Tresno was formed early 2001 but the idea of making a band made somewhere around July and August 2000 where both the founders of the band, Adi Herman and Izzat Syazni studied in the same course and college. Both of us might have different background and taste of music, but the interest of making music of our own is inevitable in which bound us together.
The original line-up for the band was frequently changed due to some reasons that cannot be avoided, especially on the bassist. The line-up that was considered official until today is Adi Herman as vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist while Izzat Syazni on the drums and percussions and follows up with the new line-up for Borneo region but we will continue on that topic in the second chapter. But most of the time, during our jamming sessions at Suresh Studio, Kajang, the position of bassist was always taken by our dearest friend, Mohd. Faizal.
We never considered our band to be a perfect band because we would like to make it as virtual as the Gorillaz where no one knows and no one really give a damn about the way we dressed up or what kind of styles our hairdo is. All we want is the recognition based on our music. Even during songwriting, I myself willingly have the privilege to write most of the songs, especially Malay songs, with the supervision of our mate, Idham Khalil Abdul Muluk who, in fact, has some special background in Malay literature.
During our college days, the band have never performed in any gigs due to our appearances, I guess – most people think we're just some nerds from unknown college. The second reason was that, I used to have stage fright and would eventually vomit as I step up on any stages, pretty weird huh. Another reason was that we had lack of exposure to the underground scene, which have the same genre with us because most of the bands nowadays were busy competing with each other on who wanted to be the heaviest hard rock band. Well, the truth was that we have lack of supports and encouragements from outside of our college.
On 11th February 2003 at Xcess Studio, Ampang Point, two days after our graduation at Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, a history was made where we made our first and foremost demo. The demo consists of 4 songs, which was made during our college days and became the college's sweethearts. The demo also featured one Malay song, which was composed together by Molotov Cocktailz (which was me) and Idham Khalil Abdul Muluk.
The name of the band was originally called Avalanche Opus, but since there is a techno group from Australia calling themselves The Avalanche and there is a local indie band from Shah Alam called False Opus, we immediately changed the band's name to Tresno. The name was inspired while I was window-shopping at Time Bookshop, KLCC where I accidentally found a unique souvenir book where it translate the phrase " I Love You " into several languages from around the globe which include Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi etc. As I changing the pages of the book, I was fascinated by the word "tresno" which means LOVE in ancient Javanese tongue. It might sound lame, but it sounds cool if you don't know the meaning of it at first. Since that I also came from a family originated from Java, Indonesia, I thought that it was a good idea to named a band with such a word, even though I can't barely speak even a word in Java. Shame on me, right.
The two of us have different influences in music. I was more into indie and Britpop since that I was heavily influenced by some Sarawak's early 90's great indie bands such as Nice Stupid Playground, The Nerds and Radish Fans. While Izzat Syani was more into some commercial rock acts like any nu-metal bands since that he is not very conservative on picking the kind of music he wants but his drum-playing was mostly influenced by some great drummers such as the drummer from Slipknot which I forgot his name (sorry), Fab from The Strokes, Travis from Blink 182 and Tre Cool from Greenday. We also listened to some old school British indie bands like Suede, Ocean Colour Scene, The Bluetones, The Charlatans, Cast and some early 90's alt-rock acts like Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Radiohead and Weezer.
In the present, the two of us are busy with our new commitments in life after college. Izzat Syazni is furthering his study In Degree in Business Administration at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang while I am right now working with some Government Agency in Bintulu, Sarawak (my hometown). But this is not the end of Tresno, it is only the beginning.
The demo Sonnet 18 is dedicated to all of our friends and foes at Kolej Profesional Mara, past, present and future…