NEW INTERVIEW: Our new interview with Nenx from Girlzeroth (Cimahi/Bandung death metal), 20 May 2025.

                  

Our new interview with Girlzeroth (Cimahi/Bandung death metal)

Tuesday, 20 May 2025

At: Papap’s house/Pieces Records, Ujung Berung

(Interpretation by Popo, vokalis Jasad and Demons Damn) 

Kieran James: Tell me about the new album. What’s the progress?

Nenx (Girlzeroth guitarist): The progress in Girlzeroth I will release second album on 16 Januari 2026.

KJ: What’s the title?

Nenx: The Fight Against Stigma. The stigma is for the social issue, about the life every day in here.

Dani aka Papap: The real life in here. 

Nenx: All songs are with English language. 

KJ: Why did Gina leave the band?

Nenx: She talked to me as she wanted just to be a housewife and focus on her children. And then I prepare for the second album, a six-song list, all of them in English title.

KJ: Do you have English lyrics to get sales overseas?

Nenx: Because I want to explain an explore my music in a universal context and go international maybe. As I want to start to spread our music to abroad.

KJ: Did you look for woman vocalist first to replace Gina? 

Nenx: I was hunting for female vocalist. I wanted to ask Popo to join Girlzeroth before she joined Jasad. I asked Auryn but she was busy because her new band are in the process of recording. When I asked Auryn she was in the middle of the process of recording her new album for the band. 

KJ: Why you don’t ask Wong to come back?

Nenx: Yes, but she never answered.

Popo (Jasad and Demons Damn vocalist): We had a plan to have a girl band, with the drummer from Soul of Slamming (Fifi) but it never happened because we had many miscommunications. It’s hard as we talked in many WhatsApp group chats.

KJ: What is the style of music hfor the new album? Any change?

Nenx: Yes, the material in music—we don’t just stay with death metal. I will mix so many subgenres—groovy DM and technical DM. I try to mix various kinds of subgenres of death metal. So now I try to adapt to the male vocalist. It will have a little change.

Popo: How does it change to play music after married life?

Nenx: First I had to have adaptations in terms of the time. I needed to take more time because he [Ades, husband of Nenx] is my tutor when I learn to play guitar. He is just on the back of the stage to help me. 

Popo: He had a famous band Kotak; it was a popular band in Indonesian rock. 

Nenx: I have to experience so many new techniques playing guitar. I learnt something new from my husband. I got the new skills that I did not know before. We have signed up with the label Underground Syndicate from France/Bali. The founder’s name is David. He is the guitarist of Enmity band. He is the ex-sound engineer of Nile, Cryptopsy, Behemoth and many other bands.

Popo: Before she started marriage, she was afraid that her husband would refuse for her to play music. Nenx never asked but she thought that he would refuse. She felt a little bored when not playing guitar. Her husband asked her why she never played guitar again. I asked her: “Why you don’t ask your husband first?” To me this is a funny story. 

KJ: Do you think that Popo is more feminist than you in outlook? 

Nenx: Finally, I choose that way. I don’t think about the gender whether it is woman or man. The first time Girlzeroth had a male vocalist, so it does not matter for now. So now it is Girlzeroth with only one girl. It’s not about the gender, I am thinking about the music.

Popo: In the past I had a little bit of discrimination. I don’t know about Nenx. I started playing DM before Nenx. The whole of the audience in the underground music scene think sometimes that we are second-rate population.  “We are not good at playing music, it’s just a trend,” some people think. Nenx and I try to prove that we are serious to play DM. We are girls not only following the man. We focus on the music and try to prove that we have a talent for playing DM. We are not followers; we are not posers. In the old times, such as when I started music when I was still at school, people did not know whether I had a talent in the music. They might think because I’m a girl that I’m not good at playing music. I had discrimination when I was younger. 

KJ: Did Nenx experience any discrimination?

Nenx: Yes, I feel the same. I had more discrimination after I had family and husband. 

Popo: People think that if she is a mother she should stay at home and be a housewife. 

KJ: What’s the future plan for Girlzeroth? 

Nenx: Maybe other releasing the second album we want to tour and promote, we will make the music video. 

KJ: Can the record label help you to tour Europe?

Nenx: He is only releasing CDs in Indonesia. If he can bring Girlzeroth to Europe it is very expensive.

KJ: What do you think about Bandung DM scene compared to before?

Nenx: For the musicians in the DM, now it is harder to get connections to the right people who can help us to promote the music. It can be a reason--that we do not nongkrong as often now. It can be harder to get connection. 

KJ: Because the original people got older?

Popo: Yeah.

Nenx: I think that many bands in BDG have the same quality of sound in the music. There is no difference between one and the other. The sound quality is the same across many bands. I think it is the quality of the sounds [not of the music] that are the same.

*****THE END*****

NEW INTERVIEW: My second interview with Samier Tengkorak, Jakarta death metal, 30 May 2025.

My interview with Samier of Tengkorak, Inferno Music Studio & Rock Shop, Surabaya, Friday, 30 May 2025 (corrected by Samier via Instagram on 31 May 2025)

(Note: Samier is based in Surabaya but the other members of Tengkorak are based in Jakarta) 

Samier: Tengkorak disbanded in 2016. We are not active. We do not practice. We do not play the gigs. Last year (about November-December 2024) they want to reform. I told them that I can’t go in like before. But I still join in their management but not as a performer again. 

Kieran James: Why don’t you want to join again?

Samier: I feel I can’t one hundred percent anymore because of my lifestyle now. I’m not sure that I can join this band. In the future I don’t know. Right now I’m not in the band anymore.

KJ: You still play with the band G.A.S.? 

Samier: G.A.S. disbanded in 2017. 

KJ: What other activities do you do? 

Samier: Nothing. I just manage my studio. I have comic book store. I have simple lifestyle with my family. I’m still listening music. I still support new bands in Surabaya. I’m still watching gigs. 

KJ: Do you still follow OFM?

Samier: It’s not active. It’s just a statement. Yes, it’s a movement but it’s more of a statement. We still have our beliefs. We love metal but we stay with our belief. Because, at that time that you came before [January 2014] that statement came because so many young fans thought that if you are metal you should not have the beliefs. But it’s wrong.

KJ: You still contact Ombat [Tengkorak vocalist]?

Samier: Yes, we have WhatsApp group. I went to Jakarta last December and we met.

KJ: What are some of the young bands in Surabaya?

Samier: CPG (grindcore); Daging (death metal); Decrown (death metal); Fordity (death metal); and Gerogot (death metal). 

KJ: What is the size of the scene now?

Samier: I think the scene got bigger. Hardcore gets the young people. There is regeneration in the hardcore scene in Surabaya.

I had a motorbike accident in 2018 and my leg is broken. I need one year to recover my leg.

We had a plan (G.A.S.) to come back in 2019. And then COVID came. We had a break of three years. After that we were so excited to perform again, to come back in the band. I don’t feel so excited anymore. As a player we should practice every day, we should go everywhere for gigs. I feel not comfortable with those circumstances given my age. I don’t want to continue. They ask me to come back but I said to them I can’t do this anymore. 

KJ: How do you feel? Sad? 

Samier: Happy. Because in 1990 I joined a band (no name), a university band; we just play on the campus. We changed the name at every gig (laughs). We just play Metallica or anything we like, it’s not a serious band.

1993 I am the founder of Slowdeath. This is my first serious band. We have three albums. It is deathgrind. We have Napalm Death in Harmony Corruption style. And Slowdeath 1993-2003 (?) Then I joined Tengkorak. 

KJ: Are you the first generation of extreme metal in Surabaya?

Samier: Yes. Nendy is the first and then Edy from Wafat, Yayan from Venduzor, then Jagal. Jagal is a newer band than us. But the players come from the first generation. Endro and Deddy came from Fear Inside.

KJ: Keep going back to when you joined Tengkorak.

Samier: I joined in 2003 and made an album with them, Agenda Suram (2007). This is the fourth album from Tengkorak.

KJ: Did you join Tengkorak because of the beliefs?

Samier: I wanted Slowdeath to be bigger. I wanted Slowdeath to be a national band but to stay in Surabaya. I had a plan to relocate the whole band to Jakarta. It’s crazy at that time. Because Slowdeath when we played gigs in Jakarta we got a good reaction. Jakarta is more simple, it’s the capital, not like Bandung. Bandung community is a very closed community, just like Surabaya. When we play in Bandung we do not have a good impact. It’s possible to move to Jakarta and have an opportunity. But the other members don’t want that. This is why I joined Tengkorak. Suddenly Tengkorak lost their guitarist. I knew them for a long time, we became friends. I called them. I said: If you want a guitarist I want to join you.

KJ: But you still stay in Surabaya? 

Samier: I stay two weeks in Jakarta, two weeks in Surabaya, sometimes by train, sometimes by plane. My sister stays in Jakarta. It depends on Tengkorak activity. When we release my first album with Tengkorak, I stayed in Jakarta or two or three months to rehearse and practice and record the album. Because when we did the record, we changed the drummer two years before, in 2005. We changed the drummer. And I join with Tengkorak until 2016.

KJ: Did the band continue with the younger players? 

Samier: The persons in the first or second line-up joined again. The bass player, the founder, rejoined again. Ombat is still the vocalist. Ombat (vocals), Yoyo (guitar), Danang (bass), Rony (drummer, joined 2005), Donny (second guitar). Donny is actually the drummer from Tengkorak in 1998 and the bass player from 2012. Right now he is the second guitarist. The new line-up has one single just released. 

[Tengkorak--Zionist Downfall (video), featuring Ombat daughter on vocals.]

Samier: Donny is a good songwriter--actually he can play drums, bass, guitar, he is so productive.

Deddy and Sari (G.A.S. vocalist) have a new band Decrown, they just have one single. 

KJ: What is the lyric about in the Tengkorak video? 

Samier: The lyric is similar to the other Tengkorak songs. It’s about Zionist. It’s time for the Zionist downfall.

We in Islam we believe the Zionist downfall is coming. It’s written in Al-Quran how Israel ends. Maybe for some people outside Muslim they can hardly believe what is written in Al-Quran. There is a big war at the end of the days, Israel and Islam. So we know exactly that in the end it will be the end of Israel. Right now we are heading to that event. We know exactly what Israel is. We have a long story about them, from Moses. They betrayed Moses. We know exactly what they are doing in the first Islam era. They always betrayed. If you read the books about Mohammed, it is about what Israel people did in that era--they always betray. 

KJ: Did Tengkorak get any recognition from other countries? 

Samier: Yes, especially from Japan. There is a Japanese label that always support Tengkorak.

KJ: Is there any interest from Muslim countries?

Samier: No (smiles). Tengkorak--we are not good to promote ourselves. I have a family in Bandung. In school they are taught the teacher will support you if you have arts or music talent. The Bandung mentality is special.

[Top picture: Samier (left) with Nendy of Fear Inside, Surabaya death metal.]

*****THE END*****

NEW iNTERVIEW: My first interview with Scraft (Soreang, South Bandung slamming death metal), 18 May 2025.

My first interview with Scraft (Bandung slamming death metal), @ Dani aka Papap’s house, Ujung Berung, East Bandung, Sunday, 18 May 2025. 

SCRAFT band line-up: Vocals: Muhammad Falqi Darussalam (Chezz)

Drummer: Nabiil Fawwaz Famungkas (Nabiil)

Guitarist: Rafi Gifti Ramadhan (Rafi)

Additional bassist: Hifni (Iip)

Kieran James: History of the band?

Falqi (Chezz): 2024.

KJ: Influences?

Rafi: Peeling Flesh, Analepsy, Abominable Putridity. 

KJ: Indonesian band influences? 

Rafi: Kaluman, Jasad, Strangers (modern metal), Turbidity, Digging Up.

KJ: Where are you from? 

Falqi: Soreang, South Bandung. 

KJ: Why do you like to play slam? 

Rafi: I like the groovy riffs (guitar).

Nabiil: Snare and the breakdown.

Dani aka Papap: Who’s your favourite drummer Bandung death metal?

Nabiil: Papap and Paul Mazurkiewicz, Cannibal Corpse.

KJ: Any other drummers? 

Nabiil: Abaz. 

KJ: Your comment about Bandung death metal scene? 

Rafi: Amazing. 

KJ: What is the name of your song? 

Falqi: “Slaughtered in filth”, recorded at: Starec studio, Sukajadi (Mirrorcle?). 

KJ: What is your plan? 

Rafi: Album.

KJ: How many songs do you plan? 

Rafi: Ten. We have to collect the money. 

KJ: For the others? 

Rafi: Now we have four songs.

KJ: Do you play cover songs? 

Nabiil: No.

KJ: Do you have plan for any guest vocalist? 

Rafi: Maybe Popo Puji, Glenn, Agus (Anorgasm). 

KJ: What slam bands exist in Bandung? 

Rafi: Turbidity, Gore Instinct. 

KJ: How many shows have you played?

Rafi: Two gigs. 

KJ: Where were the two gigs? 

Rafi: Bandung and Tangerang.

KJ: How do the people find out about your band?

Rafi: We know the gigs from Abaz. Abaz invited us to play in Kulonprogo Metal Fest XII (Jogja). 

KJ: How many songs did you play at the gig? 

Rafi: Four. 

KJ: How did you feel playing in the gigs?

Rafi: We were so excited to play these gigs. Because it can promote the band.

Rafi: Our song already released on digital stream platform two weeks ago.

KJ: Any other gigs coming up? 

Rafi: 6 Juli at Kulunprogo Fest XII and 18 September at Kendal Total Sickness (3rd and 4th gigs). 

KJ: Do you want to find permanent bass player?

Rafi: If the additional wants to be a member then we agree. He played in the two gigs.

Rafi: I work and so does Falqi. Nabiil is a student.

KJ: Where do you study? 

Nabiil: SMK Merdeka, Soreang (school), class XI, engineering (motorcycle). 

Rafi: We will record one more song in October.

KJ: How do you get to know each other? 

Falqi: Through gigs. 

Dani aka Papap (ex-Jasad drummer): First they played metalcore, now they play slam.

KJ: How do you know about Papap and this place? 

Rafi: Papap is famous [laughs].

Dani aka Papap: What do you write about? 

Falqi: We write about real-life killers, serial killers. 

[About this time Popo (vocalist, Demons Damn and Jasad) joined the interview.]

Popo: Why do you choose to play slam?

Rafi: We enjoy listening to the music. That’s why we choose the genre.

Nabiil: The first time we wanted to play DM but the drummer found it hard to play the running skill (double pedal). Many friends suggested we play slamming as they think slamming is easier than brutal DM. After we listened to many slamming bands we found it is not easy, it is just like brutal DM.

Falqi: After the guitarist joined we changed our music to slamming. So the guitarist brought slamming influence into this band. 

Popo: They still have a lot of time to learning about many skills, right? 

KJ: How do you see the DM scene now? 

Nabiil: People at the DM scene look like they bond with each other, they can hug each other, to help each other. If someone needs some experience everybody can share and explain influence. 

Rafi: If I come to the DM gigs, the gigs look like more exclusive so it seems outstanding. It is different from shows of other genres. 

Nabiil: It is easier to share with other guys in the DM scene. I had an experience in sharing in another genre. They are more like they don’t care--sombong! It’s hard to ask questions about what you want to know. It’s different when meeting with the DM guys. They are very open to share and give advice about everything I wanted to know.

KJ: When were you born? 

Falqi: 2005. 

Rafi: 1997. 

Nabiil: 2007.

*****THE END*****

NEW INTERVIEW: Our third interview with Wisnar of Pourriture (Bandung Death Metal), 17 May 2025.

My third interview with Wisnar of Pourriture, Kopi Lakeum, Jelekong, South Bandung, Saturday, 17 May 2025 (time: 1.5 hours)

Wisnar (guitarist of Pourriture): The scene in Bandung is not as big as eight years ago.

Kieran James: Why do you think the scene become smaller?

Wisnar: The pandemic, maybe. The economy is not good. There are not so many [event] organisers and promoters as before. Hardcore music is growing. I don’t know the reason. Maybe it’s a trend. When I tour to Sumatra, Java, Bali, the situation is the same. 

Febri (photographer for Pourriture): Maybe across Indo hardcore is growing for sure.

Wisnar: We have a strategy for struggle for the scene. We make grassroots gigs every month.

Febri: We try to make DM scene alive by making gigs once a month.

Wisnar: It is part of Flower City Death Fest--Awakening the Death. It is an event with new bands from 2020 to 2022 maybe. Awakening the Death has the same organisers as Flower City Death Fest. The concept is looking for new bands maybe. These gigs are free to attend.

KJ: So how many people come to the gigs? 

Wisnar: Not so many, 100, under 200.

Febri: The shows are in Bandung, just Bandung. Now we see not as many people wearing the shirts. Now only people who like DM just wear the shirts. Five or ten years ago we see everyone everywhere wearing DM T-shirts. 

KJ: Is this the same in Indo? 

Febri: Yes, I think so. Maybe the friends follow hardcore, people go to hardcore style, something like that. Not many people wear DM T-shirts except the players and the fanatic fans. You can say if you are not in DM you will not buy Death Metal shirts. 

KJ: Do you think this is good or bad?

Wisnar: I don’t know. For the DM scene it is bad. 

Febri: Maybe next time people will give us the attention in DM scene, I hope. 

Wisnar: In 2024 we play in hardcore shows. 

KJ: The older band members get older, have families, have jobs. The new bands like you need to rise up.

Febri: They, the old school, are busy with their family and their life.

Wisnar: Maybe the enthusiasts from the young generation they follow trend music right now like deathcore maybe, emo. 

Febri: Yes, maybe. 

KJ: Tell me more about the Flower City Death Fest. The idea came from Daniel. 

Wisnar: Daniel Turbidity, yes. Daniel met Glenn. The idea came from Daniel. We met at Dark Castle.

Febri: The idea came from was we want the event to come from us to the people, to make death metal. 

Wisnar: We wanted to use DIY style. This year we had Gore Infamous, Pourriture, Turbidity, Disinfected, Forgotten, Bleeding Corpse. 

Febri: Bleeding Corpse reunite, the first show for ten years. Behom on vocals, Condemned to Suffer reunite--Luk Luk, Uus, Ari Bejo. 

KJ: Was it a good show?

Wisnar:  Yes [smiles]. 

KJ: How old were you, 2011? 

Wisnar: Both 16 (born 1996). 

Febri: From 2009, 13 or 14, we start to watch. That was the first time we know DM. 

KJ: Were you at the 2012 show in Soreang when the police came? 

Wisnar:  Yes. 

Febri: Yes. 

KJ: Do you feel people respect you in Sumatra, Java because you are from Bandung? 

Febri: When you are in a band from Bandung yes people see you as like death metal gods, something like that. It is because our seniors build the legacy in death metal so good, so people in Indo see us like that. 

KJ: How do you feel about following the legacy of the original bands? 

Wisnar: It’s full of responsibility. We need to keep going, struggling. 

Febri: We need to keep the legacy alive. It’s not easy for the players. 

KJ: Do you feel any pressure? 

Wisnar: No, it’s fun but not easy.

KJ: How about black metal in Bandung, is it getting small or still the same?

Wisnar: We create a black metal event with Glenn. Glenn had the idea. Glenn had the idea of making the BM scene alive. We made Black Rising. 

KJ: Tell me about the Black Rising.

Wisnar: In the beginning it came from Glenn. It started seven years ago, 2018. After that Glenn made it once every year. The latest Black Rising was from one year ago. Black Rising is the same people as FCDF, they both have the same organisers.

KJ: Who is organizing FCDF now? 

Wisnar: Me, Daniel, Glenn, Maya, Daday, Egi, Bejo, Febri, Judas, Depri, Ivan, Boy. 

KJ: How many people in the crowd?

Febri: 300. The crowd size is going up.

Febri: There have been five FCDFs. 

Wisnar: Every year the crowd goes up 

KJ: What happened during pandemic? 

Wisnar: The scene stopped. 

Febri: It stopped due to police permission not coming to us to make events. 

Wisnar: We still nongkrong in the pandemic. We get ideas from nongkrong. We can build something from nongkrong. Nongkrong is like a culture for us, it comes from the same interest and ideas. So many bands were birthed from nongkrong.

Febri: Sombong is the big crime in Indonesia. 

KJ: More people went to FCDF or Black Rising? 

Febri: Probably FCDF--is a big event, as it is every year. Every month we have Awakening the Death. Black Rising is just a small gigs. 

KJ: Why did Glenn move from DM to BM? 

Wisnar (?): I asked Glenn, he said: When you go BM, you never go back. Right now he is very concentrated in BM, Sethos is his band. He loves BM music. 

KJ: Why did you bring Mortality and Sethos into FCDF as they are not DM? 

Wisnar: DM is just the term. Death Fest is overseas. We looked at Maryland Death Fest, it is not only DM bands playing. But DM is our priority. 

Febri: People have mindset when we come to Sumatra if you play in a band not from Java you will struggle to be famous. It came from the local people from Sumatra.

KJ: Do they think it’s unfair? 

Febri: No, it’s not unfair. They [Sumatra bands] play good music. They are not in a good market, so people do not know about them. If you meet people from another country they are going to say DM is Ujung Berung. 

KJ: Do you think the scene got smaller because people went to follow religion?

Febri: I don’t think so. They have their own reason not to follow death metal anymore. 

KJ: In the Indonesian culture you don’t criticize these people. You give them the freedom, yes? 

Febri: Yes. 

KJ: What is your comment about Voice of Baceprot?

Wisnar: It’s a hard question. I don’t follow the music. 

Febri: I think it’s good that young people get into metal music. It’s always good when you see young people into metal music. 

Wisnar: I’m not fan. I don’t follow the music. 

KJ: Is their popularity due to Westerners thinking three young women in hijabs playing is interesting?

Febri: That’s the value. They see hijab girls playing metal music. It’s interesting to watch. Maybe it becomes a good value, for the market, because it’s unique.

Wisnar: If the entertainment is audio and visual, I think audio is more important than the visual.

KJ: Where would you like to tour for your band?

Wisnar: Sulawesi.

KJ: Why?

Wisnar: Because not so many bands toured to Sulawesi. Bleeding Corpse performed but did not tour. I want to tour for three weeks or one month. 

KJ: Do you think Sundanese metal is a real genre? 

Febri: I think if you look to the grassroots maybe it’s not, it’s combined from culture and death metal. Sundanese is our local language. If you go to Madura the local people cannot understand Sundanese. 

KJ: Jasad is popular all over Java. Is that strange?

Febri: No, it’s not strange for us. Sundanese is the way to life [these last two words are unclear in my handwriting] for us when we are born.

Wisnar: Like a life philosophy. It teaches us about a mortal ethic, like God maybe. It’s not about language, it’s not about location, it’s like spiritual.

KJ: Do you think Undergod was the first Sundanese DM band? 

Wisnar: Jasad first made the “Kujang Rompang” [2013] song [meaning: “broken dagger”]. Undergod made the album Saguru Saelmu Tong Ngaganggu [2010]. “Kujang Rompang” is fairly deep lyrics, meaningful.

Febri: Awakening the Death every month is in Soreang. The venue is free, so the crowd pay nothing. We play in Soreang because the venue is free.

Note1: Awakening the Death, 01 June 2025, Plaza Pengurujung, Kasawan Budaya, Soreang (Sabilulungan) 

Note2: Pourriture means decay in French language.

*****THE END*****