Good CB vibes only: Yan Dao bartender duets with dad

How many of us play an instrument? And out of that group, how many actually have jam sessions with their dads?

Award-winning bartender Peter Chua is truly blessed to enjoy such a relationship with his dad (also named Peter Chua), a musician and a winner of the super retro local talent show Talentime.

Recently, Peter Chua Junior posted a video of the two of them strumming their guitars and doing an impressive and heartwarming cover of All I Have To Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers (best enjoyed at full volume and full screen).

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/peter.chua284/videos/10159545855554097/?t=0[/embed]

As we dug deeper, we found another Everly Brothers cover, Bye Bye Love, by the duo:

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/peter.chua284/videos/10159511223569097/?t=1[/embed]

And we realised these videos were all part of Peter Jr's Monday Minute Music series, which started out as 60-second videos. That is, before he got wind of IGTV:

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/B6IcOMrFdAM/?utm_source=ig_embed[/embed]

We also found this YouTube video of Peter Snr performing at the Esplanade in 2017:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDn5wnsh2Ws&feature=emb_logo[/embed]

We got in touch with the 31-year-old Peter Chua to ask him about his videos, his relationship with his dad, as well as bartending (which you can read about in an upcoming article).

You and your dad are so cool! We love your videos!

Haha thanks man!

How did your Monday Minute Music sessions come about?

I started playing music at a very young age and got very into it. Actually, that was my first choice as a career. Then along the way, because of army and school. and a need to make money quick, I started bartending, and music took a back seat.

But whenever I was at home and bored, I'd play the guitar to keep up with it. So I thought, I might as well just record some random stuff - songs from my childhood or even top 40 hits - and one minute is not too long for anyone's attention. It was really just for myself.

How did your dad get involved?

My friend Kenneth (audio producer) - who was bored and had nothing to do at home - suggested doing something nicer and better, so we did.

Then I thought, let's just do something with my dad, who was a performing musician for a long time. Now that he's retired, he's got a lot of time.

We might as well do something that we can look back on later, and say that we at least did something together, because we don't have very much in common - except for drinking and music!

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/B6aPOmVlU9o/?utm_source=ig_embed[/embed]

Was your dad a big influence on your childhood and your music?

We used to take road trips to Malaysia quite often, and we had to listen to whatever cassette tape or CD he was playing.

And if he was "feeling" an artist at that time, he would listen to that same song on a loop, until we reached our destination.

So I learned to pick up melodies and lyrics very quickly and easily. So when I started playing music on my own, it was very easy for me to pick up pitch and melody quite easily.

Did your dad teach you how to play guitar?

Yes, I was quite lucky. The natural progression for people who want to learn how to play the guitar is to buy a cheap acoustic guitar, then go online and learn how to strum chords.

But for me, I had an array of electric guitars (and amps and effects) at my disposal, and learnt chords from those before I moved to acoustic guitars. I found it easier to progress that way.

My dad also had a lot of musician friends. When I wanted to learn stuff that he couldn't teach (like shredding), I would go to one of his friends' places to learn it.

Watch out for our next piece on this inspiring local talent who is the Asia Brand Ambassador for Diplomático Rum, and who also put Singapore on the world map with his bartending skills in 2014.

Find out how he's adapting his trade to the confines of the CIrcuit Breaker, and debunks some myths about bartenders (it's not just pour drinks only, okay).

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.