9th August 2012: Az Samad Trio @ The Venue, Pavilion KL. Herman Ramanado, one heck of a groovy cat, was on bass guitar this time!
Az basks in the smoke and lights.
Zalila Lee on percussion.
I always enjoyed The Venue’s lights – they don’t dance as much as others do, so I don’t get large variances in exposure and white balance.
Zalila on cajon.
Amirhooman, a guitar student of Az’s in the audience, has a damn cool moustache.
They did a cover of Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together. I’m not sure if this was the point where I got the song stuck in my head, because it bubbled up a year later.
During the intermission, Zyan performed a few songs.
And now we’re back!
The night ended with pianist, David Gomes.
Before the show, a bunch of us were sitting outside The Venue, when we realized that all our phones were running on different operating systems! How rare that would be – clockwise from top – iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry OS, and Symbian.
Then, on the 27th of August 2012, I was down in Jalan Mesui for one of the longer-running establishments of the music scene – No Black Tie! The event was Az Samad – Solo Guitar Retrospective @ No Black Tie.
Az and his knock-on-wood harmonics.
His parents were in the crowd.
The William Jeffrey Jones Proteus Electric Guitar.
Some days I wish they had hair lights on the stage.
Az on ukulele!
The next day was the 28th of August 2012, where I found myself at Feedback Open Mic at The Bee, Publika. This was Lufti, with a smooth, manly voice and a backing track.
Imran.
Amilia.
The very adorable Bay!
First featured act, Halfway Kings.
I love how the band has blossomed – I really feel that Stevie Nicks rocker vibe from Adeline.
This is what happens when you shoot at too fast a shutter speed – it captures the flourescent lights exposing only part of the frame.
March The Angel/Gaga, I think.
Ariff AB.
Now with accompaniment!
Narmi, once known as Imran, drummer of One Buck Short.
Remy J, once known as Jeremy.
Darren Ashley, second featured act. He does a loop pedal vocal orchestra.
In his past life, he laid out some funky, jazzy tunes.
Fazz was a pleasant surprise. They played what would sound like cabaret jazz. This was the first time I’d ever seen them – what a first impression! Note that Raja Farouque was on guitar and not his usual double-bass role in the band.
Everybody looked and dressed different. This was their pre-hipster phase.
What a voice! Kevin Vong stuns the crowd.
Sheryl Goh said I had a nice T-shirt. It was An Honest Mistake’s first purple dinosaur shirt, and she was singing in the band. Thus we took a picture.
All shots with the Sony Alpha NEX-5, Opteka 85mm F1.4 through Sony LA-EA1 adapter and Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake lens.