After a 4-hour walk for Wesak Day the previous night, I had to do a lot more walking as I headed to Dragonfly to catch Blooded Suicide's show in KL. But it actually refreshed me, and I lasted the whole gig without falling asleep, which I would've because of the atmosphere. The place is really a good place, with great sound, but the crowd is never efficient enough. Never. They take advantages of the chairs here. I don't see you guys sitting around at One Cafe, why sit around here? WHY? Seriously, it's a waste to pay RM25 and not get any fun out of it, with only a handful of crowds to join us.

Anyway, arrived to Mia and Linda hugging me, and the rest of the girls, followed by Fahmy and AMIRUL WHEEEEE!!!! :) It's been bliddin' ages since I saw the guy, was so happy to see him again, hehe, and obviously so was Mia:

Hehe. Headed in to Starting Fight opening the stage, and I have to admit, their drummer is... awesome. He's good. He's good. He's so energetic in the way he plays. Unbelievable. :) Enjoyed their set, it was an awesome vibe walking into Dragonfly to the drums of this band.

Next up was Daarchlea. A band that is one of the reasons why I made the effort to come today, because I haven't heard them play in ages! But I think their vibe suits more of the One Cafe type, hot, sweaty, filthy... you know. :) Dark and cruel-sounding as ever, these guys really got a crowd going, per usual!

Then; Whatever That Means, a korean punk rock band with a female bassist who knows how to rock out. :) Simply said, they reminded me of The Offspring and The Ataris. Good stuff, but quite generic tunes at parts of their songs. All in all, energetic and fun to watch :) Good job guys!

A Town Of Fear confused me deeply, I at first thought it was For Better Endings, then I thought it was Her Silent Wish. But it was none of those, merely a mixture of the members to form this one awesome band with shitloads of breakdowns and energy. Really awesome sounds, I was impressed. :)

Kids on the Move. What else to say? They moved the kids, and they got a crowd going really well, we had people pushing us everywhere. I was watching my friends mosh in the crowd. Is there a significant move to "Kids on the move"? As in... running here and there? Coz that would actually make sense. Haha. Good, solid show by KOTM anyway, enjoyed their set.

Massacre Conspiracy. Cun la, apa lagiiii? :) There have been so many blog posts on this blog about this band I think many of your readers will have quite grasped what they are like. :)

Then it as time for Black Territory. One of the weaker shows by them I would say. It doesn't mean they sucked. It only meant that due to the sets being rushed because of the time (seriously, the organizers and bands should really work together better to get a soundcheck done really early) so they didn't have the ample time to set the instruments and amp volumes right. Man's voice was really loud, but a lot of them couldn't hear each other so the tempo ran at times. But it was still a good enough set to get people singing along.

Same goes for This Sunday. Strong band but they were left unnerved because of technical problems. But they still put on a good show. I felt it was too little, they only played two songs. damn. :(

Next up, The Padangs; they played Inertia and another tune, I forgot which one, I think it was Mercy. Great stuff, very solid as usual, and not much more you can expect of these young dudes. :)

Finally, Blooded Suicide! :) These boys all the way from Indonesia were eager to play on our stage, and man did they put on a good show. Rhid had her five minutes of stardom when she managed to answer their question correctly to win a shirt, and obviously singing along to a lot of their songs, catching the eye of the vocalist. Hahaha... Rhid, Rhid... :)

Very devilish music they played, got the more energetic crowds trashing around whilst the slackers stood and watched, us in between, headbanging and cheering supportingly. It was a pity that they came all the way just to sing to a crowd yang macam tak de semangat. Perhaps it was the venue. Hopefully you guys have a great show at Ipoh! :)

Ending with a song featuring Jo The Padangs, they ended the night with red lights and killer sounds. Snatched their set list off the speaker and made my way out with some of the AKD dudes to eat and lepak :) Whee! Nice night.

Celine's heart is beating for the next event.

Gig-Hopping!: Jam Session @ Grido & Ska Fest Road Trip @ Cherating!

21st May

It is 7pm and we are all waiting for the jam session to start w/ Random Arrival (SG) and newly inserted Zerobridge from NY at the mamak below Grido Studio, KJ. Fahmy was second to arrive after Moe, and we went to pick the rest of the gang up (Mia, Jijol, Faez, Syafiq) from the LRT station as the gig began. Rotten Ruckus were first up, and we played four songs, 3 old and 1 new. I'm grateful they got me to be their sessionist, I enjoyed playing with this band.

Cut the night short, because the night mainly really consisted of going in and out of the sauna-like hellroom to catch the bands. We had Carbon 4teen, a set inclusive of Apis's jokes, as usual, Corporate Youth and Andax & Mesin Basuh. I didn't manage to catch many bands, not even Dumdumtak (but some stuff happened during their set which made me feel slightly relieved to have stayed out) because I was in a search for Mia and gang who had disappeared haha. A really good show, everybody had fun, inclusive of the two outstation bands. :)

At around 1am-ish, we said our goodbyes and headed towards Kuantan; the rest of the Grido punkers were heading there later by bus. Had a call from Jijol from Wangsa Maju; he got robbed. Freaking out we dashed there, then to the Band Shop, then to ROTTW office for Moe to put stuff back, and FINALLY after all the obstacles, headed back on track. KUANTAN DOHHH!!!!

22st May

After a ride of gasping at stars, scaring drivers and being scared by other drivers (hahaha sumpah lawak), stopping to eat, we arrived in Kuantan. After given a very descriptive tour guide as we drove around Moe's old college we finally drove to Teluk Chempedak in time to catch the sunrise and wait for Shook and Lyn to come.

Headed to breakfast at some mamak place, where everyone stared at us with weird looks (tauuuu laa, kitorang budak KL, aishh) and we had a fair share of laughing, especially at Syafiq's phone call synching with a jiwang-gler-babi song. He would be standing facing away from us, and every now and look down, look up, put his left leg up, fidget with his pants, tap the railing. HAHAHAH. Music video-like, no doubt about that. :P

Next up, we headed towards Shook's house and settled down, some fell asleep almost immediately, but most of us stayed up to have a car-wash fun with Sally Bum (Moe's car). Larat lagi, can you imagine.

Finally, had a shower, had a smoke, talked for a bit, went into the room, the aircond distracted me so much before I finally fell asleep for about one and a half hour before waking up to Moe tickling my ear and everybody crowding around me laughing. Siap ada gambar! GWAR. Packed up, headed out to lunch (again people stared) and headed to stroll around at Kuantan's 'Pavi'! HAHAHA. Hilarious, we were running out of the carpark in Counterstrike mode (gun-fingers, shades, staircases LOL!). Then we headed to the bus station to pick up Jaja, and OFF TO CHERATING WE GO! (Moe: *snore*)

Cherating. Little Bali bar. How should I put it? It was an awesome, awesome gig. The end was.... phenomenal. :) We headed in as Orkeska's set was about to set, so it was a good thing, because I didn't miss them, skanked a bit but the mood didn't catch on to me yet, so I headed back to the table where the gang was, saw Akmal and Andax and all the familiar faces. Such a feeling of family!

There were some pretty awesome bands - Lucky Munky for example - who really won the crowd's hearts, all in time paving the way for Plague of Happiness to take their stand on stage. After booking the room rental from the Little Bali reception, I saw Nas walking towards the entrance. Apa lagi? Ran up to him and hugged him hahahahaha followed swiftly by Moe! HAHA. Sumpah Nas nampak kelakar with his umbrella LOL. Now I couldn't wait for Plague. Headed back into the crowd and saw the tribute to "Konspirasi" again (I think I've seen a different version of this song a lot of times).

Plague of Happiness; justly named spread an energy of euphoria to everybody the moment they stepped onto the stage. Everybody was going crazy, about to get crazier the moment the music starts. I could feel it. And true enough as they punched in with the first song "Hypnotized", all hell broke loose.

And I do mean hell; because I ended up punching a guy (no more than 19 years old probably) twice in the face because he tried to put his finger at places he shouldn't. I was angry for many reasons. Everybody there were enjoying, even the drunk people, no one was being a dickhead. Suddenly some asshole like this comes along, who wouldn't be pissed off? Even Nas texted me saying: ":( kalau I tau... we will stop our set... Sorry. :(" Don't apologize for that one creep, who doesn't deserve to be a POH fan, nor ruin your set, Nas.

Headed out to get over the rush of anger, and then headed back into the place, but not the crowd; the only time I couldn't resist any longer was when "Blitzkrieg Society" came on. Shiiiit, I had to go back in. Came back out after the song was done, and sat around singing along to the rest. As Kawan finished, everybody thought the set would end but one encore was called for and granted. I headed out to the sandy area leading to the exit, and there was a small group skanking by themselves for a photoshoot, but soon everyone outside started joining, until the whole of the outside land became a skankers' territory. It was.... a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Unforgettable. Seriously un.for.get.ta.ble. I cannot accentuate any more words but you get my point. :) An instrumental encore + Viva La Punk pulled the show to an end. :)

Moved our bags to the room, some people changed (including me) and everybody just chilled around and waited for Moshi and Fahmy to come. Did Moe's hair into a very Clash of the Titans influenced hairstyle hahaha.

Dinner/Lepak bilik/Lepak Little Bali:

Had a very nice talk with Moshi and Mia in the car as Moe and the rest took their naps; I had one beer to stop myself being zombified and didn't feel sleepy anymore. Headed to the beach by foot around midnight-ish (or maybe a lot earlier) and picnic-ed there with our Jagerbombs and guitar. Loverlyyy. Took me more than 3 cups of bombs before I could feel any form of effect and decide that I should put more Jager than redbull XD First effect: pee!

Look at the stars, look how they shine for you.

Everybody left early (Moshi was the last to leave us, when his flu attacked). Memorable moments I cannot forget like slow-dancing with Moshi with our feet in the waters, walking around the beach, peeing on the beach, naming the stars, breathing in the fresh air, Mia, Lyn, Moe and I hugging each other to keep warm ("Touching" haram LOL), the Jager... Gosh... It was a beautiful night, a beautiful way to end a ska fest and roadtrip. :)

23rd May

Coughing so much as we walked back to the chalet, had breakfast, saw a dog continuously looking at us.

"Nak rokok la tu." Moshi says, and beckons to the dog. The dog doesn't move. Turns back to us: "Tiba2 dia buat macam ni kan" *makes an X with his arms*. AHAHAHAHAHA. Klakar sial!

Went back to the chalet, I was the only one left with no place to sleep so I sat with Moshi watching him play a HP game before surrendering to sleeping on a small space on the floor. Someone woke me and moved me to the bed, woke up again and it was time to go. Whee! Sorted out the bus stuff for Moshi and all, then headed away from Cherating. Goodbye, heaven, we'll be coming back soon :)

It was a dream Celine wished she never woke up from.

P/S: Yup, heading back to the city really was heading out of heaven. Animosity greeted us at a foodstop when two ladies (more mature than us apparently) pushed us out of the front of the counter to order their own food. KURANG AJAR BODOH!!!!