1. You said in an interview that you make music by developing from a simple idea, but it’s harder to work together on a song from scratch together because it’s hard to find the right spark. How difficult it is to find that right spark?

   - El Gusto: I think sometimes it’s just really depending on how you’re feeling that day as well, sometimes it’s really about the mood or if we really got a strong idea that we really want to try kick off with, and some other times, we might get in the studio and both of us might get a little bit tired or blank and we just go home, cause there’s nothing here.

2. But is it difficult to try and create a song from scratch together?

   - Luke Dubs : Not really, it’s also thinking outside the box a bit. It’s easy when you’re doing it everyday, to approach it the same way everyday and sometimes it can be a mistake. You have to come in everyday fresh and thinking in a different mindset. So you then start an idea that is fresh and something that you wouldn’t normally try and it pushes you outside your comfort zone.

3. What do you think of this kind of festival (WTF16) that combines different types of music? How do you see EDM will fit into this scene?

   - El Gusto: I really love festivals that has a lot of different genres. It makes it more interesting for me personally. I like to see lots of different style of music from different areas and places around the world. Sometimes a festival is just one genre all day or for two or three day and it gets a little bit repetitive. I prefer it like this.

4. We see that a lot of EDM artists or musicians like to do remixes of other EDM music. In the past you’ve remixed Flume’s ‘Holdin On’ and Flume did the same for your ‘HyperParadise’. How hard is it to remix another EDM song?

   -El Gusto: I was actually thinking about that the other day. I think remixing is the easiest when you’re remixing a really good song. I feel like it’s easier for me and for us if the original song is a really strong song. But at the same time, remixing a more electronic, EDM song, can be really fun and challenging as well. But it’s really good when you got a strong core elements to work with.

5. In remixing an EDM song, do you aim to make it sounds like a completely new song or just to make your version of the song?

   - Luke Dubs: I don’t think we will ever be going to a remix with the intention that it has to be different or to have our signature. Like we were saying before, we want the song to develope itself and given the freedom to become what it wants to become. With remixing, you definitely want to give it your own stamp. I think it’s kinda cool to be able to keep some elements of the original song, so that people know it’s a remix. You can’t just completely change the whole song. Well, you can. People do that. But it’s kinda cool to just kinda flip it but still have some original elements of the original song.

6. Let’s talk about Frank Ocean for a second. How stressed out are you that his album hasn’t come out yet?

   - El Gusto: I mean common, lets bring it on!

   - Luke Dubs: I’m not stressed at all. I just feel like there’s so much hype and it will be great when it comes. But, just gotta let the man finish the record. There’s just too much people pressuring him. I’m really excited about it. We’re both massive Frank Ocean fans. I can’t wait to hear it. I really hope Frank comes with a really great record. Which I’m sure he will.

7. Last question, what’s your favorite thing to do to beat boredom on tour?

   - El Gusto: Reading is good.

   - Luke Dubs: Reading, listening to music. Sometimes when you’re on the road, you don’t feel like doing anything, it’s good to make yourself do something. Write some music, when you don’t feel really productive. But once you start, it kinda snowballs into something really cool. So it’s good to just force yourself a little bit.

Dried Cassava has been in the industry for over a decade. With over 10 years of experience, it’s safe to say that they know a thing or two about the music industry and market. Now this four piece band from Jakarta are currently in the middle of making their new album. We got the chance to catch up with the band about music, the industry and career, after they took the stage at the 6th Music Gallery on March 12th 2016.

Can you name 5 overrated and underrated musician?

Baskoro: There was a band called Swimming Elephants. This is a trick question! It’s so hard!

Nandie: I once listened to a song from a band called Strawberry Wine but they have not been heard for a while. Then I think Silverchair needs to be bigger, but they broke up so *sad face*

Bana: I think us (Dried Cassava). Well, I think us.

Kago: I think Jojo Mayer, well he’s a drummer.

Kago: I think Dadali band.

Nandie: What is that? Maybe only Tangerang folks know them (laugh)

Kago: They got 20 million view on youtube.

Nandie: Justin Bieber for me. He’s good, but I’m getting sick of him, it’s been years.

Bana: I’ll just say One Direction.

Baskoro: Silento. The one with “Now watch me whip..” It’s a good song, but when I went to his youtube channel and there’s only that one song. So yeah, overrated. Also, because Barasuara are all my friends, so Barasuara is overrated.

Baskoro: This is nuts! The bands are our friends, I don’t feel right about this

Bana: Yes, Barasuara only plays at Java Jazz Festival.

Kago: What do you guys think? Are we (Dried Cassava) underrated or overrated?

Us: Well… underrated, cause you guys are good but lack of hype.

Dried Cassava in 2005 and 2016, what’s been different?

Nandie: The difference lays in time. It’s hard when it comes to time. It was easy to find time back in high school. But now everyone has their own thing. But it’s incredible how we still find time to practice, to prepare songs, for brainstorming. I think those differences will create something different in the end. We hope it’s different but still good.

So when you guys rehearse or practice, do you like to play your own songs or cover someone else’s?

Baskoro: Yesterday, three of us practiced. We used to play RATM or Incubus songs. We practice for about 2 hours and the rest are just for jamming. But we mostly play our own songs.

What song do you cover the most?

Baskoro: All the Small Things by Blink 182

Do you have any embarrassing stories that happened on stage?

Baskoro: There was that time we played intro. After the intro was over I thought we were going to play our new song. So I screamed. That was supposed to be for that new song. After I scream, Kago that was supposed to come in asked “What now?”, but I screamed already. I was so embarrassed, it’s like I was just screaming for no reason.

You guys said everyone has their own thing going on. Have you ever thought about being a band as your full time job?

Nandie: We see ourself as a full time musician, but we’re not dedicated in only this. What concerns me is that if we forced ourself in to only doing music, we’re afraid that we’re forcing something that we should not be doing anymore. So I’m happier this way. When I want to play, I play, when I want to write songs, I write songs. There’s no pressure of having deadline for a new album.

Baskoro: And it’s fun for me to have a career.

Please describe yourself in one word. Not as a band, but as an individual.

Nandie: I am “Alim” (typical good boy). I’m not high maintenance. Straight edge.

Kago: I am dedicated. Maybe because I have a lot of things to do that pushed me to be a dedicated employee.

Bana: Sleep. I can sleep anytime, anywhere.

Baskoro: Mediocre. I always thought I got a lot of chance. But there’s nothing special about me, but I’m happy with it.

Have you heard Kanye’s statement that he’s planning on not releasing any physical album anymore, so he’ll release everything digitally through Tidal, Spotify and such. What do you think about that?

Baskoro: I think that’s fine.

Nandie: I’m an analog guy. If there’s no physical album, it’s just not right. Kanye in terms of business, has some major company behind him. I’m guessing in 20 years, there will be no more physical album. But I’m sure the value of cassettes, CDs, and vinyls will be 200 times higher in 20 years.

When we’re about to release Sensitive Explosive (Dried Cassava’s second album), there was an internal discussion whether we will only release only as digital copy or not. Our label suggest that we only release digital copy on iTunes. But for me personally, there’s something missing if there’s no physical copy, even tough in terms of selling, we don’t really get any profit because a lot of music store are closing.

Baskoro: If market says A, everyone will follow. We make music for people to listen.

Kago: Digital copy makes it easier for people to listen through gadget and stuff not like physical copy that you need to find at a music store. Kanye’s intention is just to make it easier for people.

On your youtube channel, there’s someone asking for your album for free. How do you feel about that?

Baskoro: We’re okay with that. I found someone shared our one album on Rapidshare and Fourshare. As band we just want our music to reach people. We want to get something from this, but we can’t get a lot then it’s fine. Because our goal is to have people listen to our songs and we want to keep playing music. But, if it’s possible, don’t copy it illegally.

You guys are musicians, have you ever illegally download music out of the internet?

Baskoro: I used to download free songs all the time. But since there’s iTunes and youtube, I buy songs from iTunes. But I buy less now.

Kago: I have and still do it.

We are excited about the new album! From their previous albums, we know it’s going to be a great one. Dried Cassava will be playing at this year’s We The Fest. Make sure you check them out!

P.S: The interview was conducted in Indonesian and translated to English by Svana Paper’s team.

Singer and songwriter Jenny Rossander – aka Lydmor – creates music that transports your senses to an ethereal dimension; causing you to lose yourself to the rhythm of her melodic electro-pop tunes paired with an edge of darkness in it’s lyrics. As energetic and quirky in real life as she is on stage, we got to have a chat to this Danish queen of quirk before her first Asian show at the Bee.

We’ve heard about your involvement in the Danish Cultural Institute’s Flikrkus Project, could you tell us more about it? And how exactly would you properly pronounce Flikrkus in Danish?!

Hah! It’s actually pronounced as Fleekush.

It was about 4 years ago when the Danish Cultural Institute were having a jubilee to celebrate their 20 years anniversary. And they started this weird free project, where they rented a bunch of vans and campers and you could use the campers to do whatever you wanted, as long as it’s interactive.

So I basically packed up my whole studio into a van and recorded people. I wasn’t very good at it though. At that point, I just bought my studio and I was still getting a hang of everything, so I would make it ring in their eyes and mix it horribly. But it was a fun experience. And that’s also where I got my name! There was a girl with a flute that they used to call flute mother, so it was there that people started calling me sound mother, which is Lydmor in Danish.

So what’re you looking forward to the most on your Asian tour?

Well as this is my first time in Asia, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Asia itself and to experience the culture here. I’m also looking forward to see how people will interact with my shows. I mean the audience is definitely going to be different than in Europe. So it’ll be interesting!

You did a ‘trust tour’ last December where people could just hire you to play private shows, as long as they pay for your ticket to the gigs location. What inspired it?

I was bored! I forgot to tell my booker to book some shows and nothing was happening in my music at the time. So I didn’t have any shows to play or anything to do and I was so bored! So I thought, “fuck it! If I can’t play any shows in clubs, I’ll just play in peoples living rooms!”

On an impulse, I just posted a video on Youtube saying “hello, can I play in your living room?” and one week later I had 21 gigs in 4 different countries lined up.

It was incredible though. I played to everyone; from big student parties to a group of 3 teenage girls in a living room.

How was the experience playing to an audience of just 3 teenage girls?

It was so weird. I was sitting on one side of the sofa with my keyboard, and they were just sitting there watching me. It was hilarious as well though because they were in their early teens and wanting to look cool, so they would say things like “Oh we always party in downtown with these guys who are older than us.” I think they really wanted me to think they were cool. Hah!

What was your best and worst moment whilst on the trust tour?

The best would have to be in Holland, I spent like 5 hours just hanging out there after I played just talking to people and getting to know the students. It was so warm and everyone was so open!

As for the worst… It has to be when I was stuck in Hamburg central station without my phone. I’m a bit distraught and lose phones very often, and I lost mine then. There was this girl who was supposed to be picking me up, but she was caught in traffic and had no way of contacting me.

There I was, walking around central station awkwardly with my laptop open trying to find a hotspot, being snubbed by all these German people passing by. And when I finally found a hotspot, I needed to receive an SMS to activate it… But my phone was lost. That was such a bad moment.

I ended up having to go into this really seedy and dodgy net cafe to Facebook message her. I found her in the end though! So at least it ended well.

Would you do a trust tour again?

Yes! Since I started touring internationally my calendar is filling up very quickly, but as soon as I have time where I’m not doing anything, I know I’m going to do another one.

Would you come to Asia on our trust tour?

Definitely, but it’d definitely be very expensive for someone to buy me a plane ticket here. Unless it’s a really rich person I guess!

We’ve read that if you weren’t a musician, you’d want to be a movie producer; so what’s your favourite film?

Mary and Max!

Favourite producer?

Lars Von Trier, he’s very dark, but for something lighter, Emir Kusturica. He makes very special, weird movies.

In one of them, the soundtrack is some weird Balkan music with trumpets and tubas, and the whole time, the band is in the movie. So if the characters are in the car, the musicians would be running along side them, and there’s no explanation.

I guess the directors thought that it’d be so weird to have a soundtrack when the musicians aren’t in picture, so they’d just have them in picture all the time.

If we funded you to produce your own movie, what would your movie be about?

I’d want to make a movie about loneliness; it’s such a complicated feeling that everyone tries to hide. And no one wants to appear lonely. Especially now with social media, everyone thinks that “I have likes on Facebook. I’m not lonely.”

I’d like to make it an art film. Not with a lot of dialogue, but with lots of pictures and some nature shots here and there. Something very visual and surrealist. Loneliness in the context of social media.

Could you name us a few Danish bands the world needs to know about?

When Saints Go Machine, they’re so talented. It’s electro-pop synth heaven. And Helmet Compass, my boyfriend’s band. They’re a mixture of psych-rock and house music. Very 90’s.

(Text & Photos : Adeline H)

“Dunecore Stoner Pop” band, Dune Rats brought to the table their eccentric personality along with an abundance of laughter. We laughed and joked around with these guys at The Bee before the nights show with Last Dinosaurs. Here’s what they had to say to our on-the-spot questions.

What does it feel like being in Malaysia for the 2nd time?

Danny: F**kin lovin’ it dude, this is our second time here. We’ve knocked over most continents now so when you go back the second time you just meet the really rad people you see from the first time, added on with way more new cool people! Comparing it to Singapore the kids here are much looser. During our gig last year in Penang, the kids we’re in their leather jackets, Fight dancing and throwing down drinks and stuff. They like to get a bit sweatier – I like that.

Do you guys have a record label? Tell us a bit more on that

Danny: Yea we do. Just did recently, its’ sort of our own record label through Warner. Most people get scared of major record labels, fearing that they’d bone them real hard – which happens most of the time. Well 99.99% of the time. The deal with this label we created through Warner is that we have more creative control.

Brett: Hopefully we manage to pull out our favorite records from bands we’ve met all around the world, and be able to release it out in Australia.

On Facebook it says that your record label is called Dyish as F*ck. Is that what it’s actually called?

Danny: * histarical laughter * It could be. But no, its called Rat Bag Records. We’re fortunate that we’ve played alongside some real cool online casino canada bands.

Brett:That’s probably a bonus to having our own record label, considering that other record labels are f*ckin douchebags.

Danny: You already know that just say whatever they need to say to get you signed to them. We hope that typical mainsteam bands know that we can bone them over. It gives us something to do in between shows and stuff.

Would you say you’re doing this solely for the passion?

Danny: Well yea, we didn’t really want to loose the band side of things. We’re not businessmen. The label side of it is more directed to Maddy, Gabby and all those other guys are more of the wheels behind the entire thing. Our job is mostly to identify the talents we want on the label.

How did you guys form together into a band?

Danny: Well we met at the pub like any other healthy relationship. Me and BC met at a pub and about a year or so later I saw Brett with a broken arm walking across the street and in those moments I knew that I just had to have them in my band.

Australia has a great talent pool for upcoming indie bands, and most of the bands come from the same areas. How is the music scene progressing now?

Danny: Were lucky in a sense that there’s tons of venues. But nowadays DJ’s take over and bands get shut off since they’re not as “profitable” as them. But its cool how the bands still stick together and play their sh*t out because they love it. Central cities in Australia like Melbourne is really spread out. Even with the screwed up laws that kick you out of the pub real early there’s still places you can go to if you know where to go, But a lot of the time if you just head down Chapel Street there’s a ton of venues to choose from. It’s probably why there’s a f*ck load of bands that come. In Brisbane when we started out, Venues weren’t really playing unknown bands. So we pooled a couple of bands together and played at venues till we got sufficient exposure. Like with Last Dinosaurs and us we just jammed together and made something out of ourselves. That’s why every time we travel we’ll definitely know the band if they’re from Australia, Brisbane especially.

These 4 twee-boys are talented, good-looking, and absolutely hilarious; the wet dreams of indie teenage girls everywhere. Well, we got to sit down with these chill guys before their gig at the Bee for a candid talk about their misadventures with law enforcements and fans around the world.

You guys have recently spent some time touring in Japan, how was the whole experience and what did you guys do there?
Sean: We spent a bit of time down south, where Dan’s parents lived. We did some writing there, then we went back up and did a few shows around Japan. There was a mix of number of people in the crowd, one of them had like 20 people, but it was fun overall. And of course Lachlan and Michael got arrested for having a snow fight. Which was pretty interesting.

What? Why did you get arrested for having a snow fight?!
Michael: Well we got arrested in Sendai, up north.

Lachlan: It’s a long story, but it was basically because we were causing a ruckus. And it was the middle of the night.

Dan: And they didn’t bring their passports.

Michael: They were so nice though. Lachlan was in the next room speaking Japanese to one guy and I was in another room with another guy who could speak a bit more English. And he was asking me about my favourite movie and what Australia is like. It was so nice. It was just like a good chat.

While on the topic of Japan, did you play the Japanese version of Time&Place live while you were there?
Sean: No. I honestly don’t know how to do it. I mean, I sung it when we were recording but I was just making the sound of the words. I don’t know how to do it live.

How does playing gigs in Asia compare to playing back home in Australia?
Sean: Similar in some sense, but I think you guys are a bit more crazy. Maybe it’s because we don’t come here often and when we do it’s a rare opportunity. It’s awesome because of the size of the crowd, and if you tour anywhere else, it’s nowhere near as big.

Dan: In Australia the live music scene is pretty good, I mean you can see an international band coming in every fortnight usually. Which I assume doesn’t happen much here, so I guess that’s why you guys are more grateful.

Sean, you’ve said that Hayao Miyazaki animations are a big influence in the Last Dinosaurs sound, so what is your favourite Miyazaki film?
Sean: Yeah, it’s definitely a big influence. We grew up on watching it, and it’s very distinct. My favourites would have to be Laputa (Castle in the Sky) and Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke).

Being “celebrities” and all, i’m sure a lot of groupies have tried coming on to you. So what’s are some pick up lines they’ve tried to use?
Sean: Hah! I think the only ones who have every tried to pick us up are like the guys from the Dune Rats.

Lachlan: The fans can probably read that we’re not the kind of people pick up lines would work with. Either that or we’re not worth picking up I guess.

Oh! But I heard you got the scar on your right eyebrow from a groupie chasing you? What happened there?

(the band bursts out in laughter)

Lachlan: Hmm, how do I say this without being charged. Well, a fan of mine was being a bit… crazed. Like literally a little bit psychotic. I was trying to go to bed one night when she came up to my room. Long story short… I ended up running away. I was getting creeped out and just straight-up left my room.

To give you an idea of the space, it was a really old English building with narrow corridors. The type that you can get lost in pretty easily. Anyway, back to the story. So I started running and I was meaning to bolt down the stairs, but in my confusion I took the wrong door I was in the elevator room instead. When I realised that I was at the wrong door, I turned around, and as I did, she came into the elevator room. And that’s when I panicked.

The door was automatic so it was already swinging shut, but all I could think about was to keep on running. So as it was swinging, I ran straight into it. I was a bit drunk when that happened, but it was still really crazy. There was a pretty big gash on my forehead and I had to go to the hospital to get that sorted and everything.

Did she follow you to the hospital?
Lachlan: No she didn’t. She just stayed the night instead… With us…

Michael: It sounds so horrible even when you describe it. I mean it’s running away from someone while their straight-up looking at you. It’s like a horror film. All formalities drop with that.

Sean: It’s not a pick up line but what she was saying was, “I’m very disappointed with the fact that you guys don’t sleep naked”.

Dan: Oh yeah, THAT WAS SO WEIRD. But she said a lot of weird stuff.

Michael: If you’re reading, hello.

Sean: Actually we wonder where she is now. We haven’t seen her since.

What’s up with the scuba diver on your new shirts? What’s the inspiration behind it?

Dan: Let’s not get into that (laughs)

Sean: Well umm, I was … We can’t be sued, I guess… I was on eBay one day when I saw an awesome design. And well, we “copied” it.

Dan: We “stole” it.

Michael: But we all really liked it and it works because a lot of the new songs on the new album is going to be about water and the deep and diving.

Sean: Yeap, every song has at least one reference to diving or underwater.

What’s the back story with Michael and how did you guys get him to rejoin the band?
Sean: That ones a long story, it just seemed like a good idea really. But we started writing songs together and…

Dan: He paid us $10k.

Michael: I came up to them and said, hey guys, look. I saved up, here’s all my money, take it. Oh no, I’m kidding.

In a million years… What kind of legacy would you guys wanna leave behind?

Dan: I’m not sure whether people will still be around in a million years, but hopefully some people in 50 years time know who we are and they’ll still be listening to our music!

(Adeline Hong)

A couple of weeks ago, we hung out with American dream-pop trio, Au Revoir Simone. While they were enjoying their posh night in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, we asked them about their stories, being a back-up singer for Broken Bells, and even a question about Tour DuPont.

Youve been making music with keyboard and do you want to explore your music by playing another instruments?

Keyboard is an instrument that we know how to play best, so probably we’ll keep making music by keyboard. But from time to time it’s nice to have another instruments, and when we end up to make an album, it’s sort of like a self contained. Like when we end up writing a song, we find all the parts that we need just the three of us. So, we end up not really doing that. But maybe one day.

Do you consider to have a male musician or another female musician for? (laughs)(Laughs) This album we have a boy producer, he played bass guitar, and we also had a drummer. And we also like having a cello. But in general, the keyboard’s sounds can be like a flute, like a cello. So, we don’t really need another instruments in our band. Even sometimes you can make it sound like an electric guitar.

Are you guys a big fan of Tim Burton?
Yeah, we are fan of him. When Heather came up with a name of the band, she was watching those movies.

So, which one is more important for you guys. The lyrics or the melody?
I think it’s different from the three of us. For me the melody hooks or grabs you, like you can say what you need to say with the melody even without the words. But we all enjoy wordplay, poetry, but not so much about reading poetry! (laughs)

Like sentimental poetry?
Sentimental secret poetry.

From all of the music festivals that you attended, which one is your favourite?
That is a really good question. Well, this year we played at Coachella for the first time, and we are actually going because we’ve been touring with Broken Bells, we do a back-up singing for them.

What is your definition of indie and hipster?
(laughs) I feel like they are a little bit outdated. They were fun to talk about like five years ago, but now maybe we need some new words.

We heard that one of your mothers is doing a pro-cycling?
Was it me who talked about it? It’s so funny that someone remembers it! Well, my mom sort of used to work for Tour-de-france, but it’s like the American version, it’s called Tour DuPont. It’s a company and like a big preparation for DuPont, so they sponsored it. And they tour California and tour China. I got to go in one race once in a car, we went before the bikes to clear the road. It was really exciting.

Are you guys into sports?
We do yoga and jogging. And lately we are into hotel room sports. You know, like hotel room activities, we do excersice by watching YouTube videos. Because normally, you can either sleep or excercise. There’s usually not so much time, but we are really good at that. Trying to figure out within your environment, or doing sound check, running up and down the stairs. But it’s not really athletic. (laughs)

Do you have any favorite female vocalists?
Oh, I love Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star and Trish (Keenan) from Broadcast.

Often referred to as the girl in Bombay Bicycle Club, Lucy Rose is breaking out of BBC’s shadow and making a name for herself in the music industry. With piercing blue eyes and a voice that could melt the stoniest of hearts, it’s hard to keep your eyes off this beautiful English songstress. We took some time out before her first gig of the year to ask her some questions over a cup of tea.

As an indie artist who started out recording in your parents home, what are some struggles you faced when trying to break out?

Trying to get noticed sometimes. There are so many artists out there that it’s hard to stand out and to be doing something different. It’s funny, when I was struggling — I thought to myself “I just need to write better songs” to get noticed… Obviously. I thought that if i wrote better songs, it wouldn’t be as difficult. And things would get easier. But even though I’m more recognised today, I’m still in that situation now with the second album coming. So I guess it’s an ongoing struggle. I just need to continue to write the best material i can write, so that (hopefully) more people enjoy it!

At that point of time, did you ever dream of being here one day? Selling out shows in South East Asia?

No. Even when I got an email from my booking agent saying you’ve got gigs in Kuala Lumpur & SG, I thought “This is crazy, i cannot believe it”. Being here is absolutely mad yet it’s very exciting at the same time. It’s one of the amazing things you get when you’re doing music. To be able to travel and see these amazing countries and places. I just feel so lucky. The heat is killing me though. Being ginger, I’m definitely not built for this weather!

As a child, who were your biggest musical influences?

I have to go with my classic favourites. First is Neil Young. He’s pretty cool. I’m actually playing on the same stage as him for a gig in Hyde Park, London this coming summer. Like supporting him. So i’m going to have to try and play it cool. Which I’m sure I won’t be able to do. Another is Joni Mitchell. I love the way that she puts all her emotions in her songs. That was sort of the person that taught me that you shouldn’t be embarrassed about singing about your emotions. Because sometimes it is embarrassing… You think “I shouldn’t be singing about these things”. Especially when I’m live and have to sing them in front of people. But her albums had a real impact on me. And she inspires me to be brave enough to write songs about how i genuinely feel.

Being your first show of the year, if you had to choose — what would be your favourite moment on tour last year?

This is such a hard one! There were so many great moments last year. But if I HAD to choose, it has to be when I played at The Ryman Theatre in Nashville. Everyone who’s big at anytime has played in this theatre. I mean, Dolly Parton’s played there! And that’s one of the most famous venues in America. Plus, we were in Nashville, which in a way was the home of music. Playing there was such a crazy honour. We were there on tour with the band City & Colour. And they were unbelievably nice to us and so incredibly supportive. They were so lovely and would watch our shows every night.

I remember, on our last night with them, they invited me up to do a song with them— and it was so emotional as we knew we were going to say goodbye shortly after. That has got to be the saddest yet best moment on tour last year.

So how’s the recording of the new album coming along?

80% of it is done. It’s pretty much finished, I’ve just got to record maybe one or two more songs. We’re just taking this time out now to do some gigs, try the new songs out and then head home and finish them out. Hopefully it’ll be done by the end of the year!

(Adeline H/Othniel T)

The name Tulus has been quite a buzz this year. Starting with hit single “Sewindu” (Eight Years), the soul singer has just released his second album which also marked his steadier steps in the industry. We got a chance to have a short chitchat with him about bits and pieces of the album, “Gajah”.

Hi, Tulus! Your second album is finally out, how was that for you?
Hello! The process of making the album was not that long; it’s actually been done since last year. However, I had to postpone the launching due to concert and tour schedule. So it’s really been a great relieve it’s finally out. This second album is more personal for me, because here I share stories about my childhood, my family. I also try to explore more diverse topic such as holidays and spirit of creativity, whereas in the first album was almost solely about love. “Sepatu” (Shoes) was the first song that we worked on in “Gajah” (Elephant). As soon as it’s done, we published it digitally via iTunes and aired it on the radio. Because the span between first and second album was quite long, I would like to present “Sepatu” as a teaser for the second album. A hook to keep the enthusiasm. This second album also sounds more cheerful, maybe because that’s how I was feeling throughout that one year back.

What is Gajah, anyway?
The name Gajah has a very personal meaning to me. So here I would like to express my gratitude for all the appreciation and support I have received by letting them know who I am, who I was.

That’s a nice gesture. Afterall, you can only love better when you know better, am I right? Now about love, where do you mostly get your inspiration for your love songs? Is there any best timing to write?
Well, inspiration is always something that is hard to explain. It could came out of thin air. There is no exact best timing to write a song, but it’s usually way easier when I’m savoring the highs and lows of my emotion. The fastest song I created was “Tuan Nona Kesepian” (Lonely Mr. and Ms.), it only took 15 minutes! That was the kind of emotional moment I meant before.

About the song “Jangan Cintai Aku Apa Adanya” ( Don’t Love Me The Way I Am), could it also mean universally, like from fans to their favorite artist?
Well, it’s really up to the listener on how to interpretate the relationship, but I personally wrote it based on my own story. I was in a relationship where I was loved for whatever I do, without critics nor demand. At first it was nice and smooth but as we went on, I felt like we’re going nowhere. We didn’t make each other better. So I want to tell you all that: don’t just love someone the way he/she is. Critic and demand which intended for improvement are essential, so that we could move forward and be better.

How do you compose the music for the lyrics you’ve wrote, can you play any musical instruments?
Not really, the tunes in my head are more like mere intuition and I get help from my friends. I collaborated with most of the musicians from my first album in the music arrangement.

This is very cliche, but how do you define your music? Is there any particular idols you look up to?
I would call my music ecletic, because in the album you can find jazz, soul, rnb, pop, anything! Haha. It doesn’t really matter, though. I listen to a wide range of music, from Amy Winehouse to Mark Ronson. No particular idols, cause it’s too hard to decide!

Do you plan to have another solo concert like the one you had in Bandung last year?
Yes, I do have that plan. The most exciting part about solo concert is the energy I received. In a big concert with several line-ups, the attention was of course divided and unfocused. While in a solo concert, all the efforts and excitement of people who want to see me perform –like how you queue for tickets and come all the way to the venue, I can feel it. I’m feeling your affection, and it becomes my fuel to always give my best.

You really value your listener.
Indeed. I have this fanbase named TemanTulus which has just had their second anniversary, congratulations! I hope they will always have the energy to support me, because it means a lot. It really does. I can only give my best to show them how grateful I am. To put into an analogy, it’s like I am the CD and they are the CD player; I can’t play without them.

How are you going to spend the year 2014?
I am planning to make a music video, do concert tour throughout Indonesia, join music festival, and there are also plans about going across country to introduce my music. Maybe that’s that, not too much so I would still have the time to play! Haha.

Tulus was talking to Dinda Kharisha

Mac DeMarco is a Canadian funny quirky guy with a strange sense of humor. He did things that feels wrong yet he have a heart to apologize for his behavior to his Mum. He is a romantic person, a sweet talker (Kiki is probably will be his last, who knows?!) and a smooth rocker. He”s also a weird skank, and he doesn”t give a shit. We”ve seen him three times last week, so we decided to ask him and his buds some regular stuffs.

How does it feel to have your album receive good feedback from various medias and now you are travelling across Europe and Asia. Did you imagine as a kid that you would grow up and make music, touring the world?

Mac : Feels great. Now we”re in kuala lumpur and people paying us a lot of money nowadays. I get a lot of under aged fans now, which is pretty strange and weird but also good. I’ve known I wanted to do music for a long time, ive been doing music since I was 15/16 and at one point I thought I was gonna be a loser if I didn’t go to university, everybody’s going to university but then I started playing shows all the time and I told myself look at those fu**** jokers going to university. I’ve always wanted to do music but it never seemed like a good idea, but now it seems sort of like a good idea but its still not the best. Whatever, who gives a sh*t anyway.

You’ve been complimented as quirkier version of John Mayer, with a cool taste of music to go with not having many conventional celebs in your inspirations list. How d’you describe yourself in terms of your music taste?

Mac : Like Bruce Wayne, half man half myth [Batman voice]. Nah, I’m just here to write some lyrics and have fun. I do have some conventional musicians in my inspirations list, maybe not John Mayer/Rick Johnson. If you ask me I gotta love the Beatles. Rock & Roll baby! I’d give it to him that motherf**ker can shred though.

Tell us how did you get into Captured Tracks? Did they find you or did you find them?

Mac : I’ve been recording years and years before I ever ran into Captured Tracks. I was with a couple of record labels before that and yea they helped a bit here and there but not as much as Capture Tracks did. With Capture Tracks it was funny. I’ve been touring round the states, meeting kids and yada-yada but I met this kid in Lexington, Kentucky and he ended up moving to Brooklyn. He worked with the guys that owns Capture Tracks record store (Mike). Before that I did put my sh*I up on Myspace, Bandcamp or whatever but it was when my song played at the store, and Mike came in and heard it playing and was like “What is this”. Then I got the weird e-mail from Capture Tracks. Kinda worked in a weird way. I did try to send it out to labels but I mostly sent them out to blogs because I was like ‘I gotta get famous out of this one’ so I mass send em’ out to blogs but it never really works though, they get so many dumb e-mails like that. The plan was pretty stupid. The thing I realized with the whole ordeal is that like, who gives a f*ck anyway. Don’t make the f*cking music if you just wanna put it on blogs. Who gives a sh*t. There you go.

You’re notorious for you wild on stage behavior. You’ve gotten naked on stage once even. So is there anything at the top of your head that you’ve wanted to do on stage that hasn’t been done yet?

Mac : It’s not really about what I want to do, because I’ve never wanted to get naked on stage. I’ve never wanted to do any of these things but they just “happen”. Even the cover sets in our shows, it kinda just happens. We didn’t casino really sit down and decided to cover these classic rock songs. I did have one thing I’ve always wanted to do on stage though, which is take a full piss but my friend Trevor beat me to it at our show in Montreal a couple of weeks ago. He was in his underwear on stage and took like a full-blown piss on stage, a full piss. I’ve always thought that would be really funny but, he did it. He took a piss in front of a thousand people in his underwear. It’s f*ckin weird.

Since that’s been done, what else do you have in mind?

Mac : Drinking a donkey’s cum would be really tight but I don’t know, the thought of blowing a donkey. It’ll be pretty cool if a donkey came in from the roof slowly declining down. Okay, this is how it would have to go. I’ll start with a whaling falsetto while the donkey comes down, already erect and his d*ick just comes in. Yea that would probably be it.

You’ve stormed the Canadian music scene off late. Does Canadian music inspire you to develop your music?

Mac : A lot of Canadian bands do, there’s a lot of great Canadian bands but the great ones are not the ones anybody from the rest of the world would know. I’m not going to bad mouth anybody but the side of music where the giants are is not where I feel like we’re a part of and most of our friends aren’t really a part of. Its weird, the Canadian music industry is weird. There are giant bands and there are really little bands. There’s no middle ground.

So if you could describe the Canadian music scene in one sentence, what would it be?

Pierce : P*ssy Lickin’ Fun.

Mac : That’s great actually yea, or if you want something less explicit I’d say…pretty close to The States.

You apologized to your mom because she saw your video on Youtube. What crossed your mind when she did and did you expect her to see it?

Mac : Yea, she listens to my music. At that point I already apologized in real life, it just gave me something funny to write about. It wasn’t even her that got so pissed off, it was my Aunt that was freaking out. I just thought it would be funny. I don’t think anybody would take that apology seriously. They’d probably take it as some form of bullshit.

You’ve once said in Fact Magazine that you feel as though you have the same effect on young adolescents like Weezer did in the 1990’s. Does Weezer have an influence to your music?

Mac : I like Weezer but I’ve never actually sat down and told myself “Yea im gonna write a Weezer song”. I enjoy Weezer for what it is though its never been something I wanted to emulate. Weezer for me when I was going up was big. Kids all round we’re like “Man this band is cool” but I’ve never actually seen them live. Young kids do treat us like that. They’re just like “Yea! Party boy!”.

 Are there any particular names whom you’ve been dreaming to collaborate with in the future?

Mac : Yea, definitely. Ryuichi Sakamoto, Shuggie Otis, Michael McDonald, Donald Fagen, Bruce Wayne and Bruce Willis. Yeap that’s about it. Bruce Willis will play the harmonica on my next song, check it out, coming out soon and its going to be called “Daddy’s Day Dream”.

When I listened to his albums this summer, first thing in mind was these albums were definitely worth listen. But to be honest I was never really interested to know who is him like in person, I’ve always wanted to surprise my self when it comes to relating music to its creator, let-the-tracks-speak-for-itself kinda thing. We’re about to see him at Pitchfork festival this year but reality brought us back home, so when we knew his doing Asian tour, we just have to see who’s Mac.

We’re lucky enough to be able to review some cool festivals around, including Clockenflap Festival this year. Mac was one of the line ups on the last day, so one thing we’ve noticed was this guy likes to blend with the crowd. After their Hongkong trip, they played in Bangkok, where he and his band buds learnt how to differentiate lady boy with a regular girl.

So, last Saturday night we arrived at Home Club, Singapore when the two Kiwi’s Carb on Carb played their rock setlist, they just directly heated up the stage on the first place. Not long after them 4 piece Filipinos indie band, Bee Eyes, went up stage with their fun rock songs and a bit of pop and slacky style, loosened up the crowd. Consisting of guitarists Julius and Idris, along with drummer and bassist Miguel and Diego they played “Someone Else”, and provide what “The Best Band In The Philippines” had to offer.

Bee Eyes was pretty much impressed us, but since we were excited to see the guy who sings “Ode to Viceroy” we put down our beers and straight to the front stage. Ok not that front, but front enough to have the opportunity to touch his butt (d’uh!). We were totally amazed by how sweet his songs are, yet how crazy he is in real. The only thing on my mind was who the fuck is this guy? Mac alongside with his (also) talented band buds, Pierce McGarry (bassist / Walter TV and weird video maker), Peter Sagar (guitarist / Homeshake) and Joe McMurray (drum) totally introduced us to the wilderness of Canada. Remind us again where the heck Drake comes from?

The setlist was pretty much the same as in the festival or other small gigs like in Bangkok. Which is very nice, it gave the impression that he doesn’t differentiate the crowds. Starting with “Cooking Up Something Good”, continued with “The Stars Keep On Calling My Name”, “Rock and Roll Night Club”, “Ode to Viceroy”, “Annie”, “Freaking Out the Neighborhood” and making funny jokes (while trying hard to make the crowd go wild) with “Baby’s Wearin’ Blue Jeans” and did his thing by crowd surfing in the middle of “Still Together”. The Gig was pretty much chilled out rock n roll night. After the gig we had the chance to chat with the bands. So might as well say saturday night well spent!

Not much different with Singapore, when we headed to The Bee, in Kuala Lumpur. Just face it, nobody likes Mondays. It’s always a day associated with stress, anxiety, and fatigue but this monday wasn’t just any ordinary monday. After our interview with Mac and his buds, we knew today will be the day where fans of Mac DeMarco can remember as the night where they can go back to the rock and roll night!

Bee Eyes was also opening for Mac DeMarco that night. After an eight song set, Bee Eye’s gets the crowd to let DeMarco know that they’re ready for him. And from the moment DeMarco and the band walked up the stage we foresaw the show to be as raw as possible. “We love rock & Roll, and we hope you do too” professed DeMarco to greet the floor. He unhooked the barrier lines and called forward every soul in the room to move up (not forgetting to smoke in the midst) and start rocking to “Cookin Up Something Good”, this time “Rock & Roll Night Club” came next, with an end unexpected to all. Pierce wrapped up the song with a screamo-ish spinoff, engulfing our inner rock demons to claw out. 3 songs in and it’s already a floor-quaking show. DeMarco loves his casual intermissions between songs to interact with the floor, or call it smoke breaks even, they even dedicated the next song to the couture brand, Dolce & Gabbana. Gracing the band with “Ode to Viceroy”, Lead guitarist, DeMarco shreds an intense guitar solo, one of many at least. Jumping across the stage and kneeling down, emotion is well apparent throughout the set.

After playing “Annie”, the venue became an open mic night. DeMarco decides to “Shake it up” and pass the mic to someone in the crowd, singing along to “Stairway To Heaven”. By this point it was like being in their very own garage chilling together drinking beers listening to their music. The lack of boundaries gave the opportunity for the crowd to interact with the band with freedom. “My Kind Of Woman” followed after, relaxing the crowd while they sing to every lyric.

Climaxing the show with “She’s Really All I Need” meshed together with an electrifying guitar solo emulating the greats. From here on, it was full on rock and roll, but with a twist. Pierce announces that there were only two songs left, evidently lying. Stirring things up and not following the rule book is just their style, not to mention the extensive swearing to cherry the feel. Stringing together his song together with a cover of Status Quo’s “Takin’ Care Of Business” slyly changing the lyrics from “You get up every morning/From your alarm clock’s warning” to “Wake up in the morning/Suck my dads cock”. Jumping from Limp Bizkits “Break Stuff” to The Beatles “Blackbird” to a heavy metal scream of “Stairway To Heaven”. It didn’t make sense, but it somewhat did because the audience was just into the whole ensemble reciprocating DeMarco’s humor. Whatever you’d expect to see at a gig is present, but twisted in all sorts and shapes to DeMarco’s liking, ending his set crowd surf during “Still Together”

Justifying DeMarco’s statement at the start, we do love rock and roll. Infused with his slackery, sloppy style of music. He just bled out effortless charisma and charm, turning this not-so-ordinary Monday to a raw, interactive massacre of fun.

By the end of the days, we know now there’s something noteworthy about Canada besides Ryan Gosling, Robin Scherbatsky and Chuck Hughes.

[Text: Dorothy/Zafran. Photo: Dorothy/Kristy Chong]

Carb On Carb is Nicole and James who met a few years ago in 2009 along with their friend’s Giles Thompson in Wellington band called Mammal Airlines. Not long after Mammal Airlines went on hiatus, Nicole and James decided to carry on playing together as Carb on Carb’s, which influenced by popular culture from three different ages and generations artists.

We saw them performed live last weekend as the opener for Mac DeMarco at Home Club, Singapore so we decided to dig more about the band and their Asian touring.

Tell us a little bit about the history of the band- how Nicole and James decided to make music through something called Carb on Carb?
We used to play together in a band called Mammal Airlines where I (Nicole) played drums and james played guitar along with our friend Giles who also played guitar. I joined by lying that I could play the drums when I hardly knew the guys at a festival. After that band was put on hold, we decided to form a two piece and swap instruments. I had music I had written after my high school band broke up sitting around so we tried some of those songs first. We’ve been playing as carb on carb for around 2 years now!

As a new young band, what do you think about music nowadays back home? and what influence you the most when making music?
We are really lucky to have come from New Zealand, even though its a very small country, the music scene is amazing and very supportive of young musicians. James and I have both been playing in bands since we were 14 and have been very lucky to play with some of our favourite bands from New Zealand. The people we meet and the bands we get to play with really influence our music. We learn a lot from our friends in bands and share music through them, resulting in a communal music scene. We like to tour a lot so we are constantly being exposed to different bands from around the world and meeting new people who always have something different to offer for inspiration!

Have you ever counter strange situation / crowds / environment while on tour?
The China tour was a big culture change to New Zealand, at one of our shows a group of very drunk men kept heckling us in Mandarin and coming onto the stage taking the mic from us which was really confusing and hilarious, they looked like the mafia so we tried to be as friendly as possible…

After your Eps (Ladies Mile and No Body Perfect) have you decide when are you going to make studio album?
We plan to write and record a new album next year but will probably do it DIY, as with our eps we record most of it at home and mix and master it ourselves.

Stay tune to hear the next Mxitape Monday made by them next week!

We couldn”t hide our excitement when we found out Upfront presented The Cribs for the first time in Kuala Lumpur. Following our excitement, we caught with Gary Jarman to dig more about their upcoming “Payola”, hidden stories about the album, and the band”s latest work with Johnny Marr.

So Gary, this would be your first time in Malaysia. After being around south east Asia, Thailand and Singapore earlier, how does it to feel to make your debut live performance in Kuala Lumpur?

Gary : It”s an obscure feeling really, its real overwhelming to realize that our music has travelled so far in the last 10 years. Getting from England to Malaysia is a real long distance, and I honestly don’t know any of our friends that’s gone to this part of the world. It’s surreal. Honestly I don’t even know how the show tonight is going to turn out and we don’t even know when we”re going to come back. I guess we just want to leave a good impression with our fans wherever we go. We play every show like its our last and its as real as it gets.

Recently, the band has released the latest album ‘Payola’, which means an illegal practice of payment in The American music Industry. So what came about for the thought of this name? Is there a message you guys are conveying to the public?

Gary : There isn’t really a deeper meaning behind it, just because y’know. It just fit.You guys looked up the reference, it means what it means.

Johnny Marr once said that you guys are amazing musicians. How was it like working with someone of his caliber? Did it feel more fun in opposed to be pressuring to work with him? Johnny also said that the Cribs would be the last band that he’d be in.

Gary : He was great fun to be with, it didn’t even mess with the chemistry we had with brothers, he fit in perfectly and we made great music together. He thought us a lot of things and performing with him has never been less than amazing. A mentor to us too.

“Be Safe” happens to be one of my favorite tracks from you guys, the depth to the song really gets to me. How do your fans respond to having such deep music?

Gary : Its pretty cool. Initially we didn’t even know our fans would be able to get it, or might even think its weird but were more than happy to know that our listeners could relate to the depth of our music. We didn’t even think it would get around much but it actually became one of our more famous pieces. Another cool part about the song is that it was a collaboration with Lee Ronaldo (Sonic Youth) whose another one of our idols. Sonic youth happens to be one of my personal favorite bands and collaborating with him was like a dream.

The new track, “Leather Jacket Love” from your new album wasn’t meant to be released but then you online casino decided to put it in for Payola. Ryan once said that he wanted it to be more of a “lost track”, so why did you guys release it anyway?

Gary : Real cool story behind that, wrote the song when Johnny was still in the band but we didn’t really get to finish it. That was like, 2-3 years ago? So we dug up the pile decided to pick it back on and finish the song, improvising from Johnny’s parts. Another thing would be that we didn’t want to just make ‘Payola’ to be “just” a compilation album that most would think. We just wanted to add some elements to keep it fresh for our listeners.

Ryan said that all the tracks from “The New Fellas” really evoke the strongest memories in him, what makes The New Fellas to be very memorable?

Gary: I guess it would be that it was our first album that really hit. Back then when the whole indie rock scene was picking up, Celebrities to people of all age was adopting the genre. It was a good place to be in, especially that were brothers and we love the music we made and we were young at the time, a lot of things were going on. Most of the tracks in the album was written late at night. Drunk nights, Exhausted nights, you name it. You could probably call it a “nocturnal” album even. We loved making every bit of it.

Emma in Leeds sent over a question for you the Band. she asks : “Harry Styles from one Direction happens to be a huge fan of the Cribs. What do you think of it? Some rock bands don’t consider their music to be relevant. How do you guys feel about them?”

Gary: yeah, we’ve heard that before actually. I don’t really “hate” any other genre, they appeal to the pop industry and they’re great at it. Its an honoring feeling actually to know that he has our band in his playlist, maybe someday their music could be influenced by us, who knows.

Last question, The Cribs has performed in Singapore and Thailand for your Asian tour, and now in Malaysia, when will be the time for Indonesia? Is it true that you guys almost made it to Indonesia for a show?

Gary: We’ve thought about that before actually, we’re quite surprised that we have so many fans there. We get messages from fans in Indonesia all the time asking us to come to their country but we somehow never make it, every time planning for Indonesia was made something always came up and wed have to cancel. We almost made it there in 2005 even. Hopefully some day we’d get to experience the crowd over there and give whatever we can. Someday, definitely.