28th January 2014: Feedback Open Mic at The Bee, Publika! This would be the last gig post I have for January 2014, so on to February after this!

Spooky Wet Dreams did punk rock and covered Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out.

I like the female representation in this band!

Disember.

Their first song was Oasis-like. Very nice!

We Mean Well.

First ever time I’d hear Pharrell – Happy covered.

The Mash.

Oh sweet pearly white string-through guitars!

Another pretty white guitar.

Temjin, rock and roll.

They covered The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love, complete with guitar solo on acoustic guitar!

The Black N’ Blues.

Sounds like proto-punk to me.

Oooh. I just wish this was in focus!

I like her energy on stage.

Bassist also from The Mash earlier.

It was then time for some post-hardcore.

Reach For The Skies!

Danny New on guitar, and Kevin Tan above, would be two ex-An Honest Mistake band members. (Kevin Theng was also in the audience somewhere.)

He does the emo voice.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.

One.

Two.

Three.

Pure.

Mostly atmospheric, with a rocking guitar solo.

Clara Cheong, hot gangster.

Le Riot.

Razlan Shah!

Featuring Darren Ashley on drums.

Familiar Isaac.

Annatasha – what a clever name!

They included a cover of John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Roads. Not exactly an open mike regular cover.

Jeremy tunes up and discovers that he is in fact Ironman.

With this newfound knowledge, he takes to the stage as Remy J.

A far more intense, super emo version of his usually lighter stuff, when adding Rohnie Tan in the mix.

Ryan Lee Bhaskaran on kajon.

Danyal then got on stage, with some rather interesting antics.

He performed his first ever stand up comedy routine.

He brought a laptop to show us how new he was at this, and read his punchlines from it. He did well for a first-timer!

Jon Liddell.

Nazrin. I’m quite happy he pulled off his first song without hesitation.

Something’s missing in The Bee.

The Esther Ann Band.

Hey it’s Clinton Liew!

The band.

She does little black dresses well.

Stephanie Heng, hiding in a LBD.

23rd January 2014: Laundry X An Honest Mistake Records Present: The Rock Show!

Sekumpulan Orang Gila.

Yes, they are twins!

Scott guest screams.

That is one heck of a cutaway horn!

Post-hardcore!

I brought my Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM to get wide shots for a later band, but it turned out useful for this, too.

The vocalist from Heart A-Tack sings along in the crowd.

Ashley Chan, emcee for the night!

Oh hello!

Hello Is This The Band?

Why yes it is.

Pop punk rock.

Why yes, that is Darren Teh in the background.

Guest vocalist, in the middle.

I came to see this guitar-twirling band.

An Honest Mistake!

This was what wide-angle lenses were for.

I wanted to get their synchronized breakdown in a picture. I’d always been in the wrong place with the wrong focal length; this time, I’d stick to the front until my objective was completed!

Secondary objective – catch new vocalist Ashley Chan for the first time with the band!

She’s a dancer and a stage prancer, and a lot taller than Sheryl was. The perspective from the bottom of the stage is thus different.

Darren’s hair gets in his eyes.

Truth is, he’s prettier than a My Little Pony character.

For when you forget the chords…

This guy has too many notes to remember.

Ocean Of Fire!

The best shred rock band out of Penang.

Kelvyn Yeang is a monster on his scalloped Fender Stratocaster.

The Metaphor, post rock!

Tomas, who plays bass for An Honest Mistake, makes a wall of sound with his electric guitar duty here.

The Marquee…

…who ended the night.

Michael Leaner on vocals.

They’ve got an early 2000s rock sound which I really like. I haven’t heard stuff like this in a while.

22nd January 2014: Pisco Live Mic vol 2.3 featuring Reza Salleh and Clinton Liew.

Despite the many times I’d been to Pisco Bar before this, this would be the first time I’d come armed with a camera, besides my phone. Fascinating how that is!

An open miker who opened. I did not get her name.

Keyboardist for said open miker.

Clinton Liew!

Very cool pedal setup – if only for the color theme, that reminds me too much of Optimus Prime, down to the white stripe and blue.

Pisco Bar is so dark I am glad I brought my Sony Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F1.4 ZA SSM.

I’ve seen this Korg with LED lights around.

For a slightly tighter shot, I brought my Opteka 85mm F1.4. I like how the frets form bokeh!

Clinton Liew has his sound in groovy, lightly funky pop. This agrees with his covers of Bruno Mars – Treasure and Justin Timberlake – LoveStoned/I Think She Knows.

Then came Reza Salleh.

Zalila Lee on percussion and Melina William on five-string bass.

No stranger to the scene, though a first to Pisco Bar.

Contemplative moment.

I’d first seen Reza and his soul folk with influences of rock, at the Songwriters Avenue 2, January 4th 2005 (just over 9 years ago), just two roads parallel to this.

A goofy moment.

They took a break, and some open mikers took the stage.

Random jammer drummer.

Fancy a horn section?

Two emcees and one old-school rocker.

Oh, magical Zeiss and my Sony Alpha 99 doing ISO6400 to get this.

Shane Tan of Ministry Of Blunk, hops on stage for a blues jam.

The freeform nature of this open mic is rather different from others I’d experienced. Reza and band then returned to stage.

After their second set, there was a jam again, with Clinton’s bassist.

Now on the mike.

Shane, too.

Rock The World 13, part 3, at Stadium Bukit Jalil’s Car Park A.

Diandra Arjunaidi!

I remember this awesome guitarist.

Now, with a horn section.

All that directional light, on the Indie Stage.

Thy Regiment.

Subculture, a Malaysian classic, with Turning Around.

The Padangs!

Pitahati.

Space rock!

Oh Chentaku.

Jack the shredder.

More consistent light on the Main Stage.

Hard to get a picture of Jimmy behind all the smoke machines, though!

Zip Zieller, who rocks out to a mean 60’s Hendrix sound, on the Noisy Stage.

Stonebay!

90’s Seattlewangsa sound.

The serious Daarchlea.

Extreme metal!

Sweet 7-string.

Then, on to familiar boys Blister!

Darian Henry knows what to do with the other hand – hold a mike stand!

Proper basslines…

…because good ol’ heavy metal always had them.

Crowd gets into it.

Loka.

Nice Fender Jaguar!

More side lighting.

What, you say? A massacre?

A conspiracy?

Massacre Conspiracy.

Well-themed members of Dish.

I’m always in appreciation of stock-looking guitars.

Then came OAG!

They’d always say they’d be gone, but they come back, and I see them quite often at Rock The World.

…yeah, I can’t decide which firework-background picture to put up.

Heart A-Tack, just before I left. I missed Salam Musik as I wanted to catch the LRT before it closed operation.

Here’s Rock The World 13, Part 2: The Music and Rock The World 13: The Crowd.

Rock The World 13, part 2, at Stadium Bukit Jalil’s Car Park A.

Here’s Dead Eyes Glow!

Go Gerila!

With a familiar face, Amir Jahari…

…and Aizat Amdan.

Cassandra.

Check out my calfff!

Plague Of Happiness.

Infectious ska indeed!

Tres Empre!

I love this kind of post-hardcore.

The singer hops down the stage and lets the audience behind the barricades sing along.

Gotta love the commotion in the moshpit! (Having been hit on the back of the head with some punk’s steeltoe boots at some other concert, I’d only hope crowdsurfers keep their apparel harmless.)

Reset To Zilch, space rock.

Pedals for expression.

Syarul of Love Me Butch in Lab The Rat…

…and his wife. Other bandmates include two brothers of Syarul.

Nik Azwaa, responsible for many of the pictures that adorn the legendary No Black Tie, was one of the non-brother members of the band.

Azureforjanne.

Someday perhaps I shall understand the taping of straps.

One heck of a pretty guitar, what more with a string-through bridge.

You can tell straight up from their look that they play post-hardcore.

Republic Of Brickfields.

Lo, the thinking man’s rock band.

Revisiting 90’s rock and roll.

Rahul, who I’d only seen with One Buck Short!

Not sure who this guest vocalist is.

Upon Arrival.

All these tight shots thanks to the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA on the Sony Alpha 99. The wide shots are from the Sony Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F1.4 ZA SSM.

Nastia.

Prana, one of my favorite funk core rap bands! Here’s original vocalist Eric Ruffin.

A different bassist.

Jeffrey Little. This band was quiet for a while.

Nostalgia, when they played Copore!

Jeremy Little on the deck.

Jamir Adiong left for his home country of The Philippines, and playing guitar instead was Duan of Seven Collar T-Shirt. He’d also contributed vocals for Saturn, off Prana’s third album, Disc 03.

Another band making a return was Bunkface.

Sam with a very cool shirt.

Here’s how to make it easier for photographers to clear stage monitors.

Another beautiful Gibson.

Nervedeless.

That’s 15 bands so far, and 15 more bands to come in the next blog post for Rock The World 13!

Here’s Rock The World 13: The Crowd.

14th December 2013: Rock The World 13!

It was at Stadium Bukit Jalil’s Car Park A.

The previous Rock The World concerts – all just good ol’ Malaysian music! I have been to every single one except Rock The World 1, at the 1 Utama (old wing) car park.

The scene had changed – many rockers got married and had kids. This was the bands’ resting tent.

Emcee Fadhil for the Main Stage!

The Indie Stage. You can see how it’s just a folding trailer.

Main Stage, for the Colour Mosh at 5:50pm!

The crowd was given packets of colored powder at the entrance. They awaited the countdown…

Release!

Quite like the Holi Festival.

Perennial crowd favorite, Butterfingers – The Chemistry (Between Us) plays, enrapturing the crowd!

Color all over the moshpit!

After the dust had settled.

Got some on me, too, despite shooting from an elevated barrier. This was to be expected. The powder brushed off easily.

Emcee for the Indie Stage.

Dude wins a bass on the Main Stage!

Mobile police station.

Big, emcee for the Noisy Stage.

Bumped into this monster!

I’d never seen one before – the Minolta 300mm F2.8 APO!

A tent where indie flicks were shown.

I’d seen this banner last year, the right way up.

End of the night, with a whole lot of fog.

This blog post is just for pictures of the crowd. Artistes will be blogged about next!

18th January 2014: Paperplane Pursuit & Darren Ashley Intimate Showcase, at The Bee, Publika!

Yep, that’s Red FM announcer JJ!

Paperplane Pursuit played first.

Whoa fanned frets!

John on vocals.

EXIF is there for all to see; this was at 50mm F1.4 ISO1600.

Isaac on guitar!

It’s a bird… no it’s a plane, a Paperplane Pursuit!

The crowd including one future to-be Red FM announcer, Melissa Th’ng.

Spot Robin Wong! He also covered this gig on his blog.

Joining the stage: Darren Ashley!

They did their collaboration, Paperplane Pursuit x Darren Ashley – Beat Of Your Love! Joni is seen recording the performance.

Yes, this one! Their video socks!

Joni also directed and edited this video. Also, Joni is Darren’s sister, and John’s wife, making the vocalists brothers-in-law! As promotional teasers, all the sockified band members changed their profile pictures to their sock likenesses. Very cool social media move!

The best part of the video being that they were instantly recognizeable, even in their sock likenesses!

There is also a part in the video where Darren does this exact motion.

On to Darren Ashley‘s own set…

Electropop time with Kaoss Pads!

He then played his classic guitar stuff.

Fascinating, the beard.

Ryan in red, Darren Ashley’s drummer. Isaac also plays guitar for Darren.

We hung around, and found there was another band!

As it turns out…

…this was the official listed act for the night.

Lot 36: Mutima!

I can’t remember this guy’s name but he got groove and slick rap.

Tima, one heck of an expressive vocalist!

She’s the real deal, the queen, the source.

The crowd could not help but be swept up in the reggae/soul/funk of the band.

JJ and John boogie.

Conga line!

They ended with an explosive cover of Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child (Slight Return). I wouldn’t have expected that!

16th January 2014: Moonshine: Spotlight / Jan 2014 Edition at Laundry Bar, The Curve. Yes, my first blog post from 2014 (though, I haven’t posted pictures from Rock The World 13, so it’s not chronological order and I’ve not actually cleared all of 2013’s gigs, strictly speaking.) This is Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer!

Az Samad.

Finger-tapping, guitar-popping maestro.

Quirky Qwerty sings impromptu backup vocals! (If you can consider Az’s guitar the main vocalist, that is.)

Chest bump.

A very cool thing about this purple guitar (besides it being purple) is its upper soundhole, so the guitarist can hear what he/she is playing even better.

Quirky Qwerty! I think the picture explains their name.

Melina and her new Dean 5-string acoustic bass. She was very happy with it on stage, especially when doing a Jungle Book cover, and singing the Baloo part on bass.

Faz on guitar.

David Ling, who finds himself being the only dude in this band, as well as Tabloid.

Sharon Chong on melodica!

3 iPads on stage, for sheet music. These are legit sheet-reading musicians!

Sharon however is old-school.

I don’t know if people who read lyrics off phones on stage ever get phone calls while on stage.

Nish takes a break from her primary instrument, the steel pan/steel drum.

The Metaphor.

Post-rock!

Tomas and his pedalboard.

No wait, make that two, for more post-rock goodness.

If I was ever to get another guitar without a floating bridge, it might be a string-through, because they just look so sleek.

A new angle.

Barber chair at Laundry Bar.

Man Under Zero Effort.

Instrumental rock, mostly.

Random audience member who makes an interesting photographic subject.

Lefty bass!

Now that is a Pedaltrain.

Rather interesting pickups on that guitar!

26th December 2013: Moonshine: Online / December Edition at Laundry Bar, The Curve.

Nigel Tay!

David Knight!

Amrita Soon!

Rashdan Harith!

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.

Jeremy doing the live stream online.

Nigel’s got soul.

David, harvesting electronica souls.

Amrita has songs dedicated to parents – strangely a topic that is largely missing from other songwriters’ repertoires.

Rashdan is rocker somedays and Backstreet Boys fan some other days. I’d like to see that fan again!

The singer-songwriter format is that all performers get on stage at the same time, and sit around while taking turns to play, or improvise and/or harmonize along when another is performing.

24th December 2013: Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Publika / December Edition. This is Izzy!

Fuzzy.

He had an old soul voice. Nice!

Natalie & Shereen.

Well it’s gotta be one or the other.

The hard-rocking Niche!

A tight trio that covered Muse – Knights Of Cydonia…

…earning the admiration of rockers in the crowd.

Supportive friends and family!

Wireless systems make for stage mobility and untethered rocking out.

Reflective fretboard. I was mesmerized.

Sam.

Josh.

Jon Liddell, first featured act.

Happy Garden. What a name!

Remy J..

Nazrin.

Syamee Shamsul covers Elvis Presley – I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You with the proper Elvis voice. Hail to the King, baby!

Reza Salleh, second featured act, and organizer.

Zalila Lee having a good laugh at their hats.

Breakdown!

Perosis.

I’d suddenly see more Warwick basses!

Peter & Markiza Brown. This is Markiza…

…and Peter. I thought his new goatee was awesome, but his wife Markiza didn’t think so.

Fariz Salleh.

Ariff AB, superstar.

Adam & Yusuf Khan, who did a cover of Michael Jackson – Billie Jean into Queen – Another One Bites The Dust, followed by Steve Vai – For The Love Of God. Unexpected!

Ross Farin, I think, covered Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise.

Hameer Zawawi, last, as was his tradition.