Yeah, there's some more coming up. Will post it up when it's ready. BLoody hell, we need a drum mike set!

Donations anyone?

_rafie

We played our hearts out again. Made minimal mistakes. Yet, unfathomably, we could only score 178, when craptastic bands that play Punk and have almost no tone whatsoever, can somehow contrive to score 190!

Pardon Me was sublime, Only One was way up there. The crowd was singing along, glad that a band was actually going to play some decent music and not just yell their way through their slot and leave it at that.

As ever at these sorts of things, the judging always seems to be stacked against us. I wish I knew why. It pisses me off. No wonder all the bands that seem to 'make it' in the Malaysian scene are generic and unspectacular. And industry commentators somehow seem 'mystified' that our music industry does not grow, nor show any flashes of brilliance.

Could you imagine a band like Peterpan or Sheila on 7, coming from Malaysia? No, you can't, because the industry is set-up to prevent that sort of thing from happening. It's all there, in the contests, the ridiculous Blast-Off thing, the band battles, everything. We get crap like Prana, Love Me Butch, and the (un) Funny Rabbits. The only decent bands in the past few years have been Disagree and Cosmic Funk Express. Even then, Disagree have a vocalist who sounds ripped from Pearl Jam, and Cosmic Funk Express are more Funk than Express.

Where are the breakout bands? The ones that are truly unique? Where are our Muses, Incubus' or even Peterpans? I'll tell you where they are; getting pissed off at crapppy judging during contests or auditions, which curtails their enthusiasm and drive to succeed. You can blame almost everyone, from the government to the record companies to bands themselves for the state of affairs.

Whatever it is, we're in the finals. Are we going to win? On past evidence, no. Why?

We're too good for this.

_rafie

Wow, what a show. Easily the best we've ever done.

But damn, it wasn't easy. Problems started in the morning. Soundcheck was supposed to be at 11 a.m, so I got up at 10 30, and gave everyone a call to make sure they knew where and when to go. After calling the leader of a fellow performing band, he proceeded to inform me it had been postponed an hour to 12 p.m. Ok, no problem, I thought.

So we show up at 12, and lo and behold, its postponed to 3 p.m, due to the hotel having a staff meeting, thereby prohibiting us from making any noise whatsoever. Again, we took it in stride, and then decided heck, we'd go jamming in the meantime. Before we left, we met with the organising chairperson for the Prom Night, who proceeded to inform us that the theme for the night would be Retro - Revival of the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

My first thought was 'fuck'.

This was new information we hadn't been told about previously, and led to a hastily arranged band meeting, to consider changes to the song list. Russ said that we shouldnt change it too much, since we had already practised and agreed upon an earlier list. The rest, Rusydie and Archie were more along the lines of 'anything, as long as it turns out ok.' Since the only song we knew that was remotely retro was 'That Thing You Do', it was one of a few changes we made to the list.

Alvin and Omer had wanted to go jamming as well, so Russ and Archie went off to get them as we went went off to go get Radhie. Met up atht eh jamming centre, only to find all rooms were booked til... yeah, you guessed it, 3. Seeing that it was almost 2, we decided to just hang out at the hotel venue, and wait it out.

3 p.m came and passed, and still no soundcheck. The sound people hadn't arrived! Tempers were fraying and nerves were getting raw as we tried to maintain some semblance of patience. Finally, they arrived, and we had problems with the technical setup. First of all, when it comes ot gigs, a band would usually run the setup throuhg amps on stage, and Line-Out them to a mixing board, which would pump out the sound to monitors in front of the performing band, and the house speakers.

However, it was clear that the amps weren't up to the job, and the sound came out very muddled and, well, shite. So the main technical guy decided to run everything through the mixing board, bypassing the amps completely. Russ wasn't happy, because he couldn't really hear himself. Radhie wasn't happy either, but the sound people asked us to trust them, so we did.

Soundcheck went and passed by without too much incident. After that, we still found some strength to go jamming with Omer and Alvin.Well, not Russ, who looked as pale as a white bed sheet, and just as tired too.

Went home, picked out our outfits, with yours truly going for a classic look; black pants, black jacket, cream shirt, gold and black tie. Rusydie was similar, black pants, black jacket, creamish pink shirt, blue and pink tie. Radhie went off-beat; dark pink and white striped shirt, red tie, blue jeans and white U2 jacket. Russ and Archie made do with black pants + shirts, and silver ties.

This was our initial song list :
1st Set
1. That Thing You Do
2. Drive
2nd Set
3. Dirty Little Secrets
4. Pardon Me
5. Mungkin Nanti
3rd Set
6. Only One
7. Belaian Jiwa
8. Ghost of You

Now, considering that the Funny Rabbits at the last minute did NOT show up, we had to cover for them and play more. >.<

If that wasn't bad enough, turns out our guitarists had forgotten the Lead for Drive, so we had to scrap it. The night seemed to be heading for an anticlimax. However, the worries melted away when we opened up with That Thign You Do. They were clapping, singing along, moving their bodies, thumping their feet. Just the start we had hoped for. After that, to slow it down a bit before dinner, we played Talk Shows On Mute.

The rest of the night before our 2nd set passed in a blur. Next thing we knew, we were back on stage, for our second set. DLS and Pardon Me drew some warm applause, but we got them involved with that 'killer' hit, Mungkin Nanti. This is the reason why all musicians or bands perform and do live shows, I thought to myself. Yes, they were singing along. Yes they were all swaying their arms. Some had lighters lit up and were swaying them as well. Even the MC's were singing along on their mikes, going around the crowd, looking for people to sing along as well. The uproarious applause and cheering after that song was just amazing to feel.

Just as we were about to go down from stage, we heard cries of 'one more'. So I took a gamble on messing up the set list, and we did Only One. If anything, the cheers were even louder. :D

Next up were the United Kids of Oi, a band that oscillates between Ska, Reggae, and metal rock. Quite a combo, you say. They stuck to Reggae and Ska last night, and it got the crowd jumpy and all dance-y. After that was a Soul Star Search winner, (can't remember his name) and he warmed them up some more with Michael Buble's Sway and the immortal 'Can't Take My Eyes off of You'. Next thing, it was us back up on stage. As we prepared for our final set, the MCs gave out awards for Best Dressed Male and Female. Before we played our final set, I called them up to the dance floor, and announced that I wanted them to dance together as we played our next number.

Belaian Jiwa got the crowd to come up on to the dance floor infront of the stage, as they all swayed with us with our rendition of a perenial crowd favourite. And they swayed with us some more, as we played another sentimental number, the ecclectic Unintended by Muse. We played Ghost of You, which had stood us in good stead before this, and thought abotu finishing it off there and then. However, a few cries of 'one more' prompted me to close out the show with another perenial favourite, Pearl Jam's venerable Last Kiss. With the crowd on the dance floor, singing along nad dancing to what we were playing, it was deeply rewarding to see all of our practising and hard work pay off.

I'm deeply proud of the band and how we did that night, and it was easily the best show we had ever done. Russ, Rusydie, Radhie, Archie, we rock!

_rafie

So I decided to do something slightly adventurous.

Then again, for any budding musicians, slightly adventurous is just the tip of the iceberg. And just why is that?

First of all, it begins with an itch. Yes, an itch. An itch to do something productive. Or at least what at first glance and inclination, seems to be productive.What is that, I hear you ask.

Well, an attempt to come up with a more complete version of Fall From Grace. Now, yes, I've already made excuses about the poor quality of the first take that I put up, and I admit, I am not that endeared by my own singing, so I decided to give it a go. Or a re-go, if you want to be anal about it.

Soooooo, here was the setup : Samick semi hollow electric guitar, SX Bass guitar, Marshall amp, one standard mike, and a mess of cables, which contrived to run the input from the guitar and mike, through the amp and into the PC sound card, which is a Creative Audigy 2ZS. Software? Sony Sound Forge 8.0, and Sony ACID Music Studio 5.0. Result? Headaches and many, many attempts.

I laid down the rhythm track first, intending to base off the entire song off that. Next up, I did the vocal track. I played it safe, not straying too far from what I had done in the firsttake, and in the end, I sort of regretted it, because it came off sounding rather flat and draggy. Shrugging it off, I did the bassline. This is where most of the problems began.

For starters, I am not a natural bass player. Seeing that our bassist was not around to assist or record, I had to make something up as I went along. The result? I don't know. For an amateur, it sounded alright to me, but Russ will cry if he hears what I played. Haha. But yeah, I did it in three takes, which wasn't too bad. Then it was time to try and record the Lead guitar.

I made many attempts to try and do this one, but I just couldn't. The ideas were there, but the execution was lacking. Seeing that our second Lead guitarist, Radhie, had gotten home at this point, I urged him to help. Now, normally, his playing is faultless and he doesn't usually run out of ideas. But he was mostly off it today. And the result is there. I admire the fact that he tried, but after 4 frustrating takes, we just settled on the one that sounded least crappy, and pumped that one in.

After synchronising the tracks, I was a bit happier with the result, in comparison with the firsttake I had originally uploaded. I tried playing around a bit with the effects, and it came out a bit better than I had imagined it to be. Converted the whole damn thing into mp3, and uploaded it.

Drums and Lead will have to be recorded again later, so we'll see how it all turns out. And this is just for ONE song. Hehe, at least I have an okay home setup to do this. Ahh, the struggles of a budding band.

_rafie

Yeaps, we did the full band version today. My apologies to those who had to listen to the half-arsed (but still, in my opinion, not too atrocious) firsttake of Fall From Grace thats been posted on the main band site. And I thought it sounded awesome :D

When will we properly record it? I wish I could give a definitive answer on that, because there have been requests for better quality audio recordings. But we'll see how it goes.

As it is, there are 2 or 3 more in the pipeline for arranging and full band jam sessions. The first one, Fall From Grace, has already been arranged, and more or less laid down. We're waiting for Archie to finish up his exams and then we'll sort out the lead properly, and what not.

The other two in line, are Three Bedroom Apartment, and Us Against The World. All extremely simple, all extremely easy to play and figure out, if you're good with a guitar and have a good ear. I'm glad that the band has been receptive of my ideas and suggestions, and I'm loving the fact they're willing to give feedback and contribute ideas of their own.

It was an awesome site seeing us all playing our own songs together for the first time ever, properly, rather than just mucking about, and the pride I felt was almost tear-inducing. Hehe. Yes, I am indeed a big softie, in spite of my professed self-image as a rocker at heart.

The question does arise. Is this the definite direction that the band is headed in? Semi acoustic soft rock? Emo rock? Who knows? I won't put a lable on it. What for?

It's Silly Angels music after all. (=

_rafie

Allow me to quote someone :

"y dont u guys play ur own songs and be proud of it, instead of playing covers again and again?

dont get me wrong, i looove incubus! but i am sure, most people would love to see more silly angels rather than seeing another wannabe. know-what-i'm sayin?

i have a band. not popular. but during our recent gig, we played all our songs. no one really pays attention but at the end of the day they still remember us. :)"

Posted by Sweet-666 (http://sweet-sixsixsix.blogspot.com).

It got me thinking, yes. Where does the line stop, between celebrating your influences, and striking out on your own? I have only recently started dabbling in the field of proper song-writing. And it isn't easy, as many musicians and songwriters out there will doubtless testify to.

It's a minefield, really. I would not want us to be doomed to playing covers forever. But they're enjoyable, fun, entertaining. Music that we all love and happily immerse ourselves in. Don't get me wrong, I don't plan on us staying in that direction forever.

When it comes to original music, our OWN original music, it's a minefield. Who am I writing for? The (potential) crowd? Myself? The band? Anyone? Sometimes I know, sometimes I don't. And when it comes to discussing it with the band, I'll get self conscious. Why? Because alot of what I write ends up being rather personal, and I'll get all shy and defensive about it.

I suppose that I shouldn't be that way. Music is for all, isn't it? And whatever I write, for the band, the band has to agree with it, and go with it, or else it isn't Silly Angels music, it's my own. It's a stumbling block, really. Call it songwriters' ego.

But as Russ has said to me, playing cover music is the best way to develop band harmony, and skills. Its the best way to get your timing spot on, and enhance overall 'tightness'. And we will continue playing covers till whenever, and mix in our own along the way. Perhaps one day, we'll play an entire gig or set, with just our own stuff. But I'm not preprared to rush it.

The creative process needs to wind its own course, either at a pondering pace, or the quickfire keenness of a jackrabbit. It'll come good, I knwo it will. We're world beaters in waiting, after all.

_rafie

The lead vocalist is having exams, classes have started for the bassist, and the lead guitarists have school as well.

But there are shows afoot in May! (=

The fellow who runs the jamming centre where we always practise, Ah How (who happens to be Dream Machine's vocalist) has hinted that if we can prove to him that we're good enough (which I am in no doubt that we are), that they'll give us a spot on their upcoming gigs, which the jamming centre is planning to organise.

It's a useful goal to aim for, since we're trying to raise our profile and want to establish ourselves.

Since the ignominity of losing the Band Quest to a bunch of Simple Plan wannabes, it's been a bit difficult to get back into the groove of playing music just for the fun of it. We put alot of effort into those two performances and to come up short behind Craptastic Addict (not their real name, but who gives two fucks anyway) was rather damning of the judging process.

That aside, its been quiet. We haven't jammed much, haven't picked up any new tunes as of yet. Well, a couple. Incubus' Pardon Me and Muse's Cave being the notable additions we've plugged in and played recently. There are alot more lined up, as we try to diversify and find the proper direction we want to go in.

Till then, we'll rock on just as we've always done.

-Rafie

Alright, here's what we're going to play : -

1. Wish You Were Here - Incubus
2. Hysteria - Muse
3. Ghost of You - My Chemical Romance

Gambatte! :D