NEW INTERVIEW: Our first interview with Maya from Mortality (Bandung Black/Death Metal), 16 May 2019.

Our first interview with MORTALITY

AT: Bandung.

Date: Thursday, 16 May 2019.

By: Kieran James and Popo Demons Damn.

Translation by: Popo Demons Damn.

MORTALITY line-up: Balung (vocals), Maya (guitar), Biye (bass), and Andriz (drums).

Popo Demons Damn: Tell us about the process for the new album.

Maya (guitarist): We started the process for this album in 2016. We had a break for a year (2017) because I was pregnant. And then we continued in 2018. At 2019 we finished the album and released it on 30 April. At the end of last year we had finished the album but we still had not signed with any record label. We were still selecting a label to sign with.

In January 2019 we signed with Sadist Records from Bali and Yogya. This album has nine songs. Two of the songs are remix songs from the first album.

Kieran James: Why did you do remix songs from the first album?

Maya: We changed the sound style and the guitar section. We tried to change it to the New Mortality style. The band makes New Mortality with a style which is more Black/Death. We call it Black/Death  but the reviews from friends and buyers call it “Death Metal with scream vocals.” The vocal style sounds more Black Metal but the music sounds more Death Metal. The people call it the New Mortality because it sounds very different to the Mortality of before - before it was Black Metal. Some websites said the same thing. The songs sound more like DM than BM. People feel that it is very different to Mortality before.

Popo Demons Damn: I knew Mortality since I was in high-school. Sometimes they used blood in the stage. I thought that this was interesting stage-act. Now we can’t find any BM band which does this at the show. What do you think, should BM bands do blood shower on-stage?

Maya: We don’t use blood now because, since 2005 until 2013, we were inactive. Then the drummer Andriz and I joined and the stage-act changed. We make a new vision and concept now for the music and the stage-act. For the album, we really changed the concept to being New Mortality.

KJ: Are you happy with the sound of the album and the packaging?

Maya: We are very satisfied with the sound and the packaging for the album. After 15 years we finally released the second album. It took four years between starting work and releasing of the album.

KJ: How was it like to record with this record company?

Maya: The record label is doing a good job. They are promoting the album very well. We feel happy and satisfied that we signed with this label.

KJ: Is there any tour coming up?

Maya: We have a plan to do the tour. We are still discussing with the record label. The next plan is to make the video-clip first. Then we will focus on arranging the tour.

KJ: Who made the design for the CD packaging?

Biye (bass): Rudi Gorging Suicide, he lives in Central Java. For this album, we have two guest vocalists, Glenn and Robi (Ensemble Tikoro). Glenn is guest-vocalist on the song “Us of War”.

Bobby Rock (Turbidity vocalist): Why do you use Murka Dosa as the title of the album? [Note: Very angry = murka, sin = dosa, wrath = murka.]

Maya: This lyric for this album represents what we feel at this moment [summary = rangkuman].

KJ: What are you angry towards?

Maya: The world.

Biye: War, hate, menindas orang yang lemah [people who oppress the weak]. Kekuasaan yang semena mena [arbitrary power].

KJ: The song “Zionist” is about anti-Zionist, yes?

Maya: Yes.

Bobby: Was there any offer from any other record label?

Maya: We still choose Sadist record label.

KJ: How many copies did they make?

Maya: 500 copies of CD. They will also produce cassette, 200 copies.

KJ: What does your 12-year-old daughter think about Mother and Father playing in Heavy Metal band?

Maya: They understand it because we always bring them to the gigs since they were children. I have taken the second (son) and the third (daughter) since they were in my belly.

KJ: Does your oldest daughter have any favourite metal band?

Maya: She more loves classic music, she likes to play piano. The second child, the son, likes the metal. He loves Mortality.

KJ: Message for the fans?

Maya: Keep the spirit to make the new creation.

Biye: That is enough.

Maya: Don’t make a wall to creating music. Although we are being a mother, don’t stop to create. But family is still priority. Don’t forget to buy our CD and T-shirt.

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

NEW INTERVIEW: Our second interview with ASHTAROTHUM (Bandung Black Metal), 15/5/2019.

Our second interview with ASHTAROTHUM (Bandung Black Metal)

Date: Wednesday, 15 May 2019.

Translation: By Teguh Prasetyo.

ASHTAROTHUM is: Asht (guitar / vocals), Jamie (guitar), Kenz (bass), and Yaya (drums).

L to R: Asht, Teguh, Kieran, Kenny, Yaya, James.

Teguh Prasetyo: Why did you pick the band name?

                        

Asht: The real founder of the band is the drummer; it is taken from Ashtaroth, the goddess of war and fertility (from Egypt). We just added “um” behind it to make the differentiation. The original drummer was Arie, he left in 1999. The band was formed in 1996.

Teguh: Please continue with the band history.

Asht: In the second formation, the vocalist was Abang. First formation: Arie-Agus-Yogi-Ogi; second formation: Arie-Asht-Indra (RIP)-Abang. This line-up also joined the Blacker than Darkness Number 1 compilation, 1998, self-titled song. The song is telling the story about the goddess. We already made songs for the album in 1999, but I was getting married at that time. Because of this the band stopped.

After 17 years (until 2015), I started the band again. I asked the permission from the older members to rebuild the band. They didn’t want to reform but they gave me the permission to start again and recruit the new members. So, basically, we had a member change. It was a tough decision to change the members.

We made some songs but they were not yet released in a physical form due to changes in the formation. The songs were written by the new line-up. We had a responsibility to explain the lyrics’ concept. It is not easy to make BM music.

So, after changing a lot, I feel that this line-up really has good chemistry between the players. It is easy for us to make the songs in a short time. Kenzy joined after our first Facebook interview [band interview with Busuk Chronicles]. The new members gave us the new spirit to make a song as the members all support each other.

Kieran James: How do you find Kenzy?

Kenny (Kenzy): Accidentally.

Asht: Kenzy also had a band before. A friend of hers contacted me and we were just chatting. It came to my mind that I needed a bass player so I asked Kenzy. But she refused to join at first.

Kenny: I was really busy with work as I had double jobs. I was also going to college. I am also a wantai instructor (kick-boxing).

Teguh: She really kicks hard. You should see her video – it is really frightening.

Kenny: I have a daughter in junior high-school. … I stopped playing in my band about 16 years ago, about the time when Asht band stopped. I would play with any band which asked me to help – such as punk or hardcore or dangdut.

Teguh: Not to be sexist but usually when a band gets a woman for a band the woman is no good. But when I saw her band play I saw that she was really good. I was playing with […] and we were playing together on the same stage.

Teguh: With this formation you made some songs. What are the names of the songs?

Asht: We have made five songs. We have written five songs but we have only recorded three. We recorded at the home studio of [ …  ], the guitarist of Sethos.

KJ: What do you think of Sethos?

Asht: Sethos has an epic song. I like Sethos personally.

Teguh: What are the titles of the songs? How many songs uploaded on social media? Asht: The titles are: (1) Circle of Death; (2) Beyond the Sanctification; and (3) Into the Land of Nineveh.

Teguh: Is there any planning to be released by yourself or your logo?

Asht: We want to promote the single first before the full-length album. We will release it by ourselves although we would accept a record label release if the label has the same vision as the band. Nowadays a lot of BM bands make an album; it is like a trigger for our band. But it is also a coincidence.

KJ: Tell us about the show you played at the university. Asht: Because we had a friend who is still in the university, we became partners in some gigs. That university wanted to have a music show so the friend contacted Asht to play. At first I didn’t think BM could be able to play in the university. It is a musical university, STIMB (School of Musician Bandung).

KJ: How was the experience?

Asht: We were surprised because we had a positive reaction from the crowd. The teacher also appreciated Ashtarothum. The teacher said that the band can be invited back to any future musical event at the university. He said it was weird but a fun experience. It was an experience and challenge for us to play at this gig. We were playing in front of music students. We didn't wear the corpse-paint. The time was not enough to set it up.

KJ: What do you think about Bandung Black Mass community?

Yaya (drummer): Black Mass is a good community for the BM movement and we were part of it before. Now we don’t join but we are still friends.

Teguh: Why don’t you join?

Yaya: The reason is because we want to start to focus on our own band. We want to stand on our own feet, become independent.

Asht: We support each other.

KJ: What do you think of Bandung Death Metal Syndicate?

Yaya: Very cool, amazing. At a personal level I can see that the BDMC people have a very clear vision and mission for what they are doing. The community made a lot of progress; they have brilliant ideas.

KJ: Favourite DM bands in Bandung?

Yaya: Forgotten, Disinfected, Gore Infamous.

Asht: Jasad too.

Jamie: Forgotten and Disinfected.

KJ: Black Metal in Indonesia, favourite bands?

Yaya: Pure Wrath from Bekasi, Choria (Jakarta), Vallendusk (Jakarta), Misanthropic Imperium (East Java), Dry (Surabaya), Nether Band.

Teguh: Kenny, how do you feel to be in this man’s world?

Kenny: It is very normal for me. I live with a lot of family and man friends. I feel it is more comfortable to hang about with men, more natural, not so stiff.

KJ: What do you think about National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM)?

Yaya: It will not grow over here; because it will contradict with our country’s ideology and many people’s ideology. It is mostly about white superiority. Here we are a nation with a lot of culture and we exist in harmony for a long time. The issue does not match in our country in our opinion. If any band here calls themselves NSBM it will be a big trouble for them. We don’t know any band here using the NSBM label. The will of NSBM does not fit with our ideology and our culture.

KJ: What do you think of Singapore government banning Watain from playing in Singapore?

Yaya: We talk with guys from Singapore and they say the government does not give the permit for the show. It is like the government is watching us, to try to oppress the extreme-music community. Maybe that’s why Watain is not able to play, because they are a band which is open about rebellion. The government might think the band will trigger people to make chaos.

KJ: What do you think of Antifa stopping the Marduk shows?

Yaya: We don’t want to be involved in any political things; we only take the music. Indonesia is very different culture and ideology from the West so we don’t want to talk about it. BM is just an expression, to appreciate the desperation felt by a lot of men who live in the world.

Teguh: As in Malay NSBM, the anger is right; to try to fight it, but the anger should be directed at the right targets.

KJ: Was there any response to first interview with Busuk Chronicles?

Asht: Yes, we had response form a lot of people. Now a lot of people know a lot more about Ashtarothum.

Yaya: We should try to find our own ideology through the music as this will help to make us different.

Kenny: We want to make people to really understand what we say in the music.

Yaya: We think that nowadays people interact more with the song structure rather than with the ideology of the song.

Kenny: We try to make the songs and lyrics more detailed to make it more relevant with what is happening today.

Asht: Because we are not talking about bullshit.

Yaya: Nowadays we can’t just copy-paste from the internet; we must do real analysis and research. If people get inspiration they should talk to the person who made it. Now it is easy because of the internet.

Yaya: Because BM starts to grow again, we have a lot of discussion almost every day. We discuss issues from the past and present day issues. We can’t conclude anything as people have different opinions.

Asht: Another example: If you want to make music about the mountain, you should go to that mountain. You should write about what you experiences and what you know.

KJ: What do you think about the murder of Avaeejee in Thailand?

Yaya: It is the same stupidity, like trying to copy what happened with Euronymous. It is too stupid just to copy it. Not everything is real what people say or do. Some people take it too seriously.

Teguh: It is dangerous path; you need wisdom from the older generation. The older generation guide me and give me their point of view. Everybody who join this extreme music have radical tendencies inside themselves, they want to fight something. Even in reggae they have resistance.

KJ: Message for the fans?

Yaya: For the reader, become a smart person, and, to the BM musicians, keep on learning.

Asht: Indonesian people are all poseurs but being a poseur is good, because being a poseur is learning. We really need to learn from the history up until right now. In the end, we will become a good person because it is impossible to be true.

Jamie (guitarist): I hope that Ashtarothum band will be a power in the past, the present, and the future.

Kenny: I don’t understand the ideology of the music in depth but what is impactful for me is to feel the music. Don’t be a fanatic for one type of music. People who have art in them will not think like that.

KJ: What do you think of people who leave the community to focus on the religion?

Yaya: It is a personal choice because music and religion have their own rules. It is hard to be on two paths but it does not mean that musicians have no religion. It’s just a different point of view.

Asht: It is not a problem. It is a matter of option and choice. I can understand that if someone needs to learn more about their faith, of any faith, they must focus and leave something behind. In this case it is music.

Kenny: It’s not a problem as long as it can be better for themselves.

Jamie: It’s a personal choice.

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

NEW INTERVIEW: Interview with BLACK MASS (Black Metal community organization), 15 May 2019.

Our interview with Jurex and Koko of Black Mass Community Organization, Bandung

Date: Wednesday, 15 May 2019.

Translation: By Teguh Prasetyo.

Teguh Prasetyo (Interfectorment / Digging Up): Tell us about the history of the Black Mass…

Jurex (Band ov Prophet): In 1995, Black Metal music was becoming bigger because of the legendary place Saparua. This place had so many BM gigs. It is a legendary music venue in Bandung. There were three central main figures in BM at that time: (1-2) Abu and Ade from Hellgods; and (3) Agus from Sacrilegious. They were the people that began the BM community in 1995. Because a lot of BM people hang out together so we start to hang out temporarily at Adi’s house. The community became bigger so we moved the place to Yogya Kepatihan Road (mall). We basically hang out in the front of the mall. So we did not expect the community to become that big. It happened because we started hanging out together every weekend and began sharing about BM on Sundays. We normally went to gigs and so it became bigger and bigger. There was no specific place where we were born, such as Ujung Berung. The people were from every part of Bandung.

Kieran James (Busuk Chronicles): What was the first BM album in Bandung?

Koko: Hellgods – When the Forest Become my Kingdom (1997).

KJ: So, keep going with the history…

Jurex: At this time the first generation of BM in Bandung emerged.

Koko: Especially when the Hellgods song “Kabut Keabadian” went into the metal compilation Metalik Klinik. It became the role model for BM in Indonesia. Metalik Klinik was the first major compilation album in Indonesia. That was the first time that all genres of metal got major attention from the public. And also Black Mass made the first BM compilation in 1996. That was under the name of Black Mass and Dark Banner Records.

KJ: What was the relationship between BM and DM community at this time?

Jurex: We became friends because usually we meet together at the gigs. Sacrilegious was BM from Ujung Berung.

Koko: The Sacrilegious demo Lucifer’s Name be Prayed was released in 1998.

KJ: So there was no conflict between the communities?

Teguh: No conflict. Around 2011, the case was not many BM bands were active. This is why there were not many BM bands playing at festivals. It is not because of conflict between the communities.

Jurex: The spreading of BM is a little bit hard because of the lack of information. We were just buying tapes and reading magazines. We were borrowing each other’s stuff because it was expensive.

KJ: What were the most popular bands from overseas?

Koko: Cradle. There is a stereotype in the 1990s that Bandung bands sound like Cradle and East Java bands sound like Marduk.

KJ: Who were the first BM bands in East Java and Jakarta?

Koko: Dry [Surabaya] and Ritual Orchestra [Malang]. After the first BM compilation, Blacker than Darkness, there was a small setback in the movement. One of the tabloid newspapers, Adil, was using the BM band picture of Ade and Abu from Hellgods, The headline was: Bangkitnya Para Pemuja Setan (“The awakening of the Satanists”). After that, there was another review from another major newspaper which talked about this. Because of this, there was a lot of reaction from outsiders. We got hate from a lot of people around us. It was just people talking behind other people’s backs. For example, when Abu went to college there was the whispering: “Look, there is the Satanist.” At that time, it was still taboo to be talking about these types of things – religion, pentagram.

From that opposition, there was later a positive impact because people were learning that there was this type of music in the society. We had some limitations about expressing ourselves because the society began to understand what the community was wearing. The setback was not because bands were inactive but because there was too much pressure from the outside people. Nowadays, we will think it cool and funny if people say that we are a Satanist. Back then it was dangerous. But it was not true, just a gimmick [i.e. the Satanism].

KJ: How is the community in recent times?

Koko: In 2010, the people in the community wanted to make the community active again. We made a show in the Rock Café. The show was called Blackness Rebirth. After that, we started to hang out again weekly at Gasibu. We started to make an event and collaboration with another community – Grinding Punk Corporation. And the gig was called Bohemian versus Borjuis. The punk bands will play BM songs and the BM bands will play punk songs. There is a close connection between BM and punk so the gig was easy to make (Sunday, 20 June 2010 @ Score Ciwalk, Bandung). Bands: The Cruel, Sedusa, Bloodgush, Disaster, Hellgods, Haze, Divine Blackness, and Demonstorm.

After this, we made continuous gigs with other communities such as Grind Ultimatum. After this, there is a domino effect. Another BM community in another city wanted to join Black Mass. So Black Mass wanted to make a community chapter in other cities. At first it was called Black Mass: Blacker than Darkness Bandung. Now it is called Black Mass: Blacker than Darkness in Indonesia.

 

KJ: What happened about Warkvlt and Impish?

Koko: Impish is an old band from the community. Impish was already made by the community. Abah joined and they made an album called Warkvlt. But then Abah wanted to separate from the name because Impish was a community name. He made the band based on the album title Warkvlt. The old Impish members then reformed as Impish and made the album Eat Your Gods. Warkvlt is more like War Metal but Impish is more necro-punk such as Impaled Nazarene.

KJ: Was there some friction between BM Bogor and BM Bandung?

Koko: There is no friction. At our last show Bogor bands played, Ririwa and Dark on Rust. Officially there is another chapter of Black Mass from Banten. Another city will follow. We already have an agenda for it.

KJ: How many people in the community in Bandung?

Koko: There is no official counting of it. It is more than 50. Everyone is free to join. In the old times there were more than 135. In the past we did not have a mission. We just hung out and sharing. Now we have a mission to make people understand BM because there is so much misunderstanding about this genre.

KJ: How do you compare Bandung BM to East Java?

Koko: Basically they are the same because all people in the communities are connected. Bandung people come to East Java and East Java people come to Bandung.

KJ: What do you think about people leaving Black Mass to become more Islamic?

Koko: It is not much, fewer than five or ten people. I almost do it but I’m back [laughs].

Teguh: Back to the darkness.

KJ: What is Adi doing now?

Koko: Lost contact, the last communication we had was that Adi made two pictures, one on the stage and secondly using religious outfit. After that we lost contact.

KJ: Did Adi go to study at the Islamic school?

Koko: Not in the formal school but there was a community.

KJ: Salafi?

Koko: No, Tablighi Jamaat – they do preaching from one place to another (tour).

KJ: Have you got any message for the audience?

Jurex: Keep learning without limits especially about Black Metal. BM is growing and everything is changing.

Koko: Stay close to the roots.

KJ: Why do you like Black Metal?

Koko: It is basically because I first found BM music from Metalik Klinik. I connected to the music as I had a critical way of thinking about ideology. BM became my platform to showcase my views.

Jurex: At first I listened to BM music. BM is evolving so it means more to me.

Koko: I first listened to Iron Maiden, Powerslave album.

KJ: Does BM have a message for Indonesian society?

Koko: Don’t judge us before you know us. We cannot be following the Norway people 100% because we have a different culture. We adapt the music.

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