Dubbed ‘The Alternatives,’ the ninth gig of indie music organiser, Soundmaker, was held in Penang last Saturday. According to their website www.echolab-records.com, the theme for the recent gig was to expose fans to some of the more challenging genres in recent music history, as well as to create a different environment to enhance the indie music scene here. The line-up consisted of Damn Dirty Apes – the so-called Mogwai of Penang and wrongfully tagged as the first post-rock band in Malaysia, Whitelight – another post-rock band, Color My Iris – emo-rockers from down south, Dian Bang – experimental geek duo and Hui Se Di Dai – some angry band from Penang.
If my memory served me right, the gig opened with a performance from the KL duo of Dian Bang. I heard the introduction from the emcee but I couldn’t remember them playing anything although I did see two people at the stage with their laptops on their laps. I didn’t know the venue had wi-fi. I would have brought mine to update my newly registered Friendster profile. Okay I must admit, actually I was there for the groupies, if there were any, and a couple of my friends for Damn Dirty Apes (DDA). Disappointingly, I didn’t see any groupies and the countless times I went to the loo, I didn’t see or hear any girls giving blow-jobs to any band members. There was an almost beautiful photographer walking around taking pictures though, and I did ask her whether she was interested in snapping me naked. She said no.
Next it was Hui Se Di Dai. I couldn’t remember much too from their performance because by then my attention was distracted by the beer at hand. Most of the people there weren’t drinking so I was very afraid someone would sneak up to me and snatch by beer away. In the midst of looking out for the scavengers, I did notice there was a chick playing keyboard for the band. I wouldn’t mind sharing my beer with her. I might even get some later.
After half an hour or so of hearing some teenage angst whining, it was finally DDA to bring the house down. Don’t be fooled by the hype that I am trying to create; I am only interested in them because I want to hear how bad they are. Much to my dismay, the band didn’t play their usual Mogwai influenced post-rock set but some Rastafarian meets post-rock kind of jamming session. Interesting, but boring. There wasn’t enough inter-change of chords and layers to create a whole intriguing scoundscape atmosphere and they are supposed to be this critically acclaimed space-rock outfit. Maybe too much expectation was put on them or it could be the new line-up… NOT!!!
When it was Color My Iris’ (CMI) turn to play, some of the people had left the venue. I would love to think that it was the awful music by DDA but the truth was, the fat lead singer from CMI took up most of the space by not standing on the mini stage as he was supposed to. Nothing to shout about so let’s get on to the final band of the night, Whitelight. From what I heard, this local post-rock band is as good as or as bad as DDA, depends on how you judge DDA of course. They played a few songs and it was annoying after the second song as they all sounded alike. My friends and I got disengaged, so we started talking about the ‘nasi kandar’ beside Kapitan Keling Mosque (http://www.asiaexplorers.com/penang/kapitankeling.shtml). There were no build-ups to their songs and every song they played, they went straight for the killer blow. But I didn’t blame them. Judging from their age, I thought they had to rush through their set to get home in time before their curfews.
To see the glass half full instead of half empty, the crowd was worse than the music. First there was this guy with his Steven Seagal ponytail and jeans or pants hanging almost from his crotch. Since the death of grunge and emergence of The Moffats, real rockers don’t keep their hair long anymore and I couldn’t understand why he think he was so cool with his pants hanging low. Grow up bastard! Only kids wear their pants like that unless you are into this whole new hip-hop culture and you are tying to be the first great yellow rapper. Then there was this weird couple. The guy was wearing a long white shirt with his cuff left unbuttoned, boot-cut jeans and pointed boots. Were you fucking lost you Chinese educated freak?! That was not a gig by F4 or some Hong Kee/Taiwan canto-pop act. And yeah, his girlfriend was wearing a skimpy black dress and she looked dreadful in it with her ‘substanceless’ body; and I think that applied to her brains too. Last but not least, there were some guys trying to be outstanding by wearing rock T-shirts but of ordinary bands. I remembered one guy with ‘Soulfly,’ lame! But the most akward thing was most of the people there couldn’t even afford a beer although it was only RM 5.50 after paying for the entrance fees. At least, they did stay true to their working class status!
The music was not of a revelation at all. There wasn’t anything different, as I would put it. I think the way the people dress there were more of a revelation to me. I didn’t expect crappy people to attend a gig of this nature since the genres was supposed to be challenging. I think many people who attended the gig would this disagree with me or even got their mind blown away that night but let me give you a good piece of advice son. Everything sounds really good when you crank up the volume. Don’t believe me, try your parents’ Boney M!
True to a review I must give my conclusion here. The best band of the night was Hui Se Di Dai. But the most important thing was Wigan 2 Arsenal 3. Long live King Henry!
(as posted by Green Eyed Bob, 21 NOV 2005)
Advertisement
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
