viable.

Andrew: Electrico is radio friendly. But a lot of other local bands are not. If you cannot get radio play, how do you build audiences and how do you build CD sales... how do you survive? I've been talking to people like Ben Harrison, Jotun for years now...Singapore cannot do it right now, as there is no critical mass.

The majority of people are focused on their own language. For example, even though the Straits Times is the most read newspaper, the most listened to radio station is 9.33fm and the most watched TV station is channel 8.

BarmanGuide: You are saying that there is strong cultural identity in the entertainment scene these days?

Andrew: Yes. That's why we did Dragonfly. There is an affinity with your own language

Dennis: Actually we are trying to avoid Cantonese, its too niche. Mandarin is quite universal here. That's why we do Mandopop rather than Cantopop. But the dance music is what people are most familiar with and that's mostly in English.

BarmanGuide: What do you think is the future for St. James Power Station?

Dennis: When it is completed, it is really just the new beginning. (Puts hands together) The Johnny Walker is talking...

[And with that... he smiled his way out the door.]