Saturday, December 10, 2011

MEGATON MIRAI!!!

Hey lo hey ho!
Haven't been doing reviews since aaayyygees haha and I am seriously behind in terms of latest releases -.- so finally thank my gracious God, Mr. Dad and I went to Bali~ wheee~ the hotel I stayed at has lightning speed internet connection so I could download Bull Zeichen88's latest single -- Come On!! Megaton Mirai -- muahahah!!



T'was released a couple months back. Geez.
Ok so first thing is, the songs are as awesome as always, and this time they have incorporated some synths and electropop (i don't really know what is it called) stuff inside!! Also, more techno beats.. Those like kick-hihat-snare-hihat-repeat kind of thing. Come On!! Megaton Mirai sounds familiar during the intro.. Only one image came to mind...



The intro sounds like typical song that would come out from a ParaParaParadise dance machine hahahah but the drum is VERY dominant in this song! Well the basslines are DIFFICULT and it goes really well with the drum lines. LOADS of triplets and syncopes, although the guitar was humble at this song unlike HAUUU. This song is for a minute funny because of the ParaPara feel, but they didn't forget to add some wickedness to it. Just the right amount :)

The other song, Re+load, iLIKE!! The basslines at the verse is juicy ahaha and then seeds of evil burst out towards the end of the song and Eijiro sounded like he is in hell +.+

Last one, Garden, was in English. Not heavy, normal kind of progression. Very normal. Perfect to lower down the adrenaline level from the other 2 songs.. There's a little bit of heavy stuff at the background, but that was it, nothing prominent. The only surprise is, this is their only song that has Piano on it!!

So in conclusion, this single is still sounds like Bull Zeichen 88 that I know, sweetened by a pinch of electro loop thingy. One thing though, their songs aren't getting any easier to play T.T

Sunday, November 27, 2011

okelah. Must be grateful!!

Pls don't mind the unaligned paragraphs kay. Still getting the hang of this bloggerdroid thing

Last week me and Bruy--bassist here at dog-eating place met a couple of guys who run 4-wheeled bike rental place. They wanted to build a blues community but due to less demand, they decided to have an acoustic jamming session every satnite at that place instead. We were introduced to him by our drummer. So Bruy and I played just now :)

Just a normal "whatever u wanna play" kind of session, very flexible, and light. Sometimes we play, sometimes they play. Pretty fun even with humble sound system. Lots of people passed by, and stopped by for the ride, and while they are queueing they may enjoy the music.

The guys are just desperate to play, and according to them, this session was created for people with the same desire. So this is the platform, and hopefully it'll grow bigger, with better equipments and more people to come and play.

Humble beginning which marked a whole new chapter of my gig life.

Ahhh. Thank God~
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

now here comes the big ending

no. no. I'm not closing this blog.

I got a gig with the escapes back in October 1st and this was the last gig for me here in chicken rice town. Yeah cuz i have graduated and now i'm back at dog eating place. Not-so Happy 1month-since-my-last-gig Anniversary!

 

The gig was a mixture of art (Photohraphy and paintings), film, and music festival. Lots of artist from other countries. There were lots of foreigners there that i felt like i was in another country. Outnumbered. Like we came all the way from asia to perform hahahhah

This was by far the coolest gig i have ever played at. Well the crowd weren't really hyped up cuz it was sunset when we played and moreover the booze weren't out yet hahhah. But as the night went on, damn. There was this electro band which was really cool. They are called 'Like Silver'. I am not really a fan of those kind of music but these fellas got me as well as everybody else.



That shirtless dude on top were singing like 'aaaaaaaaaarrrgghhh gyaaaaaaarrrgghh' and went 'grroooooooooohhhhh' on the chorus when they played earlier on. Pretty wicked. But later on, he joined the crowd 'shakin-that-thang' along with the thumping beats from the electro fellas. The organizer did a splendid job. Hat's off. The performers were varied from alternative, rock, grindcore, erotic-grotesque, c-pop, laptronica, club music, etc. Not to mention free Nasi Lemak for the performers!Oh! One of the artist made us a logo as well :D 


Oh btw, we were the first to perform, and we asked Reno to sub for bass for KeeMO. There was a minor accident when we played 'I do'. The screw for the strap in Jlt's guitar got loose so the guitar fell off him when we enter the instrumental part!!! So he played it like a cello haahah! Thank God there was a score stand down the stage right in front of him that he could place his feet there and support the guitar. Damn. But then Reno had to sit down and play afterwards.  The sound crew were damn efficient. Verry helpful as well. This time i got to learn that i should trust the sound engineers. During the event i couldn't hear myself clearly even from the monitors.. At first the PA guy asked me to max my volume so i just trusted him and i didn't tweak a thing on the keyboard like i normally do. The sound turned out well when i watched the video. Obviously i don' t have extra travelling ears to hear from off the stage so there's nothing much i can do other than to trust them. When we got to play KeeMO as our last song, damn. It became emotional to me as i sang the last 1/2 Eight. Like i'm singing it to myself as i go back to the dog-eating place and move on with my life. Let's not discuss the specific "whys", kay? Oh! It also felt like i am singing that part to the fellas, i was wishing that they would continue making music and perform no matter what because they were all so good and passionate at what they do.  



Alrightiamgettingsadthishastostop.
Have a nice evening, and pizzout.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

past midnight random chat

I want to buy a new handphone. AP set (approval product) instead of the original authorized one. So I asked a friend whom I think might know the drill better. Until the conversation went south xD


Good night :)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Look Ma, a wedding gig! AGAIN!

Finally another gig with the Rubbers! :D Well kinda sad Manu can't play with us >.< so i gotta play keyboard and we asked our friend Garrett to sub for bass. As usual, lots of lessons learned.





First, be tactful towards hotel's sound engineers. We asked to connect the guitar and bass' amp to the PA and the fella said that we gotta pay extra 200 bucks for extra connection. Rid0nkul0us. After reconfirming the management, apparently no extra bucks needed. =.="
 
2nd, be polite to them. Don't boss around. Use the basic 'please' and 'thank you'. Well, engineers are human too and they are also part of your performance. Don't mess with them unless you want them to mess with your sound.



We've prepared 17 songs. We thought that those would be enough and guess what, before they did the toast we already played more than half of the songs! Before the whole thing ended we ran out of songs. Thank God they are christian family so we can play worship songs -.- So the 3rd lesson is that you gotta have LOTS of songs in the bag.

4th, go listen to oldies hits. Yeah that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but in a wedding sometimes there will be some uncles who request for old songs. We were pwned by the song 'wedding day'. But thank God that song sounded like it used 3-chords only so we kinda just wing it messily.

5th you gotta have contacts of car or van rental services if you're transp0rtless. Y'kn0w, to get to the venue and to put your gears and stuff. 
 
6th learn songs in different languages especially if you are in a multi-racial country, and make sure you get the pronunciation right. It may offend some people if you get it wrong. We performed in 3 languages that night x.x

Last one! it would be nice if one of you have a smartphone/ipod/ipad/anything that can go online. We don't remember the lyrics of those impromptu songs we played/asked to play. So I used Oxy's phone to google it. But if the venue has no signal, then congratulations! You're screwed ;)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

kyuuut! xD



We were d0ing s0und check f0r this m0rning's service when this little fella came in. He just st0od behind th0se chairs l0oked at us playing a s0ng. His eyes were glued to our drummer, barely blinking. Maj0r amazement detected xD.

Man. Y0u sh0uld've seen his face. I wished i c0uld take a picture but i was playing the keyb0ard. So, too bad.

Then he walked towards the b0ngo beside me and started hitting it f0ll0wing the drum beat. Mad awes0me.

iabaskos! rice is good.

Somewhere between May and June, I had an amazing experience back in the land of the m0st amazing rice. I stayed in a village, and I've the privilege of teaching keyb0ard to a c0uple of guys. They were from different villages. 

Don't ask me how did I end up teaching them or why was I there in the first place. The amazing part is that out of 5 fellas, 2 of them speak 2% English, and s0metimes when I talk they just l0ok at me with0ut saying a w0rd. I smile, they smile. I ask them 'do y0u understand?' they smile. S0metimes they n0dded, laughed or just stared at me. It was a challenge and because there was only one keyb0ard available, each shared an octave and it was just en0ugh for 3 pers0n so i taught them from the fr0nt so i need to play with my fingers upside d0wn. One of them had the basic ch0rd kn0wledge while the others had n0ne. Oh! Btw they d0n't use C D E kind of ch0rd, but they use Do Re Mi etc which was similar to what we use at dog-eating-place. It was less than 3 h0urs for 2 days but it was well spent :) I h0pe they will still remember what I taught them th0ugh.

One thing that I've learned is that music unites people. I was amazed that the guys can get what I meant when I hum. Also they are all strangers to me and we d0n't speak the same language so music kinda broke the ice, especially when one fella play the C ch0rd with his fingers f0rming the image of a chicken's feet. It was also hard to keep a straight face when one of the guys asked me how to play Soledad - Westlife xD Another example of why music unites people, here.

Oh mayn. I want to post their pics sooooo badly. But I am not allowed to. So, yeah. Damn I miss those fellas. I hope that they'll keep playing >.<

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

ipop

When I watch TV back home *dog-eating-place*, I'd definitely w0n't miss this thing called 'inf0tainment' whenever i tuned in to a l0cal channel. N0rmally I'd expect news like celeb A and B is n0w div0rced or maybe s0me crap like celeb C was at a hair sal0n f0r a creambath. This time they were talking ab0ut the emergence of b0ybands and girlbands in this c0untry plus sh0wing s0me of their mvs.

Mediocre face + mediocre dancing + medi0cre singing + mediocre music. yuck.

Acc0rding to them, these guys and gals jumped in the b0yband/galband wag0n pretty recently in resp0nse to the great K-waves *m0re like a tsunami actually*.

Well there were several cute ones. H0t ones? N0ne. The others were so-so. And oh, d0n't even get me started on the gals. They wore heavy make up which added like 8 years to their actual age. Their ch0re0graphy were heavily influenced by the K gals, those kind like.. y'kn0w.. 



Well this is supp0sed to be an impr0vement of the current mainstream over here in a way that there is a new kind of stuff taking place in the midst of th0se shall0w ones that has been g0in on f0r years. I'm no pro, but i think  ipop is just.. sad.. Basically m0st of the stuff that we have n0w are derived from those guys in the 90s or even earlier, and now the Ks are d0ing it BUT they make lots impr0vements and they even raised the bar!! For instance,


                              Then                                  Now


They broke the rule of 5 or 4 in a gr0up by having odd numbers instead, also in terms of their dancing the Ks are waaaaaay better imho. The singing, puhlease. Even though the Ks have bigger number in s0me gr0up, each one of them can sing well unlike those western ones that tend to have 2 g0od ones in a gr0up and use the rest as dec0rati0n. 

In additi0n...

THAT will definitely seal the deal.
*n0sebleed*

With incredibly shaped b0dy added to the list, l0ok at h0w high the standard has bec0me.

The Ip0p is...*sigh*. I was h0ping that at least they can sing better. They have 'ok' v0ice but n0t that great. They don't harmonize as much, and they're not that good doing solos. They need major brush up on their v0cals. Maybe they c0uld also c0me up with better music or at least m0re up-to-date music arrangement. B0th the b0ys n gals of ip0p really need to polish up their dancing skills. There's no o0omph to their m0vements. This wh0le B0yband/Girlband thing aren't really my thing. N0t anym0re. But when i saw SuJu's SorrySorrySorry for the first time, I was literally h0lding my breath and my eyes were barely blinking. S0meh0w I can feel the energy. Even th0ugh I d0n't like the s0ng but the dance was so good that it glued my eyes to the screen 'till the s0ng ended. But when that s0ng is on the radio, I usually teleport to other channel pronto.

Actually i think It'll be better if they have s0me kind of training first bef0re they go out there. So that when they go out, they're equipped with all the packages. Well i saw the K ones underg0ne this, and l0ok at h0w it turned out! It's a good example.

Ip0p guys seri0usly need to hit the gym =.=

F0r the girls, i n0ticed that Ip0p gals have nicer and curvier b0ds than the Ks, which is a go0d start! In terms of fashi0n, hmm. Still can't be called a 'trendsetter'. They need to see the kind of event they will be perf0rming at. I watched one of the galband perf0rming outd0or and guess what, i saw s0me of them w0re a frickin l0ngsleeve plus turtleneck, and all of them were made up heavily! Dang. With all that plus the heat, they're g0nna melt. I think they need to change their stylist and makeup artist. Oh! No need slutty cl0thes so that "th0se pe0ple" w0n't have any reas0n to ban y0u. They also need to firm up all the flabbiness here and there, do l0ts of sit ups, take less0ns to sing better and l0se the heavy make up f0r g0odness sake!!


*y'know why i don't put up any of the ipop stars' pic? Entertainment byotches here like to sue. Nuff' said. 
img credits to: cafe.daum.net

Sunday, May 29, 2011

a flute and a panda

[sorry for the '0's. Too used to it when typing on the phone]


I never n0ticed that chinese flute's s0und is actually really awes0me! Sm0oth as water g0in d0wn the stream *chinese pr0verb attempt fail* 
 

This fella played it, and well, he did great. One thing ann0ying th0ugh, he presented when pe0ple are eating. So the s0und of the flute was p0lluted with tingling cutleries and chatters. So frickin ann0ying.

Aaanyway, I've g0t l0ts of less0ns ab0ut harm0ny. Th0se main instruments were acc0mpanied by a chinese orchestra. So there was pipa, er-hu, some sitar-like thing, cello, c0ntrabass, etc. The orchestra wasn't really tight with the main instrument. T'was like they were 2 different perf0rmances that was playing at the same time. S0metimes they s0und like they do, but m0st of the time they didn't. If i take it as separate items, the c0ntrabassist and cellist were d0ing a GREAT j0b, and I l0ve their lines. This orchestra l0oks c0ntemp0rary to me rather than a pure chinese orchestra because of the existance of cello and c0ntrabass that is c0nsidered 'non-chinese' instrument. N0w that makes me w0nder h0w it will s0und like if th0se traditi0nal instruments are played in heavier music?..

There was this er-hu performance as well. I think it is a really melancholic instrument. When playing minor slow songs with it, the sound kinda makes me wanna rip my heart out. Faster songs, mellow factor will still be there, and if it's slow major stuff, it'll sound verry peaceful.

There were other performances such as harmonica, singing, and choir but wasn't as appealing as those above.

After that dinner, we watched Kungfu Panda 2!! This was officially the first time where I actually paid attention to the music in a movie. No. It was more like the music stole my attention!! And the first time was when Po the panda and his homies were running to safe a village down the cliff. From that moment on, I couldn't help but realize how incredible the music was. I noticed also that during scenes that involved running, fast and complicated stuff would be played. The thing that i love the most was the combination of traditional chinese instruments with modern orchestra. The whole thing sounds totally chinese. I mean, the progression, choice of notes, and the feel. Well of course, since the setting was in China. The music where panda met master Shifu in s0me kind of cave was mind bl0wingly peaceful...

Man. I think I'm gonna watch Kungfu 1 and 2 again.  
That should be all, i guess.. 

Reporting live from mamak stall,  good night.
*Man.U. vs Barca is on!!*

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

[you name it]

2 days ago we went to the usual to do the usual. It was pretty much the same and we were listening to the usual. Everything was just as usual, and there was a couple of other guys over there watching some Metal documentary. I placed my cellphone on top of the table in front of the tv, and then suddenly my cellphone alarm rang. Well, being an avid fan of Maximum The Hormone, I set my alarm ringtone to What's Up People?! and when it rang I quickly turned it off. There was one guy sitting right in front of my table and when I turned the alarm off, He looked at my cellphone, looked at me, and then looked at the phone again. And looked at me. Then he sprayed "Hey, your ringtone just now is Maximum the Hormone right?"

 


OH MY GOSH I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD BE THE ONLY PERSON IN NEGRI JIRAN WHO ACTUALLY LOVE MTH!!!!!!!

and he was like "yeah! I thought so too!" Then we went on about their new singles, and new PVs that he missed out. Oh that reminds me! I gotta post the link on his fb page *runs*

Aaand so we continued on about how epic their shows are but then he was pretty disappointed because Japanese crowds don't mosh. He also stated that he haven't been listening to them for quite a while and the last album that he listened to was Rokkinpo Goroshi, but surprisingly he is familiar with Buiikikaesu which came out afterwards. He likes Enter Shikari as well. Wah. I finally met another  MTH fan (do MTH actually have a name for their fans? Hmm.)!! It's so nice that when you talk to people with similar taste of music you can just ramble on without being stared at or simply ignored :P

Last night, we went there again but then too bad Earth couldn't make it. There were a bunch of guys watching G.I. Joe when we arrived, including the BLANC" voc guy. He said that Earth was pretty busy and they didn't get enough sleep so he said that Earth might be dead tired. So it SEEMS like we came in vain, so we headed out after gave the fellas some buh-byes. We were about to go down the stairs when voc guy came out and asked "Hey, who played the keyboard for your song?" then Tmg and Oxymoron pointed at me. Kinda awkward, so I just smiled. Then he mentioned that they will have a gig on july and kinda implied an invitation to play with them for that gig. When "JULY" came out from his mouth I knew I wouldn't be able to make it because I'll be at dog-eating place by then. So, I explained my situation to him. 

The expected expression from me should be "OWHHH MAAAAAYYYNNNN *bang head to the wall*" or "*kneel down to the ground and scream* WHHHHHYYYY?!?!" But then at that time, I didn't feel any disappointment/regret/emo or anything of that sort, but I was pretty happy. Even I find it strange. When he said "july" this came to mind "If it's not meant to be, then IT IS not meant to be. It's not for me."



Then inside the car Tmg said "we went there and the fella is not around. It's like we went there just for you to get the invitation and just to found out that you can't go. It's like in vain." I said "Means the gig is not for me. Just like me and -this other band- that asked me to play keyboard for them." If I agreed to join -that other band-, probably now I won't even know Tmg at all and I'll never be in the same band with Oxymoron hence nobody will call her 'Oxymoron' xD. The fact that i was invited already brought me to cloud 9 so let's just leave it at that :)


...No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him...--1 Corinthians 2:9

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"--Jeremiah 29:11




Wednesday, May 18, 2011

an ok ok trip after the thunderstorm ;)

Hey hey! there's still some time to kill before office hour ends so lemme tell ya what happened last night :)

Last nite me, Oxymoron, Tmg, Wei2 and Jlt (a guitarist btw..) went to Earth's to check out stuff. Again. :) I was the last one who entered the door that leads to the stairs and when one of my feet was inside, I kinda catched a glimpse of a bunch of guys on my left. Of course la got bunch of ppl since the mamak stall is on the left but I felt like I know one of them.. So I put on my reverse gear to get a good look. And guess what, BLANC" BASSIST!!!!!!!! He smiled, I smiled then I continued walking towards the stairs that lead to Earth's hood silently hysterical xD 

FINALLY we meet again *dancedance*. So I was hoping that I'll meet the rest of them upstairs. I bet Oxymoron will be ecstatic to see their drummer :P
So we entered the hood and met a bunch of guys--apparently Earth's other band called 'V' a couple more guys, plus voc guy from BLANC". So without further ado we got down to beesknees and during that time V was jamming in the other room so Earth invited us in afterwards. YAY:D Oh! And guess what, the BLANC" bassist guy apparently plays for V too!! YESH!!

So we sat on a sofa and enjoyed the little "private" concert for free! I got a nice spot *again* which is right in front of the bassist (Oxymoron got a nice spot as well which is around Earth's 10 o'clock :P) hahah and here's some of my observations:

Last time Earth said "Let the stick bounce by itself". That theory is proven. It sounded amazing. I saw it with my own eyes. So far, there's only 2 drummers that I've ever seen play like this live. First one was the drummer in my first band (in this country), and second one was Earth. My frickin goodness. I was able to see his movements and seemed like he did minimal movements but yet the sound was complex and when I focused on his hands I can see shadows cuz the strokes were fast and he made it looked sooo easy. Oh. They played metal stuff btw. His facial expression was neither serious or excited. It was more like a blur. Y'know, the expression when somebody just woke up, sit on one side of the bed and just being idle until that person is fully loaded, he had the exact expression--only with the whole body moving xD. I didn't really pay attention to the tempo or styles or anything because the Guitars kinda stole the limelight.

The two fellas on the guitar were AH MAY ZING. Well granted, they played typical metal style with lots of shreds but they both seem to blend especially during the parts where they need to harmonize. I liked it. I don't know which one is the lead guitar because in most of the songs they played both will share solos.. This fella with red flying V was epic. Not only his skill was MAD, but he played evil heavy and energetic metal songs with the facial expression sooooo peaceful and tranquil as if playing Enya's songs and reached enlightenment. Sometimes he looked at his fingers and had this little smile on his face as if watching his little daughters showing off their ballet skills. *even an image of Buddha with flying V on his lap came to mind* Both of them shredded a lot, and I could barely see their hands. I saw shadows. Too bad I forgot to charge my camera and I was too shy to take a pic with my phone >.<.. I'mma have to put a sticker over the flashlight.. 

Up next, the bassist. Hm.. Not much from him last night cuz he was playing metal. But it wasn't bad since I saw triplets and noticed his good fingering. One of the bass lines were pretty similar to Rolling1000toon's pre chorus (very fast double pedal+bass thingy) but then he used pick. Oh! I'm lovin that Hartke stack at Earth's :)

The vocalist has great voice! Very typical metal but still good. He had lack of expression as well. Even in high notes sometimes he closed his eyes. But many times seemed like he was just staring into the abyss xD
Oh. I got an i-don't-know-whether-this-is-really-important lesson. KEEP A SET OF ALLEN KEYS  WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES. During the jamming the drum pedal went loose and Earth didn't have one key with the right size so he felt uncomfortable while playing. Hmmm. Reminds me one time when we were practicing at church, the same thing happened hence Oxymoron was having a hard time. Thank goodness I had my bass with me and the keys were inside my bass' case that I could lend her one and fixed the problem. As a musician, you might not know that suddenly you might have an opportunity to jam and need to make some adjustments to the instruments. So, always keep a set in your pocket/wallet or maybe hang those together with your keys. Same goes to guitar picks. I've always keep some in my purse just in case me or my friend or anyone need it at that moment, and now I gotta put some allen keys to my purse :P


 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Greatest the Hits!!

yeah yeah it's been a while since the last time I posted a review :P

I was too busy. This sem has been HECTIC. Before this I thought that this sem will be a very laid back one since I'm only doing my internship but I was wrong. Hence, I have no time to listen to stuff. My list is getting longer =.=" I've been listening to the same song over and over and over and over again. Some of my peeps know why *nudge nudge wink wink*.

Recently I've been listening to local music as well, so reviews comin' up :) this time I'mma review my fave band of all time--Maximum The Hormone.
They released new single entitled Greatest The Hits around March if I'm not mistaken.. I've found out about it when I saw sakosakosakkon's update on youtube. He never cover any song other than MTH's, so I knew something was up!! They released an MV!! I was so very dang frickin really surprised. It was Chiisana Kimi No Te and Maximum the Hormone. A medley. 



 I was like  001_v2 when I saw the video because it was so... pop... Moreover, what's with Nao's side curled ponytail?! Also, She has LIPGLOSS on and she's cheerfully taking a walk in the park??!!! WHERE IS MY HEADBANGING DOUBLE PEDAL-ING NAOOOOOO??!!

The other guys' attire weren't as usual (y'know black graphic tees and sneakers/sandals except for Ue-chan who is always shirtless) but instead they were wearing some kind of tracksuits! @#$%^& AND WHY THERE ARE KIDS IN THEIR MV?!?!?!? I mean, if rotten babies, then maybe. But cute baby?!?!? And since when Daisuke-han become scream-less?!?!?

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THIS WORLLLLLDDDDD???????!!!!!!!

I was really sad because I thought when they finally make an appearance again after a pretty long hiatus they will knock my socks off but then.. this?!?!
And then I said to myself "well, even though they've become like this, I will still love you MTH! I'll never forget how awesome you guys were :'( This song is not bad anyway *sob* and then I continued watching.
In the middle of all the 'happy and hopeful' kind of mood, the camera zoomed out and it turned out that the song was being played on TV with Ryo on top of it

VOMITING!!!!

and then he came in with his riffs, a little fill in from Nao, a big jump and then GROOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL!!!

008 084

My MTH's back!!!!

And then the rest was mind blowing. Like always *roll eyes*.
The level of evilness was normal (nothing trumps Tsume Tsume Tsume), and the bass lines was different since Ue-chan tapped a lot and used some effects! The concept of the video also was quite 'religious' I would say, because of the chant-like verse and everybody's style of playing. You'll know what I mean when you see the video. It's quite visual. Hopefully those aren't really chants tho :p I have yet to find the lyrics and their meaning.
If on Tsume Tsume Tsume they used kind of a bdsm theme, they have pregnant ladies with gas masks and dolls this time. Pretty creepy I admit :P

Oh! Fyi, Chiisana Kimi No Te is not included in the single. The other 2 songs sounds like typical MTH stuff-- punkish and funkish yet heavy with a hint of pop and cuteness in it :P
 
now you see why I heart them? 
102

Monday, May 9, 2011

hey hey!

I had a pretty neat night! Well there's still some stuff not accomplished, but overall, it was a fruitful visit :)

Everybody was getting pretty cranky cuz maybe everybody's tired, and sleepy.

Last night we were doing some business when suddenly the vocalist of BLANC" step inside the room! I was so surprised! He shook hands with everyone and then he went to the back room to talk. And then there was this 2 ladies came inside. They were the ladies from a mamak stall next door. They came to look at what we were doing, and simply just talk. They both were friendly and have impeccable knowledge on Indonesian celebs LOL! We talked about some gigs and it was quite surprising that those 2 ladies know famous gigs in historical city!

After some talk with the ladies, they went off and then BLANC" guy came out but then he went off! Akh. Too bad. But then after a while, he came back! So me and Oxymoron talked to him. We got to know his name. He was like "I think I've seen you guys before.." and we reminded him that we actually took picture with him during the UG gig weeks ago. And then I asked him where are the other bandmates *cuz obviously i want to meet the bassist again so friggin badly* but then he said that some of them are working and the drummer is still studying. The drummer is his younger brother, but he is only their sessionist. The real member was only 3 of them. I got some info about the bassist as well :P Last time I only got to know his name and some other things, and now I got to know that he actually plays for other bands too as their sub or sessionist. I told him that last time I asked the bassist where did he get his Punk en Ciel bass but bass guy told me that it was a secret. Voc guy just laughed. Dang. I was hoping that he'd spill. I was too shy to ask either =.=

Then I asked them how come they play J-Rock since it's pretty rare to see senior bands playing J-rock. He said that at first they don't know about it but they had a friend that was so into Japanese stuff. From anime, drama, songs, etc. After they hang with him for quite a while, it started to get into them and they started feeling it. They thought that it was not bad so they decided to play J-rock style. They weren't purely J-rock and he also said that they have a particular task for each. One will be the arranger and others will do other stuff. He didn't specify. Man. I really do hope that I'll be able to watch BLANC" live again... I forgot to ask what are they doing these days. I'm so looking forward to their next artwork :)

The night still went on after he left but I think I'm just gonna end it here cuz I haven't done my 'homework' #$%^&*(*&^%$# dang.

Friday, April 29, 2011

paroles, paroles.

I realized that I don't mind enjoy sitting down for hours listening to some materials to nitpick and then thinking about the arrangements accompanied by my 2 other fellas -- pencil and paper. Pretty hard doing at in the office though. Cuz I can imagine the sound but I don't know which note. If there's a keyboard or guitar around it'll be much easier. I tend to instantly forget the sound I found in my head =.= therefore I whistle and then write it down in form of numbers.

On a totally unrelated topic, me and the Rubbers went for a gig last night :D
-A Night in Paris-. It was at a golf clubhouse. We were rushing for sound check. The traffic pwned us =.= but then thank God we still managed to do it.. When we arrived, we were shocked to see that the PA system has only 4 channels for mic! Drat. So we plugged in our instruments there hoping that it won't blow up. There was no other choice. The soundcheck went fine, but then there was other problems: the clubhouse only provide 1 mic stand and they don't have music stand for the chords. Dang. So we gotta head out to get those from 'somewhere else' :P. We managed to get that, and by the time we arrived, the event has begun, and some fellas from the other band told us that we gotta go on stage right after the mc's jibberjabber which was a few minutes after. We were so surprised cuz according to the schedule we were supposed to play at 10.20pm and they asked us to play at around 9.35!! But then we did it anyway. Fiuhh.

We planned to play only 3 songs but then the mc kept on asking us to play more and we even need to accompany people dancing! Oh. Fyi, we didn't practice cuz we didn't have time. So we reuse the songs from the wedding gig :P Towards the end of our slot the PA's power went unstable so it was blinkin away on and off. But that didn't really make a scene. Fiuhhh.

The PA went worse. When the other band play, it went ok during the first few songs but then it went downhill ever since. When they played, the PA just turned off by itself and then back on again. But then I got a lesson from this: The show must go on. When the thing went off they continued playing and their vocalist seemed confused at first but then she just carried on when the PA went off. Also, everybody should continue playing/singing so that when the thing turned back on again, the song won't mess up. I saw the guitarist and bassist did the same thing. The clubhouse's crew turned off some of the lights and so the PA didn't die  as much anymore.
 

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Sanguine Charity Concert

Hey Hey!
2 days ago Rubbers got a gig in campus :) It was a charity concert and we performed as one of the guest bands. This was pretty fun cuz this is my first time giggin in 3-piece, y'know, 182 style :P

We played Blink182 - Not Now and Kutless - What Faith Can Do. Oh this is also my first time playing 2 instruments at the same song. Quite a lot of things to remember and verrry troublesome to set up. But then thank God they used the curtain so nobody knows what we're doing back there during setup, and also, there were a couple of awesome friends helping us out :D

During the sound check several hours before the gig, it was pretty disappointing because we couldn't get decent sound. On stage it sounded ok, but down there... Ugh.. During the setup, the one who's in charge of the PA changed his mind and instead of putting mics in front of the amps like it used to be, he combined all through DIs. Akh. The sound become different (my bass' sound went from ok to fugly T.T) and we need to readjust . But then time was running out because there were still several people haven't done the sound check. So we went down unsatisfied and just hope that things will sound nice during the real thing.

I don't know why, out of all gigs that I've been to, I never experience good and balanced sound. I think one of the reason is that we are not superstars so we gotta be content with whatever sound we have since the amps and some gears are used by several bands so there will be only 1 default setting. I find it hard to accept because I think that those are the responsibility of the PA guy to help the band achieve the sound that they want. So, 10 bands, 10 settings!  Because that's what we paid them for right?! Also, the vocal mic.. Oh man. It was ear piercing. When a singer exert his power, it sounded like his voice's cracking when actually it doesn't. But oh well this is only my noob opinion because I don't really know how things work back there. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I got 1 really important lesson.

BE A GOOD SAMARITAN !!
Here's the situation: We are transport-less so we have no idea on how to bring the keyboard to the hall. That morning, after the worship service I was talking to an auntie and her son-- Massi-- about the concert and her son just sprayed "I can drive you guys. You just show me the place or I can google it". Man. Really grateful.. So.. Transport [checked]. 
Second problem. After the sound check, we can't just leave our stuff in the hall. We need to bring 'em to Oxy's place and then pick 'em up later before the performance. So, Massi helped us drop the stuff to Oxy's place. But then he won't be coming on time for the performance. So once again, we are transport-less. Tmg was there with us and he told us that he can pick up Oxymoron along with the stuff. Man. Again. Really grateful.
Third problem. I only have 2 hands. I have no idea on  how to bring the bass + keyboard + keyboard stand + cables up the stage by myself. Rubber's vox and Oxymoron were already occupied with their own gears. So I asked Mashi to help me out with the stuff and he agreed. After I explained to him on what are the stuff to bring, it was time for us to go on stage so we went up and Tmg came and help us set up on stage as well. 

We got help 3 times on the same day! Thank God who sent us these Samaritans to help us that day *They didn't even ask us to buy 'em dinner in return, y'know*. I want to continue the chain.

Therefore dear readers [ahem], I encourage you to help each other as well. Simple help matters.

Do to others what you would have them do to you.
Oh! Btw, Happy Belated Easter!! JESUS HAS PWNED THE DEATH THAT WE MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Otomet Warrior Vol.2

hm. How to begin this one.. Umm..The past few days has been hectic. Well it's been like that since I started  my internship. Memorable moments happened almost everyday and I am really grateful :)

I just came back from another dora-the-explorer-esque adventure. We went to watch this show organized by Earth. It was at Muar, about 1 hour from our place. We were given a map but we lost it, so while me and the drummer--let's just call her 'Oxymoron' from now on hehhe (*i have my reason calling her that and she knows why) wait for 'Tmg' *let's call him that from now on* to come and pick us up from church :P, we borrowed a friend's iPhone to look for the map. We finally got it and had it written down. The direction was frickin 3 pages! But then in the end we didn't use it because Tmg used another route. When we arrived in that town, we stopped a lot of times to ask local people about the building where the event was held. And after being pwned by the roundabout a lot of times, we finally arrived. But then when we got there, Earth's band just finished their performance. Dang. We actually came to see him play.. We were almost bailed when we knew that but then in the end we chose to watch because there were 4 bands haven't play. We got 6 bucks rebate! Not bad :)  When we went to his place about 2 weeks ago, he gave us an invitation. Hence the rebate :p

Guess what, it was an UNDERGROUND event.\m/. When we went in, people gave the STARE. For a moment I felt like we don't belong. Hahah. Almost everybody wore black graphic tees, band tees, some with leather jacket and skinny jeans. Tmg wore PASTEL PINK shirt, and I wore red blouse with a GIGANTIC donald duck on it. Hence the stare. Well maybe. Oxymoron fitted in quite nicely since she wore gray tees hahah. Oh! We were also the only chinese *or in my case-- looks like chinese* there, and our faces are of those kind whose the possibility of being UG fan is highly unlikely Hahah.

This was my first experience to the underground scene! So I was frickin excited. True enough, when the song started, people started moshing. The overall mosh act was pretty noob BUT the moshers were very considerate and humane which I respect (e.g they picked up fellas who fell down and protect the head of those who stage-dived when they fell to the floor). This was a pretty clean gig. No drugs, people didn't spit, no alcohol, and no fights. People were cooperative as well because they obeyed those rules. People went outside to smoke although towards the end of the show there were 1 or 2 guys came in and smoke =.="

There were various genre--metal, punk, 80's rock, aaaaand... *drumrolls* J-ROCK!!! Each band played about 5-7 songs. Oh! There was this band called Second Combat, not bad, and the voc always started each song with a short 'sermon'. They spread good messages through their songs. There was stuff about respecting other music genres, respecting other races, unity, and stuff about themselves. They are pretty well known. The crowd seemed to be familiar with their original songs.
 
The 2nd band we watched were a punk band with really unique vocalist. The fella wore checked shirt tucked in to his high waisted short jeans, and a high top boots. The guy from Second Combat called him Justin Bieber *somebody actually shouted 'never say never'. The word 'Bieber' in an UG event without followed by swear words or insults? Unbelievable. Lol*. He was the most happening and brutal mosher. He joined the moshing crowd while singing. The fella didn't hold back. Where did he get all those stamina?! The band's name's The Giel. Punk-ish.

3rd one was Conflicity. Their guitarist was wicked awesome! He played with his teeth a lot of times! Mad skills. Can't really tell from his appearance. He seemed like an ordinary guy. Well he wore leather jacket but there were several other guys wearing that, so it  was a fiasco. Dang. Too bad I couldn't get near them for some close-ups because the moshing was brutal at that time. They played covers.

Last and the nicest out of the last 4-- BLANC". Earth introduced them on stage, and he said "this band is special. They are J-ROCK." So I was like, SAY WHAATT??!! I instantly marched to the front row even though it means that I have the possibility to go back home with black and blue all over. I didn't care. I looked back and there was Oxymoron joined me! Yay~ also the people stopped moshing coz their songs weren't mosh-friendly. Most of the crowd bailed. But then I could take lots of their pics and Oxymoron could take videos freely  :D. I got a friggin good spot-- right in front of the bassist!! *and the speaker =.=*
When the voc started singing.. Dang. Frickin J-rock! Y'know, all the vibrato followed by falsetto and stuff.. Hyde's style. He brought his 1 year old daughter to the event. Such an early exposure to the UG world! Lol~. The guitarist is left handed but skillful, the drummer wore leather jacket with faux fur collar. THE BASSIST HAS THE FRICKIN "PUNK EN CIEL" WRITTEN ON HIS BASS' HEAD! Oh dang right he must be a fan! Oh! Not to mention his playing style is VERRRRY J-Rock! Riffs-all-the-way yet complimenting-the-bass-drum kind of thing. Awesomeness! I've gained lots of knowledge from him tonight :D People's eyes were glued to his hands when he played.. All the songs they played were original. They were the tightest of all 4 and very enjoyable.

When they were finished, the voc gave away their EPs and I got one :D afterwards we talked to them. I put aside all the shyness in me, and with 15cm face thickness I braced myself to talk to the bassist. His name is Firdaus and when I asked where did he get that Punk En Ciel bass, he said "it's a secret." Dang. Then he asked me do I listen to L'arc and I said that I listen to Maximum The Hormone. They are actually from historical city as well. They were pretty old compared to us and it is really rare to see older people play J-rock.  I really hope that I can meet them again cuz I got a lot of questions i forgot to ask. Lol.

Oh! Earth gave us souvenirs and thank God we got home safe and sound :D

My hair smells funky tho.. *smells hair....*  Ugh +.+

*oh! I'll post pics later.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

another fruity juicy nite on earth :)

Top of the mornin' to ya!
Fuh. I don't even know where to begin. I was thinking, it would be great if I could do real time blogging. Y'know, posting as we speak, cuz sometimes you won't be able to remember the events or conversations correctly the next day *cuz you were too tired after the event :P*, and some of the conversations are too precious to be forgotten. Many times I just quickly grab my phone and type the punch line/awesome quotes I just heard as fast as I could and as unseen as I could so it won't be rude to the person talking to me. Ok. now let's go to why last night was fruity.

After work + dinner, me and our drummer went to Earth's. Another Dora the Explorer-esque moment lol. Usually we will go with our vocalist but he gotta go to work so he lend his car to us. Pretty scary because we're both not local so there's still possibility to get lost, and the area around Earth's place looks creepy because among a lot of shop lots, usually only 2 lots we saw open--Earth's place and a mamak stall next to it. So if Earth hasn't arrive yet, we gotta hang around in front of his place first. On top of that, we're girls. Going to that kind of area at 9.30pm is actually pretty dangerous. As expected, Earth wasn't there yet so we hang in front of his place discussing how noob we are hahah. A guy asked us "Eh. Jamming ah?" we nodded and smiled. Then he added "boleh join main?" then we just gave him some uneasy laugh, he smiled and joined his friend to eat. And then Earth arrived. Fuhh.

He invited us for a Teh Tarik session first before getting to the beesknees. Inside our heart we're kinda disagree because it's almost 10pm when he arrived, we haven't even set up, and this will cause us to finish really late. Tomorrow we gotta get up early for work wey, but for some reason we said yes anyway. And then he started talking about his past clients. Some of them work with him because they want to be celebrities. Found out that he doesn't like that kind of client. He repeatedly stated that "If you come here because you have a song, then alright. But if you come to me to be an artist, you're in the wrong place." He said some youngsters came to him begging for gigs so they could show off their style but he said "gigs are none of your business. you concentrate to your song, I'll take care of the gigs cuz I'm the contractor." So what I got is that just do your best for your song, play it awesomely, those organizers will find you and you're gonna get gigs.

Then we came across to Poyos *posers* whose style are bombastic but the mentality is ridiculous and have really shallow knowledge. People with spikes all over, inverted cross, swastika, and consider themselves as true metal-ers he said they're just "menganjing" *bullshitting* because they have no idea about the fundamental and the meaning of those symbols they're proudly wearing. Plus, according to him the local Poyos tend to make lots of fuss.

Oh! We were talking about successful people and how humble they usually are. Then suddenly he sprayed "I had a club before. A club that is only for gigs. Every week. At ****** Raya......." and I thought: oh my gosh. don't tell me he is....!! Then I sprayed "MK club?!?!?!?!" Then he said "yah. how do you know?" OH MY GOSH. I tried my best not to grab his collar and say ARE YOU FRICKIN KIDDING ME. After that split second shock I said "I was dying to go there." He said "It is closed already." Oooh mayynn. I asked again "You are the OWNER of THAT club?!" He nodded. And then I told him that we even joke about playing pop songs there and run through the back door when the crowd start throwing us bottles *it looked like underground club although according to him people did play pop over there*, also about some pictures of people moshing that we might have to bring some guys with us. And then I started to ask him why. He said "I pulled the plug." GASP! "I love my job but it wasn't right.  I made RM-beep- every week but it wasn't right. When I wake up, the first thing I do is turn on the computer and do publications on the internet. And people call me non stop when I turn on my phone. Bands are dying to perform in my club. When I go to the mall, people come to me and shake my hand without me knowing who they are. I was famous. One night I had a dream..." then he told us about his dream, and after consulting it with his wife and father, he pulled the plug on December last year. There was some other reason, but it's kinda sensitive to discuss here, so.. yeah.

Thank God we said yes. If not, I wouldn't know he is the man behind MK. xD

Oh! When we were setting up, he told us one of his gig story. He supplied the sound system and instruments to this event. A drummer stabbed both of the sticks to Earth's snare at the end of the song. Y'know, stage act.

Earth     :  Eh.. You have to pay for it.
Dude     :  I don't have the money.
Earth     :  Okay then I will call the Police.
Dude     :  but I don't have the money.. blabla *I forgot*
Earth     :  Have you ever been -beep-ed in the a55? You muda and
                comel, pasti sedap (read: you are young and cute, must
               be delicious) *evil-sarcastic-psychoesque-laugh and stare*
               I -beep- you in the a^^ or I call the Police.
Dude     :  Oh okok *reaching for his wallet in his pocket*

PWNED.

After everything we went back and got home safe and sound :)

So grateful!!! :D  I'd like to quote our drummer... "Can't thank YOU enough"

teehee~ :P

Peace.

Monday, April 4, 2011

a pair of bouncy Cap Ayam sticks that can bloom!

G'morning!
Still remember Earth? We went there for jamming a couple of days ago and finally found out his real name :P

Last night me and the some of the fellas from the other day went there again. He came late, and then he gotta go out again to settle stuff before doing his thang. So we waited for about 2-3 hours for him to come back. He has no full time assistant/worker to help him for the mean time so he gotta do everything by himself.

Before we head home, he asked our drummer whether she 'forced' her fill-ins, and then we were all kinda blur because we thought that isn't it what you're supposed to do? You force it so it'll produce the hits that you like, right? Our vocalist (who plays drum as well) also agree with me. And then Earth took us inside the studio again then lectured us on how it is supposed to be, plus some tips (he's a metal drummer btw. Jaw-drop worthy).

"Let the stick bounce by itself." He said repeatedly. "You can't force it to follow your liking. It is indeed a challenge but that's the way it is or else the drum's tone will be ruined and whatever sound you set up beforehand will be useless." When he showed us the forced one and the bouncy one, I could really see and hear the difference! But then it looked pretty hard because your hands gotta have to sync with the bounce or you should be able to control the bounce that when you hit another tom or anything you won't lose a beat. He's frickin pro. Well, from my noob point of view, his hands looked as if his grip on the stick is really loose. It looked like he was giving more 'freedom' to the sticks, but yet his strokes were powerful and missed beat count = 0. *btw one of Earth's friend were there, and apparently he was frickin sleepy so Earth told him to go inside the jamming room and sleep on the couch there. His friend went in and finally landed on the couch but then less than 2 minutes later we gotta go in to see Earth rolling -forced vs bouncy- like nobody's business. Epic nap fail.

Now here's extra tip from him: "When buying drumsticks, you gotta look at its flexibility so that they won't break easily. Expensive ones are not really necessary. But of course you don't buy the Cap Ayam (read: cheapskate) one lah!" and then he bent a pair of stick near him. Those were bendable. According to him, when those sticks were made, those had to go through a machine which will dry them up to remove all the humidity. He said "It's not like flowers will grow out of it but there are still living cells inside. Those will make it flexible. When you're bending it, don't do it in front of the shopkeeper or else they'll go What the *beep* are you doing with my sticks?!?! *LOL*."

That kinda conclude everything and I arrived home at about 4.30am. A very fruitful time indeed. Thank God :)
 didn't come to jam btw.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Meet EARTH.

Last nite I went jamming and then visited another studio afterwards. Pretty far, and as most studios in this historical city, they're usually located on the 2nd floor. Including this one.

There was a notice on the wall outside saying in Malay "don't smoke on the stairs" so I was quite positive I won't smell anything. But then when my friend open the door...

GAH.

Cigarette smoke in an air-conditioned room!! Dude. Nothing I hate more than the smell of cigarette smoke in an air-conditioned room!!!!!!!!! So I was so congested and feel like dying. Makes me wonder the smell of a poisonous gas. I bet it smells nicer.

So we started talking with the owner. Earth. Wicked name right? hehe. Well we didn't ask of his real name and we found out about his name when we saw his EP. The dude is one of the local metal band as a drummer (he's friggin good, fyi), pretty involved in the local music scenes including the underground one, and he has a family already. Shared a lot of stuff with us including a couple of personal ones. Well, after talking about some jamming and recording prices then we got into serious stuff. The fella was really into Sting. He let us listen to one of Sting's stuff and told us that he is one heck of a songwriter. Also he was talking about a band that came to his studio for recording, the vocal was terribly off and he said to the fella "dude, do u know that your notes are off?" then the fella said "yeah. It was intended to be like that. That's how I'd like it to be." then when he listened to the song again, he said that the song was actually deep and the composer has good "Illusion" he said. He called those kind of song as "Asymmetrical". I nearly burst :P In maths, sure. But in music? "Asymmetrical"?? hahah. Earth dude used lots of interesting vocabularies last night.
Then he started talking about song writing. He said that songwriters are like architect. It's about how you build a song. He said that the off-key fella just now is one wicked architect because he build one strange building--an asymmetrical building that looks mad cool just like the elephant tower he saw during his trip to Bangkok. Songwriters will need some kind of good illusion. And the best part is, he lit a cigarette and then continue talking. I couldn't concentrate anymore..

And then he took us to the recording/jamming room. pretty standard, didn't touch or try out stuff because he sat down and then continue talking. This time it gets really personal and as the time goes by I gained some knowledge about being a struggling musician. He mentioned that he has day job (like most of the musicians in this country :P), he worked as a chef while maintaining his studio couple of years ago, and even sold some snacks so that he may continue his passion in music. He was quite inspiring to me.

Towards the end he showed us some of his 'antique' collections and then we head out.


Hellllllloooo fresh air!