“The boys are very humble, they are very Indonesian. Roy is one of the
best drummers in the world” – Jason Hutagalung of XENOPHOBIC RECORDS about
DEATH VOMIT, 11 January 2011
By Dr Kieran James
Personal Interview at: Avila studio, Yogyakarta, 12 October 2011
Extra comments by: Corna Irawan (DEATH VOMIT manager)
Kieran James: Thanks very much
for agreeing to do interview with me for my coming book on Indonesia
death-metal. It was very much an honour to see your excellent show in Brisbane
in September 2010. I shook Sofyan’s hand after the set but I’m sure you don’t
remember me. First of all can you please take us through the history of the
band?
Sofyan Hadi: I joined the band in
1998; I’m not in the original line-up but second generation.
Corna Irawan: The band began in
1995.
Sofyan: DEATH VOMIT changed
players many times; they had four members – Roy (original), Ari, Sofyan, and
Agung. After this formation we had the first album Eternally Deprecated, 1999, it is brutal death-metal.
Corna: Sofyan only plays guitar
[on Eternally Deprecated].
Oki Haribowo: Man [JASAD] and
Agung are the closest friends [KJ: see our earlier interview on this site “Oki
and Man remember Agung”]. Agung died in year 2002 [KJ: The Prophecy album package lists Agung passing away in 2000].
Sofyan took over the vocals, to do guitar and vocals. Eternally Deprecated was already
released by EXTREME SOULS PRODUCTION, Man’s brother.
Sofyan: And then [in] 2004 Oki
joined the band to replace Ari...
Corna: And with Sofyan as vocals.
Oki: He [Sofyan] did vocals in
another band before [called] OBSCURE OF DISFIGURED.
Sofyan: Then we released the
second album [in] 2006, The Prophecy.
We did it with [the] Jakarta label ROTTREVORE RECORDS.
KJ: When did the band become
bigger?
Oki: It’s like the water flowing
[laughs]. We can’t feel the situation like that...
Sofyan: Let the water flow, we
just play the music and enjoy it.
KJ: When did the band introduce
the shriek vocals by Oki?
Oki: I introduced shriek vocals
for The Prophecy, 2006, with the
SLAYER song “Criminally Insane”.
KJ: Why did you choose to cover
that SLAYER song? Of course the Aussie metalheads love the SLAYER cover...
Oki: It’s our old plan ...
because the music has the aggressivity. We try to combine the aggressivity of
thrash-metal with the heavy side of death-metal.
Sofyan: It’s done in our style.
Sofyan: Then in 2008 we released Flames of Hate DVD [KJ: actually FOH DVD was released in 2009]. This is
the first full DVD for the Indo band.
KJ: What is the biggest crowd you
guys have played to?
Oki: ROCK IN SOLO with PSYCROTIC
[AUSTRALIA] and in Makassar, Sulawesi. In ROCK IN SOLO [there were] around
5,000 people.
KJ: OK, tell us now about the
Australian tour...
Sofyan: This is our first
experience there [Australia], the crowd is not very big like Indo but they have
a good crowd, they really appreciate our music. We had to do all our gear
equipment by ourselves.
Oki: In Indo we bring our crew
but there we had to do it all by ourselves.
Sofyan: It’s a totally different
state. In Australia [it is] not a big crowd but they really appreciate our
music, they really enjoy when we play.
Oki: In Indo the crowd do the
headbangs but in Australia after each song they give applause for us, different
culture, they just watch and hold the beer in their hands. The young ones will
do the headbang but they all have fun.
[KJ: See my review of the DEATH
VOMIT Brisbane show in “Reviews” section of this site.]
KJ: Did the Australian tour make
a profit?
Oki: We got a profit but not
much, we can’t expect much from playing death-metal music. We did not go to
Australia expecting to bring [back] much money. We go to get new experience and
open the way for us to other countries. I can say we are so fucking lucky
[laughs].You know how much money I bring to go to Australia? One million
rupiahs [around USD100]. This is spent on buying to fill our phone balances!
Sofyan: For communication with
Indonesia.
KJ: What did your wives and
girlfriends think of you going to tour Australia [Sofyan is married and Oki has
a girlfriend]?
Sofyan: It’s really hard to
explain to my wife why I must go to Australia [for] one month [laughs].
Oki: When we tour Australia it’s
worse as this was Muslim holiday Ramadan.
Corna: In Indo we gather with our
family...
Sofyan: But we had to finish our
tour. It’s [a] really hard situation [laughs].
Oki: We had to face two conditions
at the same time.
KJ: How is the progress towards
the new album?
Oki: We are trying to finish our
third album by the end of this year, we have eight songs.
Sofyan: It’s been a long time
since our second album.
KJ: Have there been any musical changes?
Corna: More aggressive...
Oki: More intense, you can listen
[to] one song; it’s already on the studio recording.
[KJ: Later this evening, after
all the band interviews, Oki played me one recorded song at the Avila studio.
What can I say? It sounds like DEATH VOMIT; the guys have not turned metalcore
or hip-hop.]
KJ: Do you still do the shriek
vocal?
Oki: I still do the shriek vocal.
Maybe some people like it; maybe some people like the old DEATH VOMIT, maybe.
Sofyan: It’s hard to keep the aggression,
the real brutality.
KJ: How about the lyrics this
time?
Sofyan: Most of our lyrics in the
new album [are] inspired by Stephen King; I saw a lot of his films.
KJ: Do you want to sing about the
culture like JASAD sings about Sundanese?
Corna: JASAD do first and we
would just follow [i.e. be followers] [laughs].
Oki: It’s not our music concept.
KJ: What do you think about JASAD
singing about the Sundanese culture and empowerment?
Oki: My opinion is I prefer the
old JASAD.
Corna: They played like old
NAPALM DEATH.
 |
| Drummer Roy Agus and baby son Jordy, October 2011 |
KJ: Ah, here is my hard question:
Why do you think death-metal is so popular now in Indonesia?
Oki: You ask us hard question
[laughs]. Maybe I think death-metal is not really popular but almost popular –
it’s because of the fans and the young kids, they need a role model, they think
death-metal guy looks like the tough guy.
KJ: Do you have a gentle side
offstage and aggressive side onstage perhaps like my friend Bobby of BLEEDING
CORPSE, you know I have just spent time in Bandung this week with Bobby and
Popo...
Oki: Our attitude every day is
the same [as] on the stage. We don’t want to be someone else on the stage. We
don’t want to look like a monster on the stage [laughs].
Sofyan: It’s just like every day
we do.
KJ: I will make the earlier
question more personal: why do you
like to play death-metal?
Sofyan: In my youth I just liked
to listen to rock music and heavy-metal music and now we like death-metal too
and try to play death-metal too.
KJ: Tell me more about the Yogya
scene...
Oki: I can say it’s a good scene,
not a big community but a strong community. We always hang around on Saturday
nights [KJ: at the front of the plaza, get on down there]. We talk about
anything, not just drinking, all the info we need to know about death-metal and
thrash-metal in Indo, America, Europe, [and] Australia too, we can share it.
Corna: For every band there is a
different style.
KJ: OK, I’m teasing you now but
you do ever want to move to Bandung like CANNIBAL CORPSE moved from Buffalo to
Florida to join the great Florida scene of death-metal?
Corna: We are proud to be
Yogyakarta people.
Oki: That’s our duty, this is our
city.
 |
| Oki talks to Rizky Venomed (Venomed interview) |
KJ: Do you want to be an
influence on new bands?
Oki: No, the regeneration bands
influence us. It’s up to them if they want to be influenced by us. Of course it
makes us proud. But must bands here have a different style of death-metal.
VENOMED plays slamming brutal death like TURBIDITY. There is a band playing
music like MORBID ANGEL [KJ: this is GENITAL CAVITY, see our earlier interview
with GENITAL CAVITY on this site].
Corna: There is a band playing
mathematic [KJ: this is CRANIAL INCISORED, see our interview with CRANIAL
INCISORED on this site].
KJ: Like MESHUGGAH...
Corna: And others [are] playing
doom...
KJ: What problems do people face
playing and living here in the scene?
Oki: I didn’t find any big
problem but only small, small problems like it is hard to practice in the
studio. Some bands that play death-metal or punk they don’t allow them to
rehearse in the studio.
KJ: What do your parents think of
you playing death-metal?
Sofyan: No problem. I try to
explain to my family my music, my hobbies but they still don’t understand
anything; they just hear my story. They don’t care when we release our album.
Corna: Although they may just
know we play in a band but they don’t know what kind of music.
Oki: My parents at the first time
they can’t accept it because they think of the general problem of money. “Can
your music bring in money?”
[KJ: An old song enters my head
now: “There’s just one thing I want to say to you: I WANNA ROCK!!”]
 |
| Rizky (left) and Oki hear demos of Forging a Legacy |
KJ: What do the strictly
religious Muslim people here think about this music?
Oki: They don’t really care about
this music at the moment. They don’t want to know. That’s why we never get a
problem with them. Maybe if they know our lyrics we will get a problem from
them [laughs].
KJ: Sofyan, do your children hear
your growl vocal and get scared?
Sofyan: Yeah [laughs], my son
looks and says “My God, that’s my father!” - They say that.
Oki: Kieran, I think the other
guys are ready for their interviews now, first up is my friend Rizky from
VENOMED.
KJ: OK, thanks very much Sofyan,
Oki, and Corna for sharing so much with me and with the DEATH VOMIT fans. This
has been a really good interview.
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