Friday, September 30, 2005

Our Chari-asthma-tic Frontman

No, no, no. Not charismatic. Chari-asthma-tic. Our vocalist Fawaz is currently recuperating from an asthma attack that attacked him 2 days ago. Heard that the carpeting on the walls in Rockin' Studio caused him much trouble. Or maybe he's allergic to Marshall classic amps? That we do not know for sure. Or maybe he's just allergic to groupies, so in that case, he will have to bring less of them to our jamming session. Told you, groupies are not good for health. They can cause asthma and make you vomit blood. Literally.

But either way, we still need him to deliver 110% in tomorrow's Asian Beat 2005 heats, so you better perform, boy!

Untuk mengelakkan punggung anda dari ditepuk oleh kaki-kaki ahli-ahli kugiran yang lain pada tahap yang melampau, silalah menyanyi dengan baik esok. Tepuk, bukan tendang. Tendang tu lain, sakit. Tepuk tu tak sakit pun, cuma boring sikit jek la kot rasa dia. Err. Jangan marah. Gurau jek.

Wish us luck. Venue is Menara Landmark, time is 2 pm onwards, date (just in case you do not understand what tomorrow means) is 1-Oct.

Mourn-io.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Truly Rockin'!

Youw. Last night Gobling rehearsed at a new place, just for the sake of trying out- Rockin' Studio in Pasir Gudang, owned by our good friend Bob, the guitarist from grindcore band fame Damokis.

We were first admitted entry into Studio B, and found out that the equipment inside were not to our liking, so we switched place to Studio A- and my, my, what a surprise! There we were, looking at 2 Marshall amps with cabinets as big as we can see! One was a JCM 900 and the other was a JCM 2000 Triple Lead. They only got a Carvin amp for bass, but we'll get to that later. Drums? If I am not mistaken, it was a gorgeous metallic-pinkish-red-purple Pearl set. Looked geek, but sounded great. The jamming room was small and a bit packed.

Zaihas took the JCM 900- and what a pain in the ass it was for him to try to get his guitar tone to come out from the amp! He practically cursed and swore until it was decided that he should take the JCM 2000. Now this JCM 2000 was easy as hell to set up. Farique took the JCM 900 and started tweaking- the resulting tone was impressive, to say the least. So now Zaihas has to learn how to properly tweak a JCM 900- he was never good with setting up amplifiers in the first place, by the way. Sigh.

Haris tried out the Carvin bass amplifier- surprise again! His Fender bass tone came out rumbling heavy and crystal clear! Carvin amp never sounded that good judging from our combined experience, so to actually hear such tone coming out of it was really awesome. As for Muhairi, he was used to the setup there (he jams there with Damokis frequently), and had no problem with the superb Pearl set. PA system for microphone was clear and loud too, in fact, it was too clear and loud until Hassan (he tagged along with us) was forced to sit further away from the speaker to avoid hearing loss. All was set to go.

Gobling jammed for 45 mins, took a 15 mins breather, and continued for another 45 mins. Played the following songs in the first session:

1) With Or Without You (U2),
2) Mello,
3) Domination,
4) Cowboys From Hell,
5) Mister Calcium,
6) Good Sermon, and
7) more Mister Calcium.

Took a breather, and jammed out Mister Calcium in our 2nd session until we were satisfied- we need to play it in Asian Beat this Saturday, you see, so the more rehearsal, the better.

Jammed for 1 hour 30 mins + 15 mins breather, and it only costed us RM37! Cheap, considering the quality of the equipment used.

All in all, kudos to Rockin' Studio for such superb setup and service! We hope to be there again!

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Sabotage Issue: Countach's Explanation


So you have read what Gobling had to say about the incident. Zaihas went to see Countach people earlier this evening to find out their side of the story, and below was what they had to say:

When the lights turned off halfway through Mister Calcium, Wek (studio owner) rushed upstairs to check the fusebox. Everything was okay, and when he went down, the power had been back on. A studio caretaker was changing his clothes at the moment, and the rest of the Countach boys were downstairs, so Wek did not think these kids were involved in it. Another caretaker rushed to the power sockets nearby the stage to make sure all connections were secured once the power got cut- none were problematic. So the power could only be cut off from inside the studio upstairs by switching off a connection.

There is one catch though. Despite repeated instructions from Wek not to let outsiders go up into the studio while the show was running, some kids from some other bands which were scheduled to play next went upstairs anyways and stayed there during Gobling's set.

So who was responsible for this immature behavior? Go figure. One day you'll get caught, putang ina. And we have yet to practise our wasabi making skill on a human being before.

Monday, September 26, 2005

We Have Been Sabotaged?

Story goes as follows:

Countach planned to organize this open air show a month ago and postponed it to 25-Sept. Fine. Gobling was scheduled to drive up to Kuala Lumpur on 23-Sept to compete in the ROTTW Road To Soundstage audition then, so we did not plan to play in it anyways. Unfortunately, the audition was cancelled until after Hari Raya. Then came the owner of the studio asking us to play in their open air gig. We gratefully accepted, being humble Muslims and music lovers we are. Payment? No payment, we were to play for free. That we didn't mind, though, as we never were after profiteering. We were ordered to come to the venue earlier as the show was to start at 8 pm. Ok, no problem.

Farique asked the studio owner: "What shall we play?"
The owner said: "Anything you would like to play."
Farique said: "We do not want to play in the first set, that is all we ask."
Owner said: "Ok. No problem."

So on that unfortunate day, we turned up early to make sure we did not miss the boat. No one else was there, except us. But we brought all our equipment there and waited. And waited some more. Still, no one turned up.

So the owner went to us and said: "You are to play first."
We said: "No, we thought we have talked this over with you."
Owner said: "But there is no other band except you guys."
So we said: "Ok. We understand your position."

We proceeded to the stage, set our gear up, let Fawaz do the housewarming and introduction thingie, and started playing. We played

1. With Or Without You (U2 Cover),
2. Mello,
3. Two Times Late, and

...disaster struck during our 4th song of the set, Mister Calcium. We were midway through the song when the power supply was cut off suddenly and was suddenly turned back on again. Bastards! Not willing to be dazed and confused, we continued the song right from the solo part until the end, with our small but faithful crowd cheering us up.

Technical glitch- yeah, right. I waited to see 4 more bands play, and no other bands had such "electric glitches". No power supply failure can be resumed that fast. Farique's guitar had not even ended its sustain when the power supply was resumed. That was not a broken fuse's work, that was more of a switch-flipping work to us.

So fuck it, we say. At 12.30 am, Farique, me and our good buddy Hasan went to another studio that night to work on Hasan's new song. By playing music, Gobling had created a circle of close-knit friends, and we do not stab friends. Mess with us, and we do not hesitate to mess with you. Take our word for it.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Yamaha Asian Beat 2005: Confirmed

Burp. Gobling has confirmed its participation in Asian Beat 2005. Details are as follows:

Heats
Saturday, 1 October 2005
Menara Landmark, Johor Bahru
Bands are to register by 12 noon, so the competition should begin by 2 pm.

Regional Finals
Sunday, 2 October 2005
Menara Landmark, Johor Bahru
Bands are to register by 12 noon, so the competition should begin by 2 pm.

Do come to see us play and support us if you may. See you there!

Attention, Nostrils!

Youw. We have finally set up our our own Myspace.com account:

http://www.myspace.com/gobling

The link is also accessible via "Gobling Elsewhere" section on the right. Uploaded Two Times Late into Myspace.com for your migraine-inducing pleasure. For those with Myspace.com accounts, please do not hesitate to inform us to add you to Gobling's friends list as we are quite a social-friendly bunch indeed. Especially our vocalist.

In the other nostril, the open air show in front of Pelitra Cafe/Apple Cafe, Taman University, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia (phew!) is on. It will be today (25-Sept) from 8 pm till late. A few more bands are joining us for the party, so expect lots of fun and noise. Bring lots of food and drinks from home, as Pelitra has marked up prices for food and drinks- no, we are just kidding.

Call Farique at 017-7217793 or Zaihas at 017-7807895 for more information. Or you can just call up Countach Studio at 07-215182 for information as well, as they are the ones organizing the FOC gig. See you there tonight!

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Not Satisfied With Osman


Ok. So jam we did last night. Browsed through:

1. With Or Without You (U2),
2. Two Times Late,
3. Mister Calcium,
4. Good Sermon,
5. Cowboys From Hell (Pantera),
6. Paranoid (Black Sabbath),
7. Domination (Pantera), and
8. Mello.

We worked on Osman but were not satisfied with the result. We'll try it again this Saturday during Recharge jamming session. What's or who's Osman? That we cannot tell you - TOP SECRET.

Will see whether we can get to try Swimming Fool too this weekend.

CDs sold up to 30 copies last night (all these sold within 8 days, purely by word of mouth). Thanks to all those who purchased a copy- more power to you all. Much respect.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Road To Soundstage Postponed

Bummer. ROTTW alerted us that they are postponing the above to sometime in November due to some unforeseen circumstances. Nevermind. By the way, the 25 September 2005 open air show @ Countach Studio is still on, so at least there is still chance to catch us live! Gobling had confirmed last night that we will be joining Yamaha's Asian Beat 2005. More details on the way- we need to confirm the date, time, and venue first.

Last night, Farique, Muhairi, Fawaz, and Zaihas, together with Mr Hassan (from Statik) and Farique's younger bro Firdaus jammed together with a friend of ours, Alvin, and his band. The session was awesome with covers of Pantera, Metallica, and even some jazz numbers executed sometimes precisely, sometimes somewhat haphazardly. Zaihas almost lost his voice due to extreme vocal exertion. Duh. We would like to thank more friends we made last night (thanks to James, Jeremy, and all the gorgeous babes!) for friendship and also for more purchases of the EP. A big thank you from the depth of our slug-infested lungs!

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Update On ROTTW's Road To Soundstage Audition

Burp. We got some update on the ROTTW Road To Soundstage audition. Venue will be changed to MMU, Cyberjaya, Selangor. Time and date stay as they are: 10 am till late on 24 September 2005. Gobling will be playing, God willing. See you there!

We had also received an invitation from Countach Studio, Taman Universiti (our resident rehearsal studio) to play an open-air mini show on 25-September. The venue will be Pelitra Cafe, Taman Universiti (very near UTM, Skudai, Johor Bahru for those who do not know where the place is) and time is from 8 pm till late. Heard that 4 or 5 more bands will be playing in it too, each to play 2 songs. You may contact Countach Studio at 07-5215182 for more info.

Looks like next weekend will be a hectic one.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

A Zillion Thanks!

To the generous souls who have purchased the CD-R version of the EP, Gobling would like to say a zillion thanks! We really appreciate your indication of support by the purchases. On a high note, we are very grateful for your courage to try and cash in on a new band like ours. May God bless you all. Thank you again.

Monday, September 12, 2005

A Lesson In Loosening Your Teeth


Youw. Now we got an mp3 file of "Two Times Late" uploaded for all to hear and absorb. This should serve as a good example of how the EP sounds like. H-e-a-v-y. Try listening to it at high decibels and we'll gladly have another case of loose tooth (or teeth, depending on your calcium intake; we recommend consumption of calcium-enriched milk to avoid osteoporosis).

A friend complained of acute headache and hearing loss right after the EP's pre-listening session late last week. Poor lad. We don't blame him- for a guy whose staple audio intakes consist of Yngwie Malmsteen and Malay 80's rock bands' noodlings, Gobling can be quite an earful to take.

You are welcome to listen to the mp3 file at i-bands (link is provided on the right hand side of this page, see and click on "Gobling @ i-bands.net" under "Gobling Elsewhere"). Thanks to i-bands for the server space and facility. We really appreciate it.

By the way, Fawaz, Farique, and Muhairi played last night for a college-battle-of-the-bands-type competition in remembrance of Malaysia's Merdeka Day (that's on 31-Aug, for those who do not know) as part of "Aqkhlaken". Each band was supposed to play two songs, preferably with patriotic undertones/overtones. Aqkhlaken played Mello (a song available in Gobling's EP) and a patriotic song by Allahyarham Sudirman. They played well and got third place.

The other band which caught our attention was "Zoom", which consisted of 5 members. They did not seem to grasp the concept of you-must-tune-your-instruments-before-playing. Enough said on that point alone, actually. But I hasten to add- funnily though, their out-of-tuneness resulted them in having a very heavy overall tone- it reminded us of Sonic Youth fighting off Electric Wizard! Their drummer and vocalist were seemingly oblivious to the out-of-tune bass and guitars and they lumbered on, keeping the songs (these are supposedly slow pop rock numbers) rolling regardless of what might happen next. The crowd had a good time watching them play, and one of our pals (this time a different guy) complained of chest pains from laughing too much. As for me, I never thought that you can play Malay pop rock stuff ultra doom-style. This band showed us that this can actually be done, and they had already done it. The result was very tooth-loosening.

Farique said that he liked the guitarists' tone very VERY MUCH. Urm.

We may be playing in Yamaha's Asian Beat 2005. Will keep all posted on that one.

Friday, September 09, 2005

All Right Now!



At last, managed to get the EP cover uploaded to this page. See the image on the left. Let us know how and what you think of it- a pair of skeletons clad in grim reaper attire looking oh-so-snugly together in front of a bullseye. Now you know Mister Calcium. Or, rather, Mister Calciums (there are two of 'em there).

Some updates on The Road To Soundstage audition. It will be held on 24-Sept at South City Plaza, Sri Kembangan, Selangor from 10 am till late. On the last note, heard that 40 bands will be auditioned. We will be departing from Johor Bahru at 6.30 pm on 23-Sept. Wish us luck. We are in Malaysia, just in case you wonder. Shall bring 20 copies of Gobling's EP to promote our music there.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

EP Ready For Chon-Chon Action!

Youw. Gobling has completed mixing and mastering today its first release ever, an EP. Track listing is as below:

1. Intro
2. Two Times Late
3. Good Sermon
4. Cowboys From Hell (Pantera cover)
5. Mello
6. Outro

Phew. Finally managed to clear up all the recording, mixing, and mastering sessions after almost 6 months, since April 2005. Sleepless nights, headache, earache, malnutrition, and missing in action incidents are all summed up snugly into this speaker-bursting package. Too much for trying to emulate Warren Ryker recording techniques- these almost resulted in eardrum bleed.

Important note: Gobling would like to greatly thank Mr Bob (Tasyrif) from Damokis for his extreme throat contribution in our cover version of Pantera's Cowboys From Hell. Zaihas in particular really appreciates the late evening spent with Bob yowling and howling, and we thank Bob very much again for the much-needed help of averting another blood vomiting incident. We also absolutely love the "buka puasa" intro track executed by our cuddly Bob and our springy pal Mr Jering (Zaihasrim).

Another important note: Gobling would also like to extremely thank Countach Studio for allowing Gobling to record our drum parts there for gratis. Speaking about economoney.

To all the powers-that-be (by that we mean, the generous folks who would like to surrender some cash to check us out), we are selling the EP (in CD-R format at the moment, until we manage to get someone to press it professionally into CDs at non-neck-twisting service rate). You may email us at goblingrocks@yahoo.com or even call Zaihas (@ 017-7807895) or Farique (@ 017-7217793) up. We will be selling the EP at RM5 per pc.

Post-scriptum: Yes, we know the retail price is cheap, but we are not backing out on the recording quality- in fact we placed the utmost care in making sure the recording quality is as best as we can squeeze out from our musical and recording equipment, given the puny budget. Heck, it even sounds vintage at times! You'll be handsomely rewarded.

EP artworks are ready, and once we manage to figure out and around why the heck this blogger is crashing everytime we try to upload some images of the EP, we'll include them artworks in this page. Now that should be awesome.

Godbless.