17th November 2013: Lot 36: Bassment Syndicate x Darren Ashley at The Bee, Publika.

The first set was Bassment Syndicate.

They are ever groovy.

They’d also made it a stage thing to have these lights cast shadows all over.

Like so!

Meanwhile, outside.

Back inside, during intermission, somebody sets up the decks. Real turntables that use vinyl.

The second set is Darren Ashley, without his band, but with Bassment Syndicate instead. I could only imagine the synthesizer geekery that goes on during rehearsals!

Darren Ashley turns on the vocoder to sing a robotic intro, for Marcus to punch in some R&B. I don’t know the name of the song, but it has one heck of a slapped bass solo, cranked up with sweet fuzzy fuzz.

“‘dis mah favruttt song guys, coz I wrote it! Aight do it justice guys.”

We then got a Bassment Syndicated version of If I Don’t Stay!

As an ending act, DJ Moslem Priest took to the decks.

Borrowed light from the Bassment Syndicate setup made it a lot easier to shoot this.

Joget!

14th November 2013: Moonshine: Upcoming / November Edition 2013, at Laundry Bar, The Curve.

This is Jumero!

This band was formerly called the Jared Lim Trio. This is Jared Lim, and it is still a trio.

They play disco, funk and soul, acoustic style, with lots of harmonized vocals.

A new band!

Cocktail Party Effect.

A bassist on a drum.

Ryota Katayama on vocals.

This Fender guitar doesn’t look like a Fender. That is why it is so sweet-looking.

An Ibanez bass I haven’t seen before, either.

They do, like space rock, emo, electronica – like Jamiroquai, blending genres all together.

Then came Lightcraft.

This band hails from Indonesia.

Haven’t seen these guys in a while. Indie I enjoy.

Plenty of keyboards.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.

Heart A-Tack. You knew that.

Energetic vocalist!

Also with keyboard.

The bassist and guitarist would sing along, on mic stands taped to the speakers like this.

The white finish on the guitar is sweet.

Another white guitar. The tape? It’s to secure the wireless transmitters…

…so they can run outside the stage and perform in the crowd!

13th November 2013: RAFIQUE RASHID LIVE at Backyard Pub, Sri Hartamas. Here’s Ray Cheong, opening act.

The amazing, hilarious Rafique Rashid!

Stuff he sang were like The Beatles – Blackbird and The Beatles – Michelle, but with Thai lyrics. I don’t know if it was a translation or his own lyrics.

With original songs having titles like The Ballad Of Dr. Puvaneswaran a/l Kanagapathy, Dylan, Lagu Melayu, Yoga (reworded The Kinks – Lola), Leprosy (reworded The Beatles – Yesterday), you can only imagine what they would be about.

Eminor masuk Gminor, C7 turun Fmaj7, Ebmaj7 balik Gminor, sekarang korus dataaang!

In between, intermission time – his inevitable successor Brian Gomez. They both write parodies, have hilarious lyrics, and poke fun of current events. Rafique was co-founder of No Black Tie and a sound engineer there. Brian owns Merderkarya and works the sound there too.

Random dude asks if he can go up and play a tune.

Rafique pops in the drumset and drums with his fingers.

7th November 2013: Moonshine: Online / November Edition 2013 at Laundry Bar, The Curve, streamed online for all to see.

But first, somebody’s got a birthday cake!

Jessica and a random cat with cupcakes. I normally don’t enjoy sweet cupcakes but I see the utility in that it is self-contained; you can easily lift one up without having to bother with cutting a cake.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer.

Rizla Lynam, Britrock-gone-acoustic specialist.

Anna Chong, who sings lost soul instead of soul.

Darren Ashley, who loops and boops with electropop.

Reza brings on folk versions of his rock songs.

Rizla sings about 30-year-old dudes still living with their parents.

Anna sings and she gets everyone’s attention in the etherealness of the music.

Before one of her songs, she took a long breath, as if she was trying to collect her emotions before singing. That… was intense.

Darren looks happy with Reza’s guitar, but he plays something far more sombre.

There’s always a bit of cooperativeness, despite each singer-songwriter all being up on the stage at the same time and taking turns to play. You’d have Darren making rain sounds softly over Rizla’s songs.

Kaoss Padds at work.

Rizla suddenly dons a headband, and the guys are surprised at the sudden Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle that appeared next to them.

Fun new guy to watch…

…and remember.

6th November 2013: John Thomas at Backyard Pub, Sri Hartamas!

Teriver Cheung, shredder on guitar.

Ee Jeng Hin on keyboards.

Elvira Arul on souuul.

Kimberley, outside, as I explained POLITIKO the card game to her.

Came back in to discover Daniel Foong on bass joined in.

22nd October 2013: Feedback Open Mic @ The Bee Publika / October Edition. Here’s Reza Salleh, emcee, organizer, and a musician who signed up.

Jazlan Zakrin covered Oasis – Don’t Go Away.

Jonathan Lee.

Munnie & Nicky. Here’s Munnie.

Nicky loops with a serious Boss RC-300 Loop Station.

Devon.

Brandon.

Jerry.

Puria.

Keyboardist.

Nice guitar!

Debbie.

Nazrin.

Dzamira Dzafri, first featured act. I sometimes listen to bands on Soundcloud, that inadvertently then shuffles to her songs, and I don’t stop it, but listen anyway, because a song like Toothpaste just gets stuck in your head and not your teeth.

Gregory Ramanado, second featured act.

Ever the funkmeister, he brought a rougher sound with a guitar with humbuckers! I’m so used to hearing him with single-coil guitars.

Raksasa awakens from his slumber.

Tiah, with Faz on guitar.

19th October 2013: Day 2 of Publika Anniversary Jazz 2013 at The Square, Publika.

Here’s the Ray Cheong Band!

Jared Cheow on drums. He’s lost a fair bit of weight! I guess releasing gas does help. 😀

Jonathan Khor on violin.

Ray Cheong, fingerstyle guitarist.

The band, after the show.

Ocean Of Fire!

This is Kelvyn Yeang, amazing shredder. The scalloped guitar is named Sparkly. This picture is before Kelvyn got her name etched in her headstock.

The band hails from Penang, so it’s a rare delight to see technical shred rock.

He’d also put in a bit more vocals in the new songs.

Terrific bassist.

Backing vocalist.

Melissa Indot!

This bassist got groove.

Paul Morrison, producer and drummer.

Emcee for the night.

Steve Thornton! I’d been for his percussion class many years ago as a kid, with my mom.

This was the Azmi Hairudin Agreement.

In came Matthew Sayersz!

He was dressed straight out of Bel Air.

Awesome funk bassist. I picked this picture because it shows the bass the clearest.

Jose Thomas Band!

On vocals, the diva Rozz.

Very tall platform shoes. I asked Dasha how she’d go up on stage with her, since Rozz is tall and the platforms make her taller.

Gotta dig the samfoo.

Dasha Logan sang next.

She’s an energetic bubble on stage!

Jose and her in one of those classic call-and-response moments.

Back to the song.

I really can’t get over Jose’s new hair, or lack of it.

Meanwhile, nearby at The Bee, Poova was performing with Bassment Syndicate.

One more!

17th October 2013: Moonshine: Online / October Edition, at Laundry Bar, The Curve!

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer in a 9gag pose.

This was the singer-songwriter’s round format – they’d all be on stage, and take turns to play.

Sometimes they’d harmonize or play backing guitar.

So here’s the adorable Liyana Fizi!

Reza Salleh, in stereo.

Jiwang king Narmi.

Diandra Arjunaidi…

…and her guitarist, who is one heck of a guitar lick master and soloist when backing other singer-songwriters playing.

Liyana plays jazzy chords, but never too busy, just lightly.

Reza sings, and Liyana looks beyond the horizon.

Diandra is serious, sometimes.

Narmi plays his hit Whirl.

Liyana’s got a really shiny feedback canceller on her guitar’s soundhole. I kept staring at it, thinking I could grate cheese with it.

Photographers in the crowd were plenty that night.

Sudden surprise harmonies from Jeremy.

Narmi and friends.

I should step up to this side of the stage more often. Cool lighting!

The upper lounge area.

Diandra intrepidly announced that she was going to do a cover of Mariah Carey – My All. I’d be nervous too, with such a powerhouse song!

She executed it well, to thunderous cheering.

3rd October 2013: Moonshine: Fundraiser / The Paul Lau Edition at Laundry Bar, The Curve.

Paul Lau, one of the founders of Tugu Drum Circle, and an awesome guy all around in the scene, was suffering from Recurrent Inverted Papilloma, a form of cancer. This Moonshine was organized to raise funds for his treatment.

This is Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer, and all-day Optimus Prime.

Tribe Dance!

Reza called out for bands who wanted to volunteer for this fundraiser, and 18 came to the call! So this blog entry will be a bit longer.

Chizu, rebooting radio since… 2013?

Kien Lim, folk rock and roll.

Reza of Reza Salleh & Zalila Lee.

Zalila.

Ardiv Jauhari…

…and his band.

Gotta dig his style.

Poet Stories.

Kajon and cello.

Afdeza has really shiny eyes. Spellbinding.

Shanthini Venugopal, who has an awesome voice and is a great entertainer in between songs.

Melvin Goh on keyboard.

She’s also got a children’s storybook out called Why Jellybeans Are Colourful.

Nish Tham jumps in on keyboard for the next song.

Wadaiko Syo.

Japanese drums…

..and a flute!

Gemm.

Funky saxophone.

Prettiest one I’d ever seen.

More of the band.

Melina William of Tempered Mental, in a solo configuration, doing all the riffage and licks of her band in one guitar.

Psycusix.

Took a 13 second exposure for this!

Elvira Arul! She was accompanied by Nish on keys.

Russell Curtis, owner of Rockafellas Bar in Petaling Jaya, and the voice behind Curtis Blues Review.

Julian Chan & Friends.

Junji Delfino (with Melvin on keys).

Emperor Obvious.

Post-hardcore, but mostly instrumental.

Elvira and friend in the crowd.

White Percussion Unit.

Hoedown with drums!

The grand total.

Paul expressed his gratitude.

Then, for the thing he was a core part of…

Tugu Drum Circle!

Performers joined in, in various ways.

People were given random percussive items. Here’s Reza.

Random props!

Leader of the beat.

What a night!

Spot your signature, perhaps? Yes, that’s my Glaring Notebook logo in the middle.

26th September 2013: Moonshine: Spotlight / September Edition. That’s a lot of keys.

Reza Salleh, emcee and organizer. Behind, his brother, Fariz.

Saturday Afternoon. Sounds just like its name implies.

Dianne Lim on guitar, vocals and one of the keyboards.

Fariz Salleh on guitar and vocals.

Melissa Toh on guitar and vocals.

Audience, from the elevated seating area.

Bassment Syndicate!

Marcus sings smooth soul.

Hiran, keymaster.

Tres Empre, who remind me of the earlier post-hardcore bands like Glassjaw…

…and I like it.

I also really like the look of this bass, because it has no fret inlays, so you get a very elongated look.

They were also the only band that didn’t play keyboards.

Kyoto Protocol.

6-stringed bass!

They did a refreshing cover of Lefthanded – Tiada Lagi Kidungmu.