#Alfan Rahadi

[haumblog]

Dendang Akhir Tahun oleh Alfan Rahadi (part. II)

Akhmad Alfan Rahadi, seorang pengamat musik indie dan emo yang juga merupakan seorang penulis lepas yang dapat kalian temukan tulisan-tulisannya di beberapa situs berita musik dan umum. Melalui tahun 2020-nya dengan beberapa dendang lagu yang cocok dengan suasana hati dan pikiran dari seorang Alfan. Meskipun ‘emo’ adalah nama tengahnya, namun kali ini beliau mendengarkan beberapa genre yang sejatinya masih tidak jauh juga dari nama tengahnya tersebut.

Yak, kali ini Alfan yang lebih dikenal dengan nama panggung Alfan Papaonta akan membagikan 10 besar musisi berikut single jagoannya yang sering diputar untuk menemani hari-hari di tengah pandemi ini. Sebagai penutup tahun 2020 yang tak menentu, simak 5 tembang lanjutan yang menemani hari-hari Alfan.

06. COUNTRY WESTERNS - I’M NOT READY

Bagi yang kangen era-era college rock dengan segala sensibilitas lagu pop dan distorsi punk, Country Westerns jawabannya. Band beranggotakan Brian Kotzur, Joseph Plunket dan Sabrina Rush ini menempatkan distorsi abrasif di atas lagu pop dan kadang heartland rock dengan tepat guna. Full Album self titled mereka sudah rilis via Fat Possum Records.

07. HALLAM FOE - LIVE A TRANQUIL SIMULATION

Listen/purchase: Live A Tranquil Simulation by Hallam Foe

Screamo/skramz nampaknya mulai menembus pendengaran muda-mudi Kota Malang beberapa tahun ini. Buktinya Hallam Foe yang dulunya bernama Weloveprison berhasil menerjemahkan skramz ala Indonesia dengan progresi yang fluid, yah cair tanpa ada canggung sama sekali. Walaupun tanpa bass, Nisa, Lewi dan Gilang sudah bisa memberikan punch yang berarti dan in your face. 

08. O’s TRIBE

Ketika Tupac berbicara tentang cinta lewat Dear Mama, Unconditional Love, atau Still Love You, Tupac berbicara dengan segala kerasnya watak lelaki, tanpa melupakan betapa rapuhnya hati tak peduli lelaki atau wanita. O's Tribe berbicara dalam bahasa itu, ketika kita berargumen dengan logika dan ego yang dibalut image maskulin yang harus berkompromi dengan urusan sentimentil. Menjadi tangguh atau setidaknya mencoba tangguh adalah pilihan satu-satunya untuk menjadi waras di antara cinta yang katanya mendewasakan namun nyatanya memberi porsi lebih pada emosi. Ataukah porsi lebih pada ego?

09. FAHEM - EMPTY SPACE

Sophistipop revival masih bergema di Malang, kini datang dari vokalis Morisade, Irfan Fahem. Fahem mengekspresikan kreasi paling personalnya dalam proyek ini dan dia berhasil. Lick gitar bluesy-nya dan progresi lagunya yang sedikit R’n’B and soul membawa Empty Space menjadi 4:08 menit yang berisi.

10. WHITENOIR - COMMA

Semenjak fase vakumnya, Whitenoir sudah menjelma menjadi salah satu unit alternative rock yang diperhitungkan di Kota Malang. Walaupun banyak padanan yang disematkan ke musik mereka seperti Superheaven atau Moose Blood, namun Whitenoir bisa menampik semua itu dengan aransemen yang far beyond. Kini dengan formasi duo Eki dan Ale menapaki jalan keras di tengah pandemi ini untuk terus berkarya dan menyuarakan keresahan anak muda yang kini harus menghadapi musibah global ini.

[harinopali]

Slowcore/Sadcore

Slowcore/Sadcore: Sebuah oase untuk melepas kedahagaan jiwa

Slowcore lahir di era 90an dan merebak terutama di dataran Inggris dan Amerika. Slowcore adalah salah satu term genre yang dipakai untuk menggeneralisasi genre sadcore itu sendiri. Sebenarnya slowcore/sadcore itu adalah cabang dari indie rock / alternative rock yang dideskripsikan sebagai music dengan tempo yang amat pelan, aransemen sederhana, lirik yang rapuh serta mengandung depresi. Kebanyakan dari mereka menggunakan dinamika soft-loud dalam musiknya.

Genre ini seakan menjadi antitesa music grunge (meski pelaku slowcore/sadcore tidak menganggap demikian) dengan gaya hidup yang (maaf) onar, pemberontakan, dan keras yang memang pada awal 90an menjadi amat popular dengan invasi Nirvana di seluruh dunia lewat penampilan perdana mereka di Saturday Night Live Show sebuah acara televisi di Amerika pada tahun 1992.

Slowcore/sadcore pun muncul dengan pesan yang kurang lebih sama seperti perasaan depresi, kesepian, dan patah hati, namun dengan pembawaan yang lebih quiet and calm. Atmosfir yang tercipta pun masih tetap gelap sehingga mereka dapat mendeskripsikan rasa sakit dan penderitaannya kedalam musik yang benar-benar menghantui keindahannya. Beberapa nama yang muncul di mesin pencari jika mengetikkan kata slowcore/sadcore adalah Galaxie 500, Low, American Music Club,Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon, dan Codeine.

Di Indonesia sendiri, aliran ini sangat kurang peminat dari segi penonton bahkan penampil. Salah satu band asal Surabaya Cherry Bombshell, Dominion (Malang), bahkan La Luna memiliki unsur slowcore/sadcore meski mereka tidak menyebut dirinya sendiri demikian.

Jujur, saya sendiri melihat slowcore, shoegaze, dan post-rock dalam warna yang sama abu-abunya. Awalnya saya mengira The Milo (Bandung) adalah slowcore, namun menurut Mas Alfan Rahadi (salah satu kontributor media dan seorang publicist) The Milo termasuk kedalam kategori shoegaze karena jumlah layer gitarnya yang banyak, namun Pandai Besi (Jakarta) memiliki unsur slowcore yang kental namun masih belum dapat disebut demikian karena penggunaan instrumen mereka yang maksimalis.

Lalu ini dia tracks you should listen to untuk bahan bakar kesedihan anda sekalian:

1. Red House Painters – Drop

2. Low – Words

3. Spokane – Thankless Marriage

4. American Music Club – Electric Light

5. Ida – 95 North

6. Cherry Bombshell – Bintang

7. Bungabel – Sungai

8. Sun Kil Moon – Duk Koo Kim

9. Bedhead – Hey Goodbye

10. Rex - Jet

[radioastronot]

Antara Post-Hardcore, Singapura dan D'Masiv | Interview Paris In The Making (from Majalahsintetik.com)

oleh: Hilmi & Alfan

Saya pertama kali mengetahui Paris In The Making dari status Facebook Indra Menus (vokalis To Die, juga jagoan post-hardcore di Last Kiss To Die of Visceroth). Kala itu Indra Menus mengabarkan kalau band Singapura ini akan bikin tur Jawa. Dan, di tab comment, salah satu jagoan post-hardcore lain, Akhmad Alfan Rahadi (vokalis Papa Onta Cult, juga kamus hidup-post-hardcore) ikut memberi komen bahwa tur mereka ini akan jadi wahana bahagia bagi pecinta post-hardcore, terlebih lagi bagi mereka yang menggali Envy. Maka, saya yang cuma post-hardcore-er cemen ini langsung ikutan bersemangat. Di salah satu tanggal, mereka akan mampir di Malang. Semangat saya berkembang bukan kepalang. Kapan lagi penggemar post-hardcore bisa “haji-haji”-an?

Saya pun langsung meminta kesempatan kepada panitia untuk minta jadwal interview. Dengan bekal pertanyaan yang juga telah saya konsolidasikan bersama Akhmad Alfan Rahadi, saya menginterview mereka sebelum mereka naik panggung. Mereka cukup ramah dan suka becanda. Wawancara berjalan menyenangkan.

Tapi bodohnya saya, si post-hardcore-er cemen, ternyata file audio interview yang saya rekam di hape qwerty (juga) cemen ternyata busuk sekali. Tak bisa didengar. Duh. Dengan penuh malu, saya lalu mengirim email berisi pertanyaan yang sama untuk mereka jawab lagi via email. Untungnya mereka mau.

Berikut adalah isi email itu;

Hi Hilmi, my name is Su, bassist of Paris in the Making, and I will be answering all your questions.

how do you guys meet each other before? We formed sometime in 2004, right after Inn (vocalist) got a show offer which he accepted without even having a band ready yet. The show was about a month away and he roped us all in hoping to get some materials ready by then. Good thing was we were already friends prior to the formation of the band, so it was quite easy to be very comfortable with each other’s capability as a musician individually. Back then, the music scene in Singapore was still relatively small and anyone was acquainted to everyone, so we knew each other from there. Inn, Syahmi (guitarist) and I were there from the very beginning of the band’s formation. Syahadi, who is also Syahmi’s brother, joined us in 2007 and Ariff (guitarist) joined us in 2011.

how do you guys write a song? By jamming around or predesignated? Both ways work fine for us, our newer materials are usually written in impromptu during jamming. One of us would doodle with his own respective instrument and the rest would follow suit. It’s a nice feeling to play in a small space together, without saying a word to each other, and the music flows and weaves seamlessly together as if we have written it in our minds and hearts all these while. But I’m not saying it works all the time. At times, either Syahmi or Ariff would have a riff recorded and sent to the rest via their phones, and all of us would take a listen and brainstorm our ideas during practice.

when you're playing your instruments, i often see you guys eyes closed, what do you visualize at that moment? I’m not really sure about the rest, but usually my eyes are closed because the sweat got in. Apart from that, I do try to portray a mental image of our songs in my head, and I find it easier to visualize by staring at the darkness of the back of my eyelids. And it also depends on the mood of the particular riff that is being played, be it sad, angry or happy. We do try to portray an emotional stance that befits our music that would somehow be interpreted subjectively by the audience.

hows the scene in singapore? i usually seen posters of your fellow singaporean band play with japanese band, recently heaven in her arms. is it often to exchange gigs with japan? Is it possible in the future, you guys sharing the gigs with indonesian band on singapore? It’s really hard to say, in a way, the international music scene in Singapore is much bigger now. I guess with all these help from the global media and the recent surge of big pop and rock acts performing in our little island, I can say that we have kind of made a mark on the world map of the musical industry. However, at the same time, the local music scene is also taking a beating, fewer people are supporting local acts, fewer people are buying local music, local bands stop playing due to the lack of support and other reasons be it financial or personal, fewer bands are being formed among the younger generation, the masses prefer listening to what’s being played in the radio. So it’s quite an ironic situation that’s currently happening here in Singapore. Somehow, we are becoming more of the place to play in, rather than the place to listen to.

We kick started our tour with two shows alongside Heaven In Her Arms, in Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore. It was a surreal and fantastic experience to play alongside them. And yes, we do have a number of Japanese acts coming to Singapore recently – Toe, FC Five, Heaven in Her Arms, Makoto Ozone, so it is quite often and also common to see bands not only from Japan, but the rest of the world to perform here. And whether it is possible for Indonesian bands performing on Singaporean soil? Why not? I’ve seen Domestik Doktrin and Grave Dancers gracing our local stage, and I would personally love to see more Indonesian bands here.

any particular local bands that you like along the tour? Ghaust, First Flower After Flood, Nervous, Last Kiss To Die Of Visceroth. There are other bands too which unfortunately I can’t remember their names. So sorry!

Some people refer your music as post-hardcore, but in myspace and facebook you guys described as screamo act, which one is right? Well, honestly, we’re not really comfortable in being categorized under a specific genre. Personally, i get a little confused with the amount of genres nowadays and it does get a little constraint to be expected to write music under a classification that may get a tad too linear for the band’s progression. As a band, we play to whatever we feel that is right. Change is always a constant, and who knows, our music may change in future, but the same message will be delivered, the same passion will be expected from us. So, in other words, I can’t personally describe our music because each one of us may give a different answer. Rock, perhaps. 

How’s post hardcore in Singapore, because it is pretty rare here in Indonesia.. Well, it all depends on your definition of “post hardcore” actually. To me, post hardcore has a pretty strong following here in Singapore. I do see post hardcore shows being organized here on a monthly basis, so they must have been doing something right somewhere to have such a constant flow. I can’t really say anything else much about the post hardcore scene here other than that.

these days common people look at post hardcore usually on the outside, the stigma , the gimmicky outfit and hairstyle. what do you guys think about that related to the style of your way of Post-hardcore? Personally, I’ve always believed in leaving out the fashion from the music. Sure, it may give an added visual advantage and it would certainly give out a more emotive and cognitive visual response for the audience. But personally, I am quite a boring character when it comes to fashion sense. Plus, I don’t find them comfortable and way definitely not comfortable when I am on stage. It’s all about the music to me, so I’d wear something really comfortable that would not hinder my performance on stage. It’s all music, no gimmicks.

You guys always cited as Singapore-an Envy, what do you think about it? We’ve been compared to Envy many times before. No doubt, they are one of our many major influences when we first started out as a band. Personally, I don’t find it that overwhelmingly annoying, because in away, it does show that we are heading in the right direction. I’d rather be compared to Envy than a band which I do not like nor listen to at all. Every band has an inspiration or an initial direction that they look up to so I guess it is quite normal to have comparisons with someone else. Face it; you can at least name one other band that sounds like another band you know. And it is not necessarily a bad thing either, being inspired by someone else may give way to eventually identifying your own unique sound. Every band has to start somewhere, somehow.

Lately, post rock developing rapidly, the sad fact is that some band doesnt take their instrument seriously, so that the genre become a boring music, what do you think about it? Yes it is sad to know such things happen, but then again, that is what happens to music that gets a little too popular for its own good. Just by listening to one or two popular post rock bands, and without doing their proper homework, these bands began playing the same repetitive stuff over and over again. It is normal, just like fashion; music has its trends and seasons too. And eventually it will die out; the bands will either disband or move on to another musical direction and only the few true ones remain. And from what I see, it is a vicious cycle that happened to other genres previously as well.

Is it real that you guys only have one album? Because it is amazing to us how one record band could do this kind of abroad tour a lot.. Haha, yes, we have only one album. For our very first tour back in 2009, we were only a supporting band for Milvains from Italy for their South East Asian Tour in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It was more to gaining experience in playing overseas for us as some of us had not played anywhere else other than Singapore back then. And also, we didn’t want to steal the limelight from Milvains, who were heavily promoting their album throughout the tour. So this time in 2012, we are touring again to promote our debut album.

Tell us about your album.. ‘Origins’ is our very first album that took us more than 3 years to record and caused a great deal of financial toll on us individually. We actually started recording even before our first tour in 2009, and recording ended officially around December last year. I won’t go into the details on why it took us that long but somehow, it just did. It comprises of our earlier songs that we have written as Paris In The Making with Zad, our ex-guitarist, recording his parts before he left the band. According to Inn, the lyrics of the songs in ‘Origins’ involved various topics ranging from friendship, family, love, a higher divine power, fear, anguish, resentment and the darkness of a void uncertainty.

You have been to Indonesia before, what thing you miss the most? And any history about your last visit? We miss all our friends most of all, it’s great to be back, really. It’s nice to catch up with each other’s lives and hang out again. We would have loved to see Menus’s beautiful daughter, it’s a pity she wasn’t in town. Everyone in Indonesia has been so nice to us it gets pretty overwhelming. I wish I could somehow repay everyone’s kindness one day. And of course, the food here can never be compared with anywhere else either.  One memorable moment the last time we were in Jogja in 2009 was when Alessio (Milvains drummer) was going around the whole hostel we were staying in dressed only in his briefs and asking for tissue paper from everybody because he needed to shit. It was quite a culture shock for the Italians having to experience such toilets that do not exist back in their country. He eventually got wet wipes from someone, so it ended happily.

As an emotional musician, do you guys are the kind of people who kind outside, and screaming inside? Or you guys more like contemplative person, just like on your songs? I do quite a lot of thinking, so I guess you may consider me as a contemplative person somewhat. But generally, all five of us are your average guys who love to hang out, love to share a joke or two, and love to share the knowledge of music. We don’t come across any different from everyone else’s character, really. We just tend to write emotionally charged music because we love music that makes you feel.

What is it with Paris? The name ‘Paris In The Making’ was coined by Izzad, our previous guitarist. I guess his take on the name was that as a newly formed band, we are moving towards and also rising to something beautiful which is defined by the city of Paris.

What is your emo-song guilty pleasure? Syahmi and Syahadi listen to a lot of Peterpan and D’Masiv (not sure how you spell that). Inn listens to a lot of sappy Bon Jovi songs. Ariff loves Katy Perry, and recently I heard him singing to ‘The One That Got Away’. I do listen to a lot of Coldplay once in a while.

which one do you like? small venue or concert hall? I would say I am leaning more towards small venues because it feels more intimate and somehow I feel more at ease with the audience crowding around us. But once in a while it is nice to play in a huge concert hall with all that space.

any bands that you look up to? Each of us has different bands that we look up to. I started out with Green Day and Nirvana, and so did many other boys back then. And as time passes, there were more bands from various genres that I began looking up to, piling up the list. These are just a few of them on top of my head: Foo Fighters. Silverchair, Metallica, NoFX, The Descendents, Lagwagon, Jimmy Eat World, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Broken Social Scene, Dustbox, The Black Keys, Blur, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, M83, Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mono, Envy, Pg.99, Orchid, Heaven in Her Arms, Daitro, Shikari, Fall of Efrafa, Tragedy, Refused, Raein. And the list WILL go on.

What is singaporean act that you recommend to us? There are loads of talented Singaporean bands that are worth a listen, here are some that are grouped in no particular order – I Am David Sparkle, Plainsunset, The Observatory, Yumi, After The Sky, You & I Collide, Duxton Plains, Sjanse, Navire Creux, Misissued, Monster Cat, This Is Atlantis, Pazahora, B-Quartet, Wormrot, The Psalms, Hear Me Toby, Silhouette, Postbox, Pleasantry, Amateur Takes Control, Pathos, And They Whisper In Silence, Sleep Easy. If you have the time, do check them out. They’re really good.

[haumblog]

Dendang Akhir Tahun 2020 oleh Alfan Rahadi (part. I)

Akhmad Alfan Rahadi, seorang pengamat musik indie dan emo yang juga merupakan seorang penulis lepas yang dapat kalian temukan tulisan-tulisannya di beberapa situs berita musik dan umum. Melalui tahun 2020-nya dengan beberapa dendang lagu yang cocok dengan suasana hati dan pikiran dari seorang Alfan. Meskipun ‘emo’ adalah nama tengahnya, namun kali ini beliau mendengarkan beberapa genre yang sejatinya masih tidak jauh juga dari nama tengahnya tersebut.

Yak, kali ini Alfan yang lebih dikenal dengan nama panggung Alfan Papaonta akan membagikan 10 besar musisi berikut single jagoannya yang sering diputar untuk menemani hari-hari di tengah pandemi ini. Sebagai penutup tahun 2020 yang tak menentu, simak 10 tembang yang menemani hari-hari Alfan.

01. EASTERN YOUTH -  今日も続いてゆく

Hisashi Yoshino (vocal), Atsuya Tamori (drum) dan Muraoka Yuka (bass), om dan tante emo Jepang ini tiba-tiba muncul setelah album terakhir mereka di 2017. 2020 dengan stay-at-home-atmosphere-nya memang mendorong kreatifitas, karena event-event live yang menyita waktu untuk produksi album tidak lagi banyak. Lagu Kyoumo Tsuzuite yang artinya "Melanjutkan Hari Ini" sudah cukup mencerminkan semangat survival di kala pandemi ini. Memang tahun yang emo bagi Eastern Youth.

02. MELABUH KELABU - FRAGMENT

Ditulis oleh Eureka, Fragment menjadi salah satu lagu andalan dalam 4 way split 3 negara antara Revenate (Indonesia), Melabuh Kelabu (Indonesia), Mis Sueños Son De Tu Adiós (Argentina) dan Mirin Bide (Chile). Melabuh Kelabu dari Surabaya telah menjadi salah satu nama penting di kancah musik emo/skramz di Jawa Timur. 

03. THE CASKET LOTTERY  - BORN LONELY

8 tahun sejak album Real Fear dan split EP dengan Touche Amore, band emo Kansas City ini kembali dengan full album "Short Songs For End Times" yang lebih bernafaskan alternative rock dan kadang proggresive ala Cursive daripada roots emo punk-nya yang terdahulu.

04. FLEET FOXES - CAN I BELIEVE YOU

Album Shore dari Fleet Foxes tahun ini memang menyedot banyak perhatian. Wall of sound ala Phil Spector dan Beach Boys dimanfaatkan dengan baik di album ini. Seakan membawa ranah folk dari suasana gunung ke tepi pantai, Fleet Foxes, no Robin Pecknold seakan membawa kita ke nuansa tahun 60-an ala Beach Boys dan bahkan Tatsuro Yamashita.

05. MUCH - GO EASY

Much semakin matang menjelang album ke-3. Seakan menemukan sound yang lebih breezy dan dreamy di lagu Go Easy ini, Much melaju dengan kord-kord falsetto yang tak terduga, khas band-band indie rock 90s. 

[radioastronot]

Killing Joke From Clowns

CLOWNS SIDOARJO SHOW 7th FEBRUARY 2012

oleh: Akhmad Alfan Rahadi

at DOLOMITY CAFE SIDOARJO FEBRUARY THE 7th 2011

Beberapa minggu yang lalu tepatnya Desember (sudah tahun lalu ya? hehehe) saya mendapati invitation dari teman saya di Sidoarjo untuk menonton sebuah band dari Australia bernama Clowns berikut link videonya. Beberapa saat sebelumnya saya memang juga berencana ingin menonton band dari Australia juga bernama Night Hag namun karena saya berhalangan saya pun melewatkannya dengan sesal dan berharap ada band sebagus mereka datang lagi ke sekitaran Jawa Timur (supaya ringan di ongkos transport).

Kemudian saya coba telusuri dan tonton video mereka yang berjudul “Repeat After Me”.Tak ada bayangan dan ekspektasi lebih sesaat sebelum membukanya. Namun yang saya temukan ternyata mencengangkan, Clownsmerupakan band yang bengal!. Keras dan Fun! It's not being poppy but it's anthemic!. Cocok bagi penggemar GG Allin, The Bronx dan Black Flag (mereka sempat mengcover lagu "Wasted" dari Black Flag malam itu dan di live cassete album spesial edisi tur SEA ini).

Akhirnya berangkat lah saya menembus hujan lebat dan bensin yang menipis di Selasa 7 februari itu. Sempat tersesat karena pertama kalinya saya ke Sidoarjo sendirian dengan motor. Mereka ke Sidoarjo dalam rangka menjalani rangkaian tur Asia tenggara meliputi Singapura, Malaysia dan Indonesia selama Februari ini. Saya berhasil mendapat ijin dan kesempatan wawancara ini di akhir performance mereka setelah sempat mengajak kenalan Tristan dan James di saat sebelum show dan dikenalkan lagi oleh Anca The Shantoso kepada Jake dan Steve. Namun di kesempatan itu yang mampu saya temui hanya James dan Tristan yaitu bassis dan gitaris Clowns karena yang lain kelelahan dan perlu istirahat.

guide: A: Alfan, J: James , T: Tristan

A: how did you guys meet each other?

T: we met at school, we met our guitarists, drummer and singer at school, at university, and we met our bassists through a circle of friends, sort of friends of friends.

A: Like you guys met at the same scene at the local gigs?

J & T: yeah yeah, pretty much

A: So until now, how many recordings that you have released?

J: Umm, We did an EP in 2010, Clowns EP 2010, then on 2011 we did a split 7" with Them Orphans from Perth, and now we're gonna do another 7" when we get back to Australia and also we've done a live album, recorded on rehearsal for this South East Asia tour.

A: How did you guys came up with the idea of touring South East Asia?

J: Well we came up with the idea when our friend from our fellow Australian band like Straight Jacket Nation, cameback from south east asia tour, then we met Cher from Singapore online and then she lead us to these people we met so far, these people we can contact and organize us a tour.

A: Your most favorite Australian band

J: Hard Ons T: probably Carnival

A: And when you got here, have you also had particular band that you like?

J: In South East Asia? Yeah, yeah lots of good band, The Shantoso we love it soo much, and then Sleeping Police, and in Malaysia we saw Boulevard, and then some bands we watched in Singapore.

A: When you got this tour idea, have you ever imagined where you're gonna be landed and headed?

J: No, We knew Indonesia, We knew Malaysia, and We knew Singapore as well. Then we met Cher, and She told us where to go, where to play, the guys we should meet and hangout with, who to talk to. and she mentioned about Borneo or something of it, and we're gonna play there by the end of this tour.

A: Hmm in terms of CLOWNS, I saw that your vocalist Stevie, wore a t-shirt with a picture of Jack Nicholson's Joker on it. So who do you think is the best JOKER? Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger?

J: Jack Nicholson probably, he's pretty bad ass, but yeah Heath Ledger who played the recent Joker is an australian guy, alright he's dead now hahaha T: Favorite Joker for me is probably some comic book dude, not a real actor..

A: How about from the animated series?

No no, also not animated, comic book, comic book

A: Favorite food in here?

J: So far? squid

T: Cumi, cumi goreng dan nasi goreng

J: Yeah, nasi goreng

A: Aaah yes hahah it's obvious , nasi goreng it's all time favorite

J: Yeaa... hahaha is good

T: Cumi goreng is suprisingly good, it's really tasty

J: Sounds a bit weird but it's really nice yeah hahaha

J: But we didn't like even the durian, heheehe...

T: Not. Not too happy with the durian

A: So How do you come up with the theme on the 7"?

T: Depends on the single, so The 7" is the new single, the "Arst One is Repeat After Me", then "Eat A Gun", so the artwork depends on the single name and kind of that's how we themed it.

J: Well I did the artwork myself. It's like trying to get as much as crazy stuff into the picture, before it gets out of control

A: So did you do it when you were sober or drunk?

J: Well a bit both, hahaha.... Well i'm not really mess around with photoshop, or expensive gadget. I did it like with just a pencil, and sharpen the texture and an eraser

T: Keeping it old school

A: Beside doing band stuffs, what do you guys do?

J: Yea we're all going to school, university , we all study, we also have a job as well, like me driving a box car sending things around, Tristan work at a doughnut shop, Steve And Jake works in a call center and, apart from that...

T: Whatever makes ends, make money, pay bills

J: Well outside study, we go to shows in melbourne, play Arecracker, hanging out..

A: So how do you guys, adjust with that? between music and daily routine?

J: We play gigs, None of us work in the weekends, so we have works and school

T: Yea and on Saturday we got to see a big gig night in melbourne always

A: whooa does the gig done routinely?

T: Sometimes thursday, wednesday, but yea mostly saturday

J: We play with someone on thursday spare gigs, commonly friday and saturday night. We have school, we school and work at the daytime during the week, afterwork or school we practice and play gigs on the weekends

A: You see, when I'm doing these scene things, me and my friends make gigs on university. Do you guys also organize a show on university or are there authorities which make it harder?

J: Yea a little bit

T: I used to go to Melbourne University, every thursday they had decent band playing. J: Popular band

T: Yea it was like popular bands not playing like King GIzzard and The Lizard Wizard, Barbarian, etc, like big in Melbourne-band.

A: I thought you can play your friends in university gigs..

J: Mostly the gig in the Melbourne not done in university, they're on pub, club and house house shows. not very often..

A: So do you guys have any plans on the near future?

J: Aa.. just keep doing what we're doing, play as many shows as we can , record very soon

T: Singles, 7 inches

J: Singles on 7 inches, doing album when we have enough money. After we do the 7 inch we'll do an album, doing more tour, meet more friends.

A: I was wondering, when we in Indonesia usually rehearse by renting a rehearsal studio, do you guys do the same there in Australia?

T: Yea, you know we rent a rehearsal space, its a big room, soundproof, bring a lot of stuff drumkits all that, and we play usually from 6 o clock til midnight.

J: We don't play that long but yea thats how long we got the session

A: Whooa that soo long for us 6 o'clock til midnight...

T: It is a long time, yea we usually we got there at 7 or 8 and finish at 10

A: Is it like an empty space?

J: It's a big building full of lotsa room, it's like a big factory and got lots of big room

A: And you guys bring your own equipment

T: We can hire stuff between each

J: Plus there's lots of band in there play at one time in different rooms

T: All sound proof, and

J: It works well

T: Thats how usually in Melbourne, but there are few places like that with a bunch a rooms and we hire a single room for a couple of hours , and bring in all of your stuff, play for as long as you want and no one will give a shit

A: Hahaha i envy you. other than doing shows do you guys also organize shows?

J: We also organize shows, with our friends and our friends band and if a band wants to come to Melbourne we can help em organize a show for them

A: Is it collective or you guys also search for a sponsor?

J: Yea, collectively, get a good show and having fun

A: And for the equipment you bring yourself?

J: If it is in Australia we bring our own amps, and guitar and simple drumkits

A: Whoa.. thats a bit different in here..we rent from studio and bring it to venue

J: Yeah, everyone seems have their own stuff

A: Thats real pro and DIY

J: Yeaa

T: Hahaha yeaa

A: So any plans for next year's tour?

J: There are few places in our mind, we just think like kinda go like, if anyone or we meet anyone who tell us to go to particular area or wanna make a tour with us, we should go there

T: I do want to get to UK, Europe, that'd be freakin awesome , but it would be expensive though

J: We definitely go somewhere but we just don't know where yet

T: Maybe Asia again, might be good

A: Through years of your career, have you guys faced criticsm and how do you deal with it? It forms of internet review and stuffs?

T: A little bit, every, you know cause there's always someone out there gonna say "ohh this is bad this is good" but doesn't really bother us too much

J: Here's the thing, you got one little thing, one little thing on the internet, but when you play show and theres a hundred people who's gonna its awesome

A: So you just play.. play.. play...

J: Yea yea like that

T: Yea right and like there's always gonna be people out there who hate whatever you do, and the same time there's people who love what you do. So just do what you do, and hope the people would love it, listen to it and get into it

J: I like what I do, so it doesn't matter

A: last message for people here?

J: You have an awesome scene, and your bands are really good, and you people are really friendly. and we hope, we hope you dont change...

T: Yeah dont change at all, keep it real, keep it rockin, keep rocking

A: And thats a wrapp!! thanks!

J: Thank you very much

T: terima kasih banyaaak

...

James dan Tristan kemudian berpamitan untuk istirahat karena besok melanjutkan perjalanan tur ke Kudus. Saya menyempatkan ngobrol sebentar dengan Anca tentang scene underground di Surabaya dan Sidoarjo. Setelah itu saya pulang karena besok ada ujian yang ternyata tidak jadi. A killing joke it is.....

Namun hari rabu itu tak mengecewakan juga karena saya dapat album live Clowns dengan cuma cuma pemberian teman saya Kuro yang bingung bakal diputar dimana kaset itu.