Paul's Place Gig, 9th December 2005: Airtight Noise's 3rd Performance

I do remember how our band's first performance, in Colors Uptown, Damansara. Me and cy were very nervous that time, we couldn't speak, we tried to make a conversation, but it didn't last long. We kept quiet, thinking of how's gonna be if it's our turn to perform. Our heartbeats went fast, body shivering and dare not to look at the crowds. It's a very good experience for us to overcome our fear.

Then the second gig was in Bangsar, still me and cy performing, and that's where we knew Keng, the guy who owned the jamming studio in Tmn Desa, hosting the gig. Yulius and Eleanor came to spectate, and we did screw up, cy's guitar strings were out of fret, he hurt his fingers, and i got some fucked up beats after a while i was looking at cy's fucked up guitar. That time we had recorded audio and video, i think Ps was holding the video camera, and Eleanor was taking pictures, correct me if i'm wrong. All my life, i ever wanted a person i love came to see my performance, never as it happened before. For sure, this 3rd performance, my darling would come and watch our performance.

Well, let the story begins...

I woke up at 1.30pm, knew that it's about time to call Jordan and jamming at 3pm. He came and fetched me to cy's place and it's almost 3pm, Ck's still sleeping, soon me and Jordan went for lunch, then we go for jamming at 4pm. Keng's studio was crowded with the bands, talking and laughing while they're preparing for the gig. Yulius will be coming after 4pm, so we jammed first till when he arrived, we just got finished our practises. Unfortunate for him...

Then, we went back to cy's house to collect our instruments while i'll go to 3rd uncle's house to collect the Video Camera. Then we met at Paul's place, had dinner together. I took light dinner, a pack of Nasi Lemak, in case i'm full, i might not in good condition to play drums cuz i move around too much i might puke on myself.

(this is the paragraph proven that he might be wrong sometimes)

And so, cy asked me if i still remember the sequence, then it became a debate, cy pushed his luck so tight, i remember what he said about the sequence 2 days ago, and last minute changes upon the first song? He made a bet, who lost the debate will pay all the media expenses. Actually i wasn't afraid of losing this debate, i knew how the song goes, and the sequences. He hurried me about the cd reference and we listened back to the first track. While we're at it, he assumed that me and Ck's gonna pay for the expenses, aloud.. (hey, i know you're hating me saying this) We skipped the track till the sequence changed... And i was right about it, cy got muted, his face turned to a smiley. I knew he's wrong about it, only he can't accept it before we got it proven. I can't blame him, he wanted the perfection, the tolerance from us, so he got so uptight managing the whole thing and somehow he's lost. Everything became too rush for us before we decide to jam on weekdays. It's understandable, so don't feel bad about it. We all did our mistakes, try not to push too hard verbally next time, it hurts a lot man...

Then me and cy went to buy cassette tape and Hi8 tape. I found Hi8 tape and batteries for the recorder, only can't find the stupid 90 minutes cassette tape. I wonder why the last time i went to photo shops, they did sell cassette tapes, until now with the CD technology, they don't bother about cassette tapes anymore. I went 3 shops in OUG, nothing found, stupid photo shops. And we received a call that our sound check has begun, so we rushed back, informed my girl to buy some drinks and the cassette tape. Unlucky for her, she just reached to find a parking space, came with her brother, then she had to go out again. I'm sorry darling, it just happened in a short time giving you a short notice, anyway thanks for delivering the things we need, love you lots... Well, cy and jordan still owes me a rm20 Hi8 tape, rm4 for the cassette tape, rm5 for the batteries, and rm2-3 (not sure the price) Evian water for our band leader, 'specially requested'...
Got the cameras ready, sound checked, found out the chair for me was too high and it can't be adjusted, a little frustrated on me that i knew i might not performing well with low impacts on the bass drums. Basically if the seat was high, the proportion of the leg is not 90 degrees, it's about 45-50 degrees that it creates low impacts of the beats, if i'm gonna do a fast pace beat on bass drums, i would got myself tired easily. What my point is i'm used to 90 degrees, in jamming studio. I'm sure this is the worst seat i ever sat on.

Then the first intro band performing, all were so young and naive, but their songs like pop punk stuffs, the drummer was skillful, again the same problem, can't hear what the vocalist singing. However, they've done their best to put up a band with few songs.

And then, it's our time to perform on the stage...


My heart beats faster, getting warmer and warmer each time i saw myself walking to the stage with snare drum, drumsticks and cymbal, setting up and looking at my band members. Cy said we had a little time for the sound check earlier so we better set it proper by then. After a short while of sound check, we begun our song...

I knew i played well at first, and expected i'll screwed a bit later cuz i know either the drumsticks will break, or my timing went wrong. I saw Jordan's playing facing to me instead of the crowds, i knew they would get shy for their first time. I was nervous at first, not shy, then the drum set was partitioned with acrylic transparent plastic for a condensed sound from the drums, somehow the spotlights reflected the partition till i only see myself at it, can't see the crowds. Therefore, i'm fearless and kept on going on my drums.

On the climax part, i felt the distortion from Yulius's guitar was not as we expected, not the distortion! We've been discussing about it using clean guitar sound to make the distortion climax part, some other effects will be doing feedback as ambience of the piano playing part. It felt so odd that i'm sure the audiences felt differences of the music. Then i felt i hit too hard my jazz drumsticks broke! Damn, luckily it's still attached, untill the slow part i managed to change but a little fucked up. Cy didn't look at me, i think he knew i broke my drumsticks. Later on, i hurt my finger, hitted on the toms, bleeded and painfully numb, and still i can manage to play as it wasn't hurt. The floor tom was getting close to my leg, the ride cymbal was running away from it's position, so as the right crash cymbal. I realised that because the fucking floor was not layered with a carpet or something to surround the drum set, all the instruments ran out of positions. No wonder i can't reach the crash cymbals...


And of course, i felt a lot more differences from our studio practising, chords running out of tune, timing also out, so am i. The last song we're playing supposed to be in more distortion, i looked at Ck and Jordan, they stuffed their guitars on the amplifiers for the feedback and i heard none. Cy's bass heard perfectly heavy and clear, i liked it most. Yulius's Wah-Wah effect can be acceptable cuz the feedback did the thing. And the ending of the song... Suck... Not completely muted the way we agreed...


I was fully exhausted after the whole ending, smashing and rolling, i crouched on the stage with some deep breaths. Then we packed our instruments and went back to our seats. Then come the cons and pros, from friends to strangers, most of them said i played the best on drums, and some said the whole thing was good, and none of them saying Cy's piano, Jordan's Pei-Pa, Ck's bass, Yulius's guitar. I think my drums were just simple beats, Cy's piano got the sentimental mood, Jordan's Pei-Pa got the ancient chinese orchestra mood, Ck's bass got the consistency blend in every instruments, Yulius's guitar helped to do the background ambiences. That's all my point of view, everyone did their great effort without screwing up much during the performance. Anyhow, i'm glad, just glad to have more band members journeyed together to get the best out of ourselves... Most importantly, having fun together...

Eleanor was in tense, she told me she recorded the video after the repeat of the first song... Oh my god, that's a such a waste, i mean when i browse back the captures, the audio was perfectly recorded, no doubt it's better than a tape recorder which did a minor quality. The whole performance was slick, tight and good sequenced and only matters it taken only after the song started... Sigh... (i know you felt bad about this, Ellie...)

My girl took a few pictures... Forgive me of what i'm gonna say, usually taking pictures with flashes supposed to be taken in close shots, i doubt my girl just make use of the zooming lens to capture and the flashes were useless at that range. She should take more pictures so we'll have more posts on our upcoming project. Somehow i'm disappointed on the medias i requested, none did the right thing. And of course, i know you guys did your best, and so far you guys need some improvement on taking pictures and videos, just like how you watch a movie and see how the camera moves. Please forgive me of how i said bad things about you girls...

Kia Seng and Chi Siang came also, but not sure when they came, they've spectated our performance, that's really awesome. Jeremy came with his girlfriend also, bought us beers, we sat and chit chat about the performance. They felt good at our performance, i'm glad. Cy wanted to go Poppy, together with Jordan. He asked me if i wanted to go, and of course i don't want to, i need a good rest after the performance and also some quality time with my girl.

Later my girl wanted to fetch her brother back home, i followed her car to her place, then she fetched me back home, stayed overnight at my place.

The gig is just like a dream, i wanted to be there as earlier as possible but when it's over, i felt sad that it left earlier. For 2 years after we had our previous performance, i just hope the next one will be as short time as possible, so we're not slacked out from the underground scene...