NEW TURBIDITY INTERVIEW (Teguh: "Turbidity is a role model for underground in Indonesia"), 14/5/2018.

Our second interview with Turbidity (Bandung Slamming Death Metal)

Date: Monday 14 May 2018.

At: Jalan Cihampelas, Bandung

Translation by: Popo Puji (vocalist, Demons Damn)

Teguh Prasetyo (Interfectorment band): My opinion is that Turbidity is one of the role models for underground music industry in Indonesia. They have reached the point where they do not need to follow someone else. They are at the point where they can make their own music. To me that inspiration is really great. They still do have the attitude of underground musicians.

BAND BIO: Turbidity Slamming Berawal di akhir tahun 2008 "Turbidity" mulai di bentuk, Dengan formasi awal Dada Rosadeath pada Vocal, Daniel di Gitar, Tangkill pada Bass dan Iko di Drum. Pada tahun 2009 Turbidity mengeluarkan Demo yang pertama dengan titel "Path Of Mutilated" sekaligus mulai melakuan promo ke daerah2 di jawa barat, jawa tengah, jawa timur hingga Bali. Akhirnya setelah menunggu 2 tahun pada Tahun 2011 di bawah Label Legendaris asal Bandung (Extreme Souls Productions) Full length Album yang pertama akhir nya Rilis dengan titel "Suffering Of Human Decapitated" tapi pada tahun yang sama Tangkills mengundurkan diri Turbidity karena kesibukan nya, untuk mengisi posisi bass kemudian di batu oleh Amar (Error Brain) dan kemudian di susul Dada yang mengundurkan diri pada awal tahun 2011. untuk mengisi kekosongan vocal pada tahun yang sama Andri Gila (Ex-Hydro, Ex-Digging Up, More Dead). setahun kemudian tepat nya 2012 Turbidity di bawah Label Horribel Creation Bandung merilis "Vomiting The Rotten Maggot. EP". di tahun yang sama juga Split "Geahering Of Guttural Slammage" dan Kompilasi "Syndrome Of Brutality Compilation Vol.1" di rilis. dan mulai melakukan berbagai tour ke berbagai daerah di Indonesia hingga ke beberapa negara tetangga (Thailand, Phillipina, Malaysia). Tahun 2014 Amar mengundurkan diri dari band karena kesibukan Kerjaan nya dan aktifitas dengan Band pertamanya (Error brain), Ferry (Deceit, Ex-Taring) akhirnya mengisi posisi yang di tinggalkan Amar. pada tahun 2016 ketika Turbidity Menyiapkan album terbaru nya Andri Gila Mengundurkan diri karena kesibukan kerjaan nya, dan akhirnya kekosongan Vocal di bantu oleh Bobby (Ex-Bleeding Corpse, Hydro) hingga akhirnya awal tahun 2017 Promo Album "Sinis" di Rilis Oleh Groupies Records, Promo ini adalah promo Album Full Length Turbidity yang sudah di Rilis Tahun 2017, sudah di rilis bawah Label Groupies Records. Di bulan februari 2018 lalu adalah hari ke 10 Years Untuk band Slamming Brutal death metal asal Bandung yang telah malang melintang di Scene music underground metal tanah air Indonesia, mereka tetap berjalan hingga saat ini event event yang segera mereka sambangi kota Indonesia.

Kieran James: How did Bobby join the band? [Bobby = ex-Bleeding Corpse, ex-Hydro vox]

Daniel Turbidity (guitarist): When Andri Gila was busy with his work, the band and Andri made a decision that Andri would resign. He was busy with his work and his family. The band felt confused about this situation. We had to move on with the band; we tried to find some good candidates for vocalist. Because Bobby did much tutoring with Turbidity (giving advice), and we all knew that Bobby was free and had no band, this is why we chose Bobby.

Popo Demons Damn: How did you feel about this?

Daniel: I feel that, after Bobby joined, he made Turbidity bigger than before. The band was more creative and the audience sometimes asks: “How can they mix Turbidity’s music with the character of Bobby’s vocals?” The audience knows that Bobby is a Brutal Death Metal [not slamming] vocalist from a brutal band [Bleeding Corpse].

KJ: Do you think more people are interested in Turbidity now?

Daniel: Yes, of course.

KJ: What is your feeling about Bobby onstage with Turbidity?

Daniel: For the band, the other members, it is like we have more adrenaline and energy; we have more motivation because Bobby can connect with the audience and stir them up. The band’s decision is not wrong to replace Andri Gila.

KJ: What do you think about Andri joining Bleeding Corpse?

Daniel: I still support Andri and Bleeding Corpse and wish them success. I hope he can make Bleeding Corpse more successful and they can be as big as before. It is Andri’s decision to join Bleeding Corpse and I think it is a good decision for Turbidity to release him.

KJ: What is the plan for a new Turbidity album?

Daniel: We all make new songs.

Bob Rockiller (Turbidity vocalist): We are waiting for a good time to record. We hope soon that we will release the album.

Daniel: Bobby and I made all the new material.

KJ: How many songs have been written so far?

Daniel: Ten songs.

KJ: Do you know the record label?

Daniel: Groupies Merch. We released a promo demo last year. We released two songs as demo promo. Until now we still have not released the album.

KJ: Still slam?

Teguh Prasetyo (Interfectorment band, Lembang): Still slam but still drunk.

Popo: Slam, but different to the old Turbidity album [Suffering of Human Decapitated]. I know because I heard the songs. Bobby pushed it to make it different for the new songs. It is still slam but more brutal for slamming.

Teguh: Still slamming but with a much more brutal approach to the music – less repetition; still fucking brutal.

TURBIDITY 9 Okt 2011: Iko and Daniel

Popo: The new songs are faster.

Teguh: More complicated patterns in the songs, but for me [it is] still easy listening.

KJ: Halfway towards Bleeding Corpse?

Popo: No.

Daniel: Easy listening but hard to play.

Popo: Bobby tried to make it not sound like Bleeding Corpse because it is not Bleeding Corpse. Because Bobby helped to make the songs of Bleeding Corpse, Bobby can help Turbidity to make new material. This can help to make Turbidity different. Bobby is the music dictionary; underdog band dictionary.

Teguh: Yes, yes.

Bobby: No, no, no.

Teguh: If we cut open his head we will find lots of underdog music dictionary.

KJ: Why did Mamay leave the band?

Daniel: He was busy with his work.

KJ: When did Mamay leave?

Daniel: End of 2013.

Popo: When will you get married? Uus Death and Kancil already married…

Daniel: Tomorrow if not the rain… [Indonesian saying]

TURBIDITY 9 Okt 2011: Dada on Vocals

Teguh: My opinion is that Turbidity is one of the role models for underground music industry in Indonesia. They have reached the point where they do not need to follow someone else. They are at the point where they can make their own music. To me that inspiration is really great. They still do have the attitude of underground musicians. As long as we have a good time together that’s all that matters. All the members of Turbidity are always reaching out to the younger generation, sharing their knowledge with us. It is very helpful to the younger bands to help us grow and get better.

KJ: Tell us about your idea for a Bandung Death Metal festival?

Daniel: For now there are no Bandung Death Metal festivals but Death Metal people in Bandung try to make some gigs so that Bandung Death Metal can rise up again. We try to make some gigs to make it happen.

Popo: It is not only Daniel but Bobby and me; we feel that the new generation is very different to the old generation. They don’t want to make some gigs so as to keep the community alive. They are like a bad generation. We made so many gigs in the past and discussions to make a movement. Now they just stay in front of phones to chit-chat on social media instead of making gigs and a movement.

Daniel: In the beginning, the band made a community alive; now the community makes the bands come alive. We must make it like before so that the bands make the community alive again.

Teguh: I think the younger generation (including me) don’t understand the importance of making the scene alive through gigs. They think that, if they make the good music, people will pay them to play. The important thing about this type of music to me is building up a social community with friends who have the same interest. The young generation does not want to make gigs; they just want to play.

Popo: They want some people to pay them but they don’t know how to promote the band.

Teguh: For me, if I can play without payment at the gigs, it is fine. We have to make our own gigs. Death Metal is not for everyone.

Popo: If we are not invited to some gigs or some fests it is OK. We can make our own gigs. But their attitude [young generation’s attitude] is that they are waiting but no-one is calling.

Teguh: To pay it is quite expensive for the organisers. The organisers only want the famous bands. Financially, I can understand [organisers’ preferences] but for the community it is bad. For the older people, even if they don’t play, they still stay within the community because of the sense of the family which they have. We will find a way again to make the old movement come alive again; it will take time because the mind-set of the new generation has changed. For us underground musicians, we will still stand.

KJ: How do you feel about modern-metal bands like Revenge the Fate rising up fast?

Teguh: We don't get jealous; they have their own different world, we have ours.

Popo: We just choose the supportive way [i.e. to be supportive to them]. We don’t choose their path.

Teguh: What is most important to me is [that] I can see my idols play in Indonesia. We don’t need much exposure but when we get exposure it’s good for us.

Popo [asking Teguh]: If you are 35-years-old, like us, do you think you will feel we need regeneration?

Teguh: Yes.

Popo: In Bandung there is no new generation of women playing Death Metal in Bandung. We have Maya playing guitar; we have Girlzeroth in Cimahi; I must do something now to make a new generation.

Teguh: The hype is going down for now; the time is not right now. It is hard to make a female vocalist for Death Metal.

Left to Right: Bobby and Daniel (Turbidity), Kieran James, Teguh and Agung (Interfectorment), 14 May 2018.

BLEEDING CORPSE and TURBIDITY, October 2011. Left to Right: Bobby Bleeding Corpse, Dada Turbidity, Daniel Turbidity, Kieran James, Mamay Turbidity, Casper Hell (band manager).

TURBIDITY February 2011. Left to right: Dada (vox), Iko (drums), Mamay (bass), Daniel (guitar).

NEWS: Bob Rockiller returns to the stage with Turbidity @ Mojokerto Black Conspiracy, 8/8/2017

NEWS: Bob Rockiller (ex-Bleeding Corpse vocalist) returns to the stage with Turbidity @ Mojokerto Black Conspiracy, 8/8/2017. Bobby was vocalist of Bleeding Corpse until 2012-13 when he resigned from the band. Then he joined Hydro which was never an active or successful band, and so people no longer saw him on the stage for several years apart from guest vocal appearances. Then last year, in a surprise move, he joined Bandung slammers Turbidity replacing Andre (vocalist 2012-16). Sometimes, in the past, Bobby had done duets on stage with Turbidity when Dada was the vocalist (see picture below, from a 2011 Turbidity show in Bandung). Bobby is a famous front-man in Indonesia with a huge presence on the stage. However, off the stage, he is a humble and gentle giant. He connects very well with the younger fans and they can sense his kind and humble spirit. He also tries very hard to connect to them. He is dedicated to the scene and the community and he has a high standard of ethics. Best wishes to Bobby. P.S. Bobby was guest vocalist on Demons Damn's album Humiliation (2013) (tracks 4 and 8) and Jasad's album Rebirth of Jatisunda (2013) (track 5) [by Kieran James, 30/08/2017].

NEWS: Bob Rockiller (ex-vokalis Bleeding Corpse) kembali ke panggung dengan Kekompakan @ Mojokerto Black Conspiracy, 8/9/2017. Bobby adalah vokalis Bleeding Corpse sampai 2012-13 saat mengundurkan diri dari band. Lalu ia bergabung dengan Hydro, yang bukan band yang aktif atau sukses. Kemudian tahun lalu, dalam sebuah langkah mengejutkan, ia bergabung dengan Bandung slammers Turbidity menggantikan Andre (vokalis 2012-16). Terkadang, di masa lalu, Bobby telah tampil di panggung dengan kekeruhan saat Dada menjadi vokalis (lihat gambar, dari pertunjukan Turbidity 2011 di Bandung). Bobby adalah frontman terkenal di Indonesia dengan kehadiran yang sangat besar di atas panggung. Namun, di luar panggung, dia adalah raksasa yang rendah hati dan lembut. Dia terhubung ke dunia. Dia juga berusaha sangat keras untuk terhubung dengan mereka. Dia didedikasikan untuk tempat kejadian dan masyarakat dan dia memiliki standar etika yang tinggi. Semoga Bobby. P.S. Bobby was guest vocalist on Demons Damn's album Humiliation (2013) (tracks 4 and 8) and Jasad's album Rebirth of Jatisunda (2013) (track 5) [oleh Kieran James, 30/08/2017].

BACK IN BLACK: Bobby live with Turbidity @ Sukabumi, West Java, August 2017.

BLEEDING CORPSE live @ Cibinong, 8 October 2011. Left to Right: Bob Rockiller (vox), Luk Luk Adrian (bass), Uus Death (guitar), and Ari Bejo (drums) (obscured from view).

Bobby vocal duet with Dada @ Turbidity show, East Bandung, 9 October 2011.

Left to Right: Bobby Bleeding Corpse, Dada Turbidity, Daniel Turbidity, Kieran James, Mamay Turbidity, Casper Hell Turbidity (Manager) @ Bandung, 10 October 2011.

Left to Right: Kieran James and John Yoedi (Busuk Webzine), Iwan D (ESP), and Bob Rockiller, April 2012.

Popo's birthday @ Old Common Room, April 2012. Left to Right: Bob Rockiller, Popo Demons Damn, Butche (The Cruel), and Man Jasad.

BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder line-up @ Cibinong, 8 October 2011. Left to Right: Adrian Luk Luk (bass); Ari Bejo (drums); Uus Death (guitar); and Bob Rock (vocals).

NEWS: Bob Rock (ex-BLEEDING CORPSE) joins TURBIDITY as new vocalist for 2016 demo, 20/11/16

New TURBIDITY official band picture November 2016 featuring Bobby Rock on vocals (fourth from left).

NEWS: Bob Rock (ex-BLEEDING CORPSE / HYDRO) joins TURBIDITY as new vocalist for new 2016 demo. The two-track demo Sinis - Promoshit 2016 will be released on 30 November 2016 by Groupies Merch (limited to 500 copies). Bobby previously was vocalist on the debut album by BLEEDING CORPSE Resurrection of Murder issued in 2008. The new TURBIDITY line-up is: Iko Karbon (drums, 2008 - present); Daniel Turbiyem (guitar, 2008 - present); Ferry (bass, 2013 - present); and Bob Rock (vocals, 2016 - present). Busuk Chronicles wishes best wishes and success to Bobby and the band.

Comment by Daniel: "Yeah, with Bobby in turbidity it will bring fresh air for our concept in the next album, which is now under construction for the material ..... initial plan next year we enter the recording studio".

Comment by Dedra Digging (guitarist DIGGING UP / KALUMAN): "I really love it that Bobby can still be playing" [by Facebook message].

Left to Right: Popo Demons Damn; Bob Rock; Kieran James (Busuk Chronicles), Butche (black jacket and Hirax cap); Zemo (red-and-black jacket); and Aries Kaluman @ Bandung.

BLEEDING CORPSE Reusurrection of Murder line-up @ Cibinong, 8 October 2011. Left to Right: Adrian Luk Luk (bass); Ari Bejo (drums); Uus Death (guitar); and Bob Rock (vocals).

BLEEDING CORPSE live @ Cibinong, 8 October 2011. Left to Right: Bob Rock (vocals), Adrian Luk Luk (bass); Uus Death (guitar); and Ari Bejo (drums) (obscured). 

TURBIDITY live @ East Bandung, 9 October 2011. Left to Right: Iko (drums) and Daniel (guitar).

TURBIDITY - Suffering of Human Decapitated full-length album (Extreme Souls Production, 2011)

TURBIDITY - Vomiting the Rotten Maggot EP (Horrible Creation Extreme Musick Media, 2012)

TURBIDITY - Sinis - Promoshit 2016 (Groupies Merch, 30 November 2016, limited to 500 copies).

METAL HISTORY: TURBIDITY (Bandung Slamming Death Metal) live @ East Bandung, 9 October 2011

TURBIDITY, February 2011 line-up. Left to Right: Dada (vocals), Iko (drums), Mamay (bass), Daniel (guitar).

At the show with TURBIDITY in Ujung Berung, East Bandung, Sunday 9 October 2011 by Kieran James aka Jack Frost

At 4pm on Sunday, Bobby, Popo, and I headed for East Bandung to attend a rock show to be headlined by the young, first-rate death-slammers TURBIDITY. It was a 45-minute drive from the northern suburbs of Bandung out through to the residential areas near Ujung Berung and then to the border with the countryside. As we headed into the residential or the suburban areas the roads narrowed, buildings became closer together, the graffiti on walls became more prominent, and the traffic began to thin out. Popo told me that this was near to Ujung Berung, that near mythical working-class locality, much like California’s East Bay for legendary punks RANCID, where the first death-metal bands developed and a supportive but demanding death-metal brotherhood emerged. In Ujung Berung the older death-metal bands have always mentored the younger bands and pushed the younger bands towards excellence. Popo states that she knew Man of JASAD within the metal community of Ujung Berung before she even became a death-metal vocalist.

The neighbourhoods we went through were not completely poor – here and there we saw what were obviously higher status houses and apartments but they too lacked arrogance and pretension. The area has a harmony and cohesion, even in the midst of apparent chaos, a statement which could even apply to Indonesia as a whole where everything and everyone appears to be in perpetual motion but where social behaviour still remains highly regulated and controlled.

Kieran and Dada, 9 October 2011, East Bandung

We eventually reached a road where, to cite RANCID again from the 2009 song “Disconnected”, “the city was on the left and the country was on the right”. Heading towards the show this lyric actually reversed itself as the rice-fields, in the shadow of the mountain and perhaps less than a kilometre away and shrouded by eternal grey cloud, were on the left and the houses of East Bandung were on the right. The ancient rice-fields on the left, a sight which must have remained unchanged for generations, were interspersed with modern-looking petrol stations with their MNC brand-name logos prominently displayed. Such are the contradictions of Indonesia.

As soon as we had reached the rice-fields, 500 metres or a kilometre ahead on the right, around a bend in the road as it curve rightwards, was the music venue and its large compound. It was hard to be sure what the music venue was primarily designed for. Certainly the parking area compound was very spacious and there was a long internal entrance road after you entered the front gates.

The music venue was a large hall, much larger than the Cibinong venue and perhaps 50 metres long and fifteen metres wide or even 60 metres long and 20 metres wide. The roof was raised very high and in one corner there was a staircase leading up to a balcony. The balcony stretched along the entire back internal wall and was around ten metres deep. We exited the car to see all of the death-metal community of Bandung, or so it appeared, relaxing on a low brick wall running parallel to a side wall of the building. There was a line of around fifteen metalheads seated on the low brick wall, holding court as it were, with others sitting on the ground and crouching in front of them. The seated metalheads were smoking, passing around bottles of traditional “arak” wine, and staring peacefully out over the sea of parked motorcycles inside the compound to the mist-shrouded mountain beyond. Bobby, Popo, and I (Daniel may have been with us as well) enthusiastically greeted the seated metalheads.

Glenn Bloodgush, Uus Bleeding Corpse, Kieran James

There was a real atmosphere of community and brotherhood which was very obvious to everyone. Although this was just an ordinary rock festival it had also become a death-metal community event because local East Bandung favourite TURBIDITY was the headliner. On closer inspection of the seated people it seemed like some unofficial ranking system was being observed. As my pictures of this show reproduced here in this book reveal, Glenn [the 25-year-old lead vocalist of the emerging death-metal band BLOODGUSH] was seated third or fourth from the left as you approached the group. To his left was the smiling veteran of Ujung Berung death-metal, the BLEEDING CORPSE guitarist Uus Death. Clearly he was the most highly respected metalhead present at the show. He was wearing his denim jacket replete with sew-on metal patches of the type associated with the Western metalheads of the 1980s. Everyone was very relaxed and cheerful. This was a regular Sunday afternoon home gig in East Bandung of the type that Uus and Glenn must have attended hundreds of times before. Dada Rosadeath, vocalist for TURBIDITY, was floating around, wearing a red tee-shirt and cheerfully greeting people. Respect was being shown by younger metalheads and friends to people such as Uus, Bobby Rock, and Dada. I took pictures with two young and attractive teenage fans who were not dressed as metal chicks.

Once inside the venue it was apparent, and conversations confirmed it, that this was a mixed show and a mixed crowd. There were some death-metal fans in black death-metal tee-shirts, mostly dancing, slamming, and headbanging in a group of perhaps 100 in the moshpit directly in front of the stage. Others leaned against the side walls and watched proceedings. Other rock fans among the crowd wore tee-shirts and hoodies of a variety of colours and this was clearly a completely different crowd from the 100% death-metal crowd at the previous night’s gig in Cibinong. The senior metalheads outside did not appear to be too interested in going in to watch the bands. Clearly they were all waiting for TURBIDITY and enjoying the cool Bandung breezes, the wine and cigarettes, the companionship, and the mountain views. However, as befitting a non death-metal show, many senior metalheads were missing, including Ferly, Abaz, and Man of JASAD. Man may or may not have by this time returned to Bandung from his trip to visit his mother’s home.

I moved around out in the car park area sitting with different people, chatting with Uus and Glenn, and taking pictures for this book. I met one interesting character, a young man who is a serving but off-duty Indonesian policeman [see picture in this book]. He informed me that he had been part of the death-metal scene before he took up his current job and that he kept up-to-date with developments in the death-metal scene. He had a heavy-metal denim jacket buttoned up over his police uniform and to everyone’s delight he stood up to take off this jacket so he could be photographed with me in his full police gear. Clearly the guy enjoyed juggling and trading off his multiple identities although he wanted to make clear to us that his death-metal scene involvement predated his current job. This statement signalled his authenticity and sub-cultural capital to the death-metal scene. He was keen to make it clear that he was not a police spy or a police plant which was important given the tense relationship presently existing between death-metallers and the police in Bandung due to the eleven deaths at the BESIDE show.

The crowd inside appeared to be mostly teenagers. Due to the vast size of the hall the group of 100 dancers and headbangers right at the front looked somewhat lonely and isolated. The show lacked somewhat in atmosphere due to the large size of the hall and the mixed nature of the crowd and the bands on the bill. This lack of atmosphere was certainly not the fault of TURBIDITY as the band tried their best to perform with total passion and ignore the empty spaces in the venue and the lack of atmosphere. Most of the floor space of the hall was empty with groups leaning against the side walls. The senior metalheads, including Bobby, Popo, and Uus, headed to the raised balcony section at the back of the hall while I chose to stay at the front at ground level to headbang. For a time I leaned against the side wall talking with two teenaged guys who proclaimed to me that they were “death-metal”; asked me if I was “death-metal”; asked me if I spoke Indonesian (“sorry no” was the answer); and also asked me whether TURBIDITY was really going to play or not. Given that TURBIDITY’s name was top of the bill and listed on the giant wall poster behind the drum kit the guys’ faith levels did not appear to be very high. I presumed that they had had negative past experiences with bands not showing up at gigs or showing up but not playing. I told the two teenagers that the TURBIDITY vocalist Dada was already here and I pointed him out to them.

Iko (drums) and Daniel (guitar), 9 October 2011

TURBIDITY finally hit the stage as night fell outside and the headbanging and dancing began in earnest down at the front. Dada moves around a lot on stage and the large stage here suited him. He has the hardcore look of short hair, tattoos, non-black tee-shirt, and cap (featuring the communist hammer-and-sickle logo, a logo which is still illegal in Indonesia). Dada adopts the hardcore genre posturing of arm holding the microphone raised up high, so that the forearm is parallel to the floor and the microphone is very close to the mouth. Dada’s body is in a permanent crouch and he places one foot on the amplifiers. Dada is very unlike Bobby Rock whose style is more that of a classic or traditional metal front-man with very few hardcore genre influences. This is probably to do with the generation gap as Dada is much younger than Bobby and he grew up under the inspiration of the 1990s hardcore genre influenced styles and sounds of bands such as BIOHAZARD, MACHINE HEAD, and PANTERA. There was almost a hardcore genre style of death-scream and the music simply did not slow down or stop at all except for the few seconds of silence between songs. If you go to a TURBIDITY show expecting melodic power-metal or even 1 second of melody in the whole show then you will be disappointed! In complete contrast to Dada, Daniel really looked death-metal style, in black death-metal tee-shirt, baggy shorts, and with a scary and brutal expression! He stood by himself to Dada’s left or to the right of Dada if viewed from the moshpit [see picture in this book]. He indeed looked like a magnificent, solitary death-metal warrior with no-one else coming within two metres of him.

Dada and Bobby Bleeding Corpse (vocals duet)

The death-metal kids at the front were totally enjoying themselves in the presence of TURBIDITY and a group of four girls aged around 15 or 16-years-old were dancing around enthusiastically and just as crazy as anyone at the back of the moshpit. It was hard to be sure whether these four were death-metal chicks but probably they were not. No-one interfered with anyone else and the atmosphere was courteous, cordial, and non-threatening while not losing any of the tough-guy look that is expected from death-metal. For the four girls I think the afternoon was an exciting time of dancing and they were very safe in the crowd. Later I saw them walking away from the show, still together in a group of four, along the internal entrance road of the compound.

To my surprise, Bobby Rock joined Dada on stage, each one giving the other considerable space and respect, and they performed a death-metal duet. There were happy cries of “Bobby!” and many phone cameras were raised above heads as their owners tried to capture a shot of Bobby. On the next day at the band interview, Dada showed me in his shop “Deathstar Tattoo” a video-clip of TURBIDITY playing at Bandung Death Fest 4 (2009) and, on that occasion also, Bobby Rock joined TURBIDITY on stage. I was very surprised later to hear from Popo that Dada has left TURBIDITY. Bobby Rock joining Dada on stage is a warm and fraternal gesture which shows to fans the unity and brotherhood of the Ujung Berung death-metal scene. Just as when Ferly and Man of JASAD invited Popo onstage during JASAD shows in Bandung and Malang [East Java], Bobby’s actions can be seen as an endorsement of TURBIDITY to the crowd. On these occasions, Man, Ferly, and Bobby acted in their accepted roles as elder statesmen of the Ujung Berung death-metal community. The importance of UUs Death (Bleeding Corpse)’s presence at this show should also not be under-estimated.

Tonight was a night when the Ujung Berung death-metal community honoured its own local heroes and enjoyed camaraderie in a very easygoing, home-town atmosphere. It was like probably hundreds of local gigs that the senior metalheads have attended in Bandung over the past years. The atmosphere was not great because the venue was too large for the size of the crowd. However, TURBIDITY played with pride, passion, and professionalism and the 100 teenaged death-metal fans up the front enjoyed the TURBIDITY set tremendously. The enjoyment of the TURBIDITY set was clearly added to by Bobby’s surprise appearance on stage. He has many young male and female fans and the fans saw firsthand the unity, respect, and brotherhood that prevails in the Ujung Berung death-metal scene. This unity and respect has been one factor behind the rapid rise to prominence of TURBIDITY. The unity and camaraderie and mutual support of the Bandung scene has clearly given its members a charm and an easy self-confidence which has allowed Bandung death-metal to occupy a prominent place in the entire Indonesian scene. Bandung death-metal today is a combination of Man of JASAD’s charm and intelligence and Ferly’s analytical and humble nature and sense of fairness, compassion, and integrity.

JASAD’s professionalism has also been a major influence on BLEEDING CORPSE and TURBIDITY. For JASAD, death-metal is a serious business to be approached professionally reflecting Ferly, Man, and Yuli’s decade-plus experience as death-metal musicians. However, their genuine love for death-metal music and for the death-metal scene, still the same as when they were all in junior high-school, shines through on occasions and gives the Ujung Berung movement durability, inner strength, integrity, and simple joy. When Ferly talks about his favourite death-metal guitarist [James Murphy] and album [OBITUARY’s Cause of Death] you are left in no doubt that he genuinely loves this music and its rich global history. There are no Lars Ulrich-type temper tantrums or Gene Simmons-type lawsuits within Ujung Berung death-metal. Man still loves his mother (!) and his community, and Ujung Berung death-metal reaps the benefits of this warm, humble, and very Indonesian approach to life. Yuli’s closing advice to fans at our 10 October 2011 interview was “love your mum!” and while he was smiling and enjoying the humour involved in making such a “non-brutal” statement in a death-metal interview we don’t doubt that he meant it as well! Long live Ujung Berung Death Metal!

[This review is published in my book Struggle Anger Hate in the Indonesian Underground by Jack Frost which you can buy from Sofyan Hadi in Jogjakarta.]

Left to Right: Bobby Bleeding Corpse, Dada Turbidity, Daniel Turbidity, Kieran James, Mamay Turbidity, Casper Hell Turbidity (Manager) @ Bandung, 10 October 2011.

Daniel Turbidity discusses the food order with the waitress while Bobby Bleeding Corpse and Popo Demons Damn look on @ Bandung, 9 October 2011.