Gig-Hopping!: Laundry Bar & Studio C/Moving Units LIVE @ KL Live Center

It's another one of those international-act-playing-at-night sort of events but I decided to accompany Moe to his performance with Cynosure at Laundry Bar before we headed down to KL Live Center to catch Moving Units (MOVING FCKING UNITS!!!!!) live at Studio C's final show.

Headed out to Laundry at around 6pm, with Moe and Apit. Bumped into Robert working at Italiannies walking towards Laundry, and saw a whole lotta familiar faces, including Radhi, who incredibly still remembered me from when he saw me last with Jarrod (or was it Ija?). We talked for a while as Moe was setting up, about Jarrod's upcoming gig as well as me being a vocalist.

Kamu perform nanti kan? - Radhi

Hah? Takde pun? - Me

WHAT? I thought you were performing? Aiya. I nak balik la ni. I came to see you perform. - Radhi

Bahahahaha. Gila la, that hyperball of energy.

Sat with Tapir for a bit and chatted with him for a while before heading to the front to support Moe and Cynosure. And honestly? They were fucking good. I was absolutely awed by Falique's mental guitar solos and just the entire energy of the band as a whole. They were heavy, but there was no screaming or any of that hardcore element to it. It was purely the music working its magic, along with the awesome melodic vocals. Was so impressed by them. Argh. Good job Moe, I didn't hear any obvious cringey mistakes, so you rocked it!!! Except he was stood so far back, and didn't realize. Hahahaha!

After Moe's performance, we saw Aron, Nik, Tom, Ishat and others outside Laundry. Was sweet of them to have come to watch Moe, and after a quick chat with the dudes, we dashed straight to KL Live Center after getting a very positive message from Scott at around 8pm that the gig had not begun yet. Phew!

Arrived at KL Live and managed to sneak my way out of being stopped from getting through. It was unfair that the event was an over 18 event despite it being free.

Please lah, my editor will kill me if I cannot cover this event - Me

Cannot lah, really, my boss will kill me if I let you in - Guard

I'm only a few months awayyyy... Please, this is my job - Me

Hmm, I don't know, it's not me, it's the regulation - Guard

Come on lah, she's almost the age and she's media, just let her throughhh - Apit

Yeah, just let me cover the event... If the guards stop me upstairs I will tell them it was my fault. - Me

Okay, lah, okay lah, go go... - Guard

... Now ain't that just legendary? :) Haha!

Realized I missed the first band, Roosevelt, but was saved when I saw Ija and he let me in on what he had thought of the band. HAVEN'T SEEN IJA IN FUCKING AGESSSSSS!!!! WARGHHHH!!! Almost a year. We were surprised to find out it was a battle of the bands going on before the actual event started, therefore it was a bit of downer, for my experiences of competitions between bands were never lively. Same here. The bands were mostly awesome, but the crowd was lifeless. We entered the floor just as an Alesana-like band ended their set, I didn't catch their name... something like Jane or something. I caught Scott just as he stepped on stage, laughing as he grinned at us from the stage as we stood in front, probably the one hardcore people at the event that night. We headbanged like crazy as A Ruthless Cleansing performed, and shit, they were so good I just felt like moshing. I closed my eyes and pictured a crowd around me instead. Sad.

It was a pity they didn't win, they were probably one band that had the best quality and sound... but I was glad Azam and his psychomaniac band Stereosakit came third place! :) I was surprised to see Radhi at KL Live Center again. Memang dapat msg I about going to catch Moving Units haahah! Cun. But it was a bit mental when he kept jumping all around during stereosakit's performance. Seriously, they are like... stoned or on something half the time. Or at least, they act the way. xD I was quite annoyed first place went to this band called Once Upon A Time There Was A Sausage Named Bob, who were yes, good, but... not as good for a first prize. I was pretty sure the people judged on crowd participation and because that band had friends (not fans), who supported and managed to get everybody singing along with the 'monkey!' shout, they managed to soar to the top. Along with that, that band had a friggin' Jarrod lookalike! It was FREAKY!!!

Jarrod Lookalike

When the battle ended, my excitement caught up just a bit, but didn't realize it was not only one more band to go before M.U, but two, including the first on stage, Aussie band Sunday Records. They were in my opinion, fairly good. Everyone else seemed bored but I actually thought their melodies were great, the harmonies were awesome and their compositions were all pretty soothing. Just at the wrong event I suppose. I felt the whole gig was a bit kelam kabut, to be honest, and the genres were a bit... TOO varied, in a very unorganized way. It kept changing so frequently the audience had no time to adjust and had no idea to what was in store for them. Anyhoo, Sunday Records came and went, followed by Popshuvit who seemed to have loads to set up, taking ages. The microphones, for some odd reason took longer than Uno's turntables to set up. Gosh.

Anyway, Popshuv'ed the mood up for a while with the regular songs they usually play as well as some mighty rare tunes that they only play when they're in Japan... Tak faham tu... It's like as if Japan is more of their home. Merajuk ah ni. HAHA. This whole time I was laughing at three crazy white guys who were trying and failing to move the zombified crowds. I felt so ashamed at that time. We should've showed them what crazy KL crowds usually are like! WARGH! But the crowds finally did pick up a bit for the last song Mara Bahaya.

And finally, finally, ohfuckingfinally... MOVING UNITS!!!!!! :) Absolutely awesome! Hathwell constantly switched from being just a vocalist and playing the guitar, introducing with "Anyone".... Gah, I love them! It was so stupid to see the lack of fans around, the floor was nowhere near filled and only a handful of us were properly singing along. The only song that everyone sang to was "Between Us and Them". Duh. It's like a reenactment of Muse when they came down and Starlight. Pfft.

I was also shocked at the short set they played, which I think must've been less than an hour. Totally uncool. All the songs I was waiting for didn't even come up. Going for Adds, I Am, Melodrama... Grr. But let's piss away the bad things about it and look at the good things, because the good things are the AMAZING things! Was dancing non-stop the moment they started until the end, it was so epiccc warghhh! Just couldn't believe the chances of having Moving Units come to Malaysia for fucking free man.. Wow... :) THEY were the goddamn inspirations for me to start playing danceable beats... and to join my band Enrai. Whoo! :)

After the gig, Ija dropped me off at Ampang and I headed to record the drums for our new song with Beatburns! :)

Celine would love to see more of Moving Units.