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*****
