Busuk Chronicles Metal Webzine: NEW INTERVIEW / VIDEOS: Our second interview with SICKLES (Bangkalan, Madura Death Metal), 4/12/2014

SICKLES band, 4 December 2014 @ Bangkalan. Left to Right: Rony (bass - proudly wearing the shirt of VALERIAN SURABAYA), Irsyad (vocals), Haidir (drums / also plays for KREMASI, Bangkalan Metalcore), and Arie (guitar).

Our interview with Irsyad, Arie, and Rony of Sickles (Madura Pride Death Metal), Bangkalan, Madura Island, 4 December 2014

Interpretation Bahasa Indonesian / Bahasa Inggris by: Ms. Dhinie (VALERIAN road manager)

Band line-up 2012: Arie (Guitar); Irsyad (Vocals); Anton (Bass); Bayu (Drums)

Band line-up 2013-15: Arie (Guitar); Irsyad (Vocals); Rony (Bass); Haidir (Drums)

Rony Sickles @ Bangkalan

Kieran James (Busukwebzine): Please tell us your background.

Irsyad (SICKLES vocalist): My name is Mohd. Irsyad. Before I like metal I liked rock music. Then I met Arie Sickles. Arie taught me about metal music. He always told me about metal and about all the genres like death, black, and the other genres.

KJ: Did you have any other band before you joined SICKLES?

Irsyad: Yes, I had a rock-band called BOLU (meaning “cake”).

Dhinie (ALLEGREA SURABAYA): What were the events that led you to join SICKLES?

Irsyad: Arie asked me to study about vocal. I tried to look for it on YouTube, about death-metal vocal technique.

KJ: Did SICKLES band have any other vocalist before you?

Irsyad: No other vocalist.

KJ: What year did you first join?

Irsyad: 2012. The first formation included Antony Maulana from MUTILATION AGGRESSION as bassist. There was also Merza Bayu from TYRANNICAL MIRROR (drummer), Arie (guitar), and Irsyad (vocals). From that formation we had two songs: 1. Serangan Fajar, and 2. Amarah Bumi.

About 2013 Antony Maulana left the band. Bayu also left at the same time. Bayu wanted to study at one of the universities in Bangkalan. They also both wanted to concentrate on their own bands. Arie and I looked for a new drummer and bassist. We chose Rony (bass) and Haidir (drums). We got a new formation. From this formation we had the EP album Series Elite Disaster. There are seven tracks, one intro, one outro, and five other tracks.

KJ: What cities did you play shows so far?

Irsyad: Surabaya, Lamongan, Sidoarjo, Malang, Madiun, Tuban, and Bangkalan.

Cute chick @ Bangkalan

KJ: Who wrote the song lyrics for Series Elite Disaster?

Irsyad: Arie and me.

KJ: Who had the idea to write about the Madura history?

Irsyad: Arie.

KJ: This makes the band very special.

Irsyad: Ya.

KJ: Who is the record label?

Irsyad: Self-released.

KJ: How many copies?

Irsyad: 500 copies. We have a distributor (Brutal Infection Records from Jakarta) who helped us but only for 200 pieces. We sell the other 300 copies by ourselves.

KJ: How many did you sell?

Rony (bassist): We already sold more than 200.

KJ: What is the response of the metal community to the CD?

Rony: We had a good response. Also the reviewers from outside Indonesia made a review (Sick Reviews and Servileinsurrection.com). This website Servileinsurrection.com said in the review that we sounded like the band VITAL REMAINS.

Arie (guitarist): If you live close to Andrew Sick we would like you to hand him the CD Series Elite Disaster.

KJ: What is your comment about Bangkalan metal community?

Arie: The metal community here is quite different to Bandung. In Bandung for one band they have diehard fans for that band. Here the community is just the musicians only and so we all support each other.

Dhinie: Is the metal community here big?

Arie: No.

Rony Sickles and Kieran James @ Bangkalan, 4/12/2014

KJ: How many people including the fans?

Arie: About 100. We usually get an impact from Surabaya. If Surabaya goes Death Metal here will also go Death Metal. If Surabaya goes hardcore music here will also go hardcore music. There are some bands here that struggle within their genre. They do not follow the trends from Surabaya. They stay faithful to the genre. They don’t just switch genres every second day.

Irsyad: There are seven bands in Bangkalan that keep true to their genres: 1 BULLRACE (HC), 2 SICKLES (DM), 3 RAJAM (BM), 4 TYRANNICAL MIRROR (Deathcore), 5 MUTILATION AGGRESSION (Brutal DM), 6 KREMASI (Metalcore), and 7 ANT KILLER (Deathcore).

Andi BULLRACE with SICKLES' CD

Dhinie: Do you feel it is difficult to learn how to growl? You get it perfectly.

Irsyad: I feel pain in the throat.

Dhinie: For how long did you study it?

Irsyad: Three months.

Dhinie: And you sing this like this already?

Irsyad: Yes.

Dhinie: Your pronunciation is clear. That is what is so difficult.

KJ: Who are your influences for vocal?

Irsyad: DEAD VERTICAL from Jakarta (grindcore), SIKSA KUBUR, and Japrax (ex-vocalist SIKSA KUBUR).

KJ: So do you enjoy playing with the other band members?

Irsyad: I feel good in SICKLES. SICKLES is like my family.

KJ: What is the future plan for SICKLES now?

Irsyad: I am about to leave the band because I am going to join a cruise ship.

Arie Sickles, Rony Sickles, Dhinie Allegrea

Dhinie: Do you have a plan for a new vocalist?

Arie: We will try to find a new vocalist but it is quite difficult to find one here.

KJ: I suggest Niza!

Dhinie: Niza has already left the metal scene.

KJ: We have to bring her back.

KJ: Do you think the metal scene can grow more here?

Arie: Actually Yayak from RAJAM already made a family tree of the metal bands in Madura. He found that it is quite hard for the scene to grow here. The reason is that the government does not support it and it is hard to organize small gigs. We mean the Bangkalan Government. That is why we make the expansion to Surabaya to make gigs.

KJ: What are your favourite bands from Indonesia?

Irsyad: SIKSA KUBUR and DEATH VOMIT.

Rony: SIKSA KUBUR.

Arie: SIKSA KUBUR and CARNIVORE (from Tangerang, Banten province).

KJ: What is the biggest crowd you played for?

Irsyad Sickles and Arie Sickles

Arie: When we played at Sidoarjo Extreme Metal Festival III. The guest star was SIKSA KUBUR. There were around 1,000 people. There was a huge circle pit.

Dhinie: Which gig has meant the most to you?

Irsyad: The first gig in Bangkalan with the first formation.

Dhinie: At that time Irsyad had an accident and a big bruise on his leg and he was forced to play barefoot.

Irsyad: The old drummer [Bayu] and the new drummer [Haidir] are both here today.