12th December 2015: Rock the World 15. Time for my annual pilgrimage to the Bukit Jalil Car Park!

Awesome gate.

First band I caught: The MASH, at the Indie Stage.

Over at the Noisy Stage, Sekumpulan Orang Gila.

Meanwhile, at the Main Stage, The Pilgrims.

Kombat!

Emcee for the Noisy Stage.

Fadhil, emcee for the Indie Stage.

Big, emcee for the Main Stage.

Incarnation, Noisy Stage.

Abang Rom.

Tona Warna, Indie Stage.

Subculture, Main Stage.

I found Wally… I mean, Waldo…

Bil Musa, Indie Stage.

Fook was part of her band.

Restraint, Noisy Stage.

ACAB, Main Stage.

Love how the rest of the band is coordinated.

Grey Sky Morning, Indie Stage.

Backstage, in the artiste lounge area, I found Sonny with a cool tattoo.

Tres Empre, Noisy Stage.

Alright, how many watts/coils is your vape again?

Sometimes I get lucky with the lighting.

It was getting dark, and the stage lights were on.

Massacre Conspiracy, Main Stage.

Standard metalcore vocalist pose.

Sonny guest bass playing for…

An Honest Mistake!

The Indie Stage, like every other stage, was getting rained on.

“Now follow me as I do a guitar flip…”

Sonny’s guitar strap came off, throwing the bass on the floor! He picked it up after getting over the shock.

Business as usual, boys!

Pew pew pew!

The Padangs, Noisy Stage.

Nastia, Indie Stage.

Sil Khannaz.

They dominated the Main Stage.

Thy Regiment, thy Noisy Stage.

I’d pop in the artiste area again, to see Izzy blocking Sheryl’s smartphone usage.

Koffin Kanser, Main Stage.

Some crowdsurfing, as always.

Kids On The Move.

Noisy Stage, where vocalists are prone to coming to the barricades.

Langsuyr. From this point onwards, the acts were all at the Main Stage; the other two closed for the night.

OAG.

Radhi, of course.

Naratu.

They invited a guest vocalist.

Everybody seemed to know the simple singalong lyrics.

Double bass.

There’s an innocent face under those dreadlocks, but I’ll put this picture instead.

Plague Of Happiness closed the night.

8th December 2015: Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Jaya One ft. Isabel Jia Jia & Ariff Akhir / December 2015 Edition. Here’s Dyan Tai!

Isaac Ho.

Aiman.

Chee Ming.

Jessie & Sharmaine.

The superb Angel Ang.

Nabilah & Mohd.

Ariff Akhir, first featured act, who dedicated a song for me.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.

Aina Abdul.

She has a song on iTunes!

Reza Salleh, filling in for the second featured act, Isabel Jia Jia, who could not make it.

Melinya, usually the sound engineer, is now sound engineered.

Closing the night, since there was more time, was Jessie & Sharmaine again.

The nicely shellacked stool that the open micers use, makes me imagine a Kopiko sweet.

Note: Edited 10:10AM +800 GMT 30th December 2015 with corrections from Yin and Viv Adram.

4th-6th December 2015: 12th Penang Island Jazz Festival 2015. But first, here’s a random shot of Kien Lim who I bumped into in China House, Georgetown, on the 3rd of December 2015!

Next day, 4th December: Nurul Rahman, at the Bayview Beach Resort Grand Ballroom.

Fred Cheah.

Viv Adram.

Keyboard solo…

…led to the fusion of CaboCubaJazz.

Energy!

They invited guitarists up to jam. Spot the Az Samad!

Saxophonists, too, Derek Brown included.

Next day, 5th December: Stellar Daze.

They were playing at the Bayview Beach Resort Lobby.

The Bayview Beach Resort Gardens!

Angelika Niescier NOW Trio.

I didn’t manage to catch the rest of the acts, as I retired to sleep as I was down with a bad flu.

Last day, 6th December: Nina And The Butterfly Fish had a workshop.

Teaching polyrhythm.

25th November 2015: Mr. Fastfinger, at Bentley Music, Mutiara Damansara.

The crowd.

He explains a little before playing along to music videos he made himself!

24th November 2015: Feedback Open Mic ft Ferns & Kyogg @ The Bee Publika / November 2015 Edition. Here’s emcee and host, Hameer Zawawi!

Kaevin & Isaac.

Dyan Tai. (Thanks for the update Dyan!)

Wow, a blinged-out keytar! As if keytars weren’t extraordinary in themselves, in terms of dominating stages. This is the 49-key Roland AX-Synth.

As if the night couldn’t get any more interesting, here’s MISIOM bringing on the opera.

The Spirals, with a charismatic vocalist!

I noticed how sweet and slim this 7-string was cut.

The Message.

Didn’t catch this rap group’s name.

First featured act, Ferns.

Cool T-shirt.

Bancuh, with covers of Jimi Hendrix – Bold As Love and Cream’s version of Crossroads.

Second featured act, Kyogg.

Photographer, musician and secretly an agency man…

Happy Fingers.

Josh and two-thirds of Jumero, and some other folks.

Qi Ming.

Angel Ang with an awesome cover of Meghan Trainor – Like I’m Gonna Lose You (feat. John Legend).

Defussion.

Azfar Alias.

The Middlesons.

12th November 2015: kisskillmary’s Labyrinth Album Launch Party!! at Laundry Bar, The Curve.

Emcee Landslyde!

Lucian’s funky hydration system.

Opening act Son Of A Policeman.

The Labyrinth album logo makes for a cool drummer backdrop.

Axl breaks a B string and has his own guitar tech. 😮

Time for their singalong Maria!

Yes, they all put on moustaches for this song.

Or in some cases, unibrows.

Joshua wants you.

I saw them before the show, picking out their moustaches. Yeah, they buy fresh ones for each show.

Jon’s moustache isn’t balanced.

Then for Fire they put on bandannas!

Jee needs a keytar.

Upright guitar time!

Then came KissKillMary.

Adrian takes note of all of Jenn’s notes.

The new guy, Jude.

Jenn makes me want a synthesizer, bad.

I brought my 24mm and 50mm for this, explaining the wider shots.

Jenn has an internal stage presence pedal that is always cranked up to 11.

Caption this!

I love how the girl in the background is making it rain!

The logo’s pretty cool, too.

Jenn can sing and dance. Did you know she was a dancer?

She dragged her bandmate from So I’m Jenn up on stage, to pillow-rock out.

Random audience who needs dance classes.

The night ended with Kyoto Protocol.

That is a cool Thunderbird bass!

For maximum feel, ground your knee.

I bought myself the album that was launched that night. Awesome, awesome CD artwork! I hope you enjoy my awesomeballs pictures.

31st October 2015: Halloween at Publika! Many events happened that night, and this blog post mixes them all in. This is from the person(a) exhibition Opening Night, at Black Box.

The artist explains his work, and a video in a picture… or video frame.

Princess Jonathan Putra!

Davina Ghoul!

Hey emcee, I see right through you and you reading your script.

The crowd, and an artist making art.

Vignes, one of the organizers.

I went around asking people to guess what I was dressed as. What’s grey? Only one got it – the haze! Oh and Pusheen, maybe.

I headed over to The Bee at Lot 36, Publika, where Dotters’ Division was playing. Lot 36 is also the name of The Bee’s Saturday night slot there.

Scary!

They usually have a theme for stage wear when they get on stage. Since it was Halloween it was a no-brainer.

Another grey person.

Linet goes green.

Melissa Sasavera the sugar skull.

Jie Er is a cat. A scary cat. Not a scaredy cat. Here she makes a Wes Borland face.

Audrey… well, she doesn’t know how to hold a sniper rifle, I guess.

Having spotted Electric Light Orchestra – Last Train To London on one of their iPads the last time, I requested, and they obliged.

I recorded a video, but my camera battery died right at the solo!

I then headed over to BullsEye and spotted Minds Of Neptune.

Love this keyboardist’s getup.

Prasad does a mean Steve Vai – Tender Surrender cover. I’d usually see him do blues rock with The Maha Jeffrey Band.

Zombies outside!

They brought their own food.

As I walked back to The Bee, I spotted this. Uh, bad idea?

A haunted house, left alone (because it was past closing time.)

More selfies.

Dotters’ Divivisection. Woo!

One more.

Jie Er’s frayed hair really cranks it up a notch.

I was fortunate to have brought my flash that night.

Take 2.

Take 3.

This neon sign outside – I don’t remember it being there!

29th October 2015: The Rougeur Open Mic, at Rougeur, Menara Tokio Marine Life. Quite a cool elevator poster. Now where can I find camera insurance?

The event poster!

The toilet signboard!

The entrance!

Interesting piping going on above.

Rougeur is an interesting space, with a few different themes, with one part looking like a color-cycling club which has tables that look like big plastic yoyos laid sideways.

In one corner, the open mic was set up. Bobby Tan opened the stage officially.

Melissa Toh was next.

The club part makes for a good background!

She did a cover of Death Cab For Cutie – A Lack Of Color. Awesome! She made it her own while still playing it note-for-note.

Sounds Of Kites. Good name sir!

Happy Fingers.

I have to revisit this place with a 35mm and 85mm.

A wide view of the stage, in the dining area.

Samuel Lopez.

George Wong.

A view of the bar. Beyond it, a quaint little cafe.

Melissa’s Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55mm F1.8 ZA came in handy for framing shots like this.

Alien Lipstick Fire.

Another cool band name. They played some covers of bands I’d never heard before. Interesting indie sound.

Ian Tai.

And finally, Shaneil Devaser, host and organizer.

27th October 2015: Feedback Open Mic ft Love Bites & Priscillia Xavier @ The Bee Publika / October 2015 Edition. Here’s emcee and organizer Reza Salleh!

But first, guess what is new that I spotted at The Bee, Publika!

I stepped closer to see a picture of Erlend Oye, dated 23rd March 2015…

…that I photographed for Upfront, for The Bee!

You know where this is going.

Closeup…

Lydmor, 16 October 2014, at Upfront, for The Bee.

Anyway, back to the open mic! First up, Irfan.

Corey Su.

Painting Blanks.

Zanes? These guys did a cover of Beyonce – Crazy In Love, with the vocalist in full swagger.

Photographer and crooner Happy Fingers.

The Last Minutes.

Yasser Shafi?

Priscillia Xavier.

She was the first featured act and thus plays 4 songs instead of 2.

Armand Tanzarian and the loop pedal.

Second featured act…

Love Bites.

Long time no see Rohnie Tan!

Kevin, too, on double bass. The fret inlays are unbecoming of a double bass!

Nice to see Izzy after so long – I’ve always liked her melancholic voice.

U.

Ruben.

Joi Noir.

Mastodon. Not the metal band.

Isaac & Cheng.

A smug birthday girl flanked by Reza and me!

21st October 2015: Pisco Live 3.22 presents OJ LAW at Pisco Bar, Jalan Mesui. First up, Impromp2.

Hello Luqman, with a looper and an Ed Sheeran catalogue.

Danissa with some heartfelt originals.

Ryota Katayama.

Then came the act we waited 4 hours for, past midnight, for.

OJ Law!

Ham, on that crunchy noise guitar.

Quite the opposite of his pedalboard with Seven Collar T-Shirt!

Love the classic 80s sounds coming out of that drumpad.

OJ Law has got catchy hooks everywhere, be it his melancholic acoustic stuff to the electro-tinged new stuff. We were all too tired to ask for an encore, and perhaps the organizer crammed a bit too many opening acts.