i was looking through the newly uploaded pics of gempitafest this afternoon, and it reminded me of gigs long past. i’ve organised just the one with my mates shahid and firr two years ago. (not exactly original, to the eyes of the original pria mambo organisers, ar least). we called it malam temasya pria mambo 2. and did it spark controversy or what. it was held in the evening following the malaysian sports meet, and we were blamed for encouraging potentially unhealthy activities (namely peri- and post-gig). as far as i’m concerned, i’m there just to play music. the bands and the punters were gonna come anyway, sports meet or not. the only reason we had it in the same evening was the fact that some of the bands came from far up north, and it was in their interest that two birds are murdered with one rock.

the pria mambo affair was pretty easy to sort out as we just played a gig up in newcastle the month before, and four of the five bands who played there were really keen to strut their stuff onstage again (that’s pretty much the same anywhere: if you were to look at the gempitafest site, the guys are already talking about another gig next spring). all we had to do was book a small place and rent a bass amp and a PA. smaller venues are so much better, as even with a crowd of 40, it’ll look packed!

every gig i have ever played in was with different bands (apart from suck and the blog’s namesake). different bands because as the years went on, you meet different people (all my bandmates were malaysian students, go figure) and get into different sorts of music. i had played in tribute bands (one butterfingers, two pearl jams and one megadeth) and hentam saja lah bands. all of them were great experiences, some of which were better/worse than others. i’ve played indian restaurants and student union club-sized venues. i’ve used shitty ten-watter squier solid states and miked-up 100w marshall all glass half-stacks. and i’ve played to a crowd of 6 and in a packed joint. whatever it was, it was great.

so, here’s to all you gigging boys and girls. keep on rocking in the (up to now) free world.

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for rants on a similar vein, go here and here.