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THE tinted glass doors and signboard with the words "Melody Valley Music Lounge" do not stand out and may not catch your eye.
But this nightspot and its denizens have been raising the eyebrows and ire of neighbouring tenants at Balmoral Plaza on Bukit Timah Road.
A group of 14 Chinese nationals, all male singers employed by the lounge, were arrested on Wednesday after an alleged attack on a man.
The building houses mostly learning and tuition centres for children.
The lounge occupies a corner unit on the second storey, at the end of a passage flanked by learning centres. It is not listed on the directory of the five-storey building.
Disgruntled neighbouring tenants on the second storey spoke to The New Paper on Sunday on condition that they not be named as they did not want to offend the lounge owners.
The music lounge has a website on which it says that "all model like handsome hunks awaits to bring you the best performance".
Outside the lounge, displayed on a notice board are 10 photographs of smartly-dressed young men, some of them singing and dancing on stage.
A 29-year-old female employee of a shop a few units away said she often sees some of the male singers turn up for work from around 7pm. "The singers are all quite good-looking. They are fair, well-built, dress well and look like models," she said.
She added that the male singers started showing up early this year. Previously, it seems the lounge hired female singers from China.
"The female singers were always skimpily dressed. They used to change outfits in the female washroom and they did not even bother to use the cubicles. It made me feel uncomfortable," she said.
"This lounge doesn't belong in this building or area. It looks really odd, like a little piece of Joo Chiat in the middle of District 10."
A woman who owns a learning centre near the lounge, said that on several occasions when she left work late, around 9pm, she caught a glimpse of the lounge patrons.
She said in Mandarin: "They are mostly women in their 40s. Sometimes I see middle-aged men with female companions go into the lounge as well."
She had received complaints from her students and their parents regarding the female singers.
"This is a premium residential area. There are many learning and education centres in this building. Many children attend courses and take classes here. It's not appropriate for the lounge to operate here," she said.
A 23-year-old teaching assistant at another education centre nearby said the male singers sometimes come early, around 6pm and practise outside the lounge, near the entrance to the female toilet.
"It gets awkward when I have to walk past them to go to the washroom," she said.
Stale cigarette smell
The neighbouring tenants also complained about the smell of stale cigarette smoke which they believe comes from the lounge.
Another woman who owns a learning centre said: "This building has a central air conditioning system. Every morning when I arrive for work, there is a stale cigarette smell. I have received complaints from parents who suspected my teachers were smoking."
The manager of a shop selling beauty products said it had opened there around the same time as the lounge, two years ago.
She said: "They carried out renovation works at the same time as we did, but we were not aware it was going to be a lounge.
"Although they operate late at night, (their presence) affects the rest of us. Every morning the toilet is littered with tissue paper and cigarette butts.
"We are also forced to close early, at 6pm, to avoid having our clients see the singers or lounge patrons.
"When the male singers arrive around 7pm or 8pm, they often peer into our shop when they walk past. It can be unnerving for our female staff members who sometimes work alone."
But not all tenants are opposed to the idea of having a music lounge as a fellow tenant.
Said Miss Lau Yileng, 33, who runs a T-shirt printing shop on the same floor: "Having the lounge in this building should not affect the rest of the tenants because most of them leave by 7pm and the lounge starts operating late, only around 10pm."
Miss Lau, who sometimes stays in her shop until midnight, said that from what she has observed, the lounge did not have many patrons. She used to see middle-aged Chinese men visit the lounge when there were female singers there.
But she added that she would not welcome more KTV pubs opening in the same building.
The owner of a hair salon, Madam Huang, 40, who has been running her shop in Balmoral Plaza for 16 years, said she did not mind the lounge being there.
A representative of Balmoral Plaza's management, who declined to be named, said it was aware of the concerns.
But the units within the shopping centre are owned by individual landlords, and the building management was responsible only for the maintenance of the building facilities and its cleanliness, he said.
"I can't regulate the behaviour of Melody Valley staff or its patrons.
"I've put up 'No smoking' signs, issued letters to Melody Valley telling its staff not to smoke within the building, and asked the security guards to warn them about their behaviour," he said.
When contacted, a staff member of the company which leases the unit to Melody Valley acknowledged the management's and tenants' concerns.
But the staff member, who declined to be named, said he had not set any rules for the nightclub operator.
He added: "They (Melody Valley) are feeding me. I haven't received evidence that they fight or smoke, so I can't do anything.
"How can I act if I can't ascertain if the allegations were true or false?
"I was not there to see it happen."
Pretty, young Chinese women are main customers
THE Melody Valley Music Lounge at Balmoral Plaza (above), which employs only male singers, is a haven for KTV hostesses and pub waitresses who go there to unwind after work.
Early on Wednesday, 14 singers, all China-born, allegedly attacked a Singaporean, Mr Joe Wang, 31, who runs another branch of the lounge.
He told The New Paper: "Their clientele is made up of pretty, young Chinese national women in their 20s, who dress skimpily. They usually arrive in groups in taxis after 3am."
When The New Paper on Sunday visited the lounge at 1am yesterday, there were no customers around.
Only after 2am, did a few female customers sashay into the dimly lit hall, furnished with some 10 high tables, several sofa seats, a pool table, a bar counter and a tiny stage.
Why was the lounge decorated with so many balloons and streamers, we asked one of the customers.
The 25-year-old China-born woman, who declined to be named, said in Mandarin: "The lounge was celebrating the birthday of one of their xiaodis (younger brothers) on Monday night."
She was delighted with the performances, and claimed she had spent a lot of money to show her support.
This means buying for the singers streamers - known as "garlands" in such pubs - which cost anything between $100 to $2,000.
The customer also said: "I usually come to this place with my jie mei's (sisters in Mandarin). But tonight, they are not here yet because they are still busy at work."
She said she runs two pubs in Boat Quay. The "sisters" are her employees.
Why does she choose this lounge as the venue for staff bonding?
"Many of the singers here are my girls' boyfriends," she said.
But before her staff could arrive, the lounge unexpectedly closed, around 3am. China-born lounge emcee, Gino, a permanent resident in his 20s, ushered several puzzled customers out of the hall while the singers quickly left the lounge.
We understood from security guards at Balmoral Plaza that the lounge usually closes only at 6am.
On Wednesday, a security guard at Balmoral Plaza, 47, who declined to be named, had told The New Paper on Sunday: "Because of these singers, we become very busy. The singers often get into fights with both male and female customers.
"We also have to prevent them from loitering on the third and fourth levels of Balmoral Plaza because those are for offices and the business owners do not want them there."
Mr Wang said his branch of Melody Valley operates differently from the one at Balmoral Plaza.
There is a third branch at Upper Thomson Road.
Mr Wang said: "My branch (at Keong Siak Road) is a karaoke pub and...does not employ singers."
The management of the branch at Balmoral Plaza could not be reached for comments since Wednesday.
The 14 men arrested for rioting have been released on bail.
Police are investigating.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
