In The Moment

Can you please introduce yourself?
My name is Akid and I’m a barber and musician.

Cool! How long have you been a barber and musician?
I’ve been a barber since 2013, so 12 years. As for music, I started playing when my mum bought me a guitar which was when I was 13 or 14 years old. I’ve never stopped since. I started as a guitarist, but after a while I began dabbling in songwriting as well.

How did you get into barbering?
A friend of mine owns a barbershop called The Panic Room. I used to hang out there frequently since we were close, and eventually he kept seeing me around so often that he suggested I learn how to cut hair. I told him I didn’t know how, but he said that if I could play music, I could cut hair too. I didn’t believe him at first, but now I kind of do—a lot of barbers I know are musicians as well!

Interesting! What do you think is the correlation?
I think it really comes down to the creative aspect. One of my friends once said, if you know how to repair motorbikes, you could probably cut hair too. I didn’t quite get the connection at first, but I guess it makes sense—if you’re good with your hands and with figuring things out, the skills can carry over.

What made you stick with it for 12 years? Was it something that eventually you fell in love with?
Yeah, I actually didn’t like it at first, mainly because I never really went to barbershops as a kid—I always went to salons. But back then, I kept asking my mum for money, and one day she told me, “You know our family doesn’t have any income right now.” That was a really low point for us. So I thought, maybe I should try learning barbering as a way to support my family. I started with that intention, and over time, I grew to love it and it eventually became a career path for me.

Glad to hear that those rough days are behind you now! With barbering full-time, when did you find the time to work on music?
So after focusing solely on barbering for a while, I started to miss working on music. I really wanted to get back into it, but The Panic Room was a full-time commitment, so I had to choose. Eventually, I decided to go freelance as a barber, working with different shops, which gave me more flexibility to make time for music. That was back in 2016—the first time I started doing things independently as a musician. From there, the songwriting side of things started to grow, and I began exploring different genres and whatnot.

We also hear you’ve had your own independent salon space for a while now. How did you end up finding this space?
One of my friends first got this place back in 2017. After having it for a while, he wanted to leave, but I felt like the space had a lot of potential, so we decided to do a joint venture and share the studio. Not long after, COVID hit, and suddenly a lot of people were looking for a space to express themselves creatively. I reached out to a few friends, pulled some strings, and gradually, it grew into a creative hub.

Eventually, the space also became a place you call home with your partner Ting!
Yeah, even though I’m not supposed to (laughs), but it became a place where I’m living and also have a wife.

And it’s still continuing to grow now, with G-Town!
Yeah, it just grew naturally. One of our friends offered to let us use the space if we wanted to do something with it. So as a collective and as neighbours, we decided to take the opportunity and build something for the community. We want it to be an open space where anyone can drop by, hang out, have a coffee, and get connected to whatever else is happening in the other rooms.

Love how everything’s come together so organically! Finally, what are your hopes for the salon and G-Town?
As long as there’s sustenance, I’m not too concerned about where it all goes—whether it’s the salon or G-Town. Especially in Singapore, nothing ever feels truly permanent. This space isn’t even ours; we’re just renting it. So for now, I’m just living in the moment, taking it day by day, and appreciating what we have while it lasts.