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.

 

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!!

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.

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.

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.