For any young music act, especially in a saturated market, difficult life circumstances may prove fatal to their existence. It thus says a lot about the resilience of these artists when they are able to not only overcome but thrive afterwards.

The members of SCUMBOYS, a Singapore-based underground Electronic quartet, found themselves in this exact situation not too long ago. Instead of caving to the pressures of the world, they have managed to rise from the ashes — with a defiant new album to boot.

Shortly after the record dropped, STREAM KVLT met with SCUMBOYS for an in-depth discussion about their latest offering. In this feature, we break down exactly just who these enigmatic young musicians are, and what their album is all about. Plus, we present the full transcript of the interview so the members can explain, in their own words, what this new lease of life means.

Who TF are the SCUMBOYS?

Prior to the interview, SCUMBOYS as a collective has been active in the underground music circuit for a few years. Founded in 2023, the group was mostly known for its chaotic live shows and aggressive sonics as seen in its 2025 debut album, CORPSE PARTY.

These days, they have rebranded themselves as a cohesive “BOY*BAND”, each member with their own specialisations and unique personas.

It was a humid and balmy afternoon when we met the members at a quaint neighbourhood cafe somewhere in the West of Singapore. Despite their rowdy reputation, they are, in fact, a bunch of respectful, chill, and introspective young artists.

First to arrive was vyn! (He/Him), one of the producers and vocalists of SCUMBOYS — and an old friend. True to the writer’s own interactions with him over the years, he also acts at the “wise older brother” of the group. The other members arrived shortly after vyn! did.

SCUMBOYS is spearheaded by self-professed CEO, demostar (He/Him). A vocalist in the group, demostar is probably the most outgoing of the bunch. He also manages the visual and creative direction of the group.

Next, co-founder ITCHYNAPPER (He/Him) brings the edge to SCUMBOYS, being the main scream vocalist in their music. A man of few words but many thoughts, he expresses them through the raw energy he brings to the stage.

Commanding from the shadows is jumble (They/Her), the faceless orchestrator of the SCUMBOYS sound. They are the primary producer and DJ in the group, so they are especially passionate when talking about influences and sonic inspirations. At times, jumble also assists demostar with the backend running of the group.

exHUME-ing the corpses of the past

The record, christened exHUME, is an emotional yet dizzying seven-tracker chronicling the group’s journey through grief, pain, acceptance, and healing. Incidentally, the seven tracks just so happen to mirror the expanded Seven Stages of Grief, which was first coined with five stages in the 1960s by American-Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.

Released on 15 May 2026, this album blends EDM and Pop sensibilities with catchy hooks and thumping kicks, retaining the high-energy sound and vibe they have built over the years.

Thematically, however, exHUME is a natural maturation into subject matter that are deeper and more personal. It sets itself apart from its chaotic and aggressive predecessor with a quality of growth, reflection, and introspection. The members draw from their own lived experiences to exhibit a more vulnerable side to their personalities, as seen in the words that populate the new album.

Yet no amount of analysis can fully explain exHUME better than the people who made it. Over coffee and conversation, the members of SCUMBOYS reflected on grief, artistic growth, mythology, language, production, and the process of rebuilding themselves after one of the most challenging periods of their lives.

Read the full interview below:

Note: The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

For starters, please introduce yourselves and what your roles are in the band. 

demostar: I go by demostar, and I am the CEO of SCUMBOYS. I do vocals, and I help with the graphics, the visual stuff, and video editing of the group. I also help plan the concepts for our music, and specifically this album. Mainly I handle the general planning around the band, but not so much production.  

ITCHYNAPPER: I am ITCHYNAPPER. You could say that I’m the right-hand man of SCUMBOYS, but I mostly do vocals. I’m known in the group as the guy that screams, and the guy that goes stupidly crazy on stage — and I am not sorry for what I do. [Laughs] 

vyn!: My name is vyn! and I’m a producer and a vocalist of SCUMBOYS. I usually do vocals alongside demostar and ITCHYNAPPER, and I work on productions together with our producer, jumble. Outside of these roles, I’m also the “big brother” of the group. I’ll look out for the boys’ well-being and advise on certain things. 

jumble: I’m jumble, and I mainly specialise in production. I wouldn’t say I’m the main producer, but I do try to help with the production side of things. I also do some of the backend stuff alongside demostar. 

Since this album cycle is a rebrand of sorts for SCUMBOYS, can you briefly share what your music and sound was like before this?

vyn!: Initially in the early days of SCUMBOYS, we were exploring a lot of the more energetic expressions of our music. People knew us for our chaos at gigs and performances, and for our extremely high energy shows. We definitely did, in the early days, more of the gritty, aggressive kind of music and raw expressions. We didn’t really filter ourselves at all.

But today, with exHUME, we want to show our audience, and people who have not heard of us, that we have this side of emotional depth as individuals and also as artists.

jumble: In terms of sonic direction, I think previously it’s a lot more Noise Rap, very Nascar Aloe- and Libesh Ramko-inspired. Now we are taking a more EDM-focused direction. I’m inspired by STARKIDS and a lot of the newer generation of SoundCloud artists. 

vyn!: Yeah, this album also has a lot of influences from Capoxxo, and more of the dance and rave aspects of the Hyperpop spectrum.

ITCHYNAPPER: I would say that my vocals on this album have influences from artists such as Prettifun, where it’s more of the super high-end and high pitched vocals. And I feel this is a really good direction going forward — in terms of our of our versatility and skill sets as a boy band.

demostar: I think in general, all of our vocals kind of went up one octave for this album. I don’t know how we’re gonna perform it, but yeah. [Laughs] I think all of us kind of adopted new styles and evolved not just production-wise, but vocally as well. 

“In a way, I feel that the expressiveness of the beats and production by jumble and vyn! demanded more from us, so that kind of pushed us to try out different things and upgrade what we can do.” 

Are you planning to stick with this sound moving forward in future releases? 

demostar: We actually already have a rough outline of the next album — we’ve got the instrumentals and some vocals done. I don’t want to spoil too much, but with each of our albums we try to do different things, so I’m quite excited for that.

jumble: All I have to say is that the next album would sound more like what I like to hear. The current album, exHUME, is more of what vyn! likes to hear, but the next one would cater more to my preferences. So, you can expect sounds similar to that of the newer age SoundCloud Hip-Hop stuff such as GUNK, ZAYOK, Osamason’s Flex Musix, and fern_shy-adjacent production. 

vyn!: Just to add to what demostar has said, our music comes from a place of authenticity and from our lived experiences. Our lyrics are a reflection of what we go through in real life. So, to our audience, we would like to say: Stay tuned, because you’ll also get to have a glimpse of what we are going through and what inspires us — you’re essentially growing and going through life with us. 

We’ve spoken about your sonic influences, but what about your visual influences? SCUMBOYS is such a visual entity, where does that come from?

demostar: For this particular release, I felt like we needed something very flashy. We were in a rut for a little bit, and things were a little rocky with our own lives. I felt that since we were already going to do something different with our music, I wanted us to really push ourselves in terms of image as well. While planning the photoshoot, I wanted to translate the flashiness of our songs into real life and look amazing doing so. 

Having taken in feedback from everyone, we also rebranded our logo, and our cover art is more minimal this time compared to our previous releases. 

I guess, in general, I was quite inspired by the K-Pop boyband and girl group aesthetic. We don’t have a lot of such music groups in Singapore, so I wanted to bring that kind of visuals here to set us apart; to tell people that we are not just regular folks from Singapore, we are SCUMBOYS. 

exHUME is a dizzying seven-track collection of emotionally charged tracks. Tell us how the concept and idea for the album came about.

vyn!: The first track that we started with was actually the album’s title track, ‘exHUME’. Initially, we didn’t have a fixed title for it yet. I just had this beat sitting somewhere that I felt has a melancholic quality while also having that dance-y, flashy energy that we all want for our “revival”. So we started working with that beat, and it naturally turned out to be quite emotional. We didn’t really have to think much about the lyrics, we were literally just pouring out our feelings from our hearts. 

The idea of ‘exHUME’ actually came to demostar a bit later in the process, and we liked the wordplay of digging ourselves out from the grave and the imagery that it brings of a revival.

“When we worked on this song, we were all at a rough place in life, and things happened that dragged us down. But this song was the spark that we needed to get us motivated, and to encourage ourselves that we can still do something even in this time of difficulty. Finishing this song and then the album was a testament to our bond and what we can do together.” 

Also, as you can see from the lettering of the title, it doesn’t follow your usual capitalisation rules — there’s a small “ex” and then “HUME”, that sounds like “human”. We wanted to play on the fact that our previous album is called Corpse Party, and now we are “ex-humans” who are “exhuming” the corpses. This album is hence our way of transcending grief and the challenges that we go through, and finding hope afterwards. 

Throughout the album, there’s been multiple references to mythological characters such as Adonis, Ouroboros, and even Jigong.

What do these references mean and why did you choose to incorporate them so heavily into the narrative of the project? 

vyn!: The second track that we worked on was ‘DECEPTION’, produced by jumble, which is where you’d find the reference to Ouroboros. We meditated a lot on that concept: It’s a snake that is stuck in a loop, right? You’re always chasing after your own tail and eating yourself. 

Also, I was inspired by the image of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In that song, I talk about snakes in tall grass and how I have to watch my back and crush their heads. 

Snake in circles gotta watch my step / Draw blades when I’m in tall grass / I’ve always gotta watch my back / You know I’m gonna crush your head / I see through your deception.

‘DECEPTION’, SCUMBOYS

There’s actually a sign of victory and hope there, in the sense that we want to transcend and break this cycle. 

ITCHYNAPPER: The one song that really made me think about all these mythological references is actually ‘TYVM’, produced by vyn!. Basically, demostar sent me that track, and the lyrics just felt so biblical to me and it was so inspiring. I was having a really stressful time in my life, and that feeling of hopelessness compelled me to write music that is defiant to all those things that I faced. Because of that, I decided to be more experimental with it and tried out some high-pitched vocals, instead of my usual screams. 

To be honest, the lyric “Jigong malice” was a coincidence. Before this, I thought Jigong was some martial arts warrior. Later I realised that Jigong was actually a crazy monk, but also a benevolent monk. I felt that this fits so much with what this album is about — us desperately trying to defy and get out of this feeling of emptiness, while making sure that we are still good individuals and the best versions of ourselves. 

demostar: As for the Adonis reference in ‘exHUME’, I honestly don’t exactly know where that came from. [Laughs] All I know is that when I was in primary school, I was quite into mythology. I used to borrow this giant book from the school library about Greek or Norse mythology, I don’t remember which one, but I was just very drawn to these stories. 

I liked that these characters are very flawed. They’re not perfect gods, they all represent specific sets of qualities, and they are not one-dimensional. With exHUME, it being such a self-reflective album, I resonated with these characters because I felt flawed too. Before this, SCUMBOYS was in quite a low point, both as a group and as individuals. For several months, nothing really happened and we didn’t have a direction. We felt quite jaded and unmotivated — we felt very unheard. So, I guess that’s probably how my subconscious mind drew a parallel to all those feelings with the mythological references. 

The album draws inspiration from EDM, Eurodance all the way to Trap. What was the creation and production process like? How long did the process take?

jumble: The beats on this particular album, especially the ones made by myself, are over a year old. When I made the tracks, exHUME was not even a thing yet — I was just making beats that I’d then send out to people. These beats come from a place that’s very Trance-influenced, and there are many Trance synths in the background of the songs. Now that I think about it, a lot of the Eurodance inspiration comes from rhythm games and adjacent sounds. I think Camellia, for instance, was one of the biggest back-of-mind influences that seeped in. 

But I’d say the most Eurodance-inspired track was ‘INSECT’. I had the idea for ‘INSECT’ a while ago, and there were also some lyrics in it that was written also about a year ago. In the midst of constructing this album, vyn! sent me a bunch of loops that he had. When I heard one of them, I was like: Oh my god! This will go perfectly with the beat that I have! So that was how that one came about. 

In terms of how long the process took, it was probably about six months once we had all the concepts and ideas fixed. 

vyn!: Just like jumble, I had some beats that were created sometime back but was just sitting around, such as the one I had for ‘exHUME’. I believe everything happens for a reason, and everything will find their home somewhere. I’d be so mad if I’d given that beat to someone else, because it turned out that this beat had the exact energy and vibe that we wanted when the time came to make the song. 

The dance-y production that you hear from the album came from my personal interest and what I like to hear. We definitely have more Eurodance and rave-type beats in ‘PANACEA’, ‘exHUME’, and ‘INSECT’. On the other hand, our closing track ‘yuki’ was more of an exploration into the Japanese Hyperpop sound, which I enjoy as well. It’s a beat that’s close to my heart, but I wanted to make a song out of it with the rest of the group. 

Interestingly, while making this record, we did not write lyrics before the actual recording sessions. We had so much pent-up feelings in us that it felt so natural to only lock-in during every session. 

We would go to demostar’s house after work, extremely tired, to record. There, I’d just lock-in and write for like an hour or two, and pour out all the feelings I had accumulated up to that point. So our sessions were surprisingly efficient — we’d have the rough skeleton of the song done in one or two sessions. What took a bit longer was the mixing and getting all the tracks to sound homogenous, which demostar worked very hard on, with myself and jumble chipping in. 

But despite all the problems that we faced at the time, I’m so proud of the fact that we were able to pull through and make this record even more efficiently than our last one. 

The bilingual English-Mandarin moment in ‘TYVM’ was very surprising. With it being the only track that incorporates a completely different language, tell us more about that decision. 

vyn!: I wrote that entire verse in Mandarin, but sorry to say my Chinese sucks. So if there are any grammatical errors, I am so sorry. [Laughs]

I had the beat for ‘TYVM’ which I sent to the group to work on, and demostar actually was the first to lay his chorus. On my part, I was going through different drafts and I found myself not knowing how to express all the emotions and unsaid stuff I felt. I wanted to be more vulnerable with this, so I thought: What if I expressed it in a language that I’m not really good at? 

It turned out to be a very fun experience. I had all these emotions but I was scrambling to find words to articulate them. After writing them in Mandarin, I realised: Wow! The expression in Mandarin is so different from forming lyrics in English. With the same characters in Mandarin, you can have different meanings, so there are different wordplays and rhyme schemes that I can experiment with. There are also different tones with the Hanyu Pinyin of Chinese words, which, in a musical sense, can be bent to the melodics you desire. So really, it was something that I did to do push my boundaries, and I’m glad I did it because it truly was a genuine expression of myself. 

And when ITCHYNAPPER laid his high-pitched vocals on it, which, as he mentioned, is something new for him, I was simply amazed. I just had this deep happy feeling in me and I make music for moments like these. 

ITCHYNAPPER: I was telling them that this was either going to be the best thing I’ve ever done or the worst thing I’ve ever done — and it worked!

demostar: Yeah, it was really such a wonderful night! We were all so tired from the day we had, and I was almost falling asleep, but after ITCHYNAPPER laid the vocals, we all jolted awake! I think his verse in the song transformed it into something we didn’t intend at the start. 

What are each of your favourite tracks on the album and why?

vyn!: To me, all the songs are different bits and fragments of each of us — every song is a chapter in a book called exHUME. But the chapter that is closest to my heart is probably ‘yuki’, which is one of the more vulnerable songs in the album. It’s a bittersweet, melancholic expression of a love in its purest form, and it’s the most intense and personal song to me. 

Love so pure, it melts like snow.

‘yuki’, SCUMBOYS

jumble: My favourite track has changed many times since we started making the album. It went from ‘DECEPTION’ to ‘yuki’ to ‘TYVM’. But now, I think ‘INSECT’ is my favourite. Oddly enough, it was probably my least favourite when we first started, but it’s grown on me. 

But I hate it when you look at me like that / You take a couple fucking photos of me, I guess / Yeah you never really cared to pretend / When I was standing at the door like some insect.

‘INSECT’, SCUMBOYS

ITCHYNAPPER: I would say that my favourite track is, of course, ‘TYVM’, because it’s such a huge, unexpected twist in terms of vocals and instrumentals. Also, an unexpected favourite for me is ‘GINSENG’. The feeling of that song just clicks for me, with demostar singing “Still the same old me, still the same old faces” and vyn!’s verse where he pours his heart out. This song feels like I’m taking in a huge breath of fresh air and then letting it out — it feels so cathartic. 

And I hope to meet you next life, cuz there’s something in the way that you / Make me feel I’m gonna going insane / Tonight I need you or I’ll surely die.

‘GINSENG’, SCUMBOYS

demostar: I’m conflicted but I share some of the same sentiments as jumble, and I find myself resonating with ‘INSECT’. Some of its lyrics reflect how I felt, and there’s a lot of duality in that particular track. It’s cool because it reflects the different emotions one can feel towards a particular situation. 

Another track that I always find myself going back to is ‘PANACEA’. It’s just so catchy and fun and high-voltage, and we really clutched our balls when we were singing it. [Laughs] 

Tossing, turning everything’s a blur / I wanna feel alive so we on another bender / Dirty dancer, I cannot get enough / Pull me to the stars yeah tonight I’m getting higher.

‘PANACEA’, SCUMBOYS

Finally, what is one thing you want people to take away from this album? 

ITCHYNAPPER: The takeaway for me is, I feel deeply that one can thrive without hurting anybody — and that is really something I stand by. 

vyn!: Don’t give up on healing. 

jumble: The one thing I took away from this whole process is: Everything happens for a reason. 

demostar: Treasure everyone around you, and don’t take people for granted. I learnt that through everyone who’s been so supportive during this whole process. I hope that our bond and our special connection shines through this album. 

---

Catch SCUMBOYS live at “Tones+ presents: DreamHertz” on Friday, 12 June 2026, 6:30pm, at Room 526, Singapore. 

Tickets are going for S$20 (Pre-Sale) and S$30 (Doors). Grab your tickets via Room 526’s website.

You can find SCUMBOYS on social media via @scumboysonline.

If you enjoyed reading this feature and wish to support STREAM KVLT’s independent coverage, please consider a one-time donation or a monthly contribution via our Ko-fi page.