One 26th February 2009 night, I was at Groove Junction…
…for the fantastic Rafique Rashid.
His first set featured his more sombre songs (those allowing him to show the deep booming timbre of his voice).
Nizam P. provided the beats.
However, I could see that he was waiting and eager…
…to play his funny songs! And so we laughed to his second set with parodies and excellent songs like Dylan, Muthusamy Kanapathi (I think), Immigrant Song (adapted for our immigrant workforce), From A Distance, Urut, Lagu Melayu. And maybe even Y.O.G.A..
Yes, he’s our local Weird Al Yankovic but without the polka tinge!
He also invited George Wong up on stage for a song or two…
…and Nick Davis…
…and Azmyl Yunor (he goes beyond the duty of sound engineer by also being a strappin’ lad.)
Azmyl looks like he came dressed to play his busker tunes!
And he ended the third set with sober tunes. That also ended his gig run for the moment.
Later we stood around hanging out around the bar, and he chronicled that he would hop on a ferry and cycle up and down Indonesia. Now I was not all too fond of Indonesia or cycling but he made it sound so much fun! It is not often you meet people who can tell a story with such tenacity and passion, and inspire at the same time. Something kinda like “the best times in your life could be right now and you don’t realize it. So go and live the moment and enjoy it!”
After that deep revelation, he ended with, “okay I’m gonna go home now and play my Playstation.”
Fast forward to 19th April 2009, where I finally got to catch Blister at Spring Lounge!
The light was dim as heck and the background was Jalan Ampang.
Any rocker who walked past this establishment facing outside from Avenue K, would certainly stop and notice a heavy amount of rock and roll going on!
I requested for Freebird and finally, finally got it! Thank you Blister! They also covered Black Sabbath, which I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard being covered in my life in Malaysia before.
Each song was complete with its guitar solo from the 60’s to 90’s. Here’s a behind-the-neck solo.
And the violin bow comes out for their Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love cover! Gotta love a band who puts in all the details.