Next up: A Music Network #3

so November is coming to an end and we have got a new gig next week. quite a queer one because it is held on a workday. a Tuesday to be exact. click jump for more info.

Deathrockstar Hyperreal Movement presents A Music Network #3 

feat. 

Stereocase, 

Dzeek, 

Polka Wars, 

Swimming Elephants, and 

Backwood Sun.

Tuesday, November 29th | starts at 8:30 pm | Hard Rock Cafe, Plaza EX, Thamrin.

"Tales From The Bedroom" & The House That Made My Day

Culture Vulture 2011 is an art & gourmet exhibition that takes place at Desa Kemang - a clustered residences located in the heart of Kemang area - it transformed several empty houses to a gallery each consist of different artists and works. and last Friday Swimming Elephants has been given a chance to play a show at that same event.

the gig is dubbed "Tales From the Bedroom", why? you see, there is a 2 storey house with a bedroom -located on the 2nd floor- facing the center of the establishment, that's where we'll be playing ~ hence the name.

anyhooves, the gig was like this: 5 of us were cramped in one small room with loads of our instruments, and since we are on the 2nd floor, we really cannot hear or see the people down there watching us. so then we just go about playing our songs and talk with each other like it was a weekend rehearsal in Gilar's room. afterward friends said the sound system was not the best, in some songs my guitar is completely muted out, Adit, our manager, tried unsuccessfully to balance out the volume while we were playing and so on. not that it was a disaster, it was just not what we wanted, and it was over much too soon... but i had fun.

and this gig was unique to me because it is actually the first time we play with all electric settings. yes, i, who usually detest electric guitars, (for the most part because they are too bloody expensive, not to mention cartloads of effects that will have you scraped the last bit of your wallet) have been maliciously convinced by Gilar to use one on this gig. a decision i know i will regret for the rest of my life.

also we met some new friends from Polka Wars, -my personal favorite and who in my personal opinion, is one of the best upcoming act today, i have been trying to check them out for a while to no avail, luckily this time we share a gig- and a guy named Paul who bought us drinks and shares his stories about living in Indonesia, music and how he is currently looking for a good stereo and that somebody has advised him to look in Ambassador mall. big mistake Paul.

anyway the gig went well, other bands are great. Dried Cassava rock out as usual, Jetto was entertaining, i enjoyed Polka Wars very much and Space System was out of this world, undoubtedly the best of the night.

1 more thing, in Culture Vulture there is an exhibition house by Eric Wirjanata (Thunderpanda), Isha Hening, & Poppie Mayiesky. i checked their exhibition when we're doing soundcheck. if anything, its worth going to Culture Vulture at Desa Kemang just to see their work. i took, well compelled, to take these pictures when i was there. to Eric/Isha/Poppie if you guys read this, i'm sorry i took these pictures without asking you guys first :)

the house that made my day

Don't tell anyone, but between all the artworks, the foods, drinks and bands, their exhibition was the highlight of my day.

PS: Desa Kemang is located at an alley just beside Panin Bank and across Izzi Pizza Kemang.

-yogas-

Some of Poppie Mayiesky's work

stsitra eht

the legendary Lemi the Space Wanderer by Thunderpanda

Recommendation #2

nice one by dominant legs

- Gilar

Recommendation #1

Loving this new track by Kindness

- Gilar

Holiday at The Office

We've been soooo busy with our jobs for the last few months
but we still have our minds on music
hopefully :)

Ninu's been sick for the last 2 months, he's getting better, though he's in no condition to play the drums until at least November,
April's haunted by deadlines, she hasn't showered for months,
Yogas' basically a one-man department in his office,
Ranggi's recording with his other band,
Saras' busy auditioning male musicians
and I have 16 cats to tend to,
it's madness!

The only musical thing I did in the past few weeks was to play with Jirapah last Sunday.
I got the chance to make some bad ass noises; something that I haven't done in ages, so it's really refreshing.
I'd love to play with them again.

Check them out here: http://www.jirapah.com , a dude called Ken Jenie is the mastermind behind it, he's a really talented multi-instrumentalist, and a pretty tall one too.


- Gilar

September

Dreaming of a lush soundscape
digital and analog noises.
The human voice as instruments
with synths and electric guitars
and the pulsating beats, hypnotising
haunting
gutsy and complex
A departure from the old traditional ways
abstraction of structure
visual
atmospheric and fluid
graceful and majestic,
like a herd of elephants
swimming across the sea.

But before then, it's a ride with this pop machine.
Our melancholic discoveries,
our practice space,
our playground of naive melodies.

- Gilar

Foreign Affair II

Cause de SEAIndie, nous sommes maintenant en vedette dans Tweendie: http://tweendie.fr/news/un-elephant-ca-trempe-enormement. Merci à tous pour votre soutien!! :)


Une traduction google du texte:


"We do not lie by saying that in terms of pop, our references are from the vast majority of North America, the United Kingdom or Scandinavia. But in the era of globalization, it is nice to see the four corners of the world, some very interesting things happen.From Jakarta, Swimming Elephants perfectly embody this breath of fresh air.Remember, in October 2010, we devoted an article to this excellent small label of Southeast Asia: Indie Sea. Today, we provide cover thus offering you to discover their latest release 100% digital and free.Swimming Elephants, the five musicians are beautifully strung Indonesian compositions of astonishing maturity. And once again, the best way you know it is still to discover and Sarah At The Zoo, the two tracks that appear on the above-mentioned EP and we greatly encourage you to download below"

-Jean Luc Gilar

Get On The Low Frequency

Among the many delicious things I got on my wish list is this sweet looking electric bass that I saw on a music web some months ago:

It's a Fender Squire bass, and I know there are lots of people who doubt the quality of a Squier, it being budget conscious brand etc, but I am a poor beginner anyway, so I kinda fit.

My crush is a copy of the classic '50s Fender precision bass; the Squier Classic Vibe Presicion Bass '50s done in butterscotch blonde. It has that light look on it, like it will feel so great when you play it.

Now, before I make a complete ass of myself, I need to let you know that I don't know shit about basses. I can only tell the one that Paul McCartney uses and the sweet Rickenbacker 4003, apart from the very familiar Fender standard basses of course. And as far as experience goes, I've picked one once or twice in my whole life, and played like 2 notes.

Based on this video, I'm liking the sound of it, and hopefully if I like the sound and look of it, I'll be more eager to learn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Cd98DH__U

I used to like the look of the Vintage Modified version of the same series, like this one here:

But when I listened to the sound of it, it's sort of sounded too dark for a first bass. At this point I think I'd need something more wide ranged, even though the combination of that humbucker and the black pickguard is looking super cool.

The reason why I want to own one is because I want to learn how to play it, like I want to learn how to play pretty much everything; the drums, the tuba, the accordion, french horns or even the max/msp thing. Just out of curiosity, you know. And I always get fascinated by the sound of it, like when I see a jazz player playing one, or someone like Paul Simonon. Too bad you can't rent instruments and have them in your home for a month or two.

Anyways, I can always ask Ranggi to tell me if they're actually good for the price or just another piece of wasted wood (he's the real bass player in the band, fyi). And I know I'll have a great teacher to guide me then.

Only one thing left though; I hope I'll wake up someday having the money to buy it, that'll be sweet.

(Up date)

On second thought, this one seems ace!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsuiVj3B9E0&feature=related

- Gilar

Quiet Night in Jatiwaringin

I always favor the heart than the mind in making a song

Honesty above everything

A smart song is great when you listen to it once in a while, or when you want you ears to be stimulated

by something other-worldy, something cool.

But when you're down in the mellow lane or running angry

I bet you that you won't find yourself listening to music like Autechre, for example

You'd prefer an honest song, not much of an art piece, but a simple honest song that can pump the poetry in your vein

Whatever it is, it's gonna move mountains when it's made with honesty and raw emotion that comes out of it.

It's like comparing the blowing wind to, say a hair dryer.  

It's the real thing for me

And I've been avoiding to make something "smart" because your mind is always going to deceive your feelings.

Cover it up with pretentiousness, ambition, vanity

It corrupts you to the point that you go blind of your own emotion

Don't get me wrong 

I love to listen to something that most of us regard as cool,

A lot of my favourite bands are all the geniuses of the mind

They know how to treat a simple sound into a very complex art piece

But perhaps it's because they can deal with it, and they're obviously capable of doing so

Looking at it from a maker's point of view

I don't know if I'm the kind of person that can juggle between the mind and the heart

And stay honest throughout the whole process

I don't want to be pretentious

And I have no other place to go to express my emotions undistorted

A long time ago I said to a friend of mine that folk musicians have more soul than the actual soul singers

Take Dylan or Sharon Van Etten for example,
They don't need to compose a highly complex arrangement that can only be deciphered by scientists and mad sound engineers

They don't have to blow their veins when they sing

They don't have to reach the 100th octave, and turn it upside down

It's not the olympics

But through simple honesty, they get to you in a very subtle way, 

Catch you off guard and turn you upside down

Effortlessly

And you can't underestimate a thing like that

You can't look down on something that can make you go to war

or die in trying to stop one

As uncool as it sounds, but it's the heart that makes us go places.

That, and the bitter reality that is
or a flood or something :)

- Gilar

Foreign Affair

Recently a Thailand-based netlabel called SEAIndie (South East Asia Indie) released 2 of our demo songs through their site; http://www.seaindie.com/blog/?p=2253

They also managed a sweet cover art for it, done by a Thailand designer who goes by the name Sugar Chups aka Sudarat Chuphuakphong.

I guess SEAIndie is a project that showcases artists from the region, that is why the cover design was done completely without our interference, so it's not all about the music. And it's the designer's own interpretation of our songs, which in this case are At The Zoo and Sarah.

It's a great concept I think, promoting bands and designers one single at a time. We are very pleased with the outcome, even though I think that it's a bit too sweet for the rest of our music (which are not featured in the single).

Anyways, big thanks to SEAIndie, (Tan) Isarapan Boonyasoo; the person behind it, and Sugar Chups. Hopefully someday we can perform live there and thank you all personally :)

- Gilar

Kacrut or: so it seems

it was the end of 2009 and a big part of my life change. i'm starting to look at things differently while at the same time i am being introduced to lots of music i have never listened to before. i guess that triggers it, it was when Kacrut was born.

freely translated Kacrut means shitty. and the song is mostly about dealing with the shittyness (read: kacrut-ness) of being a 20-something with all the hope, uncertainty, dreams, restlessness, the nauseating pressure to conform and the realization that we are powerless to change anything... or so i told people.

but i remember when it was a mere sketch, i emailed the guys about the song and the subject of the mail was 'kacrut lagu' (song shitty) and it reads (translated from bahasa indonesia):
   

    "a shitty cut from a shitty song made with a shitty feeling and recorded as is in a
     shitty way"

it was the first version of the song recorded with my old cellphone, the quality was bad and it was waaaay different from the current final version.

maybe i will post it here sometime in the future. just for fun.

after that we started referring to the song as Kacrut and then ended up too lazy to change the title. but in some weird way the title fits and it just stick.

and one more thing, even when i finished written this song, i had no idea the drums would be anything like the way it is now. it was all Ninu. partly because i'm too lazy to come up with a drumbeat for a song, but mostly because Ninu is good. (the same goes with Meadows and Pillars of Sand - other songs i wrote)

 - Yogas

The Right Stuff

I've been wanting to change my effect pedals for so long now
Don't know if the rest of the guys are planning to change or upgrade their gears as well

Saras got her Q Chord, a subtitute for my old and frail Omnichord
April is pretty happy with her classic Yamaha PSS 590, although lately she's been wanting to buy a real synth
Yogas upgraded his acoustic guitar,
Ranggi is having some kinda noise problem with his bass, the last time I heard

Anyways, if I have some money, and I'm not talking about the amount to buy vintage amps and guitars here, I'd love to simply upgrade my overdrive and distortion pedal.
the ones I have are too safe for the kind of sound that I'm after.
I used to think that, putting aside guitars and amps, the key to a great sound is through modulation.
For some cases it is, but the more I play, the more I realise that- other than being absolutely clueless and unskilled, I also don't really like playing my guitar with too many layers.
I like it oldskool and raw, but with plenty of reverb of course, and not too much wizzies and zappies; modulation and shit.
I used to love the idea of it, but now I'm beginning to think that those stuff are best reserved for synths.I might change my mind again of course, when I need to.

Fuzz pedals are interesting too, especially the wild and uncontrollable ones,
I'm always attracted with things of that nature, I don't know why.

- Gilar

Autoplay

Lately, everytime I play the guitar, I'd play it with this certain style, like somehow someone switched on a default button, it's quite annoying.

Give these inexperienced fingers their freedom back!

-Gilar

Moonsa

Moonsa is about that point in your life where you had enough, and you want to start over, and you want to fight for all of the times you've wasted, and at the same time you're taking a positive approach towards it, so it's not all clouded with rage, not at all actually.

I was beginning to think that the big joke was getting a bit too far. It was getting sad and pathetic.
At the time I found myself being part of the cattle herd; getting stuck in traffic jams, day in day out, wasting my time at the office, doing something that means nothing to me and to the bigger part of the society.
At first it was okay, cause I was saving up to buy instruments anyway, but then it started to dawn on me; what if I'm gonna be stuck with this bullshit until the day I die?

It always intrigued me you know, I mean, isn't it enough already that 900 billion people are doing the same thing since the beginning of time? Just to survive this life; get a degree, work in a bank, get married, have children, and then see your children doing the same thing all over again? While at the same time, you know that no one can ever escape death, not even your children. Is there such thing as total security?

I don't know if we're just looking for distractions or if our happiness really depend on material things. Not that I give a shit, but this country is seriously turning into a nation of consumers. Do we feel secure the day we have that dream car? that dream house? that dream paycheck? are we sure that we're not chasing after another nation's dream?

- Gilar

Act Local, Be Indonesian!

That's just the same as having a major label producer telling you to "wear leather jacket!, act tough!, like a bunch of misogynists...missing their bus ride home!".

Not speaking on behalf of the group here, but what does it take to be Indonesian?
To write your lyrics in Bahasa?
To talk about politics? Corruption?
To talk about the poor?
How you love banana trees and hate the traffic jams?
I'm way pass of being critical
Tired of complaining about the situation
I just wanna escape all that.
Can I have, at least this music as a mean to escape all that?

To be pretentious is the last thing I wanna be.
And I don't even walk this city.


- Gilar

Tracking Beam

Aloha people,

3rd times in a row now, I'm gonna make this blog as healthy as a cow on a death row.
Anyways, I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a friend of mine, he asked me, where are you in the world of the local music scene?

I laughed cause it sounded like an interview, but then I said I have no idea, I think I said, that even if we belong to anything, I want us to be on the good side of it of course, the side where they make music because they need to, as opposed to use it to justify anything about themselves. I hope, that we have nothing to proof to anyone.

But then again, everything about this whole thing is somewhat borderline ridiculous and unbelievably serious. I personally, don't know where we are at the moment, or if we ever need to know.

- Gilar

No Signs of The Pianist

Recently I re-listened to our old demos that we did like a year or so ago, and I realised that we have grown musically since then, and I'm talking about our progress since '08 or around that time.

Some of the people- and there aren't many of them, who have listened to our demos would usually think that we're somekinda flowery-pop-powdered-candy-in-your-eyes band, especially if they only listen to Sarah and At The Zoo. The truth is, even though we do play pop music, but if you expect that the rest of our songs are going to be Sarah-like, well, I think you're gonna be disappointed.

We're not musicians- except for Ranggi our bass player, and what I mean by us not being musicians is that we don't have the ability to create similar things in successions, in sound and also perhaps in spirit, you know, the thread that connects all of the songs; somekinda aural unification of the patterned / chaotic noises, whatever that means.

I guess that's because we like to keep things natural, we never pre-meditate our sound or talk about it (with the exception of now) and our sound, our style, take form as we go along, I guess, as we improved musically and mentally.

We don't have any control of the things that we're going to create, well at least I know I don't. The songs are going to reflect on how we felt at the time. There's no formula, no blueprint, no genre restraint, all there is just emotion and limited musical skill.

I guess with us, is that we're dictated by the songs, and not the other way round, and that means we'll be suprised too.

- Gilar

Anyone There?

Aloha people,

Seems like it's been ages since our dear friend Enggar updated this blog.Well, she's away now, working for Medecins du Monde in Papua, and she won't be back until next year. We all miss her, she's been with us since day one, and even years before that.

Anyways, I'm gonna update this blog for now, and probably the rest of the guys will join me too, but until then, you can enjoy my ramblings.

Right, what to write then? I guess it's easy to complain but I'll try my best not to. I'll start with our progress I guess, something positive and hopefully not boring :)

Songs, do we have any new ones? yes, at this moment we have 1, 2, 3, 4...about 10 songs, all sketches with clear forms. We actually have around 30 something-songs but they're all currently far too raw, anyway, here's our list so far (plus a quick description on each if you don't mind):

1. At The Zoo - this is the first song that I 'discovered' for Swimming Elephants, well, back in '08 there was no band at all, it was just me, Ninu and Yogas, trying to do something over the weekend. It's about my life in Melbourne, perhaps a tiny part of it. I remember that when I discovered it, I was frustrated because the strings on my electric guitar broke off, and it's a big deal since I couldn't tune a guitar, or anything, even until now. So what I did was I put the guitar away and looked for something else, something that doesn't require a tuning, that's when I found my Dad's old keyboard. It's an old crappy Yamaha designed for tone deaf kids to play around with (that's me). That's the first time ever I actually 'played' a keyboard; I found the basic notes for the song with 4 fingers - I was like an idiot.

After having the basic notes- still far from having a song, Enggar came to my house, listened to the sketch, gave me some suggestions, and then voila, my first so-called song was made.

2. Sarah - this was 'found' when my keyboard-playing ability have improved a bit (from 4 fingers-playing to a full scale 7!!) This song is actually about 2 things, the melody is about one thing, and the lyric is about something else...I told people that it's about looking for an idealism that you once had when you're young(er) but then for some reason you lost it as you grow older and you want to acquire it again, all that represented by the search for this Sarah girl. While on some level it's actually the truth, I better keep the other truth concealed for now :)

I was born in 1984, but that doesn't have anything to do with anything...

3. Paparap - this one is a satirical song about being old and lonely. I found the basic notes while listening to Ninus' drumming. It's a spontaneous thing; he played this interesting beat one lazy afternoon and it just triggered me to play a certain rhythm that would become the base of the song.

4. Kacrut - Yogas wrote this one, I think it's about life being overrated, but he can tell you more about it later ( I don't want to guess and make a mistake :P)

5. Meadows - Yogas wrote this one too, I don't quite get the song as in understanding the lyrics in it's entirety, but I do get the emotion. Anyways, he often said that it was meant to sound different than the version that we have now, but he's quite happy with it. He might tell you about it later.

6. Battle - Hmmmm, all I can tell you about this one is that when I discovered it, the guitar playing was different than the version that we have now. It was finger-plucked, not strummed and sounded more folky. I guess you can tell what it's about from the lyric, it's pretty obvious (not that you know or even heard about it anyway haha :D)

7. Night Park - The version that we often play nowadays is actually the second version of the song. When I found it the first time, it was so fast and somewhat intense, I don't know how to explain it, but we almost abandoned this song until one day Ninu was (again) playing this certain beat and I started to play the same notes but based on that beat. After I adjusted the sound, I changed the vocal melody and then the song was made. It's about doing what you're born to do, instead of just trying to survive.

8. Digicam #1 - Still a working title, I haven't written the full lyric yet for this one, and still working on my guitar part of the song. It's about being honest I guess, with yourself.

9. She Ocean - Found this after learning about the 10 basic jazz guitar chords through a Youtube tutorial ;P For now the lyric is quite morbid, I don't know why, but the version I have is about helping your lover to die. I'm still not sure if that's what the song is about, I might change the lyric later on.

10. Pillars of Sands - Another great song by Yogas. We haven't played this one on stage yet. And I'm still not sure what the song is about, he should tell you more about it later. What I can tell you is that it's quite atmospheric and kinda breezy...

Okay...seems like I got the amount right. It's half past eleven now and I better go to bed because I have to wake up so early tomorrow, it's gonna be the first day of Ramadhan; the muslims fasting month, and I'm way past my bedtime. Hope I don't bore you with all these trivial things, just wanted to let you know that we're still here :)

Oh yeah, one more thing, we're planning to have 12 songs (that's 2 more songs to go) ready this year to be played live and recorded, we're thinking of making an album...you know, just a little something to tell our future kids about before they go to bed (or when they start to think that they have boring parents) :)

Saras might come up with a song or two, or somebody else will perhaps, we'll keep you posted.


- Gilar

The upcoming gig: Goethe House

Aloha people, we'll be playing at Kunokini's European tour fund raising concert this Sunday (12/06) at Goethe House - Jl. Sam Ratulangi no 9 - 15, Menteng. Starts from 7pm till 10pm. 
There will be other great performances by Bubugiri, Ras Muhammad, Leonardo, The Trees and The Wild, DJ S-Tea, and Shivanataraja. 
The ticket price is IDR 50.000, and limited for 300 seats only, so be quick! :D
For ticket information please call Rizka (081585688011) or Ratri (08568940824)


~ enggar paramita. 

Gimme 5-ed with April and Saras

This time, the girls were gimme 5-ed by Dinda from whiteboardjournal about their favourite travel destinations

~ enggar paramita. 

The Upcoming Gigs

It’s an exciting week for us, not only because the working days are short, but also because we're having gigs on Saturday and Sunday :)

• Saturday (04/06) 8 pm, at the opening of Sugar High; a new dessert heaven for sweet tooth - Jl. Abdul Majid No. 99D Kemang Selatan 
• Sunday (05/06) 5 pm, Dried Cassava's album launch 

~ enggar paramita. 

Gimme 5-ed with Yogas

Back at the Nylon Music Festival, Yogas was gimme 5-ed by Ken and Dinda from whiteboardjournal about his favourite films. 

~ enggar paramita. 

Bumi Bernyanyi

Hey guys, we'll be playing this Sunday (22/05) at Bumi Bernyanyi, together with The Trees and The Wild and Erik Indarto.
The venue is at Moose Believer (Jl. Bumi no.44 Mayestik, in front of Heyfolks Shop), starts at 3 pm, and no entry ticket needed :D

ps: you probably don't know this, but it's gonna be acoustic. ehm, you don't hear it from me :p

~ enggar paramita. 

Swimming Elephants at Music Alliance Pact May 2011

Hello!
Thanks to deathrockstar, last Sunday (May 15), our song Sarah was featured on Music Alliance Pact May 2011, along with other great songs from 35 countries!
Yay!

~enggar paramita 

Swimming Elephants at Deathrockstar Session

Had Eric interviewed the band for deathrockstar podcast.
The session was so silly, all we did was laughing.
Anyway, check out the interview here

~enggar paramita 

Gimme 5-ed with Whiteboardjournal

Ken & Dinda from whiteboardjournal interviewed Gilar for gimme 5-ed section

~enggar paramita 

Nylon Music Festival

So last Saturday (May 7), Swimming Elephants played in Nylon Music Festival. It was our first experience having a stage that big. We were excited and nervous at the same time.

Anyway, this is what Gilar thought about the event:

The Nylon gig was quite disastrous, in a way. First of all, our Omnichord died on our first song (even though it came back to life again). Secondly, the volume levels for everything were all messed up. And finally, eventhough sometimes we like them, but we got unwanted feedbacks when it was supposed to be gentle. We were told that the nature of the venue was a bit difficult to tame, not to mention that we have like an acoustic guitar, 3 keyboards and 5 mics that were all drenched in reverb. So we thought; okay we’re gonna have some serious feedback problem on the stage, we can live with that, but it turned out that we got more than just that. It was a battlefield, and we were massacred. 

There’s a little story about the playlist as well. We were supposed to play At The Zoo that night, but at the last minute we decided to play Battle to open our set. It worried us cause the song needed an electric guitar and I didn’t try mine during soundcheck - and last minute changes might lead to a technical catastrophe. Anyway,  the song is one of our oldest, and we rarely got the chance to play it live. So I guess when we saw the size of the venue and when we found out that the sound system was one of the best in town, we knew that we had to play it. Nobody knows when we’ll ever encounter a venue that big again - so we took the risk, and it turned out that it was the right decision afterall.

The most important thing was, we got to share the stage with 10 great bands, and that was quite a something for us. For us who are not musicians (except Ranggi perhaps), to take part in a music festival and surrounded by all these talented people are not something that can happen at least twice in our lifetime, so it was kinda unbelieveable. There’s also this sense of togetherness, it’s cheesy I know, but it was quite overwhelming and we won’t ever forget it. It felt like we were taking part in the beginning of a new wave, and the line ups were just the tip of the iceberg.

We made some new friends too; the guys and girls from Nylon, Ken (Jirapah) and Dinda from Whiteboardjournal, Eric from Deathrockstar and many more, and we had some fun. All in all, setting aside all of the technical issues, we felt so honored to be part of festival, and at the same time we also felt dwarfed, and in the context of what that night meant to the local music industry in general, it's actually a real good thing. – Gilar Di Aria

waiting for soundcheck

our friend ruddy hatumena, who helped with band's documentation

*photos by me and captured from videos by ruddy hatumena 

~enggar paramita 

last rehearsal for nylon

si ucing garong

~enggar paramita. 

in their own write

Saras, Rizki and Gilar each wrote a little something about me, I guess they wanted to introduce me to you guys, which is kinda odd, but anyways, here it is (and I swear i didn't pay them any money :P):

"If Swimming Elephants is an organized crime family, Enggar would be our consigliere. She's been with us since we could barely play instruments (not that we can now), and has always been so critical and supportive about our musical thingy. She's one of those people who -apart from our moms- made us believe that there's something between the silly pop-noises that we made. We always play her iPod whenever we travel together -we trust her taste, and she made us trust ourselves".  -Gilar Di Aria-

"Enggar adalah suara nalar di antara kebodohan tiada akhir yang dengan sotoy-nya kita sebut sebagai proses kreatif. Itu, dan penyebar racun cong nomor wahid". -Rizki Yogaswara-

"In every a to z of Swimming Elephants, there's a touch of Enggar Paramita. Nobody takes care of us troublesome brats better than she does". -Saras Juwono-

nylon music festival

Hari Sabtu ini (7 Mei 2011) Swimming Elephants berkesempatan untuk bermain di Nylon Music Festival.
Rencananya mereka akan berbagi panggung dengan band lokal hebat lainnya seperti Roman Foot Soldiers, Jirapah, Shore, Bottle Smoker, L'Alphalpha, Ndeesaster, Angsa dan Serigala, High Time Rebellion, dan juga bintang tamu dari Inggris; Hurts.
Venue yang akan digunakan adalah Epicentrum Kuningan. Perasaan kami semua campur aduk; antusias, nervous, sekaligus senang karena ini adalah kali pertama mereka akan bermain di sebuah festival musik bersama band-band hebat; a totally new experience! And we hope that it's gonna be fun!

Wish them luck!



~enggar paramita 

band photo

i remember that it was a hot day in mid december when we decided to take the first band photo.

previously  we only put one on facebook; a photo of our friend kania and myself holding a camera. on a glimpse, probably people would think that they're au revoir simone-wannabe band (haha!).

within times the band grew musically and got more serious feedback from people. that's when we think a proper photo is needed. 

the preparations were simple, and we used gilar's house for the location. 

it's the birthplace of many of their songs and it's always been the place for the band to do casual rehearsal or just noodling with new sounds. it's where the history began. that is why we thought that it's the right place . 

the photoshoot was about the band playing around with instruments, and them just basically hanging out (oh but this time with  more proper wardrobe, not the usual torn up t-shirt and  washed out shorts :D), trying to recapture their laidback weekend activity that started everything.

you know, i always find it hard to take pictures of people, but this time it wasn't that hard. they were easy to direct, and thanks to the zillion jokes from ninu, i captured lotsa laughs and silly expressions :) 

too bad our bassist ranggi couldn't make it for some reason. so you can only see the five of them in the pictures

ninu, april, saras, gilar, and yogas with the Y figure pose

errr no comment on this

the dudettes

just like one happy dysfunctional  family

~ enggar paramita. 

the first thing out

aloha!
the elephants are now blogging!
and this is our first entry.
pardon the simple lay out, we're newbies in this web-blogging thingy.

it's  gonna be about the band and everything in between: photos, videos, news updates, silly stories, things that we find inspiring, schedules, jokes, well basically everything!

so watch out for our rampage postings soon! :p

~ enggar paramita.