Epik High’s Tablo didn’t want Mithra Jin to get married?

DJ Tukutz chimed in about shopping for kicks for his three-year-old son Yoon Woo, who has also made appearances on The Return of Superman. “I have to buy them three sizes bigger than what he’s currently wearing because he is growing up too fast!” he exclaimed.

The 34-year-old was also outed by his bandmates as being the most shoe-crazy, with Tablo quipping, “In his life he’s probably bought more than 500 pairs of shoes!”

Although Mithra, the youngest of the bunch at 32, has yet to be able to join in the baby retail fun talk, that could soon change: early last month, he tied the knot with actress Kwon Da-hyun. When asked to impart some wisdom for handling life as a husband, Tablo said, “We don’t have any advice now, but we did before he got married.”

And what was that advice? “Don’t (get married),” he grinned, before bursting out in laughter. “I’m kidding! We told him to take his time and to do it when he’s ready, and now that he’s married, it’s a beautiful thing and he’ll handle it his own way.”

Photo credits: @realmithrajin, @tabloisdad, @realtukutz on Instagram

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Since their debut in 2003, the group has been through countless bouts of highs and lows, but when we asked them to talk about the most “Epik” (epic) moment in their lives, they had one answer in common.

“It was when I met the most important person in my life, the love of my life…” Tablo began, “…DJ Tukutz. And Mithra Jin.” (Nice trolling there, Tablo – we were fully anticipating him to talk about his wife of six years, actress Kang Hye-jung.)

DJ Tukutz and Mithra agreed about their destiny-changing encounter being a notable occurrence, while adding a few other milestones of their own: for the former, it was the first time they clinched the number one spot on a music chart, and for the latter, it was the first time he held their fourth album Remapping the Human Soul in his hands (the previous record, Swan Songs, was intended as their very last one after a string of flops).

These days, the Epik High men are far from failures, but that hasn’t stopped haters from rearing their ugly heads. The most notorious instance was in 2010, when nasty rumours questioning the authenticity of Tablo’s impressive academic qualifications began circling. To cut a long and horrible story short, the hearsay almost destroyed his life and career, but he managed to prove himself and rise above it all.

“The negativity in the world tries to keep your head down, but if you look around there’s always positivity and beauty,” he said. “The only person whose opinion matters is yourself, and that’s how we decide to live our lives and we want to show that through being examples and through our music, and hopefully fans who are dealing with hate, whether in school, work, or even within their own families, will learn not to be crushed or changed.”

Joining Epik High at tonight’s Skechers Sundown Festival 2015 are Indonesia’s J-Rocks, Japan’s INKT, Thailand’s Potato, Taiwan’s Ground Zero, as well as Singapore’s own Caracal, Cheryl Loon and Farrago.

Click through for more pictures and quotes from yesterday’s press conference with some of the performers, and stay tuned for our coverage of tonight's shows!

The local songstress was honest about being “excited and nervous at the same time” at the thought of playing for her largest audience yet, especially since it will be her first time performing originals instead of the acoustic covers she’s made a name for herself for.

“I’ve always been known as the girl next door, but this time there’s going to be a five-piece band setup with electronic elements,” she disclosed.

The four-piece band (lead guitarist Jonathan Suresh was absent from the media conference) boasts members from all over the globe, but they all crossed paths in Singapore and will be playing at the Skechers Sundown Festival again after last year’s gig.

“We’re basically going to have fun – if we have fun, then the crowd will have fun,” vocalist and guitarist Dave Hawkes replied when asked what audiences can expect from the group’s stage.

The Taiwanese band prides themselves in their unique blend of “organic rock”, which is essentially music that possesses the typical rough, loud and heavy sounds of the rock genre, but without the expected anger or swearing. “We want to spread positive messages,” they explained.

When asked if they have any pre-performance rituals, they said, “We warm up…but separately. We don’t talk to each other at all because we’re too nervous! (laughs)”

The Japanese quintet wasted no time in excitedly listing out all the things they want to do or places they want to visit during their time in town. “Marina Bay Sands! Merlion! (Eat) chicken rice!” they exclaimed. Luckily for them, the emcee promised that they would get their meal wish for lunch the next day.

J-Rocks has the honour of being the first Indonesian band to record at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London. “When we first started out that would have only been a dream, but that came true!” they gushed, adding that the experience inspired the song ‘Meraih Mimpi’ (‘Pursue a Dream’).

If you’re wondering why the Thai band named themselves after the tuber vegetable, we were enlightened during the press conference: in the Thai language, the word potato also sounds like the word for “happiness” or “excitement.” It was also just a fun name they came up for themselves when they first formed 14 years ago, and it stuck with them ever since.