weekend fun vol. 2 - gig mania

Went to a gig last Saturday. Malay language songs only. Naturally, I had to check it out and see what sort of bands and sounds would be there. I only know 3 of the bands playing. But things like this don't happen much, so what the heck. Guess what, it turned out to be quite an entertaining experience, although 'entertaining' sometimes can be interpreted in an unusual, or different context. Example, William Hung - entertaining? Hell yes!!! Good? I don't think so. So there's quite a few moments like that during the gig.

The funniest part? One of the bands had a 'backing vocalist', who held the mic as if he's the lead singer, seemed very clueless throughout their entire set (this even though he was reading from a lyric sheet most of the time), and couldn't hit the right notes even if his life depended on it!! Damn, that WAS funny. You know what, the band even had the balls to play their own songs, one of which sounds uncannily like Creep by Radiohead, except with Malay lyrics, and they were howling the melodies so madly, it kind of turned into a guilty pleasure, he he!! I hope Thom Yorke never gets the chance to hear it, otherwise a lawsuit would be quite possible. He he, sorry guys!!

Then there's the fantastic pleasure of hearing quite a few decent Indo-rock songs being butchered. That was surreal too. There's even a metal band with a singer who shrieks as if he's the lead singer of Helloween or Iron Maiden!! Boy, you guys sure missed a lot by missing the gig.

All in, I think there were only 2 good, worthwhile bands that night. One was Nadia's Picture Show. Sure, they're as Indo sounding as they come, but they look good on stage, they're tight, a killer lead guitarist, and some of the songs do sound great. I even bought their demo, but I have to admit, the songs sound much better live than on CD. I just hope the lead singer will work on hitting the high notes as sometimes he did seem to struggle too much with it. But this band could be huge if they play their cards right.

The other band was D_va. I know, kinda cheesy name. But their original songs are quite a delight, especially "Sentiasa". That will surely be a hit if they get signed.

Then there's this band called Ratu. An old friend of mine plays bass with them. The singer's girlfriend just signed with Broadway Entertainment, so Mr Boon Tan was there to see them play. Their songs are not bad, but I just thought that they tried too hard to impress that night. But you girls are gonna love their lead singer. Blonde hair, good looking, with some sense of style, he's definitely got the package. Can't say the same for his bandmates though. Cowboy hats, the pub band look. Whew, I thought my band was bad!! I know, naughty!! Sorry guys!! I hope you never read this!!

Had dinner with the D_va guys. Boon Tan joined us as well. I think it's quite enlightening and refreshing to hang out with a bunch of people who have no qualms about signing with a record label, as opposed to the normal 'underground' types. The D_va guys seemed alright. But the Ratu guys kinda of worries me cause they seem too eager to sign, which is always a bad sign, as you're never going to think straight when you're too into something. But what the hell, they might even be making lots of dough and groupies by next year. Who knows?

The lowdown? It was quite an experience. I just felt sad that not even one of the hipster Malaise or KLUE gang was there. Goes to show how 'united' our local non-mainstream scene is.