a series of realization. lol

There we went. To the festival. there were so many things that happened before this one, and I should say that by far this was an enjoyable experience. Another roller-coaster ride although it wasn't as "thrilling" as that last one. On the night where I posted the last blog entry, in the end we decided that we'd bail this one. Simply because we weren't ready and our drummer were being so dissociative from the sleepiness. To be honest, I was glad because I didn't want to play and I don't feel confident enough to play in this competition.

I might have told you before that anything with the word "Sinode" in it, means huge. Lotsa exposure. Thousands of judging eyes. Words of mouth. Like, massive. But then I don't know why I just want this to be over. I was giving up. I did what I could, and didn't give a shit on what's gonna happen. But one thing leads to another and we ended up joining the competition even though our arrangement was done only hours before the competition. We were the first in line to perform. Seems like it was meant to be because whenever the situation becomes impossible, it changed in the last minute. So I was like whatever, let's just get this over with.

I thought our arrangement was pretty OK even though it's not that tidy or complicated. I stole OOR's The Beginning guitar style for the front part lol.

I have a whole lot of things that I discovered during that day, since it was the first time for me to enter a band competition in that caliber.

We were the first band to perform so we set up an easy standard for everyone lol. There were a number of common genre that emerged. RocknRoll, pop, jazz, metal.

One thing pissed me off the most.

(almost)EVERYONE WAS TRYING SO HARD TO BE CASIOPEA. Maybe most of them don't even know who Casiopea is, but they SURELY sounded like them. The typical Jazz Funk Pop kinda thing with lots of syncopes, off beats, slapping, complicated instrumentals and the like. Their skills astounded me but after a while, I wanted to puke. The reason why they did that was understandable. They played that way so that they'll get marks for the level of difficulty. Some of them managed to nail it, and some of them didn't.

But one band  me the most. They looked like they will be performing in a metal concert and they had that look on their faces, and their vocalist looked so girly but yet intimidating. They went up on stage and started their sound check. Oh boy was it loud. The distortion was really heavy and loud my ears were pierced. When they started playing... Oh man. I'm having goosebumps remembering them play. They sang a hymn called "Dalam Dunia Penuh Kerusuhan" (In This Riot-Filled World) composed by H. A. Pandopo in 1980. They started off hauntingly smooth. It was pretty horrifying but beautiful at the same time. After the first few lines at the verse, and then they started the grand intro. Oh God. They sounded like Nightwish!! It was crazy. Everybody were stunned and I myself couldn't help but stare. It was grand, and haunting, and beautiful. The vocalist could reach the notes smoothly. I saw the judges were stunned as well. But in the end, they didn't make it into the top 3. They managed to get into the top 10 anyway. I guess that was understandable, because when I heard their performance that I recorded on my phone, they took too long, and there was a problem in terms of sound balance. The guitars were too overpowering, and they played waaaay beyond the alloted time, that's why their marks were reduced. The band who became the champion was pretty good, though. Their guitarist stepped up their game. The band revolved on the guitarist. He played mightily tidy and his skills were no joke. The band complimented him nicely although the vocalist was just standard. Their song arrangement for the required song were also really good.

Honestly I thought that the winner will be one of those Casiopea wannabes but then I was wrong. It kinda motivated me to keep on doing and loving the current genre that I like and polishing the way I play regardless of what genre.

Winning a competition is one thing. And I don't really care about winning. But then after this competition, though I still don't care if we're gonna win or not, but I really want us to sound more presentable and can be up to par with other bands and certainly I don't want to be the worst. LOL. We were one of the lowest quality performer and I realized that we were nothing compared to the others. The others put more time and effort (obviously) for this while we did shit and try to get everything together at the last minute. Now I know our standard compared to the rest. And I know the standard for this competition. I've never watched this competition before even though it's being held annually for a pretty long time already. I know what to expect. This was totally different than BolehLand's standard. I could say that our standard is way higher than them. I've joined a number of BolehLand's battle of the bands, and only a handful will be able to come close to our top 10 performers. For real. Even though our standard here is waaaaay lower than Java.

 
This competition really made my motivation bigger and I realized that I can't just be in this position. I need to move forward. Get back on track. Even though I was playing keyboard, I wanted to improve my bass playing instead. Hahaha. Hopefully I can attend a course anytime soon.

Here we go again

So we're at it again. A prestigious competition throughout the region, and as usual, our preparation was extremely minimum. H0w minimum? The competition is tomorrow, we need to play 2 songs, and at this hour we only have 1 song in our pocket. The other song is not ready. At all. Zero. Mei you. Na-dah.

Shish let's just get it over with.

I don't care anymore.

I can't help it.

I won't expect anything. I'll just do my shit and go home.

I won't even blame anyone.

Whatever.

"If home is where the heart is, then we're both just fucked."

So I was looking at old pictures, and stumbled upon these...

Still remember those days? Haha. I decided to check the event blog just in case they made a part II of this after I moved here. I told you how it went back then. Chill.. I'm not about to get all nostalgic right now, but after I visited the blog, I thought the post last time was kinda self-centered hahah and today I realized many new things about this event. I started to appreciate it more and more even after all this years. In-fest 2011 was a very humble event and probably there are still rooms for improvement in terms of event management but I walked out of it with a lasting impression on how a music and art festival feels like. It was on a small scale but come to think of it, it was a great concept. I still remember clearly what it felt like being there. I'm still a festival rookie, I haven't been to lots of 'em so I might not know what the actual good festival should be like but In-fest left a footprint in my heart. I've learned a lot from it. It gets deeper this time.

It was a place to show what you've got without looking for a trophy or title. It was very honest.  "But then isn't that how everything normally goes? Just like a normal gig when you play your original stuff?" --you said. Well this is different.

There was 1 major difference: The purpose. Not the event's, but the crowd's and the performers'.

"Geez, of course those 2 would be different from one event to another."--you said.

Ok then lemme break it down to ya.
Whether it is Rock In Japan, Glastonbury Festival, Coachella, Big Day Out, etcetc, no matter what genre, theY went there to SEE THEIR FAVE MUSICIANS and expect to hear songs that they know and like. and if they stumble upon one awesome opening act or supporting performers or maybe some good new musicians, great. that's a plus. Nobody went to festivals not knowing any of the performer. You paid hundreds of dollars to see musicians you don't know? I don't think so. Except for parents who came to accompany their kids. And boyfriends to protect their girlfriends. Also some people went to support their musician friends who will be performing that day. the crowd weren't the kind that came solely to see what kind of stuff you're gonna bring to the table. They weren't the kind who purposely went there ONLY to listen to stuff from people they've never heard of before. They listened to the performers before, liked it, and then decided to see them live because they liked them first.

In-Fest was filled with respectful audiences. They were there because they actually went to see and listen to what every performer had despite of their personal preferences. Musicians came out as who they are--as a total stranger to the crowd--. no prior fandom whatsoever. The performers were all indie and barely known anyway. 

As musician,When we perform on a normal gig, we worked hard to please the crowd and those who invited us to play with what we had. We worked hard to entertain. We worked hard so that they wouldn't be throwing us tomatoes or rotten eggs or "BOOOOO"s. We expected people to engage with us, to receive our message, to relate with our songs, and so on. we worked hard for them to like us. The pressure is everywhere and subconsciously we tried our best to fulfill their expectations.

At In-Fest, in essence, musicians  only have one purpose: To be heard. This is our song. That's it. No frills. Take it or leave it. This is where applause, compliments, and acceptance are mere bonuses. I was having the usual pressure.. "will they like it? I HAVE to play well. There were so many talented people here...etc etc" but then when I saw the other band who played before us, those thoughts vanished. I saw the crowd's faces. I saw them taking it in. They were there to listen. To pay attention at each of our form of art so willingly. I mean, there were different genres and some of them were on the extreme end but they accepted it all. They listened to every performers regardless of genre. It was truly a platform to express ourselves as musician. It was a place to be heard. At that time, anything else didn't matter.

So I thought: we need more events like this. We need a platform to be heard. The atmosphere was very welcoming and very encouraging to us emerging musicians. It encouraged me to learn more, to make music more because that's who I am. I just had to get it out of my head.

In-fest was "Freedom of expression" at its best. FREE ADMISSION BRAH!! There was art & jewellry gallery, movie screening room, music stage, and communal painting wall.
 

The communal painting wall was behind us.

There were A LOT of musicians each day. At first people were gathering and socializing in the gallery and some at the backyard where the music stage was at. It was grassy so people sat on the ground chillin while having some Nasi Lemak and Lemonade. And then the music started. Some people went upstairs to see indie films and then came down to see music performances. As the night went, it got awesomer. We were moshing and headbanging to "Fetus" and "Xerpent", and then we had "Like Silver" who turned the grassy backyard into a dancefloor. Heck there was nightclub-esque lighting yo! And some people brought booze. It was a shame we went home early (although it was pretty late already). I think it went on till sunrise lol.

Man, I felt right at home.

Right at home, bitches. :)

What if we hold it in dog-eating place... Somebody gotta make it happen right?. Hmm.

A Gig(?) At the Land of the Gods

So basicaly I didn't realize this until the end of the event lol

It was at my bestfriend's wedding on the 15th, and it was held far away from dog-eating place. It was in BALI BRAAAAAH!!
She asked me to bring guitar on the wedding reception because one of the groom's family will be presenting a song bit he didn't have an acoustic guitar. Well our youth leader's guitar was with me at that moment so I brought it along with me. Kekkekek

First of all, bringing guitar while traveling is a real pain in the ass. Urgh. The aircraft didn't have special storage for that kind of thing, and the stewardess was using real bitchy tone when I asked politely if they have. Psh. Bitch.

I ended up putting it in the cabin baggage compartment along with everybody else's heavy ass baggages. I was so worried that the neck will snap into pieces.. Actually I could just use a hard case right? Well heck no. Hardcases are 50x heavier than the guitar.

So anyway, when I got there my bestfriend asked me to present a song too for when everybody was having their desserts.. so yeah..

I sang Stickwitu by The Pussycat Dolls, and then for some reason, almost everyone thought that I wrote that song while I DID say that I will be singing Stickwitu by The Pussycat Dolls before I started singing. So I had a couple of awkward moments when the older fellas started saying things like "what a lovely song! Will you keep writing?" Ok........

Boy I was rusty and shakey lol

After I sang I felt unsatisfied cuz I thought I could do better.. But yeah.. and then it crossed my mind that I was singing in some place other than Historical City, or even dog-eating place. I SANG IN BALI BRAAAAAH!!

LOL

Sorry man.. I know this isn't like singing on the big stage with people paying to see me perform but the point is, I performed in a new place. HAHA.
Thas was actually my first time playing in a province other than where I came from (in this country) and people actually enjoyed it so..  kekekeke it felt awesome :p

Too bad I don't have a pic of me during the performance but it was in my besties' wedding vid. So yeah.. plus I got the bouquet from the bride's bouquet tossing game HAHAH. So.. It's time to proof whether the urban legend is legit or not.

See ya!

Teen-hit?

There was this youth choir at our district, the members are from different churches including ours. On the 28th last month they held their first concert, and our youth was invited as one of the line-up. We performed acoustic, 2 christian songs and guess what,I got to sing my own song. Kekekekek. I composed this song when I was in college, and told the Rubberfellas about it but we graduated so we didn't do anything about it hehe.

Well people here don't speak english. So I was 100% sure they were bored cuz they don't understand a thing I was singing. Besides, they came for the choir concert not for us right? HAHA

A number of 14 year olds from my church came and watched cuz they had free tix, and then after the show, they came up to me and said "Hey who's the original singer? WHAT?! That was YOUR song? OMG your song is niiiiiiccceee!!! *gigglegiggle* Teach us! Teach us the song! Your accent! What'S the song about? Tell us!tell us!" etc etc.

Hoookay.

Even until last week when we had our youth service, they were all like "let's sing your song as the closing song"

Hoookay.

I felt awkward but at the same time I was so glad that people -teens- like my song :D
I didn't expect it to be that way but then this was a nice surprise.

Aaaanyway, I have a lesson.
CHANGE YOUR BATTERIES THE NIGHT BEFORE THE SHOW. Seriously. Before the gig, we were doing the soundcheck and realized that the battery for the 2 guitars were low. So we went out to buy new ones. Easy fix. NO. Because the battery socket STUCKED and we couldn't open it no matter how hard we tried. We were panicking because the show was about to start and we'll be performing first!!! In the end we managed to open it in time (with violence tho). But then we were all sweaty because the gig venue has no AC nor a fan. So our hairs were greasy,our clothes wet, my makeup melted (=.=)". Nevermind... It went well kekeke :D

A rendezvous with my first love..

I.am.a.happy.girl.

Haha

Last night I got a gig playing bass. Yeah baby. BASS. I haven't been playing for quite a while now and I miss playing bass for a gig ><

As expected, MAH FINGERS HURRRRTTT!!!! It was painful. But painful good kekeke.. It reminds me how good the feeling was back then and even though it was just a regular youth service and set to have a cafe vibe with only acoustic guitar; bass; and cajon; I played like a possessed bitch hahahaha I couldn't care less!! Because seriously, last year I only played bass 1 or 2 times and it's not even a gig!! Only some random jamming!! That's why I kinda went overboard last night hahaha

Oh btw I have ANOTHER bass playing gig tonight!! THANK YOU LORD JESUS! I am really really really really thankful for this :D

I hope that my friend and I will do great tonight especially since some stranger will join us to play the cajon and He didn't come for practice the other day.. Hmm.

Last night I didn't use my baby to play :( I didn't change the battery and I desperately need to re-string so I ended up using the church's bass.. Haih. Nevermind.. Tonight I'll be using mine. I hope it still works and sounds well cuz I haven't been using it for so long T.T

p.s. I'm sorry baby...

Now this is personal.

I have been abandoning this blog since like,forever. In case you're wondering, I have no intention to stop blogging. Kekeke. It's just that I ran out fire.

Ok maybe this is the time for updates. To tell you the truth, I feel kind of embarrased by how things turned out. There were a lot of stuff going on in my life -musically- and to be honest, I don't want to post it here because this blog will be so gloomy.

So actually I was filled with disappointment. I am unsatisfied with things and I really really want to give up. I have been constantly disappointed with my fellow bandmates. It was extremely uninspiring and every gig is just so blah. We have been getting gigs from neighboring churches, and lack of preparation makes it suck. I became very reluctant to practice with them. Even though I still go in the end. I know that this is bad and I have to get rid of my reluctance, suck it up, and practice diligently.

You see, my bandmates and I don't have the same passion. They LIKE music and they KNOW how to play but then that's it. If there's a gig, we'll practice and play but no one cared enough to make our band better, to step up our game or try differrent things, or do research. They were bothered about how unskillful we are, but they did effing nothing about it!!!!! I tried to write chords down for them but bitch please there's no way in hell I'm gonna spoonfeed them for the rest of my gig life!!!

Basically I am mad at everyone including myself because I have no idea what to do and I want out of the band completely. But then this is a responsibility. Not to man, but to God. We were formed to serve anyway.. So I gotta continue. That's one of the reason why I want to continue this blog. I want to post all those struggles and experiences no matter how redundant. Hopefully this blog will be a benchmark on how we're doing, plus I will post reviews and first impressions on stuff I currently listening to.

So.. yeah. This is me trying not to give up.

See ya!

At church on a satnite. Like a good kid. lol

Heyhey! I just realized that my last post was on the 4th of July and that day I changed the whole blog layout to this red & blue themed layout! It assure you, it was unintentional lol. I just happen to like how it looks.

Actually I planned to write a review but then I had a gig last Saturday!! Once again, it's a church thingy but the event was held at the other church. We got our old guitarist back, and he was behaving better that day and this was his first gig with us this year after what happened last time (=.=)..

Well normally if we play on this kind of gig, we'll have practice probably the day before, and then a couple of hours before the event itself. Most of the songs were common, so we didn't really need extensive practice. But this time it was different. We had a couple of practice before the event and even the songs were fixed way before the event. This was because we didn't know the WL (Worship Leader) and most of the singers are newbies so they were still unsure when to come in etc etc. 

The Worship Leader was interesting. Sometimes he went overboard. It's pretty difficult to explain here. You see, he dragged the song for too long. And that wasn't because he was singing the song over and over again. On certain occasion where there is room for "improvisation", he went for it and then lingered. PLUS sometimes he went off key. Thank goodness he didn't do it as much during the event. We the musicians tried to tone down the music so that He'll eventually get the signal and then end his adlibs. But then most of the time he kept going on and on. Nobody was able to tell him off because this is kind of a sensitive issue but then everybody noticed it and was pretty much against it. The guys hated him lol. So the only way to sorta tell him off is by reducing the music. The lesson I've learned is that Worship Leaders should have self control as well. Even though the music and the atmosphere was 'high', you gotta know when to stop. You don't want people to be staring at you as if this is a show right? During practice, that happened a lot. 

Second, Worship Leaders gotta be clear about the chronological order of events. If you can't remember, then write it down and carry it with you! This fella was pretty clueless, and he skipped a song, and a solo. Well maybe because he was nervous.

Third, please WLs. Don't preach too much. There will be a sermon afterward so you don't really need to. 

From the musicians' side, I kinda followed what we practiced back then in SBC. In SBC we have song sheets with chords in it and the sequence of the song. I printed the same thing and boy did it come in handy :) I do think that it is a must for church musicians to have song sheets with 'em chords and sequences in it. We played neatly, and the basslines managed to be blended in nicely. It sounded more balanced :D

I was so stupid that I didn't do this since back then. If I did, then I wouldn't be as frustrated because everybody was playing their own thing and although the chord was right, it didn't blend in nicely. Not anymore B)

From the sound corner, we have difficulties at first because initially we were planning to use only amps until this guy came with the full PA. BUT his system is  normally used for keyboard style playing not for bands. But then the uncle was pretty nice and the sound went pretty good. A huge plus is that I can hear myself AND the band (most important thing for me). Also, unlike during certain occasion, this time I was able to control the volume by myself. Now I know why. When the sound man told me to put it to the max, I did what he said and then I ended up unable to adjust accordingly. All I can go was go quiet. I can't go louder because I was maxed out!! This time, I adjust my volume to 12 o'clock, and then we all played the loudest song so that the sound man will adjust my volume accordingly. For other songs, I will still have the freedom to go quiet or louder. I do think that this can be applied to any instrument. 

I noticed that at dog eating place, most of the rented sound system during the event are normally used for keyboard style music. So if they are faced with a band, normally the keyboard will go through the PA, and then the rest will be using amps. I prefer everybody to go through the PA though. I think it'll sound better that way.

Alright I think that's that.Have a nice afternoon! ;)

play ketchup

Heylou wazzup blogosphere! Omg I almost forgot that I actually have a blog!! :P

Seriously I am pretty much let down by the whole situation that has been going on for almost 2 years now.. I am STILL don't like the environment I am at, and  I am THIS close to losing my identity (as a musician) although the  passion never goes away, it never burned  out.

Ok. Sorry. I didn't mean to rant, actually, but I figured I gotta give some explanation to y'all out there.

You know, I lost ALL my music. About 10,000 songs  on my external hard drive, GONE. But then I have been recollecting  'em mp3s, and now I kinda go a little random. Listening to bands with weird names that I have never seen on TV, but also some known bands. So I borrowed my friend's hdd and I copied stuff. Weird stuff. But then I found  a couple of gems! And then I remember this blog hahaha. I haven't been reviewing bands for a long time!! This was actually the initial purpose of this blog kekeke.

So as I said, there are a number of bands I have been listening to and I LOVE THEM. Seriously awesome arrangement and a couple of pieces blew my mind :D

BUT I won't be writing about 'em now because office hour is coming to an end and since I am using their internet connection, I might as well just write 'em tomorrow HAHAH I have nothing better to do at le office :p

Ta-tah for now ;)

shades, fedora, and mayhem.

So. There is this annual Youth Easter celebration parade from the entire protestant churches in our province. Huge. Thousands of youth from across the province gathered in one place to worship and then march from point A to B. Me and a friend from my church -Rio- was elected as commitee member for our region, and we were appointed to be in charge of the attractions during the parade. We were supposed to setup a 'moving' stage that consist of acoustic musicians and singers. And then after that, the dancers.

This was pretty much like the -legendary gig- where all things went from bad to worse except this one went a little differently. So lemme walk you through it.

We were told by other commitee members that the mini truck we'll be using for that day (the plan was to use a loading container at first.)will be borrowed from one of the youth. Fine. So Mini Truck: Check.

And then we need to find an electricity generator around 2000 watts to accomodate all the gears and amps. One of the commitee members has one at his house. Fine. So Generator: Check.

Generators are unstable. They need a stabilizer with the same amount of watts. And the one from the other comittee members doesn't have one. So we borrowed from another friend who has a generatior with built-in stabilizer. So Generator + Stabilizer: Check.

The tambourine & banners dancers from our church agreed to perform on that day. Fine. So Dancers: Check.

We were prepared. What could possibly go wrong right?.

Right.

The day before the parade, the commitee chairperson for our region wanted to hold a prayer session. We were told to meet at 9pm. Okay. So me, Rio and 2 other friends (they tag along to pick up the mini truck and generator)arrived there at 9.15pm and as expected--the chairperson isn't even there yet. There were only us and 3 other commitee members. Fine. So we waited. 10 minutes later we got a call from the head of the commitee. The prayer thing was cancelled and we were supposed to settle things that weren't done yet and the chairperson with her prayer partner will pray for us. Fine. But then things went downhill from here and I started to cuss inside..

So now we went to the head of commitee's house. We were about to get the mini truck. We call the owner, she said that the car was lent to her father's friend, and we gotta pick it up from a place 30 minutes drive from our place. Fine. But then she said again that she's feelin uneasy to go and pick  up the car because it was already late. Yeah right. It's only 10pm. And if you ask me I'll gladly bang the door because I really frickin have to! It's for tomorrow for goodness' sake! Grrrr. Long story short, we were asked to find another mini truck. Son of a.. Nevermind.

So we decided to split up and look for mini truck for rent. At 10.30pm. Right. We went to look for it anyway, and while I made the calls, Rio and the others went to pick up the generator. I made lots of calls, and some of my friends helped out to call their friends asking for it, and even looked for it through the newspaper ads but even until 1.30am we couldn't find one. We are so screwed.

So the generator finally arrived. We checked on it, tried to turn it on, we couldn't. The starter switch doesn't work, the rope trigger is gone, and even though we used some plastic rope to trigger it, it wouldn't work. So we are so frickin screwed. First the truck, now the generator. Great. The last option we have is to rent a Microlet (our public transportation) with full sound system in it so the dancers may dance to the music comin from it.

I went home unsettled. The parade  tomorrow will be ruined. No... So I prayed so hard before bed. I cussed in my mind a lot by now -and i feel guilty- but now the Lord is my only hope. So I decided to leave it to The One with bigger hands.

So. 7.30am I went out looking for Rio and tried to figure things out. Then somehow one of our neighbor heard about our situation and offer their generator for us to use. According to them, it has stabilizer inside. Although the starter switch is broken, we can still use the rope trigger for it to work. With a little gasoline, we tried it, and it worked! YESSSHHHH! Mini truck left. It's already past 8am. We were supposed to gather with other youths from the region at 9am.

One of our other neighbor has a mini truck for rent and he heard about our situation as well. So he went to pick it up and gave it to us!! 

So the guys loaded all the amps, gears and generator, and then we tried to turn the stuff on, and it worked!! YESSSHHHHH!! But It's already past 9am and it started to rain. So we turned off the generator and everything. Then other commitee members started calling me because everyone is ready to go except our youth.

Still we need to find a tent to save all the gears and one of the neighbor offered us their tent. So yet again, we were saved. 2 of the commitee members were in the gathering venue and they noticed that it started to rain so they came to bring us tent. And told us that everyone was leaving without us except the commitee. The commitee member had a little conflict with the region's chairperson because the commitee didn't want to leave us. Aww.

We parked the car somewhere with shades, and then most of the youth were getting into the car ready to go. We agreed to startup the generator now, and set the sound on our way to the venue. Fine. Then one of my friend pulled the rope trigger. He pulled and pulled and the rope snapped.

Okay. I don't even know how to feel. It's now almost 10am.

The owner of the mini truck - our neighbor,  offered his generator for us. It's the whole package. 3500 watts with minimum noise, and built in stabilizer. 

Everything were supplied by our neighbors. 

OH THANK GOD!!!!!!!!
*reminded me about the Samaritans back then in BolehLand..

So off we went.

The setup there were pretty easy, we just need to deal with feedbacks and echoes from the mic and guitars. So we repositioned ourselves and et voila!

Guess what. We played for more than 4 hours, and to sip some water was our only time out. My hands were sore. I can't wave my right hand, and my left hand's fingers hurt when I type. Longest gig ever. Under the sun. My fedora was my only shade. I am tanned now. 

This one was very refreshing and somehow I felt pretty cool. I have never played on a moving stage before. Not even in BolehLand. Our audience was people on the roadside. I didn't know how many kilometres we went through in slo-mo, but it was damn far. 3 of the youths passed out along the way.

One thing that I've learned: Surrender.
Surrender doesn't mean NOT to do a thing and wait for a miracle to happen. But instead, keep trying, ask God for help and leave the outcome to Him. Even if things doesn't work out, then fine. It is still God's will. He has better plans and whether you like it or not, He holds the ultimate control over everything. We still gotta do our part and we let Him do His. You see, the help from our neighbor came unexpectedly and all the stuff worked out at the very last minute. We have no control over it. We need no sorcery to get things done, but things will eventually come into place if we surrender.

*I'll post the technical lessons I've got on another post, kay?

roller coaster ride~

*ohmygosh i found this post on my draft list and realized that I haven't even posted it yet after SO LONG!! It's been MORE THAN A YEAR @#$%^&*(*^%$#$%^&*
Lots of stuff happened and we pretty much ended up going separate ways since October  2011 - the graduation. Now me, Oxy and Jlt are rockin behind-the-desk life, and Tmg is rockin the hospital wards though sometimes Tmg and Jlt still rockin 'em stages with the Junkies.*

This was road to the epic Relay For Life Melaka gig - a cancer-awareness relay that was held in various states throughout BolehLand. Lots of cancer survivors were there. 
 

Thursday, June 3rd.

8pm            Worship practice

10.30pm     Jamming for Sat's Gig!!

                    *we stayed up till 5am+ trying to figure out how to use separate tracks for 

                   the gig. Apparently, we couldn't.*

tick tock tock tock

K.O

Friday, June 4th

6am               Hit the bed

9am               Mission training

                     *I was half dead during the process and it went on till almost sunset @.@*

7pm               Sound check

                     *when we arrived, the crew weren't done setting up and we were told to 

                      come back a couple hours later*

8pm               Saturday service practice

                      *Oxy and Tmg tagged along and waited quite a while for me to finish. Poor 

                      them.. Jlt texted Tmg that they still weren't done setting up -.- Tmg 
                    was pissed Oxy said.*

10pm+            Head home

                      *wanted to watch movie actually, but the info about the sound check came 
                      late and the ticket counter was already closed at that time. No choice.*


Saturday June 5th

1.40pm            GIG DAY!! Sound Check.

2pm                 *Tmg went back to change clothes.*

3pm                 *While waiting, we camwhored and Jlt bought us Kuihs.*

                            

4pm                 *Played at a huge balloon spiderman thingy. I knee-d my camera, 
                        broken beyond repair*

                    

see?

                        

5pm                 *Still haven't played yet. Fyi, our slot was supposed to be at ...... Tmg 

                        came back WITH THE SAME CLOTHES HE WAS WEARING. #$%^&* we 
                        told him to go back and change for real.. So he went back with Oxy.*

6pm                 *Still not our turn yet but the crew said that we would be up verrryyy 

                        sooon. Tmg and Oxy weren't back yet. I was having a panic attack and  

                        Jlt got reeeeaallly cranky.*

 

6.30pm+         *Tmg and Oxy stucked in a bad bad traffic jam in front of the stadium. Me 

                        and PMS-ing Jlt had no choice but to setup for them on stage.*

7pm                  *I was supposed to be in church already for Saturday service. I felt like 

                        crying cuz this was the first time for me to miss worship session when i 

                        was actually on duty!!! At this rate, I might miss the whole service T.T... 
                        Look! Oxy and Tmg finally arrived!!! :D*

7pm+                It's time to rock!! 

                             

                          *Messed up lots of chords and timing -.- but we finished it anyway then 

                        Tmg and Oxy rushed me to church. I had to change in the backseat! We 

                        were stuck in a traffic jam again, and we took the wrong flyover. 

                        I've never been to this church before. But after a couple of  

                        calls we found it. My 2 friends waited for me outside the church and 

                        they said that I've missed the free worship session, but the main 

                        worship is actually after the sermon!! Thank God! But then.. 

                        Oxy might lost her phone. So I left my bag in the car for her to search 

                        just in case it was there. Jlt lost his supercool chromatic tuner*

9pm+                 *During the sermon, I got a text. Oxy lost her phone :(  it was time for 

                         me to play. I didn't go for sound check earlier so i made some noise at 

                         1st x( I couldn't even concentrate in  worship. My heart was pounding 

                         like crazy and never slowed down even after more than  an hour..

                         It was like I just came down from a really sick roller coaster.*

10pm+               *Went to eat.. Didn't really have the appetite.. Then we made 

                         appointment with Momo to watch movie.. So we end the day with...*

                               


Sunday, June 6th
past midnight    *We were informed that we've got another slot in the morning! YAY!!*

7am+                  *Jlt texted me saying that the crew started the set up late so the whole 

                          slot will be delayed. It's gonna clash with Sunday service for sure. 

                          So, morning gig = NAY. Go back 2 sleep*

9.40am+             Sunday Service!!

                             *me, Josh and Oxy were on duty. So Josh picked me up. I was half 

                            awake when we arrived  at church and I was setting up with Josh 'till 

                            the worship leader asked us "where is Oxy" and I thought she was 

                            probably on her way here so I called her. 

                                   Me: "Oi, lu dmana?" [hey where are you?]

                           Oxy: "......Oh man. Gw telat bangun" [Oh man, I woke up late]

                           Without further ado Josh and I rushed to her house and picked her 

                           up. The worship leader was already explaining to the congregation 
                           of the reason why we were late when we arrived -.-*

12.40pm+            Prayer!!

                              *Me and Josh gotta rush to another church for this and somehow we 
                            made it in time even though our service time was different than 
                             theirs.*

2pm+                    * Finally can have loooonggg sleep*

8pm                     Rock Bar!! 

                                *Oxy, me and Momo went there. But when we got there, it has 

                               turned into a reggae bar -.- so we went to a bistro and then hit a 

                               hotel lounge with super slippery floor afterwards till 6am.*

*DAMN I MISS COLLEGE DAYS :( *

The craziest weekend of my life so far ended that Sunday. A thanksgiving Sunday for me. I thanked God that He lead us through this alive *and without ended up disbanded*. We lost stuff on that weekend. But for me, it was like a trade. That chromatic tuner, handphone, petrols, and camera were traded for precious memories and stronger friendship.

p.s. I miss you fellas so badly T.T

Passport to Fame - by Oxy

WAZZUP Y'ALLS! 

Damn I miss blogging. 

Couple of days ago I asked Oxy to do a guest post for this blog since I have nothin 'musical' enough to write about and she agreed! Oh by the way, Oxy was in the same band with me back in college *WE'RE NOT THAT OLD, OKAY!?* as you may have read in most of my posts, she's LEGIT.

She told me about this competition she went to so here it goes~

p.s: stuff in green r my jabbers.

Hello everyone!

It's my first time being someone's blog's guest writer! Yoohoo..

I am Lina *her real name* , I had not enjoyed live band performance for so long, until 14 March 2013, when suddenly my long lost friends aka Banana Junkies *TMG and JLT belong to this band too~* brought me to see a battle of the bands gig.

Little that I know about this gig, but PassportToFame is basically a battle of the bands where participants are required to travel to a few cities to perform and show their talents.

It is in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor for the first, second and third auditions respectively. The gig that I attended was in Penang.

My long lost friends performed earlier (when I was occupied with work) so I didn’t see them rocking the stage. But I’m sure they were. Well, at least I saw the videos.

That night, I watched 3 bands and that’s enough to make my day. I was stunned, especially with the second band. They are ‘Epy&Ardiv’ , 7-piece band, consisting of sax, trumpet, drum, keyboard, guitar, bass and vocal. They played 3 songs, each with groovy reggae genre. The first song was ‘fly me to the moon’ and it was fiuhhh. I’ve listened to a few versions of the song and I could tell ya that they really really did a great job with their arrangement. The second song was an Indonesian song titled ‘BidadariManisku’. I think I never listened to this song before (or maybe I listened but I forgot) but they again really made music out of it. The last song was their original song titled ‘Teman’, with groovy beats. It was worth watching!

Overall, you can feel the oomph drum beats and bass lines, wonderful melodies from the trumpet, sax and keyboard, great guitar strumming and also good vocal. It was all the combination of skills, groove and showmanship. I was entertained!

It’s time for the judges to say some words. “You’re my favourite drummer”, one said. “The original song full mark, music full mark, performance full mark, congratz you guys have set the standard. It’s time for you guys to establish your identity. Checkered pattern shirts, probably with the hats”. Another judge said “The vocal needs some improvement”.

Yeah there is always a room for improvement. From my side, the keyboardist, sax and trumpet need to show more showmanship. It is also good to practice endurance especially for the vocalist, sax and trumpet as their volume was a bit softer during the third song. Lastly, I can’t hear what the guitarist said, during the introduction and also between the songs…so I believe he needs to work on that.

That’s all. Ciao!

Thanks for the guest post, Oxy!! 

Well, we may not be as -to be taken with LOTS OF SALT- "cool" as we were back in college, but some things remain the same. We still have the ears to tell if one is a quality music or not. 

Have a good day ;)