SUPERMAN IS DEAD, live in Kuala Lumpur + a RockinRoll Love Story

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flashback

I first education on SUPERMAN IS DEAD when i went for a vacation in Bali with Joker, Rehot and Pak Halim back in 2005 dec 2004. The story goes like this: 

One fine day, a few weeks before my trip to Bali, my eternal friend nemesis, Mat Jos, beg me to accompany him to a friend's wedding in Bangi.

Hard Rock Hotel, Bali 2004

At the wedding hall, we settled down at a table which apparently was occupied by Jos' friend Liza.  Liza was with her friend Im. Despite being total strangers (i am the odd one out) the 4 of us chatted casually. Topic ranges from Power Rangers, x-IGP Rahim Noor and the usual work-related subjects. Im informed that she will fly to Bali for holiday in a few weeks...and what a small airport, she will be in the same plane as mine!

S I D, Hard Rock 2004

Fast forward a few weeks later: Joker, Rehot, Pak Halim & me check inn at Bali's Hard Rock Hotel in the middle of Kuta Rock City. Im and her friend (alamax, dah lupe lak nama that kakak) would come over to the hotel and checkout the live bands. All of us clicked well.

One morning I saw a banner outside the venue: 'Superman Is Dead's The Hangover Decade album launch gig, Hard Rock Hotel'. i asked Im, who is an expert of all things Indo, who the bloody hell is Superman Is Dead? Im replied "SID play PUNK ROCK!" damn, i gotta check out these guys...and true enough, SID ripped the stage that nite...i could easily detect the influence of Californian iconic bands such as Social Distortion, NOFX and Bad Religion in their tunes

Meanwhile, Im and my friend Rehot kinda acquainted good (read: 'kinda get the hots for each other'...hehe). They share the common interest in Indonesian music, food and place... In fact, one day during the holiday they went looking for 1 particular cassette, walking together nearly 20km! covering Galeria Mall - Super Nova - Jln Legian - Pasar Seni Melasti - Jln Legian - Poppies Lane 2...hmmm... i smell love is in the air...ada apape ke? (...to be continued, last paragraph below)

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The Gig: Calm Before The Storm

rehot, me & tedbundy jr.

Met up with Subandi@TedBundy Jr, Rehot & Im outside the venue, Later i bumped into my good mate Jaferi Achip, a rocker-cum-college lecturer who moonlight as the head-honcho/manager of local punkrock legend Subculture.  Apparently the gig started late from the time it should be, and we killed time by mengumpat the passers-by and checking out the merchandise on display

 Openers

Subculture

the show's curtain was raised with a marathon of opening bands to wet the appetite...a 9-piece ska band who called themselves '40Winks' (influence of skapunk stalwards Reel Big Fish & Catch 22) starts the ball rolling followed by 'The Jespers' (i heard some Lagwagon-esque skatepunk in their song!) and later 'Stubburn'.  

Then the mighty Subculture pulls up onstage. Among the openers, their mixed bag of old and new songs brought the loudest cheer from the crowd...and the ugly moshpit went ape-shit when the Subs covered the RAMONES cult-favourite 'I Wanna Be Sedated'

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its S I D's time!

bobby kool

jrx

They are one of the best and hardworking punk act to merge from this side of the (under)world. Bobby Kool (vocal/guitar), JRX (drums/vocal) and Eka Rock (bass/vocal), the trio that made up SID are widely regarded as Bali's favourite sons.

eka rock

 Bizarrely  signed to label giant Sony Music, SID managed to control their own musical terms and withholding the DIY work-ethics at the same time...quite an achievement for an underground band. In 2009, they were invited to the prestigious Vans Warped Tour, performing in 16 American cities in the process, followed by a tour of Australia soon after...and when NOFX, Hoobastank and MXPX went down to perform in Indonesia, SID was selected hands down as the opening act

Since their inception back in 1995 SID never put on a show in Tanah Melayu... So it is understandable that back in August the local kids were stoked on the hype of their scheduled appearance here... and tonite is the ultimate nite!..without further ado, they went straight to activate 5th gear, blasting 2 songs back to back  'We are outSIDers' (cult anthem of SID supporters) and 'Luka Indonesia' , the latter in which brought a total absolute chaos among the Indo kids in the pit!

mayhem was the order of the day

clip 'Luka Indonesia' here

the 3 favourites

Personally i was eager to 'xperience a seizure' to  songs selected from a trio of my favourite SID discography: 'Kuta Rock City'(2003), 'The Hangover Decade'(2005) and 'Black Market Love' (2006); and the band didn't let jimlucky down with a barrel of sonic attack from those albums: among them  'Hanya Hari Ini', 'Vodkability', 'Kuta Rock City', 'Bad Bad Bad', 'Black Market Love' (in a downnote, yours truly got totally bummed when one of his ultimate favourite SID song 'Cerita Semalam' was not included in the setlist)




clip 'Black Market Love' here
clip 'Vodkability' here

"Bersama kawan, bersama-sama kita rayakan kemenangan"

Keeping stage banter to a minimum in between songs, Bobby, JRX and Eka managed to put on a sublime performance all nite. Their years of burning the moshpit day in day out really shows: vocal harmonies are sincere n spot on; the rhythm/lead, bass and drum bashing are tighter than your school pants! The muhibbah royal local and Indo kids went mental for 2 plus hours! Candidly in middle of the set JRX pulls out from the skins and put on a guitar for an awesome rendition of 'Lady Rose' (clip 'Lady Rose' part 1 here, 'Lady Rose' part 2 here). Rad!

At the end of the nite i dont think anybody will doubt that this is hard-earned money well spent. This is what punkrock show is all about: an event for social misfits to enjoy the music that everybody else love to hate

S I D with Rehot & Im, at the end of the show (pic courtesy im's fb)

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epilogue 

(from the top) after the Bali trip in 2005 dec 2004, Rehot and Im went on to become the best of friends. Predictably :] the love bug hit them like an unexplainable tsunami, and they went on to become an item.  After 2 plus year courtship, they tied the knot on July 2008.  I'm so very happy for them, but unfortunately could not attend their wedding since I was based in Dubai at that time. A true rockinroll love story!

2011: rehot + im = azzakira (pic courtesy of im's fb)