2nd February 2013: Mull; Debauch to Kuala Lumpor (Component Three) at KL Performing Arts Center.

This large band is Walloped! Showcase Ep.2.

They played… some scary shit.

Spooky.

Medinee, from Johor Bahru.

They Will Kill Us All.

Super cool Thunderbird bass.

Worn out Telecaster.

Khottal, another big band.

This is how you make yourself heard without a mike.

Old boys Man Under Zero Effort.

They’re instrumental, and their rock ranges from sounding Foo Fighters-ish to other genres.

Alang, drummer for many.

Deepset, a post-rock band.

One of the closest in style to Damn Dirty Apes – coincidentally, my favorite style of post-rock.

Shizuka (Ben Aman), from Ipoh.

They play fun rock and roll.

The stage was adorned with all sorts of antiques.

Meanwhile, outside, Bob and Pedram of Damn Dirty Apes jam on the piano.

Fikri, emcee for the night.

The unforgettable 90’s band, Nice Stupid Playground! Playing since the 90’s, that is, not playing 90’s music in a today context…

…where moshpits weren’t regulated terribly, I assume.

You could even swim in a sea of supportive hands!

Every song was a singalong, and they invited this dude, who I guess is Big Show.

Ending the night was the long-awaited Damn Dirty Apes.

Every song starts slow and melancholic, then builds up and bursts into distortion. Just the way I like my post-rock.

Drummer Bob.

The show was interrupted, as Bob was not feeling too good. As it turns out, it was gastritis. Not a nice thing to have at all!

Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show / Jan 2013 at Laundry Bar, The Curve, 24th January 2013.

A DigiTech RP355 guitar multi-effect processor! I have the RP255 and made an app, DigiTech Patch Viewer, for it. This was the first time I’d see a musician with one of these DigiTechs – they don’t seem very popular in the KL scene.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.

Dish, a alternative rock team with a theme!

Gotta dig their uniform.

This adorable audience member adores the adorable audience member.

This audience member sings along.

This band was a side project of AG Coco…

…who has a cool pedalboard with a mighty volume pedal. You can’t miss it.

Meliha Faisal was next.

Barista with a sweet voice.

She performed an interesting cover of Elton John – Your Song – if you didn’t know the lyrics, you might not recognize it.

Rather interesting chord shape.

Then came another young barista!

Christian Palencia.

A guitar, vocal chords and a loop pedal to mix it all with.

The carry case. Smart!

Spot the guitar pick.

Guess which band this is!

You win a Backstreet Boys cover if you guessed that it was Rashdan Harith.

I normally post pictures of Rashdan singing with his mouth wide open as he does that expression better than anyone else. Thus I took it as a challenge to post other poses of his!

This is what bright prime lenses that cannot zoom are for.

Rashdan rocks out even without an electric guitar.

David, who always has a hot guitar lick up his sleeve. This is probably the first time I’m seeing a Telecaster with a Bigsby bridge. I like how it looks matched with the hot pickup at the neck!

Ash’s mohawk cannot hold up.

Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Publika January Edition, 22nd January 2013. Here’s Jojo (Jocelyn) of Juju And Jojo.

That makes this Juju.

Keira And Rachel.

Azim.

Hameerudin Zawawi, making a slanty face, as first featured act. This is why he was not at the end of the set!

Remy J. dressed down.

Stonebay, second featured act, brings the grunge back.

Gotta love them Hofner bass guitars!

Rendra Zawawi, quite melancholic musically like his brother, injected a double dose by inviting his brother to sing with him.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer, ends the night. You could consider it a game to figure out how many guitars were borrowed!

21st January 2013: Open Mic @ The Venue #4 – Hosted by Az Samad! Here’s Cheryl Tan with Az Samad on guitar.

Aaron Lo, who does a cover of George Michael – Whisper.

Fern Taylor.

Jayson.

Cham, I think.

Remy J, on backing guitar for the first featured act of the night…

Narmi! For some reason this reminds me of Jack Black and Kyle Gass just as they get ready for an epic guitar battle.

Eleventh Maze.

After fixing his guitarist’s mike stand, he sings.

Little switcheroo later.

Amrita Soon, whose songs are as windswept and flowery as is tattooed on the guitar.

Ashley, I think…

Well, I can’t be far off with the necklace…

I usually post drummer pictures when they look cool, like this one.

Likewise with other instruments.

Nabel & The Wedding Band.

Although the lighting color messes with the white balance, I’m glad the lighting is consistently bright, making it manageable.

The band also featured Nina Nadira.

The Venue has plenty of space to maneuver. This is what it looks like from the edge of the bar with the same lens I use for all the tight shots – the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA on the Sony Alpha 99.

Second featured act, progressive alternative rock Tempered Mental.

Jack rips out a solo. I love how Pax Automata, their latest album, has plenty of room for solos.

Gotta love The Venue’s spotlights.

Az Samad, emcee and organizer, was so hyped after the pleasant dissonance, sauntered onto stage feeling the energy.

Dean Shaari did Blackstreet – No Diggity and was joined by Jimmy of Tempered Mental in the second song.

Next was some awesome modern-day metal thanks to Arjun and Lukman. A backing track, one Jackson guitar, and screaming.

Anuar, a bluesman I hadn’t seen in a long time!

Ariff AB.

The pre-synchronized-wardrobe Fazz.

Amirhooman with a flairful classical tune.

Hameerudin Zawawi, the open miker to end all open mikes.

Here are 4 different gigs with one thing in common – they were all held at The Bee, Publika, and at all these gigs I only caught two performers or less.

WAMM & VIP presents Nick Davis, 15th January 2013. On stage, from left to right: Jasemaine Gan and Erin Marie of Very Imaginative People Enterprise, and Michael Chen of We Are Malaysian Made.

Opening the show was So I’m Jenn.

Jenn on the left with the ukulele, and Sani on the right with the guitar.

It was then time for Nick Davis, and he performed the spacey Lost In Time.

This rock star has come a long way, with many bands with different sounds.

Entering the frame was Maybelline Wong.

She performed an interpretative dance based on the music.

I have to say, it was pretty intense! Such that if I grazed into her by accident, I would suddenly find myself possessed, moving my body in angles.

The reason why all these pictures are so wide, is because I’d brought only my Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG that day. Little did I know that the legendary Robin Wong was also shooting there that night!

The music video for Lost In Time also features Maybelline Wong.

31st January 2013: Gabriel Lynch at The Bee. Opening act for that night was Froya, a delectable band consisting of catchy pop melodies.

There is something about his voice.

It just brings you in.

23rd April 2013: After catching Panggung Muzik, I hitched a ride with Ann Na to The Bee, where Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Publika April Edition was going on. Here’s the awesome toffee-smelling Eff Hakim!

Eff is ever suspicious of the audience, ever ready to spout her random observations of people, to great amusement.

Faliq on vocoder and guitar. The hair serves a purpose, to spot him above the wall of noise that he makes with electronics on stage.

Together, they form Pastel Lite, and they end the set with a crescendo of bleeps that I consider music to my ears.

Reza, emcee and organizer, overwhelmed by their sound. He was looking shockingly jocky that night.

Ariff AB.

29th April 2013: Bassment Syndicate’s Album Release Party! Here’s Marques “Q’Sound” Young, putting vocals over a deep groove.

Omar on drums.

Fook sometimes plays bass, sometimes guitar. Interestingly this band doesn’t perform with both at the same time.

Vig, probably complimenting a cool T-shirt.

Q’Sound on trombone.

Hiran on keyboards.

The awesome jazz/soul cat Najwa Mahiaddin was invited on stage to sing a duet.

1. Merdekarya, Petaling Garden

Located in the sleepy hollow of Petaling Garden, at the tail end of Section 5, Petaling Jaya, this first floor of a shophouse is now venue to gigs almost every day, thanks to hardworking owner Brian Gomez, who is also a writer.

You can see how a lot of it is made of recycled wooden crates, like the lanterns!

I first ended up here on the 23rd of February 2013, for Numinous. On guitar is Kafayat, and the amazing Jonathan St. Clair.

He was freestyling and breakdancing.

One-handed skill!

Sheena, emcee and organizer, closes the night (yes, I was late, very late.)

Notice the stage, made of cable reels!

At the back area was the bookstore – again, notice the recycled wooden crates!

Brian Gomez manning the counter. I bought one of those politically-inclined comic books by Malaysian artists, and it came free with Brian’s awesome fiction novel, Devil’s Place. (Seen at the bottom of this picture.)

I finished the book in one sitting, that night itself!

2. Malones, KLCC

21st March 2013, is the second time I came here, and the first time I saw live music here – featuring singer-songwriter staple, Ariff Akhir! He played covers of stuff stretching into classic rock territory e.g. Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall and The Eagles – Hotel California, with a young kid as drummer, who had no lack of talent or spunk.

However, this certainly wasn’t the first time I’d been to this particular shoplot for a gig. The last time I was here for a gig was 22nd November 2008, when this venue was The Apartment Downtown, and the show was Moonshine: A Homemade Acoustic Show.

3. The Moon Bar, Plaza Damansara

It was a night of jazz, that 5th of April, 2013.

You could tell by the double bass.

Modern day sheet music.

Julian Chan on saxophone.

Cheryl Tan on vocals.

Dim lighting, ambient color, cigarette smoke everywhere, and she let loose.

4. Planet Rock, Jalan Gasing

This place has really cool posters.

Interestingly, this place used to be the legendary Black Widow Studio. Everybody jammed at this dinky place before. Yes, even myself! I went to visit Brian Foo and band ages ago.

So I heard Paul of Paul’s Place runs this, but I can’t find confirming proof. Well, it sure looks a lot better.

Shaneil Devaser, this time as The Endleaves. This was on the 19th of April, 2013.

His drummer. They played a cover of Silverchair – Freak, something that fitted very well with their sound.

The Infernal Conundrum and Ataraxique also played, but I forgot to bring an extra battery for my NEX-5 at that time. I didn’t know I was going for a gig that evening, even!

5. GSC Cinemas, Pavilion

Yes that’s right, GSC Cinemas, for Panggung Muzik, part of Kakiseni Festival 2013.

This was Deepset, playing music as the soundtrack to the movie At The End Of Daybreak. The format was 30 minutes of the movie and music.

Next was Tempered Mental playing to Songlap.

Their music was most familiar to me – they just played their songs as is. For some reason it appeared to synchronize. It also helped that there was a monitor in front of them. This brought new meaning to the term, stage monitors!

Pitahati over Bunohan. I then realized that the local films I hadn’t watched were all surprisingly visceral and violent.

6. Circus, Pavilion

I first came here on the 17th of May, 2013.

I was strolling in Bintang Walk, when I bumped into some familiar faces!

Juno doing his best Nobita budak baik impression.

It was the very energetic Tabloid! So energetic, even the drummer raps without losing the beat, during a Michael Jackson medley. I’d never seen anybody cover Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away before until that night, with Sharon was spitting Anthony’s finest lines then segueing to James Brown – Sex Machine and almost unpredictably, Janelle Monáe – Tightrope. Jonah meanwhile has a suave voice and is every bit as awesome. What a treat!

Sharon Chong (left) dragged her sister, Yvonne Chong (right), on stage to sing together.

30th December 2012: Deva Voodoo Spells launched their new album, Dangerous Knowledge, at Lust KL. Here’s Love Me Butch soundchecking. Rather interestingly shaped stage, this.

The lounge upstairs.

Opening were some friends, including Oh Chentaku (with Alang on drums this time.)

If you’re wondering why the color and look is different, I figured that Adobe Camera RAW would do a better job at the tricky color cast this time.

Myo swaps out his SG for an acoustic guitar. Little did I know I’d seen him in Sky Juice Coffee!

Project E.A.R., with members of Pop Shuvit…

…and rappers.

More rappers, that is.

DJ Uno on the decks.

Syahrul of Love Me Butch.

Gotta love the disco ball lighting.

At a sixth of a second I managed to capture the movement of the disco lights.

This, at half of a second.

Then came the highlight – Deja Voodoo Spells! Here’s Rithan, guitar shredder, Ibanez ambassador, guitar teacher, amplifier builder and now composer of a 20 minute, 20 second long progressive metal opus called Dangerous Knowledge, which he played for us.

Ainol, the shirtless drummer.

Mie, 5-string bassist who has a knack for tapping.

The whole album has only one song, Dangerous Knowledge, but it’s actually made of a few parts.

We of course cheered for an encore, and they obliged with Rock N Roll (off their second album, Bite), a cover of Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody and a tease of the intro lick to Pantera – Cowboys From Hell.

DJ Rahul of One Buck Short closed the show.

The album was sadly not available yet, but it was released in January 2013. It came autographed with a book in PDF format and the song in WAV and MP3 format.

From the PDF I was able to plot which part of the song was which. Later I found they posted a music video with the titles, confirming most of the parts:

00:00 Battle In The Clouds
00:38 Timewave Zero
03:02 De Honesta Disciplina
05:26 Year 3797
07:00 Liberation
09:32 The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
11:38 Siro’s Rain
14:27 Yesterday’s Tomorrow

The video does not identify Rose Pill, but my earlier guess was at the 5:41 mark.

I’d still say you should get the USB thumb drive album – it’s pretty unique, and it lights up in red when you plug it in. They’ve saved you the trouble of ripping it from audio CD, too! I like how the PDF format allows for what would have been a thick book and not a booklet. Head over to their website to get one!

Also, I hereby declare my backlog of gig posts to be 1 year delayed now, having cleared all of 2012 (and I did not shoot any gigs until 15th January 2013.)

Rock The World 12, 29th December 2012, at Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur!

This is Time And Tide.

Emcee Rina Omar!

I Revival.

Damn I love the look of this Jackson Rhoads Matt Tuck signature model. Reversed headstock, string-through bridge, V-shaped inlays, and bolder guitar bindings compared to the Randy Rhoads guitar it is based on.

The crowd wants a piece of him.

Maximus. I don’t know if you can tell, but I selected which pictures to post partially because of the attractiveness of the guitars/basses and the rocking poses.

In some cases, I am biased towards reflective shades.

Upon Revival.

There is something about a very polished bass, clean of stickers and duct tape, that appeals to me.

The Eightyfour. There is a certain look from the way the vocalist sings to the crowd, that you will know they sing post-hardcore.

Dish, meanwhile, has a theme…

…and it certainly isn’t hardcore. They play alternative rock.

Meanwhile, in the air-conditioned Elevate booth, photos are taken!

Cassandra, another post-hardcore band.

Gotta dig the bindings and the pearl maple top.

Oh Chentaku.

Hidden message behind the headstock!

Jimmy, most known for being the drummer for Tempered Mental…

…and his band member, who is proud to wear this shirt.

Diandra Arjunaidi brings sunshine to the traditionally rainy Rock The World.

I later saw this guitarist backing her up in a singer-songwriter session. He had awesome improvised licks.

Red shirt, like the drums.

Meanwhile, there was a little Icons Music Booth, where they were selling Epiphones…

I don’t know where this band came from, but this guy was rocking a Epiphone Thunderbird bass.

I think they were jamming to Metallica. Rightfully so, since a Explorer body was in use, one of James Hetfield’s favorites!

Melodisaster and the good ol’ free shirt.

I tend to get this whenever I point my camera back at the audience.

Sekumpulan Orang Gila. No, that’s the name of the band.

Classic rock-and-roll, from Couple. The old bassist is in the middle.

The band is always smiley and happy.

Meanwhile, promoter girls stroll through the field. I like the expression on the silhoutted people in the foreground!

Hey, it’s Go Gerila with Aizat Amdan!

The infectious Amir Jahari plays for him.

Emcee Big, of Endzeil, a moshpit buddy and bouncer.

Pitahati has that older Pink Floyd-ish sound that I enjoy. They keep it catchy.

Hey this bassist is familiar!

This guitar bag is damn cool.

This T-shirt is damn cool.

Azure For Janne, post-hardcore.

Now, for a nu-metal sound – Pop Shuvit with more rappers becomes Project E.A.R.!

A minor difference being that Ryan Lee Bhaskaran was on drums instead.

Otherwise it’s still AJ on bass…

…and JD on guitar (without the bug-eyed glasses, but still with Yamaha guitars.)

Khottal, bigger than the average big band, with a lot of instruments.

I cannot say I understand their music though. Then again, that happens for some bands that I treasure now.

Funky mohawk. As foretold, the rain would come.

And so, I retreated to one of the game booths. Behind, of course, is the scoreboard and a drum challenge.

The excellent Tres Empre.

I love their At The Drive-In/Glassjaw-ish sound. Perhaps I’m much more able to get into its groove than post-hardcore.

This is what the photographer’s pit looks like. The barricades have looked the same.

Reset To Zilch, shoegazing.

50-Cent lookalike.

Restraint, hardcore.

Someday, I shall dissect the difference.

That tickles!

Incarnation, thrash/hardcore. Another pretty ESP guitar!

This is what the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM is for – close-range wide shots. (The telephoto shots were with my trusty Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, all on the Sony Alpha 99.)

You never know who you’ll get in the crowd.

B-rock, deejaying, and playing non-Malaysian-band music.

The sun was setting.

The Malayan, with Andy of Flop Poppy!

Very cool shirt.

However, my favourite never-seen before band was this.

Nuclear Strikes!

This is undoubtedly heavy metal. Even her callsign is – Steelgirl Ladyana!

Two guitars, galloping rhythm and plenty of twin guitar lead licks. Add one more and you’d have Iron Maiden.

Gotta dig the kicks, too, despite me being a one-pair-of-sneakers kinda guy. Interestingly, following up on this band, she was replaced by another female vocalist with an equally metal name, Tasya Blade (making it their third female vocalist!)

Yeah, traditional Jackson Randy Rhoads!

Robot Asmara plays new wave rock.

Meanwhile, on another stage, a Guitar Hero showdown takes place. I know this rockstar on the left!

Salam Musik is a big band.

Darren Ashley, facing technical difficulty. I just like this picture because of the Rembrandt lighting.

The crowd awaits a fix.

And he’s back with electropop rock!

The Darren Ashley Band, as it was known then, was already color-coordinated.

Unfortunately – and I was hoping this would not happen – due to technical difficulties, it ended up overlapping with this other band that I’d wanted to see very much.

Damn Dirty Apes! They were the first post-rock band I’d ever heard. When I heard them I felt chills and a slow, subzero wind whizzed past. To this day, I can’t find any post-rock band to like more. Perhaps it’s a preference thing, that post-rock is a very acquired taste, that you may like one and not the other.

Anyway, I managed to catch 3 songs from Ape Kill Ape and Kilometrico, not in any release. That is also a very cool T-shirt.

Too bad Bob is not in a spacesuit.

Somebody won a guitar, I think.

The good ol’ Radhi-O, of OAG! He sang a cover of Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger…

…and then he got bored and started exploring the space. The bouncers returned him to stage.

It was hilarious to see him running across speakers and getting caught. I’m not quite sure why they need to catch him and return him on stage, though…

I think he might’ve thought the moshpit was a lot closer than he thought. Here I can see a valid safety reason to stop him from facing gravity.

What does that look like from where he’s at?

Time to get back.

Ever happy Radhi.

Love Me Butch.

Syahrul is always a joy to photograph. His expressions and stage presence booms.

So much, that our emcee for this stage gets enraptured!

Then came the seven strings of Daarchlea!

It doesn’t get any more heavy or dark than this.

I love it when a band puts effort into a consistent image, and an awesome logo that instils a reaction.

Ending the night was Massacre Conspiracy.

I love the look of Dean guitars, too.

Found at the exit. I’m not sure how we rock and roll with all these restrictions, but we get by…

RAWR!!! The Gig Goes To Paradox Part 4, 22nd December, 2012! This is Paradox Art Cafe, a cafe with an interesting concept – they sell art, and I quite like the food there. The stage faces a balcony and is open-air.

First up, Emilia Z! Little did I know I would later be acquainted with this super cool geek girl.

Nabeel, similiarly an ex-stranger I photographed, playing guitar for her.

She did a cover of Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps.

Next up, The Morkuthis. I’d meet the band later at a mamak thanks to connector of all things, Ann Na.

Christina faces the fan and makes for photogenic hair.

Heart-A-Tack, for when you have to pin down love.

All shots with the Sony Alpha 99, Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM and Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA.

Ashley Wong.

I have this habit of borrowing people’s shades and camwhoring with them.

No, wait, I need to use the new term for it – selfie.

While at it, here’s the balcony!

Believe it or not, this was the first time I had been there (I haven’t posted anything from Paradox before this, and yet it feels like I’d been there for one more gig, perhaps without my camera?)

For This Cycle…

…from Singapore.

Darren Ashley brings a cutout to show his support…

…for the Mordo Blasters!

Isaac on rare acoustic guitar. He’s normally ripping out some hot licks.

Drum and bass also make a mini horn section.

Next up, An Honest Mistake, in its most minimalist form. I’m sure I’ve seen a caricaturized version of Sheryl Goh doing exactly this somewhere before.

Darren Teh, frontman and chug-a-chug guitarist. There’s a particular way he transitions between riffs that is quite distinct. I remember me noting this with a musician of caliber in the audience. It is best described as chug-a-chug.

Sheryl Goh, again.

Darren Teh, again.

Originally, Darren’s expression in this picture was, pardon my Malaysian basolect, “cannot make it“. I like how his hair flies in this, so I’ve remade this in the style of a popular 2013 meme. By the way, while you’re there, right-click and click View Page Source.

To Kill A Mockingbird.

This is Amanda Love.

ChevaLIAR.

This band is quite simply called…

My Friend’s Band.