Gibson Les Paul Studio 1997 FOR SALE

Dear readers,

I have now moved to UK hence the reason why I no longer update my blog. But don't worry, I'm not dead yet, every so often, I will get news about the scene and maybe you might just find a new post here every do often, like now!

Someone's looking to sell his guitar.

You can take a look at the pictures on this Facebook album (actually I hope it's not on private or anything): http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150742332980355.722801.553035354&l=076cf370ec&type=1

or below:






Information:
Gibson Les Paul Studio 1997
Selling for RM3500 (negotiable)
Original parts, good quality w/ Hardcase

Call 0122815361 (Moe) or FB contact @El Moe Hussaini / @Celine Belli

Serious buyers only.


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With Love,
KL Mosher

Appreciate it, Malaysia.

So this is where we are.

A deadbeat. A scene falling into ashes. Everybody's just giving up.
Giving up their bands, giving up their gig-going, giving up their music, giving up their passion, giving up the phase of their life that would be considered the happiest in their entire lifespan.
Giving up.

That's the problem in this country isn't it? The problem we never escape from because everybody just loses their initiative to make something grow. This whole music scene thing? It's a joke. It's a complete joke. Only a handful takes it seriously and the rest of these kids? They just come and go, but they don't do so in a way that's even worth respecting.
They come, find faults, pick sides, judge, criticize, boycott, get bored and then, they go.

What we need, is a change, a new movement of the OLD folks, who have been passionate all their life, to find the opportunities to make more worthy shows. Our scene nowadays is filled with shows that lack in catching the crowd's eyes. They have quantity (say over 15 bands for a day), but they have no quality.
They start late.
Over ambitious.
Pricey entries.
What do you expect when you see an empty venue?

Who went to my birthday gig in October 2010 at Noisy Studio? It was small scaled. It was cheap. I provided free food & drinks. It was accessible. I had a good line up - a little too many I suppose, but at least I canceled just a few than tire everybody out by ending super late. And most importantly, at least everybody enjoyed it. So many people came, the studio couldn't even FIT everybody.

My point isn't bragging. My point is: if you want to do shows, know how to do it.

There is also no point in doing a show that's meant to be exquisite, without a big budget to fall on when profit never shows. One thing, guys, for a fact, is that all the nicer places are usually inaccessible. Again, how can you expect more than a handful if you spend loads of cash on an event with nice sound and equipment and quality yet the atmosphere and choice of performers do not reach the standard?

It's all about knowing what you are doing - starting small before taking out the big guns. You cannot learn to run before you learn to walk.

Have people perhaps thought of joining all these low budgeted/no-budget-at-all organizers (say Dyslexia, UxF, Nervhous, Vokill, etc...) and make one BIG organizing community?
And don't go "ew, communities" because that's just the biggest bullshit I can hear. If you call yourself hardcore or punk or whatever you say you are, you think you're 'individual'? Don't be fooled, you're part of a subculture, which is part of a group and is part of a community.

All I am saying is, since everybody now tries to do good shows without much budget, then failing and losing even MORE money, why don't everybody collaborate, split the costs and share profits? The shows then become more diverse regarding genre, places, crowd, bands, concept. At least with every show there is one organizing label that takes the higher stool depending on what type of event it is (Concert / International / Punk / Post-rock, etc).

Sure, many of the kids nowadays think the real musicians are not materialistic and dedicate solely to music. But you still need to understand business if you're going to want your music to get OUT THERE. Do you think Butterfingers just sat around waiting for their luck to come? Or OAG, or Pop Shuvit or Love Me Butch or Hujan or Yuna? No. They went out there, strategically, to find ways of branching their music out and pulling their money in.

'Tapi diaorang mainstream la...' - Honestly speaking, not really. Not all. And even if the successful ones are mainstream, they deserve it because their effort is there. I honestly am not much of a fan of a band called Bunkface but I have my small respects to the boys for doing it DIY with effort until they reach the top, top enough to charge ridiculous amounts for booking them. And then Sam starts the Azenders which is a completely different story.

I've strayed off topic, haven't I? Anyway. I'm just trying to say, there are so many bands with potential to make it big and so many organizers that can help the bands. With bands by your side, the organizers can go from just organizing gigs to being booking agents and work with other projects. Opportunities are there when you seek it.

The important thing though, is for everybody to appreciate and accept all the different genres in the scene. You don't have to enjoy them but there will never be progress if we always condemn each others' efforts and work. 'Ew, band indie'. Padahal band2 macam Thy Regiment bukan indie? Punk bands like Carbon4teen isn't indie? They're all Independent right? They aren't Indie Rock, but they ARE indie. Learn your terms well and know your definitions, because you only look a fool.

The scene is not about canalising and separating. There are no protocols or rules to music. If organizers themselves jeer at bands from other genres, they will never be exposed or mature enough to understand the purpose of creating platforms such as gigs for musicians to showcase their talent, whatever sounds they originate from. It's not about what u can or can't listen to. In order for the Malaysian scene to stay alive, everybody has to start supporting everybody.

You diss a shuffler for wearing a trash metal cap. So what? A techno-lover cannot enjoy hardcore? Are we so anal we have the right to stop people from coming close to our genres and scene? Aren't we, as musicians, organizers, scenesters, suppose to open our arms to all who want to venture?

Sure, a lot of these kids aren't passionate and don't stay for long, but everybody has the right to put their share, however little.

It is time we start to slash out all the negatives, use our common sense and gameplan and proper plotting to set the scene back on its feet. I'm leaving the country for over a year. I'd expect good changes whenever I return for vacation.

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With Love,
KL Mosher

On Print

Take a load of this!

Petty minds of a petty scene

The one thing that we still see a lot in the culture of our country, is unmistakably the lack of passion that leaves kids wasting a lot of time in useless pursuits, instead of focusing on a certain thing they want to thrive in and nothing else.

I've seen, witnessed, heard of and talked about a certain topic with a certain few of my friends who are unlike those that I spoke of above.

Sabotage;vicious mindless violence that offers nothing new" - (Crass)

Band to band:

Bands were once those people we look at and admire, people we looked up to, people we want to become. This value is slowly crumbling, not only because bands are now 'breeding like rats' (quoting Alak Knot Records), but also because bands don't seem to have enough respect for themselves anymore. They can't respect themselves, so they of course, are unable to respect others.

Such as a certain band, X, that comes from a similar hometown to another band, Y. The difference lies simply in the attitudes of the band members.
X is made up of a bunch of young boys who are ethically respectful. Y is made up of young boys who can be ethical, but instead decide to plunge into an immature feeling one cannot afford to hold while being in a band; jealousy.
SO as X starts getting shows, Y is chasing at their feet, calling up the organizers and backstabbing X, saying they (Y) deserve the slot a lot more. This had worked a few times because the organizers just don't want havoc and conflict, but dude... seriously?

Is this how you run a band, is this how you live as a band?
You can't even handle finding your way in the music scene without using spit-filthy tactics, you really think your band will reach the top, ever?

Being a band isn't just a group of friends making music, when you start being called for shows and start gaining fans, you're going to need a more mature behaviour. You're going to have to negotiate for your band in a decent, well-respected way. Sure, now you're getting gigs because you're sabotaging other bands, but sooner or later, through word-of-mouth by organizers you've bitched at, and bands you've let down, you're going to be nowhere, boys, nowhere.

******

Crowd to band

I've covered this before, and I will say it again. You don't like the band, get your face out of the crowd, don't stand there and make a shit face, don't stand there and laugh, don't stand there and jeer. Just walk away.

Especially if you're not in a band yourself and can't play instruments to save your life. How would you like it if one day you're laughing, and the band tells you to come up on stage and play something - since you seem to know better?

Bands play shows to give you entertainment, and if you can't appreciate that fact you're not a music-lover. Simply put.

Or being rude when they talk to you. Like when a boy was moshing by himself, in the back, behind the crowd, near a small kid. He was back-kicking, all that stuff. So later on, a member of a respectable band comes up and tells him, in a really loud voice "Hey you should be more careful, don't you see there were kids beside you, what if you kicked them?"
The boy stares at him, and goes "Yeah, yeah, I hear you, you deaf"

You don't want to know the rest of the story. Pahaha.

******

Crowd to Crowd

All this while I've been at crowds of different genres I have noticed and seen many things, from perverts grabbing to intentional backkicks at certain people you dislike, all the unethical behaviours, but never have I been as offended and ashamed by the crowd of KL as I was during Upon Arrival's set at MYMC Fest 2010.

There I was, unprepared to go for a gig; dressed in shorts and slippers, but enjoying myself to the max listening to Upon Arrival, the only band I went in for the event. Crowdsurfers, stagedivers, these people are all norms of any heavy gig you attend.
So there I am standing towards the front as people are jumping towards my head. I shove them backwards, I push them to other people - standard procedure.
But there is this one guy who stood behind me, who pushed a stagediver down onto the ground. The poor dude landed on his back, he bumped his head, he was in pure pain.
Then the guy behind me raised his arms in glee and shouted "WHOOO!", advancing towards the guy on the floor as if he was ready to kick him. I just pulled his shirt towards me and shouted at him, so loud, that almost everybody in front turned around. Berlagak giler, sial. I never felt such fury in the crowd before, ever since I punched a guy for trying to finger me in the crowd.

Bloody hell, this animosity is so strong in our scenes I don't bloody get it, people want to go to gigs to enjoy music! We want to have fun we want to appreciate the scene, but all these people kicking, fighting, laughing, mocking, hurting other people... why? What the hell do you gain?


Sometimes I wonder if these kids will always be this close-minded.

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With Love,
KL Mosher

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.


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With Love,
KL Mosher