March Mosh in Ipoh: Wee Report
A short review: one of the best shows we’ve played for quite a long while. 11 songs with the new tunes shocking some people for it’s very different nature to the “old” Dung style.
Prior to us getting on stage, F.O.R. played and our singer Alak went stage-diving (even when there’s not much of a stage to begin with!) and so nobody caught him. Alak bumped his head on the floor and was knocked out cold for a good ten minutes. We had to revive him by dousing his face with buckets of iced water.
Anyway he recovered in time for us to play and for him to sing. And he sang all the 11 songs nicely and dandy. Funny thing was, once we were done, Alak said he can’t remember anything, even the part where he was singing! “Did I sing?,” he asked. We had to show him the video a few days later to finally convince him.
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An unfinish review in ricecooker:
Friday evening 26th March: We were preparing to go rehearse at our usual (Bakri’s @ Sri Hartamas), Fendi circled his car around and stopped in front of my house and something dropped out of his car’s engine! What was it? The hell if we know! We all looked at it and scratched our heads. Looked like something that’s usually used for pulleys, round like a ball-bearing holder. Nope, not in the field of our expertise this thing. The car started fine and Fendi managed to drive back to his house in PJ but the plan for us to go Ipoh in his car was no longer viable. Fuck that, lets take a bus instead.
Saturday morning 27th March: It was a Transnasional bus and the ride was a non-stop affair, three hours north but it was comfy and nice. I’ve always liked taking buses during the day, I can catch up on my reading and have my mp3 CD walkman spinning. Fendi and Alak shared a couple issues of Reason To Believe (a very good and regular free HC punk zine from the UK) and my nose was in the glossy, expensive and latest Mojo magazine, reading about the early days (daze) of Velvet Underground, John Cale and Nico.
We arrived in Ipoh a lil over 12.30 noon, and F.O.R.’s singer Faizal was already there waiting with another friend in a Kancil. They drove us straight to the BodySurf Studio, a nice third-floor loft, above a small sundry stall, where most of the Ipoh scenesters would hang-out and rehearse since the mid-90s. It’s pretty well-kept but I noticed that their shelf of local DIY tapes and CDs for sale is not as abundant as before. It’s quite bereft of new stuff, and that’s like a small picture of what’s happening in Ipoh nowadays. There are bands there but not as many as before and there’s less output. But the studio is healthy, the BodySurf kids are doing shows in Ipoh again and that should keep the scene going.
While hanging out at the BodySurf, we called the Kuchalana gang who were driving from KL. Apparently, one of the three cars they were traveling in broke down on the highway somewhere near Tanjung Malim. The engine’s gone totaled due to water seeping into the system and they were waiting for a tow truck under the hot sun. Lucky the bassist’s father-in-law lives nearby, so they borrowed his car to continue on the trip. We sighed a collective relief as our drummer is also their drummer and he’s in one of the cars! And my guitar too.
Right after that we all went to have lunch at a Malay restaurant downstairs from the studio. The place had hot ayam sup with potatoes and I’ve been missing that for ages. The only problem was that they didn’t have anything salty, I mean, I need my telur masin or at least fried ikang kering with my nasi and that yummy sup but what to do? Makan jugakla. While we were there, gradually the congregation grew as we were joined by quite a few kids from around there and also Free Love’s bassist Hana and her friends who traveled up to Ipoh a day earlier. Our bassist Fendi (who’s from Taiping via Batu Gajah) was gabbing with the others about the various dialects Perak has. Yeah, it’s not that terribly big an area but it has tonnes of different dialects originating from Javanese Malays and such; and they’re pretty hilarious words, not that I remember them in detail though.
An hour later we were all back in the BodySurf hangout/office and I had a very brief but refreshing nap. I have this new habit which going to be disastrous on the shape of my belly, and it’s having a nap after a big meal. I’m doing that a lot now and it’s like building up fatty reserves in my body as I snooze with a full belly. Not very rock’n’roll that.
