Hi , login or create a new account below

The man behind Madam Wong's and Club MOMO in central Mall, we finally managed to hunt down the elusive English born John Lee, the club industry harlequin. Mark Koh asks...

BARMANGUIDE: Being in the Singapore clubbing scene since 1985 and you ran "The Gate" at Orchard Hotel, could you tell me more about it?

JOHN LEE: I actually conceptualised Singapore's first London Disco. And I brought over one of the best club operators in England, David Firestone.

He was the general manager of Stringfellows and Hippodrome. He's also one of my best friends. Hippodrome at that time was the greatest club in the world!

BARMANGUIDE: What happened to the Gate?

JOHN LEE: It did very well. Really well in fact. But I got headhunted to reconceptualise the most unbelievable club in Katong called Music World in 1996. 25,000 sq feet, the Gate was 4,000 square feet. It was very famous. It did very well but it got bought over by a church (laughs).

I consider myself a bit of an entrepreneur, but then I decided to put a fair amount of money into Singapore and I took over studio bakers shortly after. We then created and owned Venom in 1998. It was a kick ass project. After 2 or 3 years, we revamped it and changed it into China Black.

We were the biggest club in Singapore to open with primarily RnB music, now everyone is doing it. After China Black I folded, took a year off and then we started Momo in 2005.

BARMANGUIDE: Was your wife Helen involved in your projects?

JOHN LEE: Yes! Everything.

BARMANGUIDE: What about David Firestone?

JOHN LEE: He went back to England, he is really famous in the industry and too expensive for me to keep for long.

BARMANGUIDE: How would you describe Momo's concept?

JOHN LEE: We pride ourselves as being Singapore's number one local club. When I go to Singapore, I want to go to a Singapore Club, when I go to England, I want to go to an English club.

When I go to New York, I want to go to a New York club, not a Singaporean one. So, all the other clubs are copying places from everywhere else in the world, but we want to be a Singapore Club

BARMANGUIDE: I see a lot of London in Momo though...

JOHN LEE: It is the people. The customers are predominantly Singaporean. Although the decor is a little bit different. I don't want to be like Suzie Wong's or whatever because its not like that. We want to be classy yet support the people here. We are a local club, all the PMEBs are here.

The air stewardesses and such, they are all here. We have a membership base, where everyone knows everybody. 3500 coming to four... and we have a database of half a million. Zouk has got its Zoukettes, Attica's got its Ang Mohs, but we have a huge loyalty in what we do.

BARMANGUIDE: Do you think the Singaporean clubbing scene has a cultural identity?

JOHN LEE: I've been to so many clubs. I think that the government gives out too many licenses. Because in other countries you have to have a good track record to get a license.

When I arrived here, there were 100 clubs, now there are 8000. Unprofessional people are killing everyone else. And you can be a woman and get absolutely drunk every night free of charge, its ridiculous.

BARMANGUIDE: How would you define Singaporean Clubbing though?

JOHN LEE: Its like Singlish, (laughs). Singaporeans enjoy themselves when they go out. Its all about girls meeting boys and vice versa. Nothing else matters. If you have good music, it helps. Nowadays you can meet a lot of decent people and get married.

When I first arrived, girls wont say hello to you unless you were introduced. It has changed quite a bit, the majority of clubbers know what they want now.

I stopped educating Singaporean clubbers at this stage, I just give them what they want. I think we have built a lot of cutting edge concepts that even the I.Rs said 'okay', that they are ready.

BARMANGUIDE: Why don't you tie up with Romancing Singapore or SDU if that is your approach?

JOHN LEE: They are too old (laughs) but we do on a project basis.

BARMANGUIDE: What's the name of your holding company?

JOHN LEE: For clubbing, its very volatile, so I'd like to leave that out.

BARMANGUIDE: What's next for the Momo Empire?

JOHN LEE: We'll I've opened Jakarta (J-Lounge), we're opening Penang (Momo Penang). We're going to go for more in the region.

BARMANGUIDE: Any words of advice to would-be club entrepreneurs?

JOHN LEE: It's a tough industry and you really know what you are doing. We usually get the formula right. You wont believe the hours involved in making this club work. You have no idea, the hours are deadly. We are still very focused in what we do.