bidan terjun. that’s what we were. we were invited to take part in a gig organised by the manchester malaysian students’ society only like last weekend. a set of three songs. the best way was then to play what we knew best so that we’d have less fcuk-ups. even whilst driving up the snake pass, we didn’t have a name for the band.
the academy 2 at the students’ union was the smaller sister to the manchester academy just down the road. it wasn’t a large crowd but it didn’t matter, as everyone was there to chill. no pressure. we were suppose to play like 2nd, but was then slotted to open the gig. i wasn’t a big fan of getting on stage first (remember newcastle, guys?) but what the hey, life’s too bleedin’ short to get too worked up. besides we were doing the soundcheck just before getting onstage and it felt alright.
menon’s first notes accompanied by wong’s drumming during the intro to megalomaniac were greeted by a rousing cheer which actually made us feel more at ease. and i knew we were gonna be ok. i just love it when my bass playing is amplified on a proper bass amp. the fact that touching the strings with the tips of my fingers would give a mildly earth-shattering boom is making it my raison d’etre at the mo’ to get myself an ashdown (ampeg mahal… and berat). as usual there were some ultra-minor fcukups but i really enjoy it when i could play with a tight drummer (kalau tak puji, siapa lagi nak puji kan?). wong’s chops were really ace. menon on the other hand, being a mike einziger freak that he is, was twiddling out the phaser/delay-tinged notes from his PRS mc carty archtop artist (paraparapeewit). kere was pretty selamba, and he was great for a first-timer in front of an audience. the warmth was our chill-out song. i’ve never played anything with a quasi-reggae vibe, let alone on the bass. i was well-chuffed with myself ‘cos i never knew i could pull it off. we ended on a high note with melompat lebih tinggi from the 30 hari mencari cinta soundtrack.
it was just much later that we were told that people would like to see us play again. i had to play drive off the cuff (thank you incubus for having just four bass notes to play on that!) and we pulled budin, who’s the frontman for bandthing (he fronts his own band, witi, with his ex-KTJ schoolmates), to do a linkin park-ish duet for circles. whilst doing the encore performance we had a handful of guys from cheetham hill (thanks for the support, helmi and friends of magicbus!) joget-ing a la xpdc fans at a FELDA funfair. we ended (again) on another high note and felt happy all the way home to sheffield. the post-gig curry at london road saw us talking about the night non-stop. it was a first for them to play here in the UK and from what we talked about last night, it looks like that it won’t be their last.
______________________________
many thanks to the manchester malaysian students’ soc for inviting us, and also to all the bands who were there, we’ll see y’all in the autumn.
lagu apa main?
tu hah… in the 2nd paragraph. 😉
looks like it was a great gig for you guys. bravo! :+:
bravo!!!
encore, encore, encore!
Brandon & Co must be proud of y’all. 🙂
Kudo san:Whn can we org2 Malaya watch u guys performing here?????
neon, kudo dah lupakan kita! isk…
… and this is best time to SACK him! hehehe…
sack la… mcm la skrg ni aku tak rasa mcm dah kena sack…
:o(
faley: saw the video last night. very happy indeed!
lisa: ta!
fake: err…
kudo, kasi la tgk video gig tu. pakai yousendit punye site to my email. that’s if you have the time.
from incubus to s07? hmmm, pelik tapi benar… he he… i love incubus but hate s07, thats y…
faley: video bukan aku yg ambik. so ada dgn tuan dia.
$weE+: indon songs were the flavour of the evening. only two malaysian songs were covered by the bands taking part. food for thought…
wah phewwiiiittttt!phewwiiitttt!!! from the back row..hheheheh
whats another song?
wow, it must have been great to do a show like that. with your adrenaline pumping high, the crowds going wild. it gives me goosebump reading about your performance. so7 songs are quite cool imho. nape tak main butterfingers? malam, ngilu…
Lmsn Mya: Biarkan dia je lah. I mean, siapa lah kita berbanding dengan band terbaru ‘Maniacs’ nih. Dia dah ada drummer. Sigh…
But aku tak puas hati how the whole timing of meetings was offset lah! Sheffield has/had many interesting musicians, but never at one place at any one time. GOD!!! We used to jam to recorded drum tracks back then!!!
But remember the time when we played a half hour Radiohead set in the acoustic room of Academy of Sound, Lmsn? And that couple walked in and we stopped and they said, ‘No, no… continue, please.’ Good times, seh. Where’s my Kleenex?
kudo: alamak kudz, jgn laa marah! bukan nak sack, geographical factor is killing SRS rite now (if its not DEAD already!) 🙂
neon: itu laa, aku jeles sbb kudo skrg ade drummer yang hebat! damn! maybe kita perlu advertise kat 7-11 laa…
the neon: when you were in final year, our drummer, wong, was a first yr living at stevo. we just didn’t know!
Siapa drummer kau ni? Apsal dia stok rockstar sangat nak limelight sangat? I mean, suara macam Cornell ke?
cerita sikit la pasal the serdang upstarts ni. 😉
neon & kudo: this drummer nie pun serdaNGOK jugak. but i’ve seen him play ‘spoonman’ & ‘jesus christ pose’… meticulously perfect!!! but his band lost the vocalist recently and he supposed to cover the vacancy temporarily… but apparently dia naik syok and the rest is dark history! tapi still boleh racun dia so Neon this Thursday make sure we’re up to the task… 😉
kudo: me & Neon r in the middle of a supergroup project with SerdaNGOK… due to the constant trouble of finding a decent drummer (& bassist yg jauh di mata)!
there’re supposed to be a chain of gigs this coming months so we plan to grab the contract…
so this Thursday is more or less like an audition sesh…
😉
‘Chain of gigs’, eh? HohOhOho… Oh, and I will have to borrow one of your guitars because my house is renovating and the guitars are kept in storage, cool? Although I would love to revive Eleanor once again.
no prob! 😉
jez pick any…
cayalah. but wait seminit, if you were praising the drummer, why do you call ’em ngok? why the enmity? and why are you collaborating???
t.a.k. p.a.h.a.m.
I’ve never even met the guy. I just get by with whatever Lmsn tells me. But, c’mon…
He’s just a drummer.
Mcm… You know… In the ‘band strata’ thing it says (in order of rockstar-ness) –
1. Vocalist + Instrument (except for non-rock instruments like violin/cello/accordion)
2. Good Looking Vocalist w Good Voice
3. Good Looking Vocalist Only
4. Ugly Vocalist w Good Voice
5. Guitarist (preferably punk, then rock, then blues, then jazz, then classical)
6. Percussionist (extra points if Jamaican or Afro-Caribbean over other percussionists)
7. Bassist, keyboard, classical musicians etc
8. Drum machine and other time-keeping gizmos
9. The Vocalist’s pet
10. Groupies
11. Drummer
Hehehehehe… Maybe that’s why I’m still in a drummer-less project, eh?
why the pics so ugly.. unusual.
ugly? you mean why are the pics a little dark?
because it was dark. the stage lights were not switched on due to extra costs to be incurred if they did.
i asked the photographer not to use flash. also with my camera set at iso 160, it wasn’t as sensitive to light as compared to my usual setting of 400.
dunno…just dont like them as much as the others. esp food shots (^ ^). got food story coming up?
food story aa? this weekend kot. 😉
I like THE Neon’s subtle put down — he is JUST a drummer hehehehehe!
kudo: why good stuff always befall upon u? jeles laa… 🙁
neon: drummer ada tapi skrg nak jadi vocalist laa pulak… macam-macam!
[…] then that I began to jam their songs (other than flippin’ Drive) with the likes of suck and Maniacs. I had a chance to see them on their Morning View tour in 2002 but due to illness in the family, my […]