Dominic Seow Jia Hoong is a BA (Hons) Contemporary Music (Audio Technology) alumni with a passion for music that stretches far and beyond. Throughout his time at Sunway University, he cultivated his abilities as a singer-songwriter, frontman and musician for two local bands.

For Dominic, one of the most memorable events during his time at Sunway was the forming of his band, Merakki around the middle of his second year which consists of Dominic’s seniors and classmates. Their friendship and connection grew closer after working together on a short film assignment when they each felt deprived of music and decided to get together to try a few songs out. “We had known each other for a while now and it all felt comfortable because we had similar tastes in music, specifically indie pop music.”

Soon after, Merakki released their debut single titled “Cafeteria” which is a track about a food stall in the university cafeteria that had closed down. Much of the songwriting process for Dominic stems from “being students and spending so much time in Sunway." To him, it always made sense to work as a band because of the time they all had and the state-of-the-art facilities that were readily available on campus.

On the other hand, alternative rock band Lxcid was a 4-year-old band in need of a bassist for a show. Dominic recalls, “They invited me to play for a show and soon after, I became a permanent member of the group!” Interestingly, most of the members were also Dominic’s seniors and juniors from his course. Dominic cites that much of the experience he gained from working with Lxcid was brought over to Merakki — from stage presence, writing, recording to networking with contacts for events.

Although Dominic had a lot on his plate, he said it was never a struggle juggling between making music, playing gigs, and attending classes. “I always managed to set aside time for course-related work and band-related things,” with the latter being something that he always looked forward to. According to Dominic, the key to finding balance was planning well for his deadlines and song-writing sessions, which eventually made everything a lot easier to manage over time.

When asked about lecturers that impacted him, Dominic mentioned one of his most inspiring lecturers was the late Mr Frank Ong, who would always motivate him to work to the best of his abilities. “He gave me advice and confidence to be on stage, regardless of what instrument or gig I was playing.”

Dominic mentions another highlight was when he founded and planned “InWaves Collective.” Its purpose was to act as an event organiser for local bands who don’t often get the opportunity to perform due to a lack of experience in the industry. Within the first year of starting this endeavour, Dominic and his team hosted three events — “Dekat Sessions”, “Rock Night in Bad Boys Bar”, and the “Big Wheels Christmas Show”.

Aside from working in music sales and e-commerce at a music store called Mahogany Music, Dominic is also a freelance music teacher, composer and audio engineer. He cites Sunway University as an important stepping stone for his career prospects, as “The composition and engineering classes during my time in SOA have helped prepare me for freelance work and dealing with clients.”

Currently, he is in the midst of writing two debut albums for both his bands and hopes that they can be released in 2022. Dominic ended by saying, “I would like to continue pushing my bands forward, spend more time on stage, and become a producer to help other start-up bands with their music.”

This article has been adapted from the original story found in the School of Arts Press newsletter – June 2021 issue.