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
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