Heat Energy Sweat _\m/

Hey! Finally I'm back. Actually we were supposed to audition last night. But we didn't. We got lost. The whole journey was supposed to be only about 2 hours but instead, we spent 4 hours on the road. Some of the bandmates were already there. Me, the drummer, and the vocalist depart later because our drummer had classes. We were supposed to play in Tropicana City Mall, and none of us in the car has ever been there before. Even though our friends gave us instructions, it was just so difficult. The town is HUMONGOUS, and we didn't have a GPS. So, we got lost endlessly in the toll, we were even asking strangers in the middle of traffic light, and the guy was really helpful to us by leading us through the phone. Sadly, we never get to the Tropifrickincana Mall because on the way there, our friends told us that the committee were tidying up already. It was over. 

Well, one thing leads to another, and then we ended up spending the night at our friend's apartment, and decided to join the other slot, which was this morning. I skipped my classes, the vocalist skipped his meeting, and the keyboardist went back home last night because he has classes today. 

So we played at a college, under the sun! It was AWESOME! My first gig under the sun ever! It was so much fun and we were the only band that played on the afternoon session so far. hehehehehe When we were finished, the committee asked us to play again because they didn't get the sound right or whatever I kinda forgot. So we played the same song again! :P Thank God that we got lost. Because if we didn't, it will just be the same like other auditions or gigs. Nothing really special, and it won't worth the long hours on the road. Man. I love playing under the broad daylight. You can feel the HEAT, ENERGY, and SWEAT!!! 

As usual, I brought back some lessons.

First, OWN A GPS. That thing is one of the bands-must-have I think. Why? Cuz we got PWNED by the signboards and tolls yesterday. It helps you get into places you've never been before, and cuts the time spent on asking around as well as your phone bill (when you're lost, you tend to call some friends right?).

Second, keep a large bottle of water at all times and place it at the side of the stage so it won't bug you while you're rocking. Playing under the sun is awesome indeed, but it wears you out easily. During the first run,  we were so fired up  but then after that we were exhausted.. Fortunately we have water with us.. That's why you'll need some H2O so that you can quench the thirsty and crack-y throat, also makes you fresh again and ready for the next song.

Third, when you got lost in the middle of nowhere, keep your cool at all times. Blaming others or panicking won't give you the right direction. 

Fourth, make sure to reload your phone credits and have it fully charged before hitting the road.

Lastly, do some sports!!! I just realized that sport is important because, it increases your endurance while playing. You'll be able to jump around or run across the stage or use the double pedals heavily without running out of breath easily. Declining tempo during a fast song isn't funny.

Ok that's it for now, Hope it'll be useful :D

gigGIGgigGIGgig

Peeps! I gotta go for another gig in a couple of hours. It's actually a competition.. They're gonna choose the best 100, and then narrow it down to 10. The prizes are kinda cool.. the top 3 bands will get RM5000, RM3000 and RM 2000 respectively plus a 12-tracks studio album. Those who got into the big 10 will have RM1000 each and contribute 1 track for a compilation album. Sweet.

I'm gonna be playing with 2 bands. Thank God. I've been craving for gigs lately :P

But in one of them, I'm just covering for their other band mate who can't make it for this audition, so if we got in for the finals, I won't be joining them. As for the other one, I don't know yet. most probably I'll be joining 'till the end IF we ever got in. Heck with that, I just wanna play. I don't really care if we got in or not *it'll be sweet if we got in though.. LOL*

But then, I'm kinda sad cuz I didn't get to play with my fellow 'rubbers'. I'll be playing with our drummer tho.

Update y'all later :D

MKMKMKMK

Yowyow :D

So I touchdown-ed here last week but been busy with practices for a musical, so I've been dead tired ever since. Well, ever since I came back the significant things happened only during the musical practice. Nothing else interesting besides that. I'm involved as one of the musician/director and I've been playing from 9am - 12am every day. Thank God no blisters :D Now that the intensive week is finally over, we only will have practices on weekends, and we'll be doing that for a couple of months.

Enough for the updates. 

A couple of months ago, I found this club called MK Club. This club held LOTS of gigs, and they have those almost every month. The gigs are mostly punk, metal, rock kind of thing, and just now I found the picture of the club and their activities. When I stumbled upon this on FB, I've been dying to go there because I wanna meet the local indie musicians and it seems like they like to hang out in that place a lot. But then, when I saw their pictures from a recent gig, gosh, the place's flooded with DUDES!!!! The picture shown that there were actually girls, but they were in 2 different pictures. At pic 1, a girl was smiling and for pic 2, the other girl looked terrified and she was standing behind a guy that might be her bf cuz she seemed like using that guy's back as a shelter. In front of that guy, there seem to be people moshing. Haiiiiiizzzzz the hope of going there alone is now shattered T.T

What if I go there and I am the only girl?! Man that's scary. Or maybe should I disguise as a guy? Because  fyi, I do sound like a dude especially when I just woke up LOL.

What if they start moshing?! Man I hate it when they start because they just simply bang people and it hurts darn it. But the guys seemed to enjoy this and they actually don't really care when those people step on their foot or push them or elbow-ed them. I learned this the hard way ~.~

As brutal as it seems, I would LOVE to join the moshing crowd  believe it or not. Because watching by the side is not fun and I might get hurt. Man. I would really like to try that one day. But maybe I gotta wear some kind of shields inside my clothing so when they elbowed me, pushed me  or stepped on my feet or anything, I won't feel it. 

I hope one day I can visit that club and join the moshing crowd >.<

Now I gotta go and watch "a guide to moshing and concert survival"

stuff on TV

Somerandomfella, still reporting from dog-eating place...
 

I was watching tv, and I stumbled upon the local channel which was displaying some talk show. By local I mean that this channel only broadcast in my hometown. The host was interviewing some guys and I was surprised when I heard them talking about music. The topic was "Komunitas Gedung Juang tahun 90-an" a.k.a Gedung Juang Community in the 90's. They are apparently a bunch of musicians who usually play in this building called Gedung Juang. They held a lot of gigs there and establish a community. They are now aged, and most of them are not that active anymore as musicians. They were reminiscing their old days as musicians and the place where they play were called "ocean". That community had raised a number of national caliber musicians. One is now the guitarist of a band called Ungu, and one is with Bondan and Fade2Black. Those bands are now very popular in Indonesia.

Anyway, those bunch of guys were cool. Some of them looked like typical band guys but some of them just look like a normal working guy except with long hair. The host asked them what were their roles in the band, and he asked them to demonstrate as well. One of them was vocalist. At first that guy didn't want to demonstrate. I knew straight away that he must be from a metal band because he really refused to sing.  The host forced him, and then after a while...

Host: Cm'on!! I wanna hear it!

Vocalist: ahem ahhem *clears thr0at*

*GROOOOOOOWWWWLLLSS*

Host: =.="

So he growled. Hahah!  It was a little rusty but it's still good considering that he is aged now. Hahah.

While watching this, I was wondering where was I when they were rocking back then. Well, those guys were like the forefathers of rock and roll in my hometown and now I'm pretty impressed knowing that that kind of community exist here and finally think that my hometown isn't that suck after all hahah. Well, the place is not called "ocean" anymore I don't know since when, and that place is now a university if I'm not mistaken. The guys said that the community is still exist but they are now playing in different places. Sometimes they have gatherings but no common place to play in a gig together anymore because that community is now only on FB. 

The host asked what was it like to be a musician in that community back then. They said "just like the saying -- Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. We lived that philosophy back then" and then the metal fella added "we tried all that, but there was nothing in there." It's pretty impressive to hear that from the mouth of a person who lived the Sex, drugs, and rock and roll last time hahah maybe they were impacted by some of their friends who died of overdose. Also, they confessed that during those times the people who go there are mostly drunk, hence triggered some fights. I asked one of my cousin who used to go there regularly, and he said that it was true.  I think that this kind of thing makes other people think that rock or maybe hardcore musicians are bad people *sigh*.

The host also asked when they will stop being a musician. And the fellas said that they will not stop. "we might not be active as last time, but we will not stop being a musician." I thought since they are already old, they might stop playing already because most of them already have a family and a steady job, but surprisingly the spirit is still there even though they are old. I was inspired.

I hope I can still play bass even when I'm already 60+ years old. Well, if God allows me to be that old and given that I don't have Parkinson disease or any other that prevent me from playing hehehe.

Oh yeah, I wanna share the messages they gave at the end of the show..

"Be humble, don't do sex and drugs especially just to prove that you are 'cool', cherish the friendship with fellow musicians, and be creative."

This came from those guys who lived the Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll philosophy. Wow.

Abingdon Boys School

I've f0und this band l0ng time ago. I d0n't really remember h0w, but when I d0wnl0aded their s0ng 'h0wling', I just listened to it once, and then deleted it straight away because I was freaked out by the narration at the beginning of that song.. Y'kn0w.. "the night sky full of cries.. " and so on. I wasn't a fan of such music back then when I f0und them. But then after a while, a friend sh0wed me their video clip of this s0ng, and I liked it. At that time I became a fan of 'n0isy' music already. Heheh. You should check out "Blade Chord" I think it's pretty cool. Well, I was m0st interested to their drummer and bass because b0th of them were soo0o0 tight. 

Takan0ri's(voc.) v0ice kinda ann0yed me at first because of his over-vibrating style of singing. But hey, that's what makes him special, and also that style blends with the s0ngs well anyway. Oh! Takanori is T.M Revolution btw. The one who sings Heart of Sword-Kenshin ost. 

I d0wnl0aded all of their s0ngs and then did s0me research. I was surprised when I f0und out that their drummer and bassist were additi0nals, so the original member was only the v0calist, 2 guitarists, and 1 keyb0ardist/pr0grammer.

In terms of music, their c0ncept is quite the same as other J-rock bands alth0ugh they s0und kinda g0thic in several s0ngs. S0me of them s0und p0p except with heavy guitar riffs, or s0metimes the keyb0ard d0minate the wh0le thing.. Btw, the guitar guys were awes0me. My fav0rite piece of the riffs was during h0wling, after the ch0rus of the 2nd verse. I call it 'the lightning' part. Heheh. Because everytime I listen to that s0ng, the image of lightning c0mes to mind. 

Anyway, their live sh0ws were awes0me! Y0u can always Y0utube them. They were always wearing male sch0ol unif0rm. They all look g0od on it :p The v0c's v0ice were so stable!! The music were tight as well. But, it was a pity that the drummer and the bassist were placed in the shadows, never get to wear school unif0rm like the other members =.=" and it was s0o0o hard to find out who they are.. 

So I did my homework and found that they are Ikuo(ba.) and K0ji Hasegawa (dr.). Ikuo's the one from Bull Zeichen 88/Lapis Lazuli, etc. My 2nd favorite bassist. I'm not really interested in where Koji's from:P Because b0th of them were just additi0nals, it's hard to listen to the basslines because it was placed in a subtle v0lume, which is just en0ugh to fill the emptiness, but n0t n0t clear en0ugh for learning purp0ses. The drum lines were clear though..

 F0r all of y0u guitarists out there, the two ABS guitarists are w0rth listening to because they have unique s0l0s and not to mention the unique music arrangements as well. But f0r those who just listen as a wh0le, ABS may s0und just like any other J-r0ck bands.

image from last.fm

Spots

Hello :)

So I'm finally back in my h0met0wn--the dog eating place. Well, there's no internet c0nnection at h0me, so from the phone it is.

It's pretty g0od to be back because I can sh0w y0u my ultimate sp0t that I usually go to when I want to digest s0me s0ngs.. 

Yes, y0u saw that right..

It is l0cated in my r0om. Whenever I want to do my 'number 2', I quickly grab my mp3 player, then go in there to do the business with my mp3 on the play. S0metimes I spent h0urs in there, and I stayed there even after number 2's d0ne heheh. I can figure out riffs over there. And whenever I finished listening, I just clean myself, go out, take the guitar, then play the stuff that I just figured out. Heheh.

This has been g0in on f0r a c0uple of years. This t0ilet is friggin' peaceful and I can get all the silence I need even though my earph0ne isn't the n0ice-cancelling one. Also, I d0n't have to w0rry ab0ut h0w l0ng I will stay there unlike the t0ilet in my apartment, I can't really spend my time there because we are sharing.

My sec0nd favorite sp0t is in the car. No matter what car it is, as l0ng as it can m0ve. I just l0ve l0ng j0urneys because I can listen to stuff f0r a l0ng time while l0oking at the outside views. It is s0meh0w relaxing.

Well th0se are my sweet sp0ts. What ab0ut y0u?