Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Dredging The Sludge 2010: Penang (300110) & Taiping (310110) Tour Diary

Assalamualaikum & Good Greetings,

Sorry for the delay in publishing our tour diary. Here goes:

29th January 2010

We departed from Johor Bahru at 10.00 pm in our rented Nissan Urvan, later than the original schedule, due to massive traffic jams caused by stylish wel-wel walkers on Pasir Gudang and Skudai roads in conjuction with Thaipusam. Had fun watching Ajax's gore movie with erratic Malay subtitles- "Ini Sejenis Najis", exclaimed the subtitle in one part of the movie. Unthinkable. Stopped by in Pagoh, and took some rest before continuing.

30th January 2010

Reached Melaka by about midnight, and had good fun getting lost in Melaka for almost an hour before actually arriving in Melaka Central. Collected our good friends Mr Josiah and Ard from uber-band maddame..., too bad Ashie could not join us due to some urgent family matters.

Left Melaka by about 1.00 am. Eddie was on the wheels, and he ended up sending the van flying over a fallen lamp post on the highway somewhere near Subang. Not his fault. There was no way we could avoid that one. We advised him to drive slower the next time. Roads in Malaysia were that dangerous to the point that we anticipated we would find buffaloes on the highway next. Pulled over and checked the damages. Bumper was a bit torn, and we had all numbers and letters all cleanly removed from the registration plate, just like what you see in Sesame Street, thanks to the impact.

Continued the journey, and made a few more stops for coffee and rest. By 9.00 am we arrived at the jetty, and took a ferry to the Penang island. It was fun. We reached Kapitan mamak restaurant by about 9.30 am, and waited for Azwi (Predicate Not Defined) while we had tosai, nasi lemak, and roti prata for breakfast. Azwi suggested that we drive over to Soundmaker Studio to bathe and rest, while waiting for the equipment to be set up.

Did soundcheck at about noon, and then in came these dodgy looking kids with big cameras. Turned out that these were RTM reporters covering an indie band's feature. At a really awkward timing. "Kami dari band XXX (tak tau nama), kami main memang best. Sokonglah kami untuk pertandingan YYY (tak tau nama jugak), kami selalu ada gig kat sini". Oh ye ke? That delayed our souncheck for almost 40 minutes. Nevermind.

Completed soundcheck and stringed up tags for the bands and crews. After all, the tour is self-organized by Predicate Not Defined, Wynken Delirium, and maddame... so we have to do these on our own. Some other bands did their soundchecks as we worked.

Zaihas, Ajax, Zam, and Yan decided that they were getting hungry and needed lunch, tagging Josiah, Ard, and Roy along with them. Eddie and Harris stayed back to watch over the event with Azwi.

The hungry buggers proceeded to the closest Nasi Kandar restaurant and ate their full. They burped happily amidst some complaints about the high price of duck curry, and next ordered 2 sets of rice and dishes for shaky Harris and Eddie who had yet taken their lunch.

By 2.30 pm people started arriving, and show officially started. Ard took the task as the door manager, and he certainly did a superb job at it. Josiah was nailed to his laptop, which in turn was nailed to the merchandise table. By now, Zaihas, Yan, Zam, Harris, Roy, Eddie, and Ajax were unable to contain their sleepiness and took turns sleeping in the equipment room. Those who were awake took turns watching the bands play. We liked Hark Tuih Haha. Clocksticking played very well too.

Wynken Delirium played after Maghrib. It was a good show with good support from all those present, despite some errors here and there. Thank you everyone! We stayed back to watch Predicate Not Defined- glorious live performance as ever! Azwi and the new guitarist were very comfortable with their instruments, and Hilda had greatly improved as a vocalist. Not to mention the young energetic drummer, and the ever-steady abang bassist :)

After the show, we headed straight to Batu Ferringhi to hang out with Tam (Blind Tribe). It took us almost 2 hours to reach there. Massive traffic jam!

31st January 2010

Left Batu Ferringhi right after midnight. Originally promised to meet up with Rizal (ex-Blind Tribe) in Bukit Mertajam, but it took almost 2 hours just to get to the mainland, so we had to drop that plan. A thousand apologies, bro!

Reached Harris' parents house in Lunas by almost 3.00 am. Had a good sleep, and woke up in the morning at about 9.00 am. Had good breakfast with Mummy (Harris' mom), and next we walked to the nasi ayam stall nearby to have a hearty brunch, complete with sup kaki ayam. Left Lunas by about 11.00 am for Taiping.

We reached Kamunting at about 2.00 pm, set up our equipment, and did soundcheck. Bandaq, Fendi, and Busop from Flake Poison turned up and we hung out at a nearby mamak shop. Their other guitarist and drummer were unable to make it for the show, but they still turned up to support the tour. Thanks bros!

We played right after Maghrib, we think. First song was cut off by a blown power supply fuse, but the problem was fixed shortly afterwards. The rest of the set went with no problem. Crowd was crazy, with ladies banging their heads as intensely as guys! Kudos to Taiping kids! Zaihas and Harris handed over their equipment to Bandaq and Fendi for a Flake Poison/Wynken Delirium rendition of Lamb Of God's cover "Redneck". Crowd went wild! We had moshpits, two-steps, joget lambak, and even WWE-style wrestling matches in the crowd.

As usual, we stayed back to watch Predicate Not Defined, and right after the show, we said to each other goodbyes and took photos. Left Kamunting at about 9.00 pm. Zaihas requested that we dropped by Changkat Ibol to visit his uncles. Had good dinner with pekasam and sambal belacan, and we cleared about 2 full pots of rice in the process! Left Changkat Ibol at 11.00 pm.

1st February 2010

Reached Melaka at about 5.00 am and sent Josiah and Ard. Tried to go to the restroom to pee but was denied access by stingy petrol station workers. Drove out towards Johor Bahru shortly afterwards, driven by Roy. Suddenly we smelled smoke and burnt matter. Heck, one of the back tyres had practically disintegrated into pieces! Yan came to the rescue, with his quick actions in replacing it with the spare tyre.

Reached Johor Bahru at about 9.00 am, all weary and sleepy. It was a good experience, nonetheless! More tour diary to come!

Wynken Delirium