Get off the bandwagon (and put down the handbook)

This has been talked about a million times at a million places
by millions of people,
but there is only one thing that remains
the lack of change and lack of awareness of this growing,
annoying, irritating habit.

One:

On one hand, you get avid fans of a band willing to travel
halfway across the world
or even halfway down a country just to see that one band perform
before their eyes because it's worth it, to them.

On the other hand you get 'fans' who pay a few hundred
to enter the venue and watch a band only to walk out halfway saying "I was not close enough, I couldn't connect"
and say to everybody else "Oh, yes I've seen that band!"

Or 'fans' who bloat about how big a supporter they are of the scene
but when there's a gig,
where are they?
Nowhere to be found.

Kiddo, if I can stand 20,000-100,000 TALL people away from Rammstein,
Muse or Iron Maiden and still bloody connect with their set,
and kiss the muddy ground after because I am so grateful to even SEE them before my eyes,
why the hell can you not connect with a band you're locked into a stadium with?

There are fans all over the world, real fans,
who look up to bands and are inspired by them
and really, really hurt when they slip a chance of seeing them perform, seeing them live
but shake it off by listening to them on their CDs/cassettes all night long.
And there you get others wasting their money, showing off, and not even showing an ounce of gratitude or appreciation of what the bands sweat out to give their audience.

If you can't connect with a band just because of the distance or quality of venue or sound... you're not a true fan, so why do you claim yourself to be?

Be honest with yourself and be honest to people around you, why do music listeners nowadays need to be so pretentious, and claim they are a fan of so many bands and buy band t-shirts but when they're put in a situation where they can prove what a fan they are... they bail.

If you're not a real fan, just say "I listen to them, but not much". What's so difficult about that? Shame? Street credit? You have to say you know them well too, because everyone else does?
You're not going to lose respect if you're the only one who doesn't listen to Metallica, or Paramore or The Ramones.
The loss of respect is if you promote your obsession of the band 24/7, when really you only listen to the band when it comes up on shuffle.
Believe me, shame is what you get when one day someone finds out what a phoney you are.


Two:

After my previous posts, people have been sharing their views about it and a lot about 'ideology' came up. All sorts, of all subcultures, of all ages, of all forms.

I only have this to say:
instead of forcing and pressuring
and controlling people to believe your ideology is right
take a look at what you're doing
aren't you being the exact same as the ones
your ideology's against (the big man)?
Control, Pressure, Force.

And you call yourself a real deal but
you spend your time dissing other people
well, instead of cursing at people on your facebook group
why don't i see you do something worth the time
start a riot or fight for your right,
not fight for your social pride,
why don't i see you do something physical to show what you stand for?

Prove to me your ideology holds strong
and I will salute you.

That is all I have to say.


-----------------
With Love,
KL Mosher

Left wing, right wing, you can stuff the lot

It may be true that actions speak louder than words, but people forget nowadays that the real influences come from what we say. Lyrics, quotes from famous/favourite people, quotes from films. Jokes, riddles, stories, rumours... all these words that stick to our heads and stay because they left an impression on us. How many people have used, re-used, changed and edited the quote "To be or not to be", for example?
Words. Nothing more, nothing less. I do not care how many people read my lyrics, my poems, my prose on things that matter to me, but as long as I know I've managed to express myself, that's enough. Isn't it?

Violence? Forthright actions? What do you gain from it, except hurt, anger and enemies?
Many say they want to fight the oppression and injustice of the right wing, political, racist violence by fighting back with their own,
but hey, doesn't that make you the same as them?
You're lining yourself up in the same boundaries as the ones you hate and that makes you no better.
It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, when you act the way your enemies do, you're equal to them.
You call yourself a leader but you're just another carbon copy of the ones you despise,
because your actions speak no louder than the ones you victimize,
I'm not saying we should pity the ones who cause us all this headache,
I'm not saying we should listen to the politically minded who try to change our ways.

Sometimes it's true that anger takes a toll and you can't help yourself, but if you can't help yourself, do you think anyone else can? Do you think you can change?

When you read the news, you shake your head, but then you go and do something just the same,
and you're always the one pointing fingers,
like you do not dare to blame yourself for your own actions.
So who is the coward, you or them?

When you act with violence, you show a weak mind, and with a weak mind comes a loss of respect and pride from those by your side, and you end up standing alone with nobody to turn to.
Of course I believe in standing your own ground, but I won't want to stand my own ground if I did things I'm ashamed of.

All I am saying is if they fight us with control,
we fight them with restraint.

No use shouting profanity and ruining what they own,
when we can silently compile our thoughts and make a movement grow,
through speeches, through ideas we can rise against
not through violence, not through threats, not through physical provocation.

I believe strongly in determination, and if we are determined to change things, we can do it, but there is no need for all the hatred and all the angry actions that you will look back on and regret. We should start a sort of weekly gathering, where we can share our own ideas on an individual topic, and come up with ways to make it better. Without a rash mind, without irritation, just pure, civilized, sophisticated discussions.
We don't need to be part of a group, part of a class, part of anything materialistic and tangible to share our ideas, we just need to have the same minds, the same passion, the same determination.

Propagandas, zines, banners, poems, placards, flyers, blogs, websites, lyrics... all these form of expression we can use to get our words out there to the world, to the ones we want to attack, without physically attacking them.

As they aimlessly opress us, we stand and sing,
then we'll see in the end who's side will win.

-----------
With Love,
KL Mosher

You're The Only You

This is not a song. I guess?
-------------------------------


Want to be yourself but too scared to strip down to your individuality.
It's alright to feel uncomfortable when people stare...
Penny Rimbaud felt uncomfortable, but did he care?
If you want to be different you're going to have to face a lot more shit
and tell those conforming scums "Fuck you, because I don't give-"

Of course people are going to laugh, of course you'll get crapped on,
stepped on, pulled down,
but what's the point of singing all the songs about what you stand for,
if you can't even stand your own ground?
Why would you sing "Hey Ho, Let's Go"
if you don't know where you're heading?
Why would you dress up in extremes if your mind is laden like the rest of normality?

What's the point of buying badges and pins and patches if you don't understand what it means?
What's the point of shaving half your head off just to look good in the mirror
yet blush red when people snigger on the streets?
It's your own fault for the lack of independence,
not the society's, because without you to feed to,
there will be no feeding of bullshit ideas and fake reality
so don't blame or point fingers at society's leaders
for brainwashing you and your mates
if you can't even handle going against their oppression and slick manipulation
and walk out with everything they stuff into you and on you.

You say you're an anti-capitalist, kiddo,
but if you live in the city
and just newly exposed to the concept,
it's very hard to be one, unless you live with nothing but your pair of jeans
and cycle and walk, and forget about your handphones
and eat from the bin,
can you do that?
well, then, stop labeling yourselves
and do something about it.

because you don't need to be part of any clan
any subculture
any group or community
to prove yourself differently
because when you join a hundred, you become a hundred things
so what happens to YOU?

you don't need to be an anarchist
if you dislike the government,
you don't need to be a liberalist
or part of the GAP to do something about the shithole of society
to give money to the poor or scratch rich men's cars,
just because you dislike racists doesn't mean you have to start attacking
racist punks, unless they are racist to you, of course,
but even violence can't solve everything
violent actions are violent minds
and war starts from the inside.

anarchy? anti-christ? anti-fa?
those are just labels of what the society gives to the
failures, the outsider mentalities,
because in reality, these labels mean nothing,
they never existed and at the end of the day
our words and actions are louder
and we are not failures
for we stand as ourselves, individual and whole.

you don't need to be part of anything else
but your own mind.

Believe it. Trust it.
You want to be yourself, but you're too afraid to show it,
so who are you showing, who do you see when you look into the mirror?
Find yourself, be yourself before it's too late,
or you'll spend the rest of your life
watching yourself fade.

Thank you.

-Celine Belli

The "Stagedive" Project

A documentary.

Coming soon.

Stay tuned.

An education on unity

Hello everybody, I'm back from the long break I needed.

Back to the scene, back to reality, and I'm opening my eyes and seeing nothing but conflicts. I feel I should take on this in a less aggressive tone. I want to talk to you guys. I want you guys, you music-lovers, you giggers, you musicians, to read what is in my mind.

"Where have all the kids gone?"

Ever noticed how the crowds in our gigs have minimized? A venue that used to be jam-packed now result in handfuls. Ever noticed? No, probably not, because you didn't attend the last gig.

I understand, going to gigs every week is a tough thing to keep up if you're busy and have another life to live. But there are many people who can juggle their personal and music life, even combining both together. Why? Because they love, truly love music.

I'm not pointing fingers, and saying those who do not attend all the gigs are not music-lovers. But the ones I'm truly disappointed in are the ones who claim to be "a total gigger" or "budak gig/hardcore/punk", but never bother to attend the shows. Those who say "I love you, (band name), I want to see you live!" but never attend the band's gigs.

Mahal la, jauh la, tak de semangat la... Hm. Is that really passion? Think for yourselves. I know a vocalist of a band *name disclosed*, who has achieved a masters degree, working, going into full adulthood and playing in a band. There are many like these. How do they manage it? Because they want the scene to survive.

without you, without us, the scene will not exist.

Come back, kids. Don't talk about "a music scene" if you're not contributing to it.

Another thing that has always lacked in our Malaysian scene: girls. I think girls only take up about 15% of the whole scene? Girls that rock out, I mean.

Yes, we see many girls, but those girls are usually girlfriends to artists or girlfriends of the guys that mosh. How many girls to we see going crazy in the crowd? Not many. To be honest, most of the girls in KL who appear in gigs often... are all my friends. And that's pretty pathetic.

I want the girls that read this to know that it is not something menacing, our music scene is not a threat, it's not dangerous. Don't be intimidated to go to a gig to see your favourite band just because you think you might get trampled. It doesn't always happen that way. If you have the urge to rock out listening to a band on Facebook, you can have as much right to rock out at their shows. Show your faces, ladies. It's time we relive the grrrl power.

"Different genres, different tastes"

The amount of endurance we give to those who say "I am a hardcore fan only/indie fan only". Stop with that. Are you saying you have never grown up listening to Backstreet Boys? Never once head-banged to AC/DC, or never sung to Hujan? Be realistic.

You can prefer a certain type of genre, or band, but that shouldn't stop you from supporting other bands, other genres. The scene is not about pick-and-choose. It's about unity. It's about sharing with each other the different sounds we can create for each other. It's not about discriminating or judging or disliking. It's not about fighting in the crowds, it's not about getting annoyed at people who are jumping around too much at a band you don't like.

It's about being there to support. If you don't like the band, don't be an ass. Just walk away from the crowd and sit out until the next band. Don't you hate it when you're enjoying a band and there's someone beside you talking shit about the band? Well, don't be that person.

"Too much of the same doses"

Another reason perhaps: everybody's getting bored of the same line-ups, same places, same people. Understandable. But then again, if we never support the scene, how can the scene move forward, and change? If no new bands sprout out, if no one organizes/attends gigs, how can the line-ups and how can the scene vary?

If you're really a die-hard music supporter, you wouldn't be fussy over who's in the scene and who's performing. You should support whoever it is that's playing, playing for you. Like I mentioned earlier, be there for the ones you love, and respect those that you dislike; they are still musicians.

"We need the unity."

We can't continue living in a scene where there are all these people and communities who are against each other, or trying to create trouble amongst themselves.

We need a mixture, a mutual understanding, a crowd that has a choice to sit out or be part of enjoying the bands that perform. A good example is this year's KL BIG PARTY.

It was a mixture of bands. Indie, hardcore, metal, ska, everything. On one side, I see sooo many people attending, and it's great. It feels like there's unity.... until you go into the audience, and you see hardcore kids getting annoyed or taking the piss of the indie kids.

Guys, don't label yourselves. You're just... people. Humans. The whole point of these type of gigs is to allow everybody to have a chance to accept one another's music. It's frustrating that it's got to the point where we have to be taught to accept, when it should be automatic.

These gigs are meant to allow everybody to unite together and enjoy together.

If there's a ska band, come and skank and enjoy. Or just sit out. Don't stand in the crowd and complain about being shoved around.

If there's an indie band, come and pogo and enjoy. Or just sit out. Don't stand in the crowd and complain about being around overhyper people.

If there's a metal band, come and headbang and enjoy. Or just sit out. Don't stand in the crowd and complain about being knocked in the head.

If there's a hardcore band, come and release and enjoy. Or just sit out. Don't stand in the crowd and complain about being kicked in the face.

It is mutual understanding we need. You know how the crowds work for different sorts of music. It's cool that you want to check out the band playing, but you can't expect to be listened to when you say "Dude why the fck did you kick me!?" when everyone else in the crowd is kicking around. If you want to be safe, if you want to watch the band undisturbed... move away a little bit. This is just how it works. This will help create peace, help create a happy atmosphere in the gigs we go to.

And those who do enjoy and pogo/skank/headbang, etc etc... if you get mad at another person for hurting you... that's just... wrong. Before, we would accidentally bump a person, and end up being friends with them. Now, it's automatically, "Eh, babi la kau!"... Why?

Or those people who purposely kick and hurt people? I understand hardcore moves, I do, people go crazy. But whoever they hurt, whoever they touch, they don't do it on purpose. They don't purposely look for someone to hurt. It just happens because everyone is doing the same thing. Those people who try to hurt a certain person in the crowd, just get lost.......

Readers, whatever type of genre you listen to, I want you to know that the importance of music doesn't lie in the differences but the similarities. Music is melody, all sorts of genres are the same melody. One melody. Why should we keep up the conflicts and disputes, when we should be busy looking for better gig venues, new bands and contributing to a living scene?

Put away those angry emotions, and just come together to keep the scene very much alive.

---------------

With Love,

KL Mosher