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.