This is the first post, later on each of us numbnuts will write a thing or two about ourselves in relation to music and astrophysics. There will also be a lot of 'I's in the series, so it might be a good idea to have a bucket near you (or just read it before having a meal).
Okay, here we go!
1. A cliche, but my first experience with music was listening to my Dad's CDs. He had this towering cabinet filled with them in his room where I used to sneak in and played all of them in order. They were mainly jazz and pop songs by popular artists like Nat King Cole, Sinatra and his Rat Pack, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel etc, you know, your typical suburban Dad's collection. And when he's around, The Beatles was something that he played more often than the rest on his stereo, it's like on every weekend, so we kinda grew up with their songs, well I guess us and two thirds of the Earth's population that is.
2. Just before I went to primary school, there was this period when my auntie tried to influence us kids with her favourite music. She often brought us cassettes, mainly '80s - early '90s pop music, and taught us how to sing them. One of the most terrifying songs that she had at the time was Tommy Page's A Shoulder to Cry On...yes that song. And I remember that we spent like a couple of nights singing it before we went to bed. I think that's how we learned English for the first time too.
3. In the first or second grade, I wrote my first "song". It was a stupid song that sounded like a national anthem or some kinda hymn or something, cause those were the type of songs that they taught us at school. I remember that coconut and banana trees were mentioned a lot in the lyric (I think it's something to do with the banana field that we got in front of our house back then). The process was kinda similar to now, I "composed" the notes with this tiny little toy keyboard, don't remember if it's a Casio or some other brand, and then tried to come up with lyrics as I went through the melodies again. I have the keys numbered and so I could write them on my doodling book. It was like a secret thing that I had at the time, because making music or pretty much doing anything creative was not a common thing in my family, so it's like this new strange thing, almost felt like doing a crime or being involved in some kinda exciting and yet forbidden cult ritual, I practically locked myself in our guest room and have the toy keyboard set at the lowest volume, so that no one could hear, it was like a real bad ass move.
Well I guess that's enough for now, but worry not because there will be more 'I's coming soon, so don't get your hopes high. Cheers!
Stumbled upon an old video that I made in 2004. It's basically me doing these things that you're not supposed to with a cheap guitar effect and a crappy handycam. Everything was done old school analog, from the audio to the visual. I don't really recall exactly how I did it, I only remember that I made it during the winter that year.
This time, our multi-talented friend Isha Hening came with her own composition, and she was well equipped- she brought her own harmonica. She came with a song that she wrote early in the morning that day, and which we recorded later in the night.
The following day Ninu heard the rough version of it while I played it on the computer, and it didn't take long until he picked up his drum set and asked if he could join us.
The song is called 'Giver', written by Isha Hening, performed by her (vocal, harmonica), me (vocal, guitar, keyboards, bass) and Ninu (drums). The video is made of a footage that she took while visiting England.
One night around late October or early November 2011 I was playing around with my old crappy keyboard while waiting for a text from a dear friend. I stumbled upon a really simple arrangement and decided to record it to see if something else can come out of it in the future. Then the next day I emailed it to a very talented close friend of mine, a motiongrapher, to see what she thought of it. Turned out that she liked it very much that she put it in her visual art project for an exhibition. The audio visual installation was called 'House of The Broken Hearted People' and the artist is Isha Hening.
It's a touching piece or work I think, a rather personal one by her. Having seen her portfolio I thought that she would've done something epic, a showcase of her advanced technical abilities, but this time she abandoned it all and chosen an intimate approach, like showing the naked soul of a machine. Projected in a small dark room with no light at all, she managed to shed some emotion in what's usually a playground of the mind with her digital artwork.
That morning,
February 19th
2012, Swimming Elephants was probably the busiest band in Indonesia (exaggerating). Two video shoots were
scheduled that day, and the videos, well the first one isn’t published
yet (we’ll update you when it’s out!), and the second video is for Whiteboard Journal’s SetList, Vol.02 (have you seen it btw?). Well just in case you haven’t, just click here or see our previous
posting here by Gilar, or just visit www.whiteboardjournal.com and watch the video
there. And while you’re at it, please do roam around all the other sections on their website, I can ensure you that
it's very enriching for the soul! :)
Ok so the first video shoot was finished right at lunch-time (thank God we could have lunch), and although we were sweating
like mad, it was so much fun and we certainly can’t wait to see
how it will turn out! *cross fingers*
P.S : Dear April, can you tell that we miss you?
So, energy flushed, lepek ("lepek" is Indonesian for
sweating crazy like those
people at the gym) and belly empty, we headed to RM Sederhana in Ampera first, where we
(almost) always have our ‘familial’
lunches. There’s no way we could continue without fuel. Mind you,
elephants must eat and they must eat a lot. Fully-fed with plates of coconut milk goods & fat & carb & protein and
glasses of ice teas & juices, we’re finally good to roll!
Chapter 2. Video Shoot Numero Deux
This, my friends, is W_Space. It's where the video shoot took place. Very spacious, equipped with fine lighting & air conditioners (thank God, again), and if you
shout out loud here, the walls would just give you back the right echo. In short, this place is perfect :)
Our set is unplugged, and it’s so much simpler compared
to our full set. Three songs were performed: Sarah, Digicam#2 and Marion. Now, that curly boy on the drums is Ninu (not Ninuk, just Ninu, without the k). And that white striped shirted boy is Heru Admadja, he’s the Director
of Photography of this video. The boy with the hat is Gilar, and the one running
in the background carrying a guitar is Yogas. The right-most
photo is of Ranggi (Renggo) on the chair, grinning. Yes
he’s always all smileys & rileys. This is us waiting while the audio is being
prepped by Rully, the audio engineer of the day.
On the left photo below, the tall dude at the back, that's Ken Jenie, the editor of the
video. You may probably know him under the name Jirapah (the band). For more info on Jirapah, please go here. (You're welcome!) :D
And that on the right is Jan, he’s
always itchy around musical instruments. One time he was having such a good time with my Kenny (my CA-110 Casiotone), that I didn't have the heart to separate the two. lol. This video below shows a collaboration of Ken, Jan & James I (The Omnichord). Notice how soft Jan strokes that Omnichord, particularly on the last stroke haha. Silly jammings every now and then, that's pretty much what we do when we get together. Everybody on this planet should jam together! With or without musical skills, people should just get together and play. I bet the world would be a much happier place that way.
yaw-zah!
I was very excited about this shooting, cause we’re
going to be working with some really good friends. And nervous, like hell, like
always. If you’re a musician and you don’t get nervous before your gigs, do
please e-mail me the tips & tricks to handle such nervousness. I need it bad! I always get cold feet before performing, you know, like those cold feet
people get right before they get married? (so they say, I wouldn’t know, I've never married anyone :p)
But I think the combination of those two dominant
feelings (ultra-excitement & nervousness), have created this drive, this
big determination to just give it my all and not mess it up, and I think my
fellow elephants felt that too. So after around an hour or two, I think we managed to
play quite properly. Well at least that’s what we think anyway. But hey tell us what
YOU think! We’d love to know! :)
Chapter 3. After Partay!
Not so much a party actually, just a wee bit disarraying of stuff every here and there. It's the office's consequence for being so amusing.
Ninu and Yudhis (from Jirapah& Vague & Clatter), rummaging thru Ken’s computer, in an intimate & heated discussion on BATTLES’s “Atlas” lol.
Whiteboard Journal’s office, there’s Jan copying movies
to and fro external hard disks, and our manager Adityo Cahyo, about to depart to
Lawson Kemang for a contract
signing (oh you know, managerial duty ;p)
Yogas cozily sitting in between Playmobil giant puppets. I think it's my turn now!
It was already 7 or 8 pm by then, and Ken, Heru & the rest of
the WJ team were still inside, video shooting Stars & Rabbits for another Volume
of Whiteboard Journal SetList (Stars & Rabbits is one local act that you just can't help but fall for, look them up!). And well after
everything was a wrap (around 9 pm), there was just one more thing to do before we could call it a day: we needed a GOOD dinner. After much considerations & eliminations of other options, Ajo Ramon's satay Padang (Cikajang) finally came out as winner, so straight down there we went! If we seem like we're a big fan of Padang food, that's just because we are. Bon appetite! :D
Thank you to everybody at Whiteboard Journal, it was
a very delightful experience to work with you guys, you bunch of awesome
people! (Special to Nico, Putri, Rully, sorry for not having your photos here, I wasn't able to get too many photos, my bad :| ). And last but not least, thank YOU who is at the moment sparing some of
your precious time to read my rantings. May the force be with you.
