Its All About The Music

You know what I miss the most? The band. Yep. I was once in a band infact, I think I should start from the beginning.

Music, actually wasn't my interest to start with. From day one, the minute I saw those Knight Rider shows, that Airwolf helicopter whizzing through the skies making that 180 midair turn then unleashing hellspawns ball of fire onto that unsuspecting foe, (ahhhhh the memories) it was set that I will be an engineer. "well now since you are already one how does it feel?" I ask myself.

Honestly, minus those once and a while moments of triumph, I have to say it kinda stinks. But, hang on. I keep on digressing too much. Focus dude, focus. Ok, music. Yes so the idea of listening to music for me was not unheard of till my first impression of Cikgu (teacher) Mustakim.

The vision of this quiet, soft spoken teacher whom teaches music to me at primary school was something to remember. The cool thing was we were trying to hook him up with Cikgu Zaharah, one of the chic-looking 'cikgu's at that time. Imagine, I was just 12 years old then and we match making dudes and dudettes already. Ok ok now stick to the point!

Right! So we had a year end party. Yup I was graduating from primary school, and unlike our American soap/ TV cousins, it isn't such a big thing, not even and end of an era kind of feel. So, this Cikgu Mustakim decided to call in some frends he knew at college to perform at our year end party. There stood cikgu Mustakim, standing before us in his white flannel outfit, with those frilly-frilly cuffs, proudly he stood in the power stance Jimmy Page persona with his head tilted back slightly as he pulled what I can clearly describe as the most sexiest, awe inspiring legato blues run from this candy red stratocaster korean fender copy guitar. Ahhh the bliss

So, it was the fact that it doesn't matter how ridiculous you look, but nothing hits the spot like a raging guitar solo. Hell yeah! Ok fast forward a bit. That did not entirely got me into music yet. Seems that I come from a musically inclined family. My late mother (God bless her soul) was brought up with music. My Late grandparents filled my mom's life with music and throughout the whole family. My uncles had formed a band called "The Rusty Nails". Ya. I know. You asking, 'What the f&^$% kind of name is that?" Hey, it won them the state battle of the bands, so in your face you guys.

Thus, it all started when my sister got hold of a guitar from my uncle. Never actually took any attention to it untill one day, it was Eid somewhere in '93 that one of my uncles came. We sat and my sister ask for some tips and lessons. He picked up the guitar and started to play all these hits from the Beatles, Andy Williams, Dusty Springfield. What made it more memorable was the fact that my mom can really, REALLY SING! Yup. Those were the days. From then on it fueled my determination to play the guitar.

Ahhh, yes the early years. Nowdays kids got all this new electronic gadgets and softwares that help speed up the process of learning such an instrument. In my days, it was basically books and the trusty ears. Then there was my sisters guitar which was this pawn shop type brand called KAPOK. Infact this brand is quite famous actually. Its the poor man's trusty equiptment. How does it play? LIke shit. Getting it in tune is a shear triumph (thats if you're lucky) and the action (string tension) is like torture. You actually bleed playing this piece of crap, but hey it still plays.

So this godforsaken piece of scrap was the instrument that tought me all the tricks, the slides, the pull-offs, the thrills , those wierd chords and scales, arpeggios, yup it was me, the heap of junk tuck between my armpits and those expensive instructional books and magazines. You see, I believe that music comes from vthe heart, that no matter what piece of shit of an instrument is plonked on your lap, its the fingers that gently weaves the magic we all know is music. So, eventhough the guitar was cheap, the instructional books and mags were not. But it was a fair trade.

But everything changed when, upon seeing my progress, one of my uncles decided to give me, his Yamaha F4335 dreadnought acoustic guitar. People, eventhough this was not the Ferrari of acoustic guitars, but a well crafted well balanced decent piece of brilliance made all the difference. The first time I strummed some basic chords, it was like the Sirens by the docks calling to the sea men, with their sweet voices. It was heaven, it was intoxicating. I almost cried.

So, equiped with my new stead, off I went into the sunset awaiting for the new adventoures to come on my quest to be a damn good guitar player.

Ok. So where does that bring me now? Well, the new Yamaha got me so inspired I would like practice 4 to 5 hours a day. I got pretty good. Plus I was like only 14 and could play really really well. Ah ha! You see, I was in high school now. Things changed. And so did this realisation that chicks dig musicians, especially guitar players . I was, the cool guy!!

So, I got transferred to this boerding school under scholarship. Ok, was smart. I still wanted to become an engineer. At this college, I met a frend named Izmet. He, how shall I say this, has THE best voice I have ever heard. We hooked up and with me aon the guitars and Izmet on vocals, we were unstoppable. We were the highlights to any musical soiree's and we brought a new dimension to Talenttime.

Ahhh...but it wasn't till a junior by the name Zulfadli came that things really sparked off. Zulfadli, affectionately known as Ali was only 13, but he was damn good drummer. He actually graduated music grade school at Yamaha for drums at 12. We were also lucky becouse one of my juniors was also a smashing bass player.His name was Fuad. Then by the end of Form Four, i had a new classmate, Johann. Johann, well he is one interesting bloke. Not only does he play guitar but drums, clarinet, sax, piano, bass and violins. Yess the all-rounder.

So, the band was Izmet(vocals), me(lead guitar), Johann(piano,guitar,sax), Ali(drums) and Fuad(bass). People, this was the ultimate band. We did things that highschools band can only dreamed of. We had the whole college worshiped us. We were GODS!!!!

The cool thing was, the drum room, which is the small soundproof studio was really small. It was part of a huge music room. The thing was, everybody in the band was good, but once trapped in that small drum room, we all sounded like piles of noise shit. So, we decided to book the whole music room and place the instruments at different corners, balancing the sound dynamics. It worked, but the side effect was that, since the music room was not sound proof, the whole college could hear us.

That was good, coz from there everybody would like come and gather after lunch to hear us. In short, thats how we set up our fanbase. The cool thing was, we did not have a name for the band. We were known by the fact we were just jamming. So people would like say, "Ehhh..! isn't Johann/Izmet/Ahmad/Zul/Fuad jamming today?"

Yup thats how we gotten to be known. Yeah those were the days.

And those days have gone. I have been in many bands eversince, but none had the spirit and the curiosity to just let go, and let the spirit of music be the base of the band. The thing I miss the most is the fact that everyone took their instruments and skills seriously. Yeah we would jam without knowing the exact way of playing a song but we made it our own, no fear to experiment. That was what made it refreshing and enlightening. And we played off each other, knowing each others direction like the communication was the emotion that everyone felt through our playing. Yup, those days, those spirits...their gone.

And so, till today, I got some people who've known me through time and see me play the guitar, have approached me to form a band. Countless of times I would come to the studio to jam, but many times left dissapointed. Its like losing the one u love. Ah well. I guess some good things happen only once.

I just wished that I can find back the group, or find new frends that belive in what I believe...............thats its all about the music.