Caliban LIVE in KL @ One Cafe, KL

For the first time ever, I went to a gig without having to wait over two hours for it to begin. Left my house at around 2.30pm, and joined the guys (Rath, Gjie, Jijol, Alip, Faez, Bob, Moshi, etc) at One Cafe. Chilled around for a bit and dissed the policemen that hogged the back of the place for their lunch. The looks they were giving everyone. Pffffft.

Lined up to go inside, when Alip and Moshi finally revealed that they were lying about not going in (assholes haha!), and made conversation with the French band Nine Eleven, who Pali and Kenet told I could speak French. LOL. Went inside and checked out the merchandise, hid my bag in the usual spot, before grabbing a picture with Nine Eleven and heading to the front of the stage with the guys to prepare for Daarchlea.

Daarchlea: exciting, vigorous and heavyheavyheavy in your eardrums. Macam biasa ah.. :) A typical furious and fast-paced set by them that always leaves you aching but is never really enough. Standing right in the front and not missing one bit of the fun except when I was taking pictures, Daarchlea really played a set that was tight and solid, no doubt. Woohoo so much easier to headbang now with short hair... Light and easyyyy. :P Really, Daarchlea is becoming one of the KL favs.

Almost immediately after, Nine Eleven took onto the stage, the first international act of the day. Isn't it weird that the band names sound so.... controversial? (Caliban, replace the 'C' with a 'T'... 9/11.... HAHAHAHA) Bodoh ah. Saje je nak sound smart. Anyway, the energetic band as dynamic as Coca Cola gas with Mentos took onto the stage and plunged through a very liberal and vast set of the vocalist jumping around and roaring into the crowd.

The crowd actually did turn out to ALMOST be the craziest crowd I had seen in One Cafe so far, we even had a guy almost air-walking through the crowds during Nine Eleven's set. The raw and naked sound of Nine Eleven left your body pounding and heart raging for more.

Needed a breather from the chokingly hot and stuffy room One Cafe quickly became - including an annoying flooding caused by a dripping air-conditioning. GOSH. Had no choice but to tell the workers to turn the A/C off because it was way too dangerous for the crowd to mosh around the the slippery floor. Went out of the area into the open air thinking it was time for Mouthfull of Air, but almost just, almost, missed Restraint's performance. Rushing in when I heard the familiar sounds of Restraint, I was shaking with glee to find I had no missed their performance, thanks fcking god.

Always powerful and never letting the energy fade from when it was previously heightened, Restraint is always ready to project what a 'hardcore celebration' (as Ijam puts it) should really be like. From start until end, I could not stop moving or singing along, to favourites like "Pure from Blood" and "Until The End". God. Love them, sumpah. I was glad when they played a new tune, which sounded awesome, by the way, and cannot wait until their next show.

Restraint made us sweat like a waterfall, and we were obliged to go outside again, and we entertained ourselves by making sweat patches around the monorail pillars with our shirts lol! Couldn't resist but to invite Ruiner to take a picture with us by the bikes (saje je nak jadi rempit) and had our load of fun posing around the bike. I liked Ruiner for taking pictures with silly faces. Haha :)

Went back in when it started raining and entered the venue to Mouthfull of Air performing, but didn't really move much to the band. Okay, fair enough, I didn't move at all, suddenly exhausted like shit, and sitting with my back leaning against the One Cafe bar, next to Alip and Moshi, who was busy complaining away about his broken zip. LOL. Paralyzed man.

After a long enough rest, Ezzart arrived and all of us dragged ourselves back to our typical spot near the stage to await Ruiner's presence on stage. All the way from U.S, they were pretty fucking good, with, like Moshi said, a little bit of Underoath-like sounds, and influences from many other bands. At first I agreed I wouldn't move much to them, wanting to have my rest for Caliban, but... resistance in low when you're in gigs and next thing you know, you're fucking moshing your way through the crowd. Only thing I regretted was not joining in on the Wall of Deaths... Should've practised for L.O.G - shit. -_-

Ruiner's vocalist was pretty comical, talking constantly about himself being sick and maybe throwing up on the audience. That would be pretty rad, but hey... don't pull an Ozzy on us. XD

Homegrown otais, Cassandra, was up next, and despite the few technical problems, they pulled off an expected performance of talent and pure hardcore soulllll, sister. :P Haha. Forever maintaining their reputation as still one of the best in KL (hence the reason why they played on this day), they were not disappointing and definitely a real pleasure to watch. So far, to all those who had missed this show... terlepas sialllll!

And then, there it is, the time for Caliban to take the stage and the place goes mental as everyone started chanting for the guys who had blasted the roof off MCPA Hall last year. Told to move further back, the crowd shifted for lights to be attached at the front of the stage for a "prettier" effect. Which my camera actually caught in one of my pictures. Managed to do those silhouette-y camera tricks, completely by accident HAHA.

Caliban. It was clear KL did not get sick of this band, and were hungry, yearning for more. I personally felt they could've.. SHOULD'VE.. played a longer set considering the amount of albums they have and the number of times they can actually play here in Malaysia. They played favourites like 'Forsaken Horizons' and 'I Will Never Let You Down', both from former albums and brought out the best from the crowds. The vox recorded a video of our Wall of Death, and from where I stood, it looked pretty awesome :)

Best moment of my choice? Definitely during their last song, I think it was 'No One is Safe' or 'Liar'... I was in the middle of a breakdown, got pushed aside, looked up to the stage and saw Moshi climb up to the top of the speakers and amps and fucking FRONT FLIPPED into the crowds. I was absolutely stunned. And went Big Show stage-dived? HHAHAHA! :P God. But Moshi's move definitely made it almost Hellfest material man... Good one mate. Pity I couldn't snap a picture.

Overall, the show was explosive, with Caliban polishing off the show as considerably one of the best held at One Cafe so far, out of the many that have been attended and scrutinized by me. Haha. Had some picture taking and all that sort of stuff, before chilling with all the friends (Sumpah, Kadok......... LOL) and finally leaving with Ezzart as he sent me home.

Celine would keep the day on replay.

Rock on Stage II @ One Cafe, KL

God, I am so disappointed I can't even write a proper review. My camera friggin' pulled a prank on me and f*cked up halfway through the show so all the bands I wanted to capture pictures of... tak jadi. SIAL AH!!!!!!!!

Anyway, 18 bands... the bands were good, some fluctuating from great to not so great... the downside was... standard One Cafe gig la, started damn late, so it ended damn late, and the floor was basically empty by the time Asthalin performed.

Highlights:

Couple and The Times:

Haven't seen them live in SO LONG, so it was quite refreshing to see them play again. It was a really painful moment when a friend of mine (I would rather not say her name in public) had a teary moment when Couple sang "Pergi", because she just got out of a relationship she had lots of hopes for. AND it added to my memory of that song back in Rockaway. Dammit.

But eee, the crowd made me remember why I joined the hardcore scene in the first place. Why is it that only the Indie crowds (not all, just some) suka giler nak raba2 perempuan? Never in my life in hardcore gigs did I experience that. PFFT.

Naratu:

What else to say? It's Naratu :)

The Padangs and Massacre Conspiracy:

A lot of singing along, and moshing. WHOOHOO!!!

Asthalin:

God, the last time I saw them, was in Trunkers Festival. LAMA GILER SIOT!!! Though the floor was empty and only the other bands supporting Asthalin, I didn't give a shit, I just love them live. Lagipun, Aron and Nik are also in my band, kena support la ni :) It's a pity that Tom doesn't play with them anymore though. Miss seeing you on stage dude.

---

There were some pretty good bands, along with a Muse sound-alike called The Customer or something like that.. A kerek vocalist from a band The Trends spoiled my mood. Though their music wasn't bad, I just couldn't stand watching the vocalist. A band ruined Nirvana's song, and another band called Bomb Skillet (OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT) had a very interesting mixture of 'skacore' LOL. Overall the range of bands were varied and actually interesting to keep up with, but 18 bands in such a short time is exhausting.

Fuck man, no pictures. :(

Moonshine : 8th April @ Laundry Bar, Mutiara Damansara

Well, well, well, no matter how lame it sounds, this was actually my first Thursday night at Laundry Bar... I never ever had the chance to come by to sit and chill along with awesome music Thursday nights. Why? Only people up there know *points to sky*.

Arrived around 8.30-ish so decided to hunt down Droo at Bentley and invite him along. Arrived at Laundry to the stage still empty, which was good, and Droo bumped into Nik Roosevelt (also known as the Chinese guy in Gadoh lol), who was a friend of his, so we sat with him as I waited for Tapir, Iman and Ezzart to come.

Tapir, Iman and Samir arrived in time for the first band, Tenderfist, who reminded me a lot of The Whitest Boy Alive, which I presume would be considered one of their influences... if not, that's just weird. Haha. I enjoyed their chilled out music, but the vocals could not really be heard, unless that was the intention. Goodjobsssmannnn.

Also bumped into Arwith (SxC) and his girlfriend, which I found pretty random lol. The next band was a band that was the reason I came down to Laundry in the first place: Sphere. After their memorable performance at La Quiete LIVE in KL, I couldn't resist the temptation to find a way to get to Laundry this time round to catch them. And I was not disappointed. With a range of high and low climax, fast and slow paces, Sphere hardly had a boring moment, with the minimal vocal insertions sing-alongable. :P Whoooeeeee...

Haziq arrived in the middle of their performance, but Iman had to ditch us after the set. Grr. KLPHQ were third, a band I have listened to but never seen live, so I was quite excited to catch them too. And boy, oh, boy... sitting in Laundry, listening to them, it was colossal how everybody's talking and all the environmental noise just... quietened down, mentally, for me. The music of KLPHQ just filled the whole of my head. It was... great. :) Sent me sailing, they did.

After being bugged for over 15 minutes by Syamel to get him a bottle of beer from 7e, Haziq and I left to get drinks as The Otherside Orchestra started their set, but we arrived in time for the rest of the set (we probably only missed one song and a half). With Laundry's good sound system, I was really able to capture the intricacy of their music, and I loved it. The last time I watched them, which was at One Cafe in January, the sound system faltered the band's ability, and though they were still dancey, this time round really pounded into our bodies. Whootwhoot.

Headed to Bestari with Haziq and Syamel after that, and spent a whole hour or so laughing at Syamel's drunkenness. Epic.

Chilled sessions makes Celine happy.

Medan Budaya Gig I @Shah Alam, PPW, Sek13

Not really a full review, because my band performed and I really can't be talking about the band as an outsider, because I'm bound to be biased :P

This gig was a new project from BT Management, attempting to promote this place as a future gigspot for giggers to float to rather than infamous places such as Noisy and One Cafe... So we helped kick start by playing the first gig of the Medan Budaya series.

Arrived at around 12-1pm and did the soundcheck about an hour later... Five bands played that day, and we, Beatburns, were the first. Spent most of the time just chilling and talking, mingling with the organizers and other bands.

Ishat nak jadi budak Myspace ni.

Beatburns! We, overall, enjoyed ourselves, and despite the slight errors each of us made, and the sound of some guitar riffs not really protruding at times, I felt this was a pretty good start for us. But the crowd was really little, and we just hope that in the future gigs to come at this venue, the crowd figure will slowly build. Maybe we can play again? (hint hint lol!)

Performed a half an hour set, meanin 5 songs, including the two we already recorded. The wind was blowing really forceful on me and my rambut sumpah kacauuu when I was onstage. But when we're offstage the place was boiling hot. Pelik giler.

Hadok kacau ahhh xD

Next after us was Freshmint, followed swiftly by Kid N Xera who FORCED me and Moe to stay for their set though we were rushing to head to KL. So we stayed, and we did not regret. Moe's gang2 dari selayang, all cool guys :)

An entertaining set with a crazyyyyy guitarist who seemed to constantly look like he was making love to his guitar. And of course, Chipan being the drummer that seemed to be completely excited about what he was playing on the drums. Haha! Giler evil muka dia, senyuman gilerrr besar and like... crashing the toms. Haha. Loved them.

I like his shirt.

Celine wishes for more gigs.

MuzikAttack.com Party Jam @ One Cafe, KL

This gig had..... sooooo many bands I never heard of. And this gig also had soooo much WAITING going on. Seriously. By the time the gig started, I was already exhausted. Dah la tengah sengket. -_- Met Mia at the monorail station and then met Kid and the rest at One Cafe. Chehh "the rest".... macam ramai pulak. Haha!

Walked into One Cafe to a band who were... pretty kickass actually, with an awesome vocalist who could really sing, except perhaps needing to push her vocals to a higher limit. Music arrangements pretty hot, had me tapping my toes and almost headbanging. :) Kudos (ew, giler mean girls)

I don't know what the hell was wrong with me, I was never listening in time to capture the band names, so the bands i DID enjoy... I didn't know who the hell they were. God, I suck. But partially, I kind of.... blame the MC a lil, he was mumbling most of the time, and rushing through the words like as if there was no tomorrow. Chill la beb... Bagi la kitorang dengar nama2 band sume.... Eeee..

Next band: Cun giler babi. (No that's not the name.)

Post-rock, shoegaze-like stuff, they had me dancing at points, meronta-ing at points, and just closing my eyes going 'awwwmygawddd this is the shizzzz' along with Mia, who happened to be an Explosions in the Sky fan as well. :) Heehee.

Okay, I have to admit, I'm kind of following my pictures taken to take me through this review, I can't remember much from the gig. Next: Grey Sky Morning. Ala, rockstar la diaorang, of course the set was good, and many who were there enjoyed themselves. Mia and I, however decided to give the pretty empty crowd space to grab a drink and chew on some snacks by the bar, waiting for Skudap Skudip to start. But GSM were definitely entertaining, per usual.

SKUDAP SKUDIP! :) What else to say other than F.U.N? Skanking like crazy monkeys is completely excusable when they are on stage, because that's what their music is all about. Happiness, music, and just... enjoying life! Whee. Haha. They really brightened up my spirit, especially seeing Dodd going all sentimental with his Skinhead tribute song... aiyo! :P

After them, a band that got me headbanging a bit... I have to ask my friend who these guys are. Haha. Farid and Lufti sure tahu.

Then? Arch Enemy wannabes. Okay, that's harsh. But sumpah, I cannot remember the band name. What a shit review this post is. I allow you to curse me. Haha. Okay I have to give credits to the girl for being able to growl and scream the way she can, but then again, that doesn't give excuse to the rather dull and anti-climax songs they played. You guys can sailll uppp if you guys work on the arrangements.

Pastu, Maghrib Break, that's all I remember, and I remember worrying I couldn't catch Naratu in time before jamming, only realizing with extreme GLEEEE that they were next. Hell. No matter how empty or full the moshpit is, Naratu will always make my day. Always. One of my favourite bands to watch live because... suka hati aku lah, just singing along to their songs without giving a shit about people frowning at the lyrics or whatever. Haha. Dapat release my exhaustion from the lack of action when they performed. Bagaimana! Magic lah tu. :)

Lyndz and Syuk finally decided to come in for the happy, clappy band Moda Moody, who were indeed good. Moe arrived too, took a band tag off Romancesa who couldn't play due to the time constraints, so we all had our own circle of skankers, going absolutely mental with weird ass dance moves. HAHA. Sumpah seronok time tu.

Lyndz & Syuk. Jarang nampak weh, Kid berjoget. LOL!

Awooooooo, give it up for Shewolves! (and he). They were good, played a Kiss cover that got people headbanging and all that shiz. But I had to face away from the stage half the time, because of... one reason. Let's see if you guys can guess why, from the picture below.

Final band I watched was another headbangable, grind-ish band with a vocalist who didn't seem to know what he was saying half the time. Hahahaha, adorable kot, macam giler blur. Lepas tu, terus ciao, headed to Ampang and jammed with Beatburns. Threw up in a mamak toilet (yup) and reluctantly listened to a guy talk to us about some... stuff. *yawn*

Celine wishes for better days to come.