Reunión Febrero 2006

Secondary school almost bore me to death.

I used to ‘balik awal’ before 5pm to catch that week’s episode of ‘Alternatif’ on TV3. It was the only TV show that seemed to provide some info on local bands and scene happenings. I was hooked to it and I had almost every episode recorded on tape.

This was the mid 90s and I just arrived to my teens, Kurt had just died at the height of the grunge explosion and the brewing KL music scene was at its peak (which caught my attention more then what was going on internationally).

Locally, a crunchy pop fuzz band named OAG exploded in to the mainstream, kick starting the first wave of local alternative rock music to the masses. From then on, I started to discover more bands, like Butterfingers, The Pilgrims, The Bollocks, Boot Off! Spiral Kinetic Circus, Sputum, Naked Butterfly, Basic Rights and Chronic Mass to name a few.

I soon found myself in a scene with kids from different music subcultures consisting of punks, skinheads, indie/grunge, HC and Metal all coming as

one at gigs every weekend (well, almost as one, as the skins and punks would get into the occasional scuffle) but the spirit and the atmosphere was well and alive.

The millennium came and I was already in college majoring in TV & Video Production. By then I was more informed of the local scene, having tuned in to radio shows like Kamil Othman’s Alternative Rock Show, reading Joe Kidd’s Blasting Concept columns as well as Daryl Goh’s occasional local band review/articles in The Star.

There were also magazines like TONE and ROTTW which were accessible at newsstands and ‘underground’ fanzines like Vortex from the East, Broken

Vision, Buddy Holly and Suffer Age that were sold at gigs.

There was still lack of information being circulated to the masses as this was the beginning stages of the internet and the only mediums available in giving exposure to this growing scene were fragmented.

The lack of mediums to disseminate this information somehow has inspired me to be more involved and to do my part to help develop the local music scene especially from the role of the media.

Understanding the fact that most unsigned local independent artist didn’t get the privilege of public exposure or plainly didn’t have the budget to produce a proper music video, I started making videos on a budget. The first video I produced was for a friend’s band called Polythene.

Me and my team made the effort to build a DIY set using college facilities, coaxed a female friend to play the lead in return for ‘belanja makan’ and pulled favours asking the boys from the animation faculty to incorporate some element of 3D in to the video.

The video turned out well for a first attempt and we sent it in for MVA awards. No, we didn’t win but we did gained a fair amount of exposure which was a good start.

Fast forward a few years later, I landed a gig playing bass for a prominent mainstream act as part of their revival. This gave me the opportunity to meet and network with some of the key players in the music industry whom I communicated my interest in producing more local music videos.

One of the guys that I managed to capture his attention was Paul Moss, whom I had previously approached with my student reel. He gave me the opportunity to direct the first few videos for an upcoming rap rock outfit called Pop Shuvit. I took on the challenge and managed to direct and produce two videos for them under a minimum budget allocated by their then Positive Tone/EMI record label.

In between, I got wind that other directors from the industry were accusing me of ruining the market by undercharging, that and how my work was amateurish. This didn’t affect me one bit as my goal was to immortalise these bands in local music history rather than making a quick buck. I was driven by passion and was always looking at the bigger picture.

I continued to produce videos for other local acts such as Butterfingers “Kabus Ribut,” Ferhad “Pernah” and RuffEdge “Tiada Lagi Cinta.” These were all budget videos that gained rotation on national TV stations.

I had mixed feedback for my productions and looking back, I know I could have done better in terms of quality but hey, I had no regrets. The goal was to do my part and gain experiences.

After a stint working at a drama production house, Paul called me up again. This time to be a part of a new terrestrial TV station that he and Ahmad Izham Omar were about to launch. I landed my first job as a content executive at 8TV and was given the privilege to work under Michael Christian Simon, whom I found out later was the producer of ‘Alternatif,’ the very same TV program that sparked my interest to get into this industry in the first place. Mike guided me or more so whipped me into shape as my then colleagues would prefer to remember. He thought me the ropes and encouraged me to continue my passion. I was promoted to a senior producer and worked on shows such as The 8TV Quickie and Flava (Malaysia’s first ever hip hop TV show hosted by Joe Flizzow). Mike also gave me the chance to select the local guest performers for a late night talk show called Latte@8. Largely unknown bands like Deja Voodoo Spells, Plague of Happiness, Sgt. Weeners Arms and Couple had their national TV debut on the show.

At the same time, I was also working on part-time basis with Mike’s productions house called Homegrown (now the name of his production company). This is where we discovered and showcased bands such as Bittersweet, Meet Uncle Hussien and Pure Vibracion to name a few.

At that point, I came to realise that I could finally utilise the power of television to change the landscape, the public’s perception and the lack of appreciation towards local Malaysian music.

My most memorable project was to document Pop Shuvit’s first ever tour to Japan. This was a historical event as the band received an overwhelming support from the Japanese audience and I managed to capture everything on tape.

The documentary was aired on 8TV and gave Pop Shuvit the recognition they deserved especially from the skeptical Malaysian public who didn’t believe that a local band could achieve such success.

Throughout the years I have had the chance to work on more music related projects and gained valuable experience working with some of the best people in this industry.

In early 2011, I was given the opportunity by Cheong Cheng Vei of Astro. Hitz to develop The Music Video Grant concept which I think is an amazing platform for all you upcoming artist out there to expose your music as well as budding filmmakers to showcase your talent.

I was the executive producer of the project, and together with my team – Wing Meng (of Love Me Butch), Jeremy Little (of Laguna Music), Hasyemee Latiff and Uzair Sawal – we worked on monthly episodes that features unsigned artist voted by the public collaborating with selected local filmmakers to produce quality music videos.

The videos are then premiered on the channel giving ample exposure for the winning artist.

The show has discovered and featured artist such as I Revival, Heart-A- Tack, James Baum, The Azenders and many more.

Personally, I think it was the best TV show Astro.Hitz has ever aired and there is no other initiative like this out there.

Looking back to what I have written here, I feel nostalgic, proud and appreciative for all the ups and downs, trial and errors as well as the glory and failure I have experienced pursuing this passion of mine. If there’s anything I want you to take from reading this would be it being and

inspiration for you to contribute your part in developing and sustaining our local music industry.

Efry Arwis plays bass for Yuna, Diandra Arjunaidi, Salammusik, Narmi and more.

#projekbuku