Blog Besar Jakarta, Day 2 - 8th September 2007

Assalamualaikum and Greetings,

Let's continue from where we left.

We slept to the machine gun tone of Fad's snores that morning. We woke up at about 7.00 am, washed ourselves, and had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. We went out to a nearby cellular phone stall to purchase new SIM cards for Ajax and Shah. It was a beautiful morning, slightly cloudly and it looked like it rained earlier that morning.

Received a text message from Robin about picking us up, and by 8.30 am he was already at the hotel with the van, together with Panji. We exchanged greetings and got to know each other better. We left the earliest to Rossi Music Hall, the venue of the gig, and arrived at 9.00 am. The staff were still setting up the equipment when we arrived.

Did our soundcheck session, and relaxed a little bit. By 10.00 am Damokis and Torture Incident arrived and did their soundchecks. At about 11.00 am Negation arrived, with luggage and all, fresh from the airport. They did their soundcheck too. Suaka was next, and guess what? They came with Baron (ex-Gigi guitarist) as soundman and Marcell (yes, that famous RnB singer Marcell) on drums!

Met up with Frank Yudo from Grindbuto and also Rully and Gun from Suaka. Hung out a bit with all the guys present. Overall, it was a cheery atmosphere, with handshakes, smiles, and laughs being exchanged between all those present. We passed some copies of our EP to our newly found friends, and Zaihas passed WAV files of the 2 tracks off our EP to Gun (Suaka) for him to test out the mastering on those tracks. Gun is with Stonedeaf Music, and they did a good job on Suaka and Noxa's recent releases. Ajax and Fad had fun posing for photoshots with Marcell. We also had good fun talking to Frank about Diponegoro (may Allah bless him for fighting the Dutch colonials), magic men, and meditation.

Soon after, Robin called all the bands and handed out security bracelets to distinguish the bands from the gig goers. It was an orange plastic based bracelet with "MaxxNoiseFest 1 VIP" printed on it- cool stuff!

Wynken Delirium, Damokis, and Torture Incident went out to have a satisfying meal at a Warteg (Warung Tegal or rice with dishes stall- for those who wonder what that mean). Prices were cheap, and helpings were many. Warteg lady was smiling from ear to ear- all of a sudden her stall was stuffed in all directions by hungry band members, that certainly meant good money!

Zaihas, Fad, Ajax, and Harris left for the hotel at 1 pm to bathe, pray, and rest. Shah hung around to check out the remainder of the bands doing soundcheck. We later heard from Shah that Suaka's soundcheck was extra long and that the sound was extra cool.

We went back to the gig venue at about 4 pm, and very soon after that Robin approached each band to confirm the performing sequence. Wynken played fourth, after Torture Incident, and before Damokis.

Soon after, the show started. We had these 2 really sexy, good-looking lady DJs announcing the name of the bands and the sponsors.

The first band was Finish Irene. They were really young, but their playing skill was something else. Their music was a mixture of metalcore and emo, powerfully and blazingly delivered. The whole Malaysian contingent was in front, banging to their music.

Next was After All Over. Another good band, there were marked Pantera and NYHC influence in their music and presentation. The band had tattoos all over them.

And here came the third band- Torture Incident. Ayen was on guitars, Deck was on drums, and Ratna on throats. They played as a three-piece since their bassist left. Ayen did a good thing by playing through 2 amplifiers and using quite a low set of tunings- there was almost no need for a bassist. Deck's drumming was consistent, and Ratna gave her best growls and shrieks to the amazement of all those who were present- "Selamat Datang, Selamat Datang, Selamat Datang...". That has got to be the heaviest welcoming song ever heard!

We were next. We played a mixture of originals and cover. We had Orgasmatron (Motorhead), Soul Sacrifice (Cathedral), NIB (Black Sabbath), and Refuse/Resist (Sepultura) as covers, and we played Jingling Nona, The Song That's Not Supposed To Be, and Gudmunsdottir. Crowd was really cool and supportive, and they sang and banged their heads to our music, and we almost lost our minds playing the songs in the most sludgy and fuzzed out manner we could think of.

Next, we had Damokis. They started their set with a dastardly cover of Dewa19's Sedang Ingin Bercinta, which resulted in a majority of us reeling in laughter! They played about 18 songs, with a cover of Groinchurn.There was this burly vocalist Bob flying all across the stage, there was guitarist Bob who was playing it super cool, Wan the other guitarist with his super whammy squeals, Muhairi the bassist with the occasional backing vocals, and Fauzi the super drummer. This is the peak of humorous grindcore, a must-see live act! Wan's effects pedal gave way in the middle of performance, but he quickly switched to direct amp gain for overdrive.

Negation was next. Super tight and powerful outfit. Frontman Madec was scaringly effective as a vocalist, you should see his eyes. His eyes! Guitarist Madie was as meditative as ever, coaxing violent noises from his Kramer. Yore the bassist unfurled signature Negation riffs in the coolest manner we have ever seen. Hezry the drummer is another cool fella. That cannot be said about his drumming- blisteringly tight and snappy! Somewhere around this time, Harris was suddenly grabbed by Bob the guitarist and was reluctantly dragged and used to mop the mosh pit!

Next was Bestiality, a hardcore outfit. Very NYHC, they reminded us a lot of Victory Records bands. The drummer used trigger to back up his drum pedals. There was a power failure in the middle of their set, but that did not deter them from performing the best they could.

Inlander came up next. Super crazy punk rock crews! We had fun singing to old punk tunes and people were pogo-ing like crazy all over the place! Zaihas lost his voice over the course of the next few days because of the song "Attitude", and Shah clapped his feet to "Die Die My Darling"!

Invictus was next. Really awesome progressive metal band! They were reduced to a three-piece as their vocalist was ill, but still, they took our breath away with their super-complicated song arrangement and skill. This was easily the best-skilled band in the whole bill! They played a fiery mix of progressive metal. All three members are suitably skilled, with virtuoso skills like bass tapping executed and displayed relaxingly!

Next we had Noxa - super heavy grindcore outfit. They were by far the tightest unit we saw that night. They also did a grindcore cover of Sepultura's Troop Of Doom- heavy! Noxa ended the show with a surprise birthday party for Robin, Noxa's druumer. The DJs brought a cake and Robin blew the candlelights off, and he wished that all the bands with stay united and be together. Let's pray for that wish to come true.

Next was Evacuate Cowboys. Cool relaxed dudes, but what they played was something else. Tool and A Perfect Circle came to mind. Some of us immediately rose from the back and went to the front when the first few notes of that Tool song (we forgot the title, we think it was from Tool's Undertow album). Their original compositions were as suitably complex and cool too.

The last band on the bill was Suaka, we only managed to catch about 3 songs before all Malaysian bands were called upon to depart the venue for security and safety reasons. Suaka played an interesting mix of heavy metal and Indonesian traditional music, and their live sound was arguably the best of all the bands that played that night, thanks to Mr Baron on the mixer.

After the show, Torture and Negation left straight for the hotel, however, Damokis and Wynken Delirium decided to drop by to have Nasgor (Nasi Goreng) on the way. We arrived at the hotel at about 12 midnight, took bath, and slept.

More coming up on Day 3 :)