NEW INTERVIEW: Our third interview with Wisnar of POURRITURE (Bandung Death Metal), 17 May 2025.

My third interview with Wisnar of POURRITURE, Kopi Lakeum, Jelekong, South Bandung, Saturday, 17 May 2025 (time: 1.5 hours)

Wisnar (guitarist of Pourriture): The scene in Bandung is not as big as eight years ago.

Kieran James: Why do you think the scene become smaller?

Wisnar: The pandemic, maybe. The economy is not good. There are not so many [event] organisers and promoters as before. Hardcore music is growing. I don’t know the reason. Maybe it’s a trend. When I tour to Sumatra, Java, Bali, the situation is the same. 

Febri (photographer for Pourriture): Maybe across Indo hardcore is growing for sure.

Wisnar: We have a strategy for struggle for the scene. We make grassroots gigs every month.

Febri: We try to make DM scene alive by making gigs once a month.

Wisnar: It is part of Flower City Death Fest--Awakening the Death. It is an event with new bands from 2020 to 2022 maybe. Awakening the Death has the same organisers as Flower City Death Fest. The concept is looking for new bands maybe. These gigs are free to attend.

KJ: So how many people come to the gigs? 

Wisnar: Not so many, 100, under 200.

Febri: The shows are in Bandung, just Bandung. Now we see not as many people wearing the shirts. Now only people who like DM just wear the shirts. Five or ten years ago we see everyone everywhere wearing DM T-shirts. 

KJ: Is this the same in Indo? 

Febri: Yes, I think so. Maybe the friends follow hardcore, people go to hardcore style, something like that. Not many people wear DM T-shirts except the players and the fanatic fans. You can say if you are not in DM you will not buy Death Metal shirts. 

KJ: Do you think this is good or bad?

Wisnar: I don’t know. For the DM scene it is bad. 

Febri: Maybe next time people will give us the attention in DM scene, I hope. 

Wisnar: In 2024 we play in hardcore shows. 

KJ: The older band members get older, have families, have jobs. The new bands like you need to rise up.

Febri: They, the old school, are busy with their family and their life.

Wisnar: Maybe the enthusiasts from the young generation they follow trend music right now like deathcore maybe, emo. 

Febri: Yes, maybe. 

KJ: Tell me more about the Flower City Death Fest. The idea came from Daniel. 

Wisnar: Daniel Turbidity, yes. Daniel met Glenn. The idea came from Daniel. We met at Dark Castle.

Febri: The idea came from was we want the event to come from us to the people, to make death metal. 

Wisnar: We wanted to use DIY style. This year we had Gore Infamous, Pourriture, Turbidity, Disinfected, Forgotten, Bleeding Corpse. 

Febri: Bleeding Corpse reunite, the first show for ten years. Behom on vocals, Condemned to Suffer reunite--Luk Luk, Uus, Ari Bejo. 

KJ: Was it a good show?

Wisnar:  Yes [smiles]. 

KJ: How old were you, 2011? 

Wisnar: Both 16 (born 1996). 

Febri: From 2009, 13 or 14, we start to watch. That was the first time we know DM. 

KJ: Were you at the 2012 show in Soreang when the police came? 

Wisnar:  Yes. 

Febri: Yes. 

KJ: Do you feel people respect you in Sumatra, Java because you are from Bandung? 

Febri: When you are in a band from Bandung yes people see you as like death metal gods, something like that. It is because our seniors build the legacy in death metal so good, so people in Indo see us like that. 

KJ: How do you feel about following the legacy of the original bands? 

Wisnar: It’s full of responsibility. We need to keep going, struggling. 

Febri: We need to keep the legacy alive. It’s not easy for the players. 

KJ: Do you feel any pressure? 

Wisnar: No, it’s fun but not easy.

KJ: How about black metal in Bandung, is it getting small or still the same?

Wisnar: We create a black metal event with Glenn. Glenn had the idea. Glenn had the idea of making the BM scene alive. We made Black Rising. 

KJ: Tell me about the Black Rising.

Wisnar: In the beginning it came from Glenn. It started seven years ago, 2018. After that Glenn made it once every year. The latest Black Rising was from one year ago. Black Rising is the same people as FCDF, they both have the same organisers.

KJ: Who is organizing FCDF now? 

Wisnar: Me, Daniel, Glenn, Maya, Daday, Egi, Bejo, Febri, Judas, Depri, Ivan, Boy. 

KJ: How many people in the crowd?

Febri: 300. The crowd size is going up.

Febri: There have been five FCDFs. 

Wisnar: Every year the crowd goes up 

KJ: What happened during pandemic? 

Wisnar: The scene stopped. 

Febri: It stopped due to police permission not coming to us to make events. 

Wisnar: We still nongkrong in the pandemic. We get ideas from nongkrong. We can build something from nongkrong. Nongkrong is like a culture for us, it comes from the same interest and ideas. So many bands were birthed from nongkrong.

Febri: Sombong is the big crime in Indonesia. 

KJ: More people went to FCDF or Black Rising? 

Febri: Probably FCDF--is a big event, as it is every year. Every month we have Awakening the Death. Black Rising is just a small gigs. 

KJ: Why did Glenn move from DM to BM? 

Wisnar (?): I asked Glenn, he said: When you go BM, you never go back. Right now he is very concentrated in BM, Sethos is his band. He loves BM music. 

KJ: Why did you bring Mortality and Sethos into FCDF as they are not DM? 

Wisnar: DM is just the term. Death Fest is overseas. We looked at Maryland Death Fest, it is not only DM bands playing. But DM is our priority. 

Febri: People have mindset when we come to Sumatra if you play in a band not from Java you will struggle to be famous. It came from the local people from Sumatra.

KJ: Do they think it’s unfair? 

Febri: No, it’s not unfair. They [Sumatra bands] play good music. They are not in a good market, so people do not know about them. If you meet people from another country they are going to say DM is Ujung Berung. 

KJ: Do you think the scene got smaller because people went to follow religion?

Febri: I don’t think so. They have their own reason not to follow death metal anymore. 

KJ: In the Indonesian culture you don’t criticize these people. You give them the freedom, yes? 

Febri: Yes. 

KJ: What is your comment about Voice of Baceprot?

Wisnar: It’s a hard question. I don’t follow the music. 

Febri: I think it’s good that young people get into metal music. It’s always good when you see young people into metal music. 

Wisnar: I’m not fan. I don’t follow the music. 

KJ: Is their popularity due to Westerners thinking three young women in hijabs playing is interesting?

Febri: That’s the value. They see hijab girls playing metal music. It’s interesting to watch. Maybe it becomes a good value, for the market, because it’s unique.

Wisnar: If the entertainment is audio and visual, I think audio is more important than the visual.

KJ: Where would you like to tour for your band?

Wisnar: Sulawesi.

KJ: Why?

Wisnar: Because not so many bands toured to Sulawesi. Bleeding Corpse performed but did not tour. I want to tour for three weeks or one month. 

KJ: Do you think Sundanese metal is a real genre? 

Febri: I think if you look to the grassroots maybe it’s not, it’s combined from culture and death metal. Sundanese is our local language. If you go to Madura the local people cannot understand Sundanese. 

KJ: Jasad is popular all over Java. Is that strange?

Febri: No, it’s not strange for us. Sundanese is the way to life [these last two words are unclear in my handwriting] for us when we are born.

Wisnar: Like a life philosophy. It teaches us about a mortal ethic, like God maybe. It’s not about language, it’s not about location, it’s like spiritual.

KJ: Do you think Undergod was the first Sundanese DM band? 

Wisnar: Jasad first made the “Kujang Rompang” [2013] song [meaning: “broken dagger”]. Undergod made the album Saguru Saelmu Tong Ngaganggu [2010]. “Kujang Rompang” is fairly deep lyrics, meaningful.

Febri: Awakening the Death every month is in Soreang. The venue is free, so the crowd pay nothing. We play in Soreang because the venue is free.

Note1: Awakening the Death, 01 June 2025, Plaza Pengurujung, Kasawan Budaya, Soreang (Sabilulungan) 

Note2: Pourriture means decay in French language.

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

NEW INTERVIEW: Our second interview with Wisnar of POURRITURE (Bandung Death Metal), 2 September 2024.

Questions: 1) Kieran James: Please give a band update since we last met in 2019.

Wisnar: New line up: Vocal: Panji, guitar is still me, bass: Rendi, drums: Redy. Besides performing, we released an official music video clip, then followed by the Second album, and also an album tour in sumatera, all done in 2024.

2) Tell us more about the Sumatra tour, how did it happen and what were some of the events and your experiences?

2.Of course this is our first experience visiting the island of Sumatra, starting fro m communication with Nico (Fapro), finally we agreed. Me and Nico started looking for information in every city in Sumatra. By getting a good response in eight cities ,we finally agreed to do an album tour in Sumatra with the terms we made. There were many unexpected events, such as we experienced driving the wrong way and for 10 kilometers we passed through a palm oil plantation at night, and the road was very small, dark and extreme and it was a forest hahaha.But it all paid off with the performance and the audience who came in every city there, beyond the target and expectations, the audience who came was very large even though we performed more often on weekdays (300-400 people come)... they bought all our merchandise and in the sixth city, our merchandise sold out. Other experiences we got from the scene conditions in each city, from cultural differences and from the good bands who opened our opening tour, all were very impressive and memorable.

3) Do you feel you are now a second generation of Bandung Death Metal and does having the Bandung name make it easier for you to get fans outside of Java?

3.Bandung does have an attraction especially for death metal scene, but that does not mean that we use the privilege for our popularity. For us, still fighting and giving the best results is one way to get fans, I'm sure, because metalheads are very smart in enjoying and judging music.

4) Just curious, is your vocalist the same "Panji" that was vocalist for the band Pedophilia 10-12 years ago? I remember he was very active on Facebook back then and we did an online interview. I remember meeting him at Teguh' house in 2019. Metal Archives still lists Muhammad Andika Derejat as vocalist.

4. No, he's not, I think metal archive did not update the current line up from 2016 onwards. 

5) How was the most recent Flower City Death Fest?

5. Flowercity death fest will still run every year, only this time we are holding road to Flowercity death fest, six months before the bigbang event starts. We made it with a smaller gigs concept, and we try to give space to new bands and bands that are doing promotions.

6) What are your comments on Bandung Death Metal scene these days?

6. I think it is getting more solid, but it is the responsibility of all the players in this scene to survive and still alive. 

7) Any plans for a second album?

7. The second album has been released on Brutalmind, label open Pre Order for this stuff, we are waiting for all the CD's and merchandise to be finished.

8) Can you give me your comments about Death Vomit as I'm writing a new article about that band?

8. Salute to what they have done so far. They still release music, they are still in existence, two words from me for Death Vomit: Living Legend. 

9) Any other things you want to share?

9. For those of you who are still struggling in music, keep fighting, play your music sincerely, make good work, make recordings,networking, go on tours and conquer all stages. Forever Underground Forever Death Metal.

NEW INTERVIEW: Our first interview with Wisnar of POURRITURE (Bandung Death Metal), 17 May 2019.

Our interview with Wisnar of POURRITURE (Bandung Death Metal)

Date: Friday, 17 May 2019.

Translation: By Teguh Prasetyo.

Venue: Teguh’s house in Lembang.

POURRITURE is: Wisnar (guitar), Redy (drums), Rizal (vocals), and Beck (additional bass).

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

Wisnar (guitarist): We started in 2010. The first initiators of Pourriture were: Andika (vocals) and Angga (drums). We played DM right from the beginning but the lyrical theme has changed. Before, the theme was about ideology. Now it is talking about social issues and especially the taking over of ownership of land by force. We also talk about the negative effects of industry in damaging the environment.

We released our first CD in 2014 (Deny on guitar, Junior on bass, Andika on vocals, and Angga on drums). The CD was a three-song promo.

Then in 2016 we released a five-song demo album with the same personnel plus me (released by Soebangsat Records). It sold out in only one day.

Then we released the full-length album in 2017, The Savagely Construction (released by ESP).

KJ: Where is the band from?

Wisnar: Soreang. But now the base is Baleendah (South Bandung).

KJ: What is the meaning of the band name?

Wisnar: It is French language word meaning destruction. We pick the name because we want to have the same concept with the music and the lyrics.

Wisnar: We also made a comic book released by Holyman Productions. The comic creator was Dany Kurniawan. The comic is the visual form of the album.

KJ: Who were your heroes and influences when you were younger?

Wisnar: Inveracity, Deeds of Flesh, Severe Torture, Suffocation.

KJ: Indonesian bands?

Wisnar: Jasad, Jihad, Bleeding Corpse, Funeral Inception.

Teguh Prasetyo: For the comic, whose idea was it in the beginning – the band’s or the creator’s?

Wisnar: We wanted to release something which was not common in the DM scenes.

KJ: What is your comment about playing Flower City Death Fest?

Wisnar: We are very proud to play at Flower City as we have the same synergy. It is a non-profit gig and we like it because we can meet with other Bandung bands. It is like a kind of reunion.

Teguh: We usually meet with other bands in the other towns. Bandung is quite big and so we mostly see each other in a full band form. Personally we still meet with each other occasionally.

KJ: Were you surprised that the crowd was so big – 600?

Wisnar: We are very proud. It is beyond our expectations. We pay a lot of respect to the people who come because it is not only fans but also musicians.

KJ: Are you involved in organizing the second Flower City Death Fest?

Wisnar: Daniel is the initiator; I am like the vice-CEO. There will be a rotation as to who will be the vice-CEO of the event.

KJ: What is the future plan for the band?

Wisnar: We will be making a new promo and new video-clip. After that we will do an album.

Teguh: Will the style of the music still be the same?

Wisnar: No. The music will be more complex. We want to show more dynamism. In one song we can find four tempo changes. There will be more richness in the melody and musical notation.

Teguh: What I like from them is that they play the music so tightly and skilfully. It is like a technical band but not technical in genre. It is still brutal but with a technical way of playing. They don’t sacrifice the whole point of the song. They don’t sell only the technical side. They sell the whole song concept. For me they always stand out from the rest.

KJ: Tell us about the lyric themes.

Wisnar: Misi Patahkan Tradisi – taken from the Salim Kancil case. It talks about a man who owned some land outside Freeport Company (USA Company with operations in Indonesia, gold-mining). Salim mined the gold from his own place. Freeport took the acquisition of the land by force. He was hit by a car deliberately. This case was covered up and was not featured extensively in the media. It is an example of all the lyrics in the album. The event happened in Jayapura. All the album lyrics talk about reality and we are against the industrial system which causes damage to the environment and the people around it.

Teguh: Two members of the band have left; the original members. Did it change the lyrical themes?

Wisnar: Both of them still nongkrong (hang-out) with the band. They are still involved in the band but they can’t be band members because of their job commitments. However, it did not change the concept because the band’s identity is the same. We have only used one artist for everything right from the beginning.

KJ: What do you think about the Bandung DM scene at the moment – positive and negative things?

Wisnar: The positive thing is that the community is becoming a place, a vessel, and a forum for DM musicians so that we can show our musical feelings. No negative things.

KJ: Message for the fans?

Wisnar: In this digital era, don’t be afraid to buy a physical release because it will directly support the bands and the labels.

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