NEW G.A.S. INTERVIEW: "I wrote about the soccer scandal" (Surabaya Grindcore feat. Samier Tengkorak)

Our interview with Samier of GAS (Surabaya Grindcore)

By: Kieran James and Dimas Valerian

Date: 9 December 2014 @ Colors 87.8 FM Radio Station, Surabaya

GAS is: Samier (guitar), Raynold (bass), Antonia (drums), and Sari (vocals).

Kieran James aka Jack Frost (Busukwebzine): This is a Surabaya band?

Samier: Yes.

KJ: Where are you putting your attention – to TENGKORAK or to this band GAS?

Samier: To this band and to TENGKORAK as well. But I concentrate on GAS at the moment. We have done an EP and a video-clip. The EP will be released soon [January 2015]. The video has already been released.

KJ: What is the reason that you started this band?

Samier: First of all I have been in bands and I love to perform and I love to practice. At that time in 2009 TENGKORAK had fewer gigs than before, so I needed to form a band in my hometown. I formed the band and I chose the players and the musical direction. This is more of my band. I almost did everything in this band.

KJ: How is the music different from TENGKORAK?

Samier: It is a little bit different. I write all the songs. The basic music is the same. I feel better playing this kind of music. It is more like my old band before I joined TENGKORAK called SLOWDEATH.

KJ: Have you got any specific influences for this band?

Samier: Yes, NAPALM DEATH. I always have played this type of music since I first formed a band in 1993. The other influence is TERRORIZER.

KJ: What are the lyrics for this band?

Samier: It is more about what is happening in this country and what I am most interested in. It is more about the reformation [reformasi] in 1998. People hoped that after the reformation it would improve but it has got worse. We have a song title “Reformasi Palsu” [false reformation]. I wrote that song in 2008 before I formed the band.

KJ: Is there any problem with TENGKORAK? Do they think you should use your new lyrics for their band? 

Samier: No, it’s OK.

G.A.S. (Surabaya)

KJ: Does the new band have the Islamic perspective like TENGKORAK?

Samier: No, it’s more about political and social. I wrote the song “Vote for Losers” about Indonesian Football Federation. In 2008 there was a soccer scandal. Indonesia lost. It happened in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s until now.

KJ: What are your favourite grindcore bands from Indonesia?

Samier: NOXA (Jakarta) and MESIN TEMPUR.

Dimas Valerian: The song “Stupid Declaration” says that all lifestyles are equal, it is an individual choosing.

KJ: Did you choose to have female band members on purpose or it just happened that way?

Samier: I planned it. I wanted it like ARCH ENEMY which I loved at that time. I planned the female vocalist but with the drummer it was just an accident [all laugh]. We just went with the flow. The first drummer quit and my friends recommended a female drummer to me.

KJ: I heard the songs. There are no blast-beats; it’s more traditional metal drumming.

Samier: Yes, it is like old-school metal drumming such as BENEDICTION.

Dimas Valerian: Nowadays you must choose a priority. Which band do you choose if you have to give priority?

Samier: Actually I want to balance the priorities. GAS now should be highlighted so that people can know about it. People have known about TENGKORAK for a long time. I wanted to do something for my hometown of Surabaya. I want to be part of them. With TENGKORAK I don’t have a direct connection to Surabaya. I formed the band to have a connection with the scene in my hometown. Now I choose to prioritize this band.

KJ: What is the meaning of the name?

Samier: GAS is a simple word. GAS means gasoline. It is important for life.

Samier Tengkorak and Kieran James @ Inferno Studio, Surabaya

Dimas Valerian: Long time ago, from early-1990s to 2000s, grindcore was bigger in Indo than right now. The regeneration is now slow. Is that true?

Samier: I don’t think so. In the 1990s grindcore was not so big. In the 1990s most bands wanted to play traditional Death Metal such as MALEVOLENT CREATION and SUFFO. Up until now just a couple of bands play grindcore. People in Indo want to play more complex music than DM.

KJ: What is your comment about the band DEADLY WEAPON from Jogjakarta?

Samier: It is a good band. They choose a less popular genre. Too many bands want to play brutal DM with gore lyrics.

KJ: What is your comment about the band OVERDEATH from Sidoarjo?

Samier: They are my friends. That is Agus’ band. They have not put their album out yet. They might have played one or two gigs in Sidoarjo in their own community. We don’t hear anything new about OVERDEATH. A lot of 1990s bands in East Java have the word “death” in their names.

KJ: What are your next plans for GAS?

Samier: We want to release the EP and then an album. We want to play as many gigs as possible. We want to play at Jakarta Grind Fest in April 2015. I want to promote this band.

********THE END

NEW ANUBIS INTERVIEW: "It's a trap question James!" (Gresik Power Metal) (with Daniel Valerian)

Left to Right: Disto Anubis (drummer), Daniel Valerian, and Dimas Valerian

Our interview with Yudha and Disto of ANUBIS (Gresik Power Metal)

By: Kieran James, Dimas Valerian, and Daniel Valerian

Interpretation by: Dimas Valerian

Expert comments by: Dimas Valerian and Daniel Valerian

Date: 6 December 2014 @ Daniel Valerian’s house, Jemursari, Surabaya

ANUBIS is: Fahmi (vocals), Adit (guitarist), Disto (drummer), and Yudha (bassist).

Kieran James (Busuk Webzine): Please tell us the history of the band. I know you contributed your song to the Indonesian Power Metal Compilation CD which we have just heard.

Yudha (bassist ANUBIS): The guitar player made the band not us. He made the band with the drummer. They are the origin. The vocalist and guitarist have now left the band. The vocalist and guitarist have now left the band. The vocalist and guitarist were replaced.

Yudha Anubis (bassist) and Dimas Valerian

KJ: Dimas, what is your comment about this band?

Dimas Valerian (VALERIAN guitarist): I think ANUBIS is a new and young band. They are amazing, James, because they remember me and VALERIAN right from the beginning. It is not easy for young people to love PM and HM music in the midst of DM, hardcore and extreme-metal genres. I hope that they don’t give up.

KJ: Yudha, you are the bassist not only for ANUBIS but also for DM band OSIRIS from Sidoarjo. Which do you love to play most – DM or PM?

Yudha: It is complicated. I like both genres equally. Before I played DM I played prog-metal since junior high-school and DM since senior high-school.

KJ: Which genre is most difficult to play as bassist?

Yudha: They have different difficulties but I find technical DM is most challenging for me personally. I play in OSIRIS, tech DM. My drummer also played prog-metal since elementary school. He played IRON MAIDEN, DEEP PURPLE, and GUNS’N’ROSES.

KJ: What is your experience contributing to Indonesian Power Metal Compilation CD?

Yudha: It is difficult to find PM genre nowadays. Most people choose BM and hardcore. I found it amazing and exciting. I thought it was gone but no it exists.

KJ: Did you choose the song for the compilation album?

Yudha: We gave one song, we chose the song. That is the only song which has been recorded.  We have three songs but at that time only one had been recorded.

KJ: Are you happy with that song?

Yudha: Yes. It was the first song that we recorded. We have to learn everything about prog-metal genre as it is not simple. We play all time signatures; it is not simple.

Disto (drummer ANUBIS): That song is difficult to play.

Yudha: It is really challenging for him especially for the tempo.

Dimas Valerian, DIsto Anubis, Daniel Valerian

KJ: What is the meaning of the lyric?

Yudha: It is about a fantasy or philosophy about someone that has a mind who thinks about everything that needs to be done. It is about a man who thinks about the world.

KJ: What are your favourite PM bands from Indonesia?

Yudha: We have VALERIAN, they are senior, and they have great musical concept.

Disto: They really inspire us.

Yudha: They inspire us to make songs for the mini-album; and we really like DEVAROCK from Sidoarjo.

KJ: How many shows did you play so far?

Disto: Once every two months.

Yudha: Once every three months. This month we play two gigs, tomorrow in Jombang [Jombang Metal Blast, 7 December 2014 feat JAGAL and DEVAROCK] and one more in Gresik.

KJ: What is the reaction of the crowd to your band?

Yudha: Most people who heard ANUBIS songs really like it but most people don’t understand about the PM music. They really like the songs. We play in inixed-genre shows usually. For me I find every genre as equal to the others.

KJ: What are your favourite foreign PM bands?

Yudha: SYMPHONY X [USA].

Disto: ANGRA [Brazil].

Yudha: HANGAR [Brazil] and also SONATA ARTICA.

KJ: Are there any keyboards in your sound?

Yudha: Yes, but he departed in middle of 2012. That song you heard was not the original. We edited some keyboard solos. Before we recorded this time the keyboardist had already left.

KJ: In PM it is unusual to have only one guitar player. Do you want another guitarist?

Yudha: We had a plan but now we think it’s enough to have one guitar player only. We realize that if we don’t use another guitar player it’s hard to play in the show. On the recording side it’s not really a problem but in the show it is rather complicated. If you watch NECROPHAGIST [Germany] with only one guitar player it’s going to be awkward.

Dimas Valerian: Nowadays in the metal industry in Indonesia the trend is not going to PM and HM. Do you think you can compete and what is your strategy?

Dimas Valerian and Yudha Anubis

Disto: We should keep moving and playing the shows. We need to make songs. I think “to compete” may be the wrong word. We just enjoy what we play. We at ANUBIS do not really take the minority status of the genre seriously. We only play what we like. If we don’t like the music we play it will just be terrible.

Yudha: Don’t ever play in the show to make money. Don’t make the band as your primary job [laughs].

Dimas Valerian: I will add, James, that we must stay humble.

Yudha: Yes, that’s right. We must stay humble and keep a low profile.

KJ: Did you think of combining PM and DM musically like Ralph Santolla when he played PM-style guitar solos in OBITUARY and DEICIDE music?

Yudha: For me personally I wrote that ANUBIS song. I made the bass solo as inspired by NECROPHAGIST and OBSCURA [Germany]. When we hear the lead guitar solo my guitarist is inspired by Jeff Loomis from NEVERMORE [USA].

KJ: What about in OSIRIS? Will you incorporate PM aspects in the music of OSIRIS?

Yudha: No, they are tech-DM only. Playing in ANUBIS and OSIRIS are two different things. They each play their own style so I just adapt.

Dimas Valerian: If you must choose ANUBIS or OSIRIS which one will you choose? Each musician must have a primary band. Say for JASAD the primary band for these band members is JASAD.

Yudha: It’s a trap question, James! Off the record, please [laughs]. If you ask me which band I’m going to choose I’m not going to choose.

Dimas Valerian: It’s like you can’t choose two wives. It’s the same. Yudha is crying, James [all laugh].

Yudha: I don’t know!

KJ: What is your plan for the future?

Yudha: We plan to record an EP with five or six songs. It is completely far from finished. We have one song which has been recorded. We have two songs which are not recorded.

KJ: Tomorrow?

Yudha: Our own song, one from DREAM THEATER, and one from SYMPHONY X. Each song has a long duration of 8-11 minutes. The SYMPHONY X song is the longest.

Yudha, Disto, Daniel, and Dimas

KJ: Will the two cover songs be part of the EP?

Yudha: No, no.

Dimas Valerian: Ballad song?

Yudha: No, we don’t have one.

KJ: Do you hope to have a ballad song in the future?

Disto: We think so but it is a new experience.

Yudha: It is not an easy thing. It’s about the feel. That is the hardest part.

KJ: Do you like to have any guest vocalist, such as Ridwan Valerian, for the album?

Yudha: We hope so. We want to have a feature with VALERIAN, such as guest musicians. They are inspiring us.

KJ: Can you cover one VALERIAN song?

Yudha: Yes, we want to cover one song from Dawn of New Hope EP [2009]. We want to cover “Arise”, the first song from Dawn of New Hope.

Daniel Valerian (VALERIAN keyboardist): When will the album be released?

Yudha: It’s going to take time, James.

Dimas Valerian: You must have a target, 2015.

Yudha: No, that’s too short. It will really take some time. That question is a trap too [laughs]. You trap me a lot this time.

KJ: Daniel, what is your comment about ANUBIS?

Daniel Valerian: I like the music. It has powerful and good quality but I don’t think so about the vocalist.

Yudha: We have to learn a lot more.

Daniel Valerian: The vocalist has a lot of homework to do.

Yudha: The vocalist was nervous. It is the first time he recorded. It’s normal I guess.

Dimas Valerian: VALERIAN did it too. ANUBIS has a unique style of PM. It is different from VALERIAN and DEVAROCK. That’s the good thing.

Yudha: VALERIAN is completely melodic PM.

KJ: What is the language of the lyrics? I have to ask because I couldn’t understand a word.

Yudha: The language is English but the pronunciation needs some improvement. It is not easy to practice English if we do not practise it every day.

KJ: Do you think the vocalist should be louder or is that part of his style?

Yudha: I understand why he is nervous. It is the first time he recorded that. He has potential. He is getting better every day. He is not as bad as what everyone thinks.

Dimas Valerian: I saw ANUBIS last year and he is getting better.  He is getting more confident I think he can get better and better. At one last show Ridwan [VALERIAN vocalist] gave advice to the vocalist and this is one reason why he gets better and better. It’s alright; everyone makes mistakes the first time. He has quite a potential.

KJ: What are the two cover songs that you play?

Yudha: DREAM THEATER, “Panic Attack”. It is really difficult; it is eight minutes long. It’s from the Octavarium album [2005]. The other song is SYMPHONY X, “Iconoclast” [from the 2011 album Iconoclast]. It is ten minutes long and nearly eleven minutes.

KJ: Have you got any other original songs you can play?

Yudha: No, only one. Our progress is quite slow I guess.

KJ: Because you have two bands?

Yudha: No, because we don’t just want to make a simple song. It is not about the difficulties. If one of us feels it is not their style then we change everything.

KJ: Is there any message for your supporters?

Yudha: No. But I have a message for Busuk Webzine: Stay humble, stay crazy, and keep supporting every genre in the Underground. I know Busukwebzine.net is new and it is fresh [because before you just had the blogspot].

KJ: Did you ever think to get woman vocalist?

Yudha: It is hard to get female vocalist in Gresik; it may be possible in Surabaya. We don’t want to just get hot chick vocalist to become famous. That is not the way we are. Not many chicks like PM music or EM music.

Daniel Valerian: Just because they like it does not mean they know the song or they know the band.

Yudha: That’s right. Not many people really understand what PM is; and it has a long and complicated history.

NEW INTERVIEW: Our first interview with BLASPHEMER (Surabaya Black Metal)

Daniel Valerian and Andi Blasphemer (vocalist)

Our interview with vocalist of BLASPHEMER (Surabaya Black Metal)

By: Kieran James and Dimas Valerian

Interpretation by: Dimas Valerian

Extra Comments By; Dimas, Daniel, and Verrel Valerian

Date: 5 December 2014 @ Daniel Valerian’s house, Jemursari, Surabaya

Kieran James (Busuk Webzine): Please tell us the history of the band.

Andi BLASPHEMER: We were formed in 1998 with minimal knowledge about Black Metal. We just had a spirit to learn more and more about Black Metal. In the first year of our journey we had a single titled “Question”. The second song was “Kuasa Setan” (Setan Throne). After 2000 the band did not exist for ten years because we had no players and some of us had to work. We started again in 2010 with many changes in the line-up. Now we have a fixed line-up with a spirit to build again the band. We just released a single “Dust from the Dark Past” and then we released the EP with the same title as the single.

Dimas and Verrel Valerian

KJ: What are your main musical influences?

B: The one and only MARDUK.

KJ: This EP sounds like NIFELHEIM, Heavy Metal with Black Metal vocals. MARDUK is usually fast and this band is sometimes slow to grinding.

Daniel Valerian (VALERIAN keyboardist): MARDUK has one or two slow songs but the others are fast.

KJ: Why do you like to play Black Metal instead of Death Metal or Power Metal?

B: First, because it matched with my soul. Every human has a dark side of himself. For example, drunk, sex, violence, evil deeds, passion to kill or rape someone. This is the side of Satan. It did not come from human beings. I want to show to the people that we have the energy like that, the dark energy (to show to all people). Some people did not show the energy like that. But I do not want to be a hypocrite. I want to show what I want and what I can do.

KJ: What do you think of Black Metal scene in Surabaya?

B: In the past the BM scene in Surabaya was awful because there was minimal knowledge about BM. But now most of the people in the BM scene here use it as a style and a fashion. They do not have a real vision or a real ideology. The people just use BM shirts and accessories but when their girlfriend left they cry and say blah, blah, blah on social media, etc.

KJ: What do you think about CRADLE OF FILTH and DUMMY BURGER?

B: I think that DB is great but I think that CRADLE is trendy music with mystic. They try to look Satanic but they play trend. Europe does not admit that there is a scene in Asia.

KJ: What is your favourite Indo BM band?

B: RITUAL ORCHESTRA (Malang) and DRY (Surabaya).

KJ: What is your comment about WARKVLT [Bandung]?

B: They have same influences as us. We have not heard WARKVLT songs but we know about WARKVLT.

KJ: What is your comment about SEREIGNOS [Kediri]?

B: Nice and evil music.

Verrel and RIdwan Valerian

KJ: Willy Damien (UMBRA MORTIS) says Indonesian BM is mostly fake people because the band members are Muslims but use satanic imagery. Then you have TENGKORAK on the other side of the spectrum. What do you think about this?

B: In BLASPHEMER there is no religion. When you come and join BLASPHEMER you must leave all but it is only onstage and when we gather as BLASPHEMER. But when we are back to our real-life we are just common people also.

KJ: Oki of DEATH VOMIT says it is stupid for Indo BM bands to write anti-Christian lyrics when Indonesia is not a Christian country. What do you think?

B: Most of the people that abuse Christianity that claim that they are a BM person are f***ing trendy people that know nothing about BM. Another reason is that they are afraid of FPI. In Surabaya there were lots of BM bands. But since they learnt more and knew that BM is hard to learn many left BM. The essence or ideology of BM is very hard to do.

KJ: Is it possible to have Islamic BM such as TENGKORAK ideology mixed with BM?

B: It is impossible but there are many bands that claim they are BM but they bring Islamic lyrics into the music. They didn’t understand anything about BM. They are just posers and trendy people. To combine Islam and BM is a very, very impossible thing.

KJ: What is your plan for the future for the band?

B: The first thing is we want to stay as one band from Surabaya, East Java that is committed to play BM with maximum brutality, maximum energy, and maximum spirit, and to keep on creating in the BM scene. We also hope to let people know that there is a BM band in Indo which plays hard and fast like BLSPHEMER.

KJ: Do you think the current band line-up can be stable?

B: I believe so. It should be stable until the end hopefully.

KJ: Some of the songs on your EP sound like traditional Heavy Metal with BM vocals. Is this on purpose or just by accident?

B: It is already organized. As soon as people hear at first they can accept it. If it is played at a slower tempo then they can accept it more easily.

Daniel and Andi

Dimas Valerian (VALERIAN guitarist): In the metal scene in Indo DM in my opinion is Number One for commercial and some (not all) bands can get popularity and money from DM. Do you think BM can or cannot become successful?

B: It can become successful with consistency. My strategy is just to be fully committed and dedicated to my music.

Dimas Valerian: With music like BM or PM it is hard to get total dedication because it is hard to get continuity. Many bands play BM for just one or two years. Then they think they can compete with DM. Then they very quickly give up.

KJ: On the opening song on your EP why do you use the sound effect of the rain and the marching?

B: The rain comes from the past and the marching walk is a mass of people that come from the past. It is a symbol of the past that there were people now and then. It is a symbol to describe marching footsteps. It is a symbol of what the dust means and of what people did in the past. It is also just an aural effect.

KJ: In Bandung, Abah of WARKVLT says there is discrimination against BM bands because the gigs are controlled by DM people. Does that happen in Surabaya?

B: We don’t get discrimination from DM in Surabaya but one time we got discrimination in Sidoarjo from hardcore. There was sabotage. The HC people sabotaged the sound on the stage. At the stage the guitar sound had distortion. Off-stage for the audience it sounded clean (without any distortion). It may have been a discrimination against us.

Dimas Valerian: I’m really sure it would not happen in Surabaya. Surabaya is a mix of genres without discrimination but...

Verrel Valerian (VALERIAN drummer): The audience is still different. The BM audience of course they will go to the front of the stage for the BM bands. But when DEVAROCK plays PM they might go away from the stage because they do not understand.

Andi and Kieran James

KJ: What do you think of Indo BM people putting Norway flags on their jackets or walls?

B: It makes sense because most people think BM came from Norway.

Daniel Valerian: BM is a genre; Norway is a country. The two things are really different.

KJ: Where would you like to play a show where you have not played before?

B: Everywhere and anywhere with good quality of sound and equipment and welcoming and supportive audience.

KJ: Because we are here in Daniel’s house and some members of VALERIAN are here so I must ask you: What is your comment about VALERIAN [Surabaya Power Metal]?

B: Good band with good quality.

KJ: Have you got any message for the supporters of the band?

B: Be yourself, don’t be hypocritical, and don’t lie to yourself. Stay away from trends!