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*****
