#RealDealMY

[realdealmy]

Interview with Ijai (Kugiran A. Sazali)

Boleh ceritakan sedikit sebanyak pasal Encik Ijai, dan macam mana ko boleh menjebakkan diri ke kancah musik. Sehingga menjadi pemain dram untuk Kugiran A. Sazali?

Apa yang buat aku ni main muzik, masa aku kecik dulu bapak aku ni rock kapak setiap pagi dia akan buka lagu mostly permulaan hidup aku mula dengan muzik la. So setiap pagi tepat je jam 8 pagi bapak aku akan buka lagu dulu la, sekarang tak lagi. Ok lagi satu masa kecil tu, abang aku la meracungi minda aku dalam main muzik. Kitaorang masa kecik dah instrumen muzik semua tu dah ada. Cuma kitaorang je tak main. Mula dengan abang aku (Fazwan) di sebabkan kitaorang lahir di zaman era indie, mostly dia banyak dengar lagu indie. Dari situ aku dengar abang aku buka lagu semua aku just dengar tengok semua. Dalam komputer abang aku dulu bersepah la video band masa tu, aku selalu tengok video kat komputer dia je, dalam satu masa tu aku tertengok pulak video porn hahahaha. Babi la. Tapi masa tu aku tak tau lagi apa benda tu, sumpah aku tak tau lagi porn tu apa hahahah. Tak stim pun tengok. So abang aku main gitar dia belajar sendiri, kitaorang semua belajar sendiri. Aku start main drum masa aku tadika kot tak silap aku. Aku start main bodo-bodo je, aku dengar lagu tu pastu aku try beat drum tu, lagu tu aku ingat lagi, (WE WILL ROCK YOU - QUEEN) & (NIRVANA SMELLS LIKE SPIRIT). Ha itulah lagu mula-mula main. Rumah aku ni dua tingkat bawah rumah batu atas rumah kayu. Aku duduk di kampung, aku main drum tu ada dalam jam 8-9 pagi camtu pagi-pagi dah memekak haha. Dahla rumah kampung kau taukan kalau orang gaduhpun satu kampung boleh dengar ni apatah lagi aku main drum pagi-pagi. Pastu kitaorang main lagu ni, (STATIK) aku tak pasti lagu apa. Abang aku main guitar maman main bass semua time tu kecik lagi. Bapak aku sazali ahmad, dia selalu support kitaorang dari kecik lagi kalau main muzik. Dia suka je kitaorang main muzik, sebernanya kitaorang banyak berangan je nak buat band bagai la. Asalnya band kitaorang namanya the sazalies, pastu sampai meningkat usia 2017 kitaorang tukar nama kemunkinan kita orang akan tukar nama band jugak akan datang. Aku jadi drummer sebab kitaorang adik beradik kira lengkap la kitaorang main je tiga orang, apa yang bestnya macam mana nak main tiga orang tapi bunyi macam 10 orang tu yang kitaorang banyak eksperimen. Kitaorang pernah main postrock pop punk banyak la sampai mainstream pun kitarorang try last-last kitaorang dapat sound and genre kitaorang nak. Cukup tu kot. Hahahah nak lebih sembang kopi sat

Ada benda lain yang ko buat, selain terlibat dalam bidang musik?

Selain main muzik aku ada jugak berniaga bundle online (rojak_bundle), satu lagi orang tak tau rahsia aku, masa kau kecik dulu aku suka jual kacang. Sebab aku memang minat benda-benda jual ni. Pastu aku ada brand baju sendiri kat ig jugak ( strangebandit). so korang boleh check out la nanti. Impian aku nanti aku nak buka kedai sendiri la or space collective for art something like that la.

Macam mana, kau as a musisi terkesan untuk tempoh kawalan pergerakan ni? Maybe kurang show, atau you guys ada plan yang terpaksa ditangguh? And macam mana ko co op dengan situasi mcm ni?

Ok time covid ni, semua orang kena duduk rumah firstly, apa yang aku buat aku banyak menghabiskan masa aku dengan membuat aktiviti harian basic kita selalu buat. Aku banyak menghabiskan masa aku dengan explore banyak muzik tak kisah kpop ke apa, sebab aku sebagai pemuzik nak dapatkan sesuatu idea ku kita banyak explore, macam hidup jugak banyak kita jumpa orang banyak la pengalaman kita dapat. Selain muzik, aku tengah rancang something big for my band kugiran a sazali. But its still cooking. Selain dengar muzik aku more tengok movie jugak, sebab bila aku tengok movie tu aku rasa aku kat tempat lain dah hahahaha. But I not stone boy ok hahaha. More ke home studio jugak la, banyak project aku nak buat after corona ni. But Malaysia now kau camne kan. Aku tak la banyak project ada a few la. Just belum gerak lagi. Tengah proses. Time free camni baik korang curahkan bakat anda. Banyak orang berbakat time camni la orang nak tengok material yang korang ada tu. Jangan buang masa dengan benda yang tak mendatangkan apa-apa ada sebab kita di bagi masa macam ni.

Untuk masa perintah Kawalan Pergerakan ni, ko ada cara alternatif lain untuk kau publish music work ko? Atau ko ada project lain yg orang patut aware sepanjang dalam masa quarantine ni?

Ok yang pasal projek ( Duo Electromagnetic ), sebernanya project ni timbulnya idea bila aku dengan housemate aku didi solomon, kitaorang bosan time tu, so kitaorang lepak, dia ajak jom malam ni spin. So aku cakap, apa kata kita buat live kat ig supaya orang lain boleh layan sama jugak.So dia kata ok boleh, tapi aku pilih kau buat poster, nanti orang boleh la tengok project kita,. so malam tu dia buat terus, Ejai poster dah siap. Fuck aku kata kau serious ke hahah . poster dah siap tunggu time je ni. So kitaorang just play for fun je. Its not a serious project. Just for fun. Sebab tak semua orang mampu beli turntable tu banyak orang dengar digital je. So kitaorang just share kat orang-orang yang tak pernah tengok. Thanks jugak pada yang support time tu. Mungkin ada spin volume two nanti.

Harapan ko personally, untuk semua orang dalam menghadapi masa sukar ini?

Harapan aku dalam since kita ni more support jangan ada dengki antara satu dan lain. Support each other. Kalau kau nak buat sesuatu buat je. Pergi mampus orang nak cakap. Sebab masa kau bawah dulu dia bukan ada pun. Bila kau dah naik baru nak puja. Pesanan kepada crowd muzik pulak korang kalau minat muzik jangan minat untuk band tu baik ngan korang je, minat muzik its your soul bukan sebab dia baik ngan kau terus kau kena minat band tu. Pastu jangan la berkelompok maksud aku bila band kau minat perfom baru kau nak tengok pastu bila band lain pula perfom kau cau itu kimak namanya. Set your mind be postitive support more band banyakkan mendengar dan banyakkan menerima sesuatu yang baru. Kalau bukan orang kita sapa lagi nak support ? banyak lagi band yang bagus kat malaysia ni. Sebelum support orang luar support orang kita dulu.orang luar belum tentu support kita. kenapa orang kita tak support kita sendiri ? sebab mentality orang kita tu sendiri. Kalau orang kata kau poser tu gi mampus dia la dia pun poser jugak sebelum ni kahahahah. Beli material band jangan minta ! kata support.

[realdealmy]

Interview with Rizal (Minimum Wage)

A lil background of how you become a musician. What is the starting point of you be in a band? (maybe you can tell us a bit)

If i were to take it to the very beginning, I would say my mom is the kickstarter. My mom is heavily into blues & rock & roll like B.B King, Muddy Waters, Rolling Stones,The Beatles & Queen. I remembered her getting me a Roxette at an early age on VHS. I watched it religiously and ive always thought the guitarist (Per Gessle) looked so cool playing the electric guitar. My mom had an acoustic nylon string Yamaha guitar around & i thought i could play the guitar by simply imitating Per, clearly I was wrong. It was harder than it looked! Fast forward to when I was a teenager, I discovered other types of music & subcultures like punk & skateboarding. I enjoyed the cheeky-ness and juvenile humor of bands like Screeching Weasel, Lagwagon, NOFX, Blink-182, Green Day. As natural progress would suggest, I started playing in bands around that time too. I guess my first serious step into recording & the music scene was the KL punk & hardcore scene back in 2009. My first ever band was Corporate Youth, we managed to record a 5 song demo with Mokhtar Rizal at his old house. I was nervous as hell, I couldn’t even strum a chord without breaking a sweat but it was a good experience and after that I was hooked with recording & playing music. Along the way til now, I’ve played in a few local bands including The Liberals, Orchestra of Wolves, The Hiroshima Lovers, Paranoid Pest. Currently I’m playing in Minimum Wage, Dum Dum Tak & a solo synth project which is under the working moniker “RFM”. What other thing that you do, beside being musician?

Other than playing music, I enjoy skateboarding, cooking good food, looking after cats & I’m currently learning the ins & outs of recording (pun not intended).

 How are you affected by this MCO?

This current Movement Control Order (MCO) affects me as musician majorly in many aspects. Minimum Wage had a show scheduled in April at Soundmaker, Penang alongside a sick lineup of local hardcore bands like Split Tongue, Bad Idea, Slave, The Fog (they’re from Germany btw) & SS Block. We had planned to release new material & merch at the show. The show had to be cancelled due to the MCO being extended til the 14th of April. Being in a new DIY band thats been around for a year, whatever we get from selling merch & playing shows really helps in sustaining the band. Getting back our capital & rolling it back into stuff like pressing, printing shirts, buying musical accessories is an amazing achievement for us.

We all have jobs & city life is hard. We’re not gonna get rich doing this & it’ll be great to just have a self sustaining unit where we can do whatever we want. It’s essentially about fun. This band is an excuse for a bunch of friends to get together, drink beer & play punk rock. It’s an outlet for us to try new things like recording, managing our asses, writing songs, get out of reality & expanding our creativity.

During this MCO, we can’t do any of (the above). We still have a bit of merch left but i think it’s wishful thinking to assume that anyone would buy it during these hard times. We recently released a single on our bandcamp which is https://mwhc.bandcamp.com

Currently we can only chat through WhatsApp, we check on each other to make sure everyones alright & “aspire” on what our next plan is for the band. Social distancing sucks but it has to be done. I miss being in a studio with my friends writing stuff & playing music together. Not doing the familiar routines & being quarantined can get depressing but we cope in different ways like spending time with family, keeping busy with work. I personally am working on my solo synth project. 

On the bright side of things, this MCO gives me ample time to work on music production, learn new skills like mixing tracks, experiment with i guess “unique” ways of recording, write music & practice playing musical instruments on my own. That’s my coping mechanism & I feel very blessed to be able to do that during these hard times. I’ve got 2 tracks done & I’m currently working on a 3rd track.  

You got any alternative way to make/sell/publish your artwork to public during MCO?

For now, I’ve got a messy drawing board of plans because I’m currently writing the music. My most immediate plan would be putting it out on soundcloud & bandcamp. Video’s something i intend to get into as well cause everything revolves around that nowadays. Visuals are key. (I guess 2020 is the year where Riz might get an instagram too!) I’m looking into selling my music on donation basis & when i have more tracks i’ll do a livestream. I personally always wanted to contribute to animal welfare or an organization that supports the betterment of a certain group of people. There’s a beauty in between in running a solo/DIY operation. Everything is a matter of a creativity. You sorta just try stuff out & if it works, why not? There’s not really a right or wrong way. You just learn something from the experience. I’m a take it as it comes kinda guy & i’m currently doing some research about it too through various articles online. So we’ll see what happens! 

Thoughts and hope during the MCO?

I think like everyone else on this earth, I hope this pandemic ends real soon. There’s a lot of anxiety & uncertainty in the air but hopefully we can all get back to our regular programming soon.

This MCO gave me a lot time to reflect on how lucky i am just being alive, well & still being able to do the things i love. Everytime i’m writing something or doing something, I just narrow into it & never take the ample time for granted. It’s truly a blessing to get to do what i do & I sincerly hope that everyone (also to whoever that is reading this and every stray animal) out there is safe, well fed & clean.

[realdealmy]

Interview with Akmal TIM

Hello Akmal, I hope that you're safe and sound with your family at home in this quarantine time. And hope you enjoy answering this interview as much as we do interviewing you!

Hi Syafiq and thank you for having me here

A little background of Tim, what you do as a musician. Maybe if you got any related project that most people should've known off.

My name is Akmal from the band TIM.

TIM is a Punk Rock band formed in 2002, we infused a lot of the 90s era skatepunk melodic hardcore stuffs like NoFx, Lagwagon, Bad Religion, some Japanese Melodic Punks like Hi Standard, Dustbox, metal influences from Iron Maiden to Meshuggah and also past and current Pop musics.

The band still plays until today and we have several released :

1. Self Titled Ep 2008(self-produced)

2. Senandung Pawercord Compilation 2009(self-produced & Distribute by Nervhous Records)

3. Split Album with Carbon14 2010 (self-produced & Distro by Nervhous Records)

4. Give & Take Vol 1 Comp, 2012(Self Produced & Distro by Nervhous Records)

5. Time is Monkey Compilation 2012 (Self Produce & Distro by various local label)

6. Self Titled EP 2018 (Produced & Distro by Atas By BijanFX)

7. Give & Take Vol 2 Comp, 2019 (Produced by Lifeboat Studios & Distro by Red Ink Ent. & Nervhous Records)

I myself is a full-time musician since 2012 when I got fired by my previous job and started to pursue working as a musician. I play in the streets(busking) as my full-time work and also taking other shows like corporate/private dinners, weddings, birthdays. And I also do cafe and pub gigs. Playing the usual top 40s and radio songs and also classic oldies to name a few. Fame is not something I've ever taught of achieving. (if ada i grab aje hehe) I just wanna play music.

How do you, as a musician being affected in this Movement Control Order period? And how do you cope with it?

Now I'm finishing almost 70% recording for TIM newest release this year. All done in my bedroom. We've planned to tour JAPAN this August but since this Covid19 outbreak is still at large, I guess we have to wait for what comes next. It's really a 50/50 chance. I don't know but I'm praying for the best and may this outbreak resolve Insyallah.

People can still buy our merch and CDs online and also listen to us on Spotify and SKOWT.

We are aware that this quarantine time, forcing most of the artists to find another way to make/publish/sell their art. And for you personally, do you got any alternative way to push your music to the public during Movement Control Order (MCO) time?

The Covid19 pandemic really affected me as a musician. Shows get postponed and cancelled. But that does not stop me as I have other alternatives. I use the internet, doing live or recorded live shows from my bedroom to the audience on Social Media via Youtube, Facebook, Instagram. So far its quite ok actually. I'm taking song requests from friends and people on social media and they pay me via my acc number that I display on the video or live streaming.

How can people reach you in that?

For any inquiries, you can reach me at :

@TIM_Melodicpunk

(Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)

@Matahati_Tim

(Instagram)

Staygold Entertainment

(Facebook)

akmal TIM hishan

(Youtube)

Thought and hope for this hard time?  

Stay positive and remember there is always a way and possibilities we just need to keep marching forward.