Although fame had come early and easily to RayKai Chen, the lead singer of 1976 does not attribute his success to skill. Nor does he believe it has anything to do with determination or courage. It’s luck, he says.

In the more than a decade that he has been in the industry, Chen has witnessed countless unwarranted departures and bittersweet goodbyes.

Band members and musician friends – excellent ones – were forced to leave the industry. They had families to feed, debts to pay, military time to serve. In essence, real life, Chen says, had caught up with them.

“At that point, I was truly humbled I didn’t have to concern myself with the adult world, that I could continue being so carefree – so cool,” he says.

While he had initially entered the music world because he wanted to be cool, Chen says most of his works are now inspired by the struggles he has gone through, by the friends and lovers that have left.

A sense of longing and nostalgia has come to permeate his life and musical style.

Artistic creation endures through time. In the face of that, human interactions are insignificant. What matters is whether you, as a collective, are able to create something that is timeless – something that has artistic value.

The year 1987 was so important, he says. It encapsulated everything he wanted.

That was the year The Smiths disbanded; Guns N’ Roses released their first album; U2, “The Joshua Tree”; and martial law was lifted in Taiwan.

It was a bleak era. “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “With or Without You” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” blared on the radio, while bands lamented the passing of youth and wallowed in distant memories.

That was also the time he encountered Morrissey, one of his favourite artists and a source of inspiration for much of the band’s music.

He says the way Morrissey sang was so weird but intriguing, inspiring him to follow in Morrissey’s steps and introducing him to Oscar Wilde.

He went on to read Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Happy Prince, a fairytale about betrayal and the ugliness of mankind.

To him, the juxtaposition was incredible.

“It’s like listening to fast-paced music and yet being filled with an inexplicable sense of melancholy,” Chen says.

Art, he says, should be open to interpretation, something that allows the audience to enter into its world.

“Sure, I have certain feelings I want to convey when I compose, but none of that matters by the time I’m finished,” he says. “If I have written something that a listener cannot journey into, then I have failed.”

Chen, whose record label re: public has produced bands such as hush! and Macbeth, says failure often has nothing to do with whether band members get along – in fact, the more dissimilar the members are, the better.

Contrasting personalities make up for the holes and gaps in the creative process. And this process is really the key to success.

Artistic creation endures through time, he says. In the face of that, human interactions are insignificant.

“What matters is whether you, as a collective, are able to create something that is timeless.” He pauses. “Something that has artistic value.”

If you are sad, put all your might into that sadness. If you’re happy, put all your might into that happiness. Play like it were your last performance ever. That’s the only way you’ll be remembered.

As a judge for ICRT’s eighth annual Battle of the Bands, Chen says contestants face the difficult task of making themselves known to the audience in the few minutes they are on stage.

“If you are sad, put all your might into that sadness. If you’re happy, put all your might into that happiness. Play like it were your last performance ever,” he says. “That’s the only way you’ll be remembered.”

He says when 1976 returned from its hiatus, there were concerts when they only sold 10 tickets.

But that was no setback. “We’ll always remember how hard we played and how good we were,” he says.

Escaping to those youthful days isn’t too difficult nowadays. Although he is approaching forty, Chen says he feels like he is as young as ever and consistently in control.

“Just do what you like to do each day and do it well. That’s always how it is,” he says, smiling.