Radio Malaya: A Brief Recollection

I have been meaning to write a review but I think Daryl Goh said it well in his report in The Star a few days ago.

And so what I have here is a list of links for you to check out the images taken by kids and posted on free image hosting pages.

But before that, here’s a brief recollection:

I didn’t see a lot of bands that day. Me and my band (without bassist Fendi) went to KLPac to do soundcheck at noon and saw a bit of Plague of Happiness on stage going through their soundcheck. They were very good.

After Dung’s soundcheck we all went back to my place and I cooked lunch for the boys. A good one too, see the picture here. Went back there at about 4 PM and there were a lot of kids there already, all those we met complained about the tickets already being sold out.

This ticketing issue was the result of KLPac’s misjudgment. I think they thought that the initial 300 tickets reserved were good enough. After all they never had such a “underground/indepedent” music gig indoors at KLPac before, and probably their typically upscale, dare i say, “hi-brow”, musical & theatrical shows usually would not get more than 300 people attending! Maybe.

Anyway, as what we have been talking on these pages (see the comments on Radio Malaya Launch Party announcement thread) and also on the bulletins on MySpace, additional tickets were replenished by KLPac, after much persuasion from the organisers (Bodysurf & Weng). First they added another 200 tickets, which promptly sold-out and later on, after more arguments, another 200. A day after the show I called Myo of Bodysurf/Muck and he said 615 tickets were sold.

As I didn’t see a lot of the bands, as usual most of time spent hanging out with old friends rarely met outside of the venue, I can only briefly touch upon a few performances. The first one I saw when I entered the venue was Missing Chapter and they were good, pretty mellow mix of current sensibilties (bits of post-rock, bits of Radiohead, bits of emo, bits of this and that lah) all mixed up and dished with much passion. Harmacy I had to miss since a friend decided that he should reward me with a drink, so out we went. When I went back in I saw a bit of Kuchalana, they were good as usual but I just don’t like the way singer Mang having that checked shirt tied round his waist, can’t explain why though!

I also saw a bit of Couple, and the whole set by Muck & Muze; all did good apart from the mikes which were actually threatening to zap the singers with rude static. After my band, we had Sgt Weener Arms playing their last show. I’ve always dug the Weeners, they play post-rock but not at all like the usual mopey post-rock, it is more like “math-rock in shambles”, weird structures made with simplistic blocks, without the posey drama and the high-faluting pretensions. The band played two songs, both wrecked by Smek’s guitar going on and off at random. Not the best way to say goodbye at all. I do believe the band needs to have another “farewell” show, this one just didn’t cut it.

And so that’s it. Tonnes of people had fun. I did. I was buzzing with adrenaline all night, even when we went to see Fathul and Rahmat’s exhibition opening at Pelita Hati after the show. But on returning home, i realised that my neck & back muscles were trying to kill me. I suffered three days of whiplash!

HERE ARE LINKS TO MORE IMAGES:

flickr.com/photos/ricecooker
fakapunch.fotopages.com
brilliantyuriko.fotopages.com
wha787.fotopages.com
photobucket.com/albums/c393/em0si
hudayusoff.fotopages.com
chapitone.fotopages.com
jalanrasa.fotopages.com
formydelight.fotopages.com
xosheez.fotopages.com
hellmy.fotopages.com
konspirasi.fotopages.com

Gig pixs mingling with personal ones:

mufizah.fotopages.com
-illuminated.fotopages.com

VIDEOS:

Elisebelle Tears: here
Free Love: here
Furniture: here
Carburetor Dung: here and here