4th August 2015: Feedback Open Mic Finale #1 2015 at The Bee, Publika. Here’s Shasha & Wei Lan!

Hameer, emcee for the night.

Lukarts. Every band this night played at a Feedback Open Mic and won the best act for the night, which led them to open for a Lot 36 gig at The Bee, Publika, and all the winners were to have a showdown tonight, judged by Mokhtarizal of iseekmusic, Reza Salleh and Jennifer Thompson.

Tiah Ridhwani.

First time seeing her band.

Long time no see Faz!

Isaac Ho.

The Message.

Fikri Azam.

The SXS.

I think Aalex Termizi performed sometime here but I missed her.

They Forgot Jasmine.

Blund.

Tasha Aleia.

Amoura.

I should shoot this angle more often for drummers!

The winner of a Salon classical guitar, Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro headphones and recording studio time at iseekmusic goes to Tasha Aleia! Here’s Reza Salleh, organizer and prize-giver.

3rd August 2015: Alexis Jam Sessions 2015 with The Bassment Syndicate, at Alexis Telawi, Bangsar.

This was my first time to this Alexis outlet.

The night started with Bassment Syndicate. Here’s Omar!

Idris, formerly known as Fook, also known as Koh Keng Hui, also formerly the deputy prime minister’s son-in-law.

Marcus.

Trombone, and a lot of nu-soul-funk-jazz. All good music.

I rarely have to use ISO102400 on my Sony Alpha 7S, but Alexis was just dark enough.

Hiran on keys.

Then came the jam session part – where anybody could sign up and jam with them on stage! This is Sam.

Faizal.

Jonathan.

Kamil. Interesting how the four jammers we saw all played different instruments! Didn’t stay on though, as we were seated under a very cold air-conditioning unit and getting a headache.

28th July 2015: Feedback Open Mic ft Cats In Love & Hameer Zawawi @ The Bee Publika / July 2015 Edition. Here’s Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer! Look for this dude when you come in if you would like to sign up.

Kyogg has some very interesting vocal harmonies.

Nazrin the usual, who has upped his level a bit.

Irfan.

Kai. This was her first time performing at an open mike, and she performed two originals, the first one with some interesting chord progressions.

I managed to record the second one.

Red Buck Noise.

Nicole.

Peter & Markiza Brown.

Peter and his trusty harp.

When Peter left, Hameer said, “bye uncle”, which was odd because in the music scene none of us referred to them as uncle or aunty despite it being Malaysian culture to do so for anyone older as a sign of respect. They were just Peter and Markiza to the rest of us. Turns out they were family friends of Hameer’s.

First featured act, Hameer Zawawi. All shots from this point on, through Shane’s Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4.0 ZA OSS lens.

I then noticed speakers up in front of the stage, with this signage on top.

Hameer’s got a penchant for interesting chords.

Deborah Gan has a cute song about a tofu boy.

Second featured act, Cats In Love.

Wong Lip Kee.

Return of the Reuben.

Good ol’ blues rock!

Rebecca Foo…

…and her guitarist.

Is Mahan, I think, with the same guitarist.

Jeremy. Yeah, same guitarist.

They Forgot Jasmine.

Yeah, we did.

Didn’t catch his name.

Is Mahan again, with a different guitarist.

26th July 2015: PIRING-PIRING #3: A celebration of tunes & tucking in! at Barlai, Jalan Sin Chew Kee. Here we are, on the first floor, looking at the stage on the second floor.

OJ Law, solo!

He performed many songs, including Fantastic Adventure which he performed all by himself, and treated us to Waves Gently off his latest album, Let’s Be Adult. My favorite slow piece, with a buildup so slow I stopped recording, thinking he ended the song early, only to regret when he played the climactic bridge.

The crowd. There were some funky 70’s records being played earlier.

23rd July 2015: The Barlai Open Mic #6 : SayangKinabalu #2.

Here’s the funky Gregory Ramanado!

Emcee and organizer Shaneil Devaser.

George Wong, emo personified.

Zach Sia.

Ashes and Oak Trees.

A mix of dark electronica…

…and acoustic guitar looped…

…and her voice, looped, or with effects! A most interesting act.

Ray Cheong, fingerstyle soul.

Ariff AB, melancholic soul.

Explanation corner.

Ian Tai, otai.

Beverly Rachel croons.

Ruben Kelvin has got the gritty voice for the blues, getting us all to sing along to that spoon, that spoon, that spoonful. That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.

14th July 2015: Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Jaya One ft. Cassandra Mary & Tasha Aleia / July 2015 Edition. Here’s Angel Ang!

Mikhail Raiyan.

Anatashia.

Ariff AB.

Beverly Rachel, with a haunting voice.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.

Sam Lopez.

Twinkle Town Heroes. Interesting harmonies!

First featured act, Cassandra Mary.

Second featured act, Tasha Aleia!

Backing her this time were the boys from Reharmnation. I’m used to seeing her with her acoustic guitar because she has some heck of a rhythm.

She was enamored to see, in the audience, Najwa Mahiaddin. She sang at a previous Feedback Open Mic and was deemed the best act of the night, thus given the chance to open for the artiste of the night at The Bee, Publika, for their Lot 36 show. It so happened that Bassment Syndicate was the band that night, and Idris (the guitarist/bassist formerly known as Fook) was playing in the band, and his wife, Najwa Mahiaddin, was there!

And so, she decided then to cover a Najwa song that Saturday night.

This Tuesday, however, she covered Najwa Mahiaddin – Got To Go. (I’d seen her cover Ain’t That A Shame previously.)

And hey, guess who was in the audience to see Tasha – Najwa herself! She went up with her husband as Shakey Shakey.

Reharmnation.

Edya Enessa, Tasha’s best friend, took the vocals. They also have an awesome vocal harmony duo group called Tashness!

Aalex Tarmizi.

Jude.

Zalila Lee.

9th July 2015: The Barlai Open Mic #5 : SayangKinabalu #1 at Barlai, Jalan Sin Chew Kee. Here’s Endee Ahmad! Rocking voice.

Ian Steven Ong.

The crowd.

Mikhail Iskandar Hanafi.

Winnie Chua.

Ian Tai. I missed Ruben Kelvin who performed after him.

Bobby Tan.

Saturday Afternoon. Fariz started first, with Melissa joining on stage…

…then Melissa did her stuff solo.

Rozella, who was helping to collect donations for the Mount Kinabalu guides affected by the recent earthquake.

Shaneil Devaser, emcee and organizer.

3rd July 2015: Jo & Jermaine play live! at Across The Road, Jalan Bangsar Utama 1, behind the Bangsar LRT station. I decided it would be leg day and hoofed it for half an hour down a sloping road!

This is Jo.

This is Jermaine. They are sisters!

Jo, I’d seen in various band/format incarnations, as pop-jazz, R&B and rock and roll (complete with pleather pants). This was the pop cover side.

9th July 2015: The Barlai Open Mic #4, at Barlai, Jalan Sin Chew Kee.

Here’s Joanne Lim with emcee and host Shaneil playing guitar.

A quiet, quaint little bar this was, by The BIG Group.

Winnie Chua.

She was rocking the warrior stance!

I brought my Sony Alpha 7S and Mitakon/ZhongYi Speedmaster 50mm F0.95 Dark Knight Pro Edition for low-light situations like these.

The amazing, soulful Kafayat Quadri.

Ian Tai has some interesting singalongs.

Ruben Kelvin does a mean impression of Johnny Cash.

Shaneil Devaser ends the night.

Melissa didn’t perform, but she was amazed by her Sony Alpha 7 Mark II and the Sony FE 55mm F1.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T*.

23rd June 2015: Feedback Open Mic ft Cassandra Mary & Aalex Termizi @ The Bee Publika / June 2015 Edition. Here’s Razlan Shah!

Victoria.

Ruben joins her on stage.

Anatashia.

Mikael Ryan.

Ryan & Lily.

Tasha Aleia.

Awesome vocals and rhythm guitar, as always!

First featured act, Aalex Tarmizi.

Up Yours.

Second featured act, Cassandra Mary.

The boys from her band.

Regular Ryan.

Herman Ramanado, who played for Cassandra, stayed on stage for his own set.

His second song, Someday was an original. He wrote it on guitar and didn’t write the bassline, but like any talented ICOM student he made the bassline on the spot.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer, ends the night with Zalila accompanying.