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.

10 years have passed since the formation of The Cribs, and finally after hair raising wait, on the 11^th of November fans across town eagerly wait to ache their necks for some intense head bopping. Lights grew dim and pedal board effects began permeating the floor. Opening act, Free Deserters began the show with intense pedal board effects to capture everybody’s attention as soon as they hit the stage. Accentuating the “melodic noise” that led them to be one of the ‘Artists Of The Week’ for MTV IGGY, the psych pop band really got the floor going with their new compositions, with some notable songs, “Grace”, “Dissapear” and “Easier Said Than Sung”. Zack (Vocals), Eric (Bass), Ari (Drums) and Brendan (Lead Guitar) glue together to allure the crowd with the “Intense live shows” they’re known for.

Regardless of the hour interval between acts, The Cribs were no stranger to pumping up the crowd. Entering the stage with the grungy suave that the crowd went ballistic cheering for, Ryan, Gary and Ross Jarman opened with ‘Chi-Town’. Known for their indie-rock style the band really dressed the part. Long untamed hair, skinny jeans, raggedy torn up t-shirts and bursting enthusiasm was all part of their act. After ‘I’m A Realist’, and “You Were Always The One” the floor couldn’t help them selves to throw in a mosh-pit frenzy. Acknowledging the energy of the crowd, the band of brothers, along with a temporary guitarist replacing Johnny Marr’s parts took casino a moment to introduce them selves. After professing their love for the crowd and the country, ‘Cheat On Me’ continued their set.

To set the mood for what’s next, lights were switched off by request of Ryan, prior to them playing ‘To Jackson’. Brilliantly illuminating the crowd with their music, ‘Mirror Kissers’ and ‘Another Number’ hit next, accompanied by dozens of camera flashes bouncing off the walls. Nothing was filtered with the band, if Ryan wanted to jump play on the speakers, he did, if he wanted to smash everything in Music Justin justin-bieber-news.info music Baby is the first of its single brought him immense popularity and the love of millions of girls who today for his sake are ready for anything. his way, he did along with the rest of the band channeling through their energy. Improvising from the absence of Lee Ronaldo (Sonic Youth), “Be Safe” took the darkness to a vantage point. Regardless that Lee was replaced with a projector, it was nothing short of amazing.

After having a short conversation amidst their set, ‘Hey Scenesters’ took back the crowd, “Turn off the lights! Its too bright to do anything!” exclaimed Ryan in agony after the song was done. What shockingly came after was exclusive to the eyes of those who were in front. Right before ‘Mens’ Needs’ the lead guitarist smashed his glass of whiski and laid down on the shattered glass, cutting himself with the shards. Without faltering he continued with ‘City Of Bugs’, giving the crowd every ounce of energy he had. Grazing microphone stands against guitar frets and using drumsticks as bass picks were mere fraction to whatever was going on stage. After a mind raping performance, nothing on stage was what it originated to be. Bass’s stuck up the walls, microphones on the ground and guitars smashed against speakers, you name it, it happened.

Ranging from broken instruments to rowdy fan-boys barraging through barriers rummaging across the bands equipment. Everything you would list down to happen at a rock concert happened, not shy of anything. No filters to the band, making everything as real as possible to serve the ideology of the band, “We play every show like our last”. Undoubtedly ending their ‘Payola Tour’ with their highest grace, leaving an everlasting impression.

(Photos : Shamsul S)

In spirit of their first embark to Kuala Lumpur, the land of diverse foods and culture, 10 fun facts about the band will be laid out for your extended knowledge prior to their upcoming show at Urbanscapes’ Satellite Show #2!

1. They’re a four-man band. Metric comprises of leading lady, Emily Haines and James Shaw who initially found the band in 1988 after the completion of the band with Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott-Key.

2. The band”s name has absolutely no relation to the metric system in Canada. Some would come to think that the Toronto based band to be named ‘Metric’ being in a country that applies the metric system in calculation, but the origin of their bands name came about after a sound that enthralled the original two members Emily and James that came from a sound programmed into James’s keyboard.

3. The bands original name was ‘Mainstream’. Yes you read that correct, the dynamic band was originally named ‘Mainstream’ by Emily Haines and James Shaw in 1997. They had an EP released under the name and fact is, both of them don’t even own a copy of it themselves.

4. Emily Haines has been online casino involved in two other bands. Besides being the front lady for her primary band, metric, Emily haines is also involved in two other projects under the moniker Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton being her solo act. On top of that, Emily along with James are also involved in Canadian based band ‘Broken Social Scene’

5. Emily Haines is 39. Yeap guys, this bombshell of a gal is 39 years old and is engaged/married to Phillip Kressin of the band Neon Legion. Sorry to burst your bubbles fanboys.

6. The band has performed alongside rock legends. In their early years the band was approached to open for The rolling stones and Emily also had a unique relationship with the rock legend, Lou Reed (R.I.P). They’ve performed together in several shows, Lou Reed played “Pale Blue Eyes” before their song co-produced by him “The Wanderlust”

7. The band was side featured in a movie. Aside their other TV stardoms from concerts and videos, The band was side-featured in a 2004 movie directed by Olivier Assayas, “Clean”. The band was in the movie acting as them selves, even having minor dialogue in the background.

8. Emily Haines and James Shaw used to date. Back when the band was forming out the original two members tried their run at a romantic relationship but evidently decided to part and be “Creatively Involved” with each other throughout the years. Safe to say that’s probably why their music is so amazing. The chemistry is just there.

9. The band is under their own record label. Alike other bands like Wilco and Radiohead, Metric also strays away from the traditional record label deal. Not just musicians, they’re also their own bosses. The band stated that being a great singer isn’t enough nowadays, being a great marketer is also part and parcel with the career.

10. It’s going to be their first time in Malaysia! 3rd December 2013 during the satellite show as a part of Urbansacapes would be the first time the band has ever been to this region of south east asia, Malaysia. The band has yet to say anything about their performance, but we’re all excited to hear what they have to say!