27th December 2008: an open house from newlyweds Adlin and Ayu! But first, we meet his brother “I am not Adlin!” Faiz Rosli.

A combination of nice blue skies and cool winds made it a real nice day to have an open house.

Cookies!

Ayu and Adlin!

Warren Chan warms the tempat bersanding. How cool is that invite all your musician friends/colleagues to be your wedding singers!

Ching Ching (middle) never fails to crack me up!

Izzy thinking of a wedding song…

…and her very funky guitar strap.

This dude is named Aizat… (thanks Noel!)

…and this is the rest of his band.

And of course, Reza Salleh, with a fantastic acoustic cover of Stan Bush – The Touch (as requested by Adlin.)

Paolo Delfino tells you to call him.

Remember when you were a kid and the day’s proceedings didn’t make sense to you; instead the object in front of you tillitated your interest more? I remember those days all too well.

Ching and her Ahmad-lookin’ guitarist.

Diyana Shahrom, my pickup-er and KLue page mate. I shall blog about that someday.

And finally, I took a picture with Ayu in the same style that I did, probably the second time I met her!

This was dated, whoa, 17th November 2004.

Alda, this is what you should be doing with your double-bass!

18th March 2009 – Timeout KL’s On The Up, at No Black Tie.

First up – Bite Me Butterfly, punk rock turned acoustic duo for the night.

Featuring the cheeky Italian-Malay mix Najlaa on vocals.

I knew her when she was *this* tall!

Someday she’s gonna be famous I know it.

And here’s their guitarist Didi!

Up next: the funky Zalila Lee!

She is joined by Nisha Tham on keyboards.

A little bonus – she sang! She did the macho vocals for Babyface – I Care About You.

And then we had Tashya’s Ink!

Bass-playin’ man Nakim (thanks Udjinn for the note!)

This energetic singer in a small package is of course Tashya Basir, MyStarz LG winner! Her voice reminds me of Edmund Smith meets Adam Levine.

They covered Tiesto how cool is that?

7th March 2009 – I was in Desa Sri Hartamas when I heard classic rock in a place I’d never heard it before.

This was The Blackboard, a pub.

Hey isn’t that Jimmy North? I only knew later who he was.

In case you’re wondering what’s with the grain, it’s shot at ISO16000 (no that is not a typo – ISO6400, with EV boosted 1.3 stops!)

Then, I headed over to the original spot of Lepaq, where it was their fundraiser event (they would close down if they could not pay the 3-months-due rent!)

And so, many who could carry a tune and play guitar, went up.

Zaim the bassman.

I loved that they brought the stage out into the middle and put spotlights on the performers.

Ike, bassist for Bite Me Butterfly (though Bite Me Butterfly wasn’t playing.)

I don’t know these people.

Drunken support crew.

Atraz gave a very touching speech about why he started the cafe, how he had to sell his car, and touched a bit on his customer’s habits (which wasn’t good for business). Admittedly I am like one of them too.

From Lepaq’s Myspace page:
“Lepaq Cafe is not just a place, but a home to all. We don’t serve customers, but friends. Here, no matter who or what you are, we are all one and the same. Grow with us and we will grow with you, and let us together form a bond, a CULT, a brotherhood, a community. Lepaq Community.”

On with the show!

Wani Ardy I see her hardly.

God bless my Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8 for the glow.

Shisha man.

Hookahs.

Shisha is undoubtedly more visual than cigarette smoke.

Then, Atraz took the mike and stunned me with some tough gruff vocals.

His vision for making a place where people could go up and perform anytime they like and smoke shisha and lie on pillows and carpets was a great one.

I have this shirt too!

Izuan Shah, on drums!

This guy does an excellent Eddie Vedder. His hair is even similiar!

So did Lepaq survive on its idealistic premise of a gig place without the formulaic structure of more established gig venues, or did they have to close down? That question shall be answered in another blog post!

5th March 2009 – Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show, at Laundry Bar! Here’s Otam the gruff-voiced bluesman.

Otam invites Reza to play guitar while he does a little scat. Ummmphhh! This cat got groove.

Mia Palencia, soulful songbird, on a guitar Az Samad should be jealous about!

She brings Reza up for a duet.

If this scene is familiar, it is because it is re-enacted in the Shameless Covers gig, for sure!

Then came the cheeky Esam…

…who is usually from Stoned Revivals but was playing solo that day.

I like his twelve-string guitar!

And now, for some electric crunching riffs, with Car Crash Hearts!

Wafie has no problems with the drums.

Alda summons us to make some noise! This was the first time I’d see Alda in an emo band.

Unfortunately, this happened all too fast…

I have always had a thing for Gibson SG guitars.

Mahani looks like the proud video-recording mother.

“Yes kids, rock out for momma on camera! More power stance!”

Oh and there’s Moonshine tonight!

What: Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show: Tribute Edition
Where: Laundry Bar, The Curve
When: 9:30pm Thursday 13th August 2009
How Much: Free!
Who’s Playing: Hamsterdamnaged (covering the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Auburn (covering Silverchair), Mari Soul Faith Leaper (covering Foo Fighters), Pitbull Inc (covering Tenacious D)

This should be very, very interesting!

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.

Rewind back to the 1st of March 2009, when I visited Havoq Music Studio.

But first, you gotta go up some stairs…

…past a metal grille door…

…and find, that it is closed.

But aha, there is music upstairs! Obviously, I was not there for Havoq.

Gigger’s Place gets pimped up. I used to call this The New Paul’s Place… and this is one of the earlier places where I used to catch a lot of gigs in 2005, before the New Year Eve’s brouhaha.

Same old red lights.

Same old arm hazard sound console.

Same old smoker’s room (at least they cultivated the habit of making the performance area smoke-free.)

Same old graffiti. The wall that used to hold gig posters seems to hold no more gig posters, which was a weird change.

Same old toilet.

Or worse. I don’t know. We tried not to remember.

Perhaps that was meant to be hand soap?

Same old windows.

Same old skylight.

The noise starts!

It looks like the guy below is being crashed into – not exactly. He was bending down and allowing his friend to use him as a step to flying into the moshpit!

(Kinda like crouching in Counter-Strike and giving your teammate a boost, if you remember that.)

The scene changed a while back – since the raid, the gentler music moved out to safer havens like Jamasia (2005-2008) and then Laundry Bar (2006-now). Here, you kept true, you kept to the core values of hardcore, punk and metal.

I witnessed a new dance move, for spacious moshpits…

I call it the double windmill. The upper body swings back and forth, and so do the legs, just not in synchronization.

Quite fun and funny to watch, really!

This place was featured in KAMI: The Movie, if you remember. I guess it’s different photographing this place with a emphasis on showing how it still looks like the least comfortable music venue as you remember it a few years back, instead of making it look glamorous and safe for kids.

Oh yes, and true to its underground-ness (ironic, when it’s on the rooftop of a shophouse) every bloody band tunes their guitar on stage. The kids sit there with their guitars just waiting for their turn to play. For goodness sake, tune your guitars before going on stage! There is so much time to do so.

That 13-bands-from-afternoon-to-night scene is one I am glad I don’t follow anymore. 13 bands all tuning up on stage (ironically, not playing in tune or time) and the old sound system. It is a wonder, and a great accomplishment, when I see good bands go up on that creaky wooden stage, and they have already tuned their instruments and found the balance between drums and guitar and bass and vocals. They just sound a lot better, despite the sound system.

About every good local band of underground or independent persuasion, has graced the Paul’s Place stage if they ever performed in 2005. (And I have picture proof!) I remember them all sounding good.

Marketplace, 22nd February 2009, a place that I haven’t been to in a while.

Tom does acoustic.

Darren of An Honest Mistake. Emo at its best!

Haha I don’t need to play big drums today.

Eve (Oh!) and Rohnie.

LOLcute! (expression, that is.)

When Nick Davis plays his edgier stuff it’s like a fog envelops you.

Yet another ball shot.

George!

Ironically the other person I’d associate with listening to Underoath is Darren’s brother Kevin.

Rafique Rashid shows us how to tune a guitar.

Oh no I don’t remember her name!

Rafique then takes the stage and commands everyone’s attention with his dramatic chords and witty lyrics.

Anuar then commands our attention with some magic!

I can’t remember exactly what this was called – was it a cajon? It had loads of sounds out of one box depending on where you hit it.

This was the first time I’d see a lap steel guitar in real life!

Argh, I don’t remember his name either! I usually annotate these things in my phone but for some reason I didn’t.

A month later, 27th March 2009 to be exact, was (an) Earth Hour gig at Urbanattic, Capsquare.

This was of course Unabashed (with ex-colleague Jason Ding on vocals.)

Urbanattic has nice lights, sometimes.

Like this spotlight on the drummer!

Then after was this Indonesian dude and his band. Again, I forgot to write down his name!

Avril took this, I think.

I also remember this night because George and I took the LRT and drove to Hartamas where I introduced him to Indomee (despite me bumping into him most times in Hartamas…)