We took a tumble, but we came out unscratched

It's the 18th of April now. Our second gig is just tomorrow and we haven't practiced for over two weeks. But still at 10pm we walked into the studio to sharpen whatever that is still blunt. It's gonna be 4 long hours of intense rehearsals till we rip it apart tomorrow. As every round of our set-list were played, we just got better and better. But despite that we knew we need another round for fine tuning. Those 'another' rounds ended up being God-knows-how-many-rounds till Dave told that we've reached the end of our session. And so everyone packed, but I still felt one more round would do good. But nevermind, it's good to go anyway.

So then came the 19th, the day we've been anticipating. Not only it was our second gig, it was a gig where we would be sharing the stage with two bands who are our close acquaintances. Cul De Sec, comprising of our good stoner friends Zul, and Akie, and Dark Revo, who are the people we still thank till today for giving us our debut.

They skies threatened menacingly. Well it fucking did in the end. The rain poured heavily without pity, postponing the start of the gig till an hour later. We were scheduled to be the sixth band, right after Furion Escalada.

Well before I go further let me remind you that this blog reflects my personal views and I won't give pittance in order to keep relationships in good terms.

From the start we knew it was a metalcore gig. Out of 8 bands performing, 5 of them were metalcore. Now, to get fists clenched, I'm not a fan of metalcore at all. But I admit, I was impressed by performances by Deumuseth, Oracle and Furion.

Deumuseth had a certain kick in their music which outshone the other bands that played before them. They were a band who are musically tight and reveled in the individual skills the members possessed. From the growls, to the finger taps and bass kicks. Talented people. Oracle on the other hand proved every reason why the show must go on. They were very professional on stage, apologizing that two of the members couldn't make it. But they were also unprofessional in another way. Nobody blames his teammate for fuck-ups in public. Riise scored an own goal yesterday, Benitez didn't blame him in public. Maybe the vocalist was trying to be cheery and humourous, but I personally feel that isn't how it's done. Apart from that, they rocked. A three piece band without their bassist and second guitarist, they gave us a hell of a show. Furion Escalada proved why they're the top metalcore band in the country. If you want perfection, drop by their next gig. Words escape me, they're fuckin good is all I can say.

Cul De Sec (Zul's band) was the third band to play. And being very close friends we made our attendance by standing right in front to cheer them. This is where I got quite annoyed. Cul De Sec is a grunge band and they came up with a set-list of Nirvana covers. I was a Nirvana fan in my teens, and I still have a soft spot for them. Other's might not enjoy them as much, and probably dislike the presence of a grunge band at a metal gig. That's fine, but at the end of the day we're all trying to do something we love. From being fans of such music to putting our love to practice, on our gears at gigs. And all we need is support, nothing more. I don't like metalcore but I still cheered for the bands that played. But our friends in Cul De Sec got nothing more than our screams at the front. Everyone else seemed to dislike the band and didn't even bother to give a round of applause after each song. So now you're saying that Cul De Sec don't fit in? They're not heavy enough? Not brutal enough? Well maybe you guys should take a look at yourself. Metalcore is pure faggot wankery for people who think playin heavy is cool. It's the scum of the metal scene. At proper metal gigs metalcore bands get the middle finger and nothing more. But here, all of us are struggling. And that's why we tolerate pussy metal cos we don't want you guys to go back home running and venting your anger by doing ape walks and karate chops. Cos if you guys hurt yourself, who are we to laugh at in the future?

But hats off to the frontman of Deumuseth. I saw him cheering with us during Cul De Sec's set and he actually paid tribute to them by calling Zul the Malaysian Cobain. A noble act, and I salute him for that.

Apart from all this, there was still one thing that was bugging us. The organizer seemed to be very fickle minded and kept switching our turn. And to piss us off even more, we learned of our turns from the other bands, not him! That is totally silly and unprofessional if you ask me. You're the organizer, you set the schedule. If someone asks for a switch, it's YOUR duty to consult the band who's gonna be switched. If they disagree, you can not say anything. We heard that many bands wanted to leave after their set and we were NICE enough to take sixth. And while the second band is playing someone informs us we're up next (third). Jesus motherfuckin Christ! Is this how gigs are organized here? We've been to tonnes of TRUE metal gigs and played our only gig before this, but we've never seen such irresponsibility. Maybe we are a new band but it doesn't mean that newbies are free to be pushed around. Anyway we were promised sixth place but ended up playing seventh, before an unfortunate Dark Revo to close it. To be frank, Dark Revo was the best band that day, but just unlucky to have the crowd. Maybe they (the crowd) left in fear of being humiliated by the mesmerizing skills these people have.

We played our best, no doubts bout that. But deep down, I wasn't satisfied. We could have done better if the PA system were in proper condition. We hit a snitch with our first song due to inability to hear ourselves and the mates! So we had to be contempt with playing according to the rehearsed speed and timing. Easy? NOT! I made mistakes, Jai made mistakes, Wan made mistakes, Shan made mistakes! It's not that we're not good enough, hell we knew the songs inside out, like the back of our hands! But despite the glitches, we still charged like Spartans against the Persians. And the few people who remained to watch us, we knew they were feeling the heat. I still remember when we grinded the last song, Dev and Nookie of Furion were trying to rip heads off. Their presence meant a lot to us.

I really wanna thank all those who stayed back to catch us. Migo, Amir, the Furion guys, Shino, Aireen, and our loyal roadies Vishnu and Dinesh. I'm sorry guys, that things didn't turn out well. You guys took the trouble to travel only to be treated to rubbish from the start. But I'm sure you guys enjoyed Dark Revo. Who wouldn't?

On the whole, it wasn't a great a gig for us. We could have scared the shit out of people if everything was managed well. Too bad it didn't. We were left frustrated and depressed especially me. But I thought to myself it was pointless. We saw it coming when we learned that the gig was gonna be a METAL(core)fest. But whatever gig it is, we will give our best, just like last weekend. Even if it is an emo gig, we'll make those bastards tear blood and scream in fear!

I guess Blood Legion was like Humpty Dumpty last week. We fell down (or rather pushed down) hard, but we didn't break our shell. And even if we did, we'd have the king (Dave) and his men (roadies) to help us put ourselves together back again.