Somewhere in April last year I was approached by Norman who was my boss in one of my previous employments to feature for a song about friendship. It would be my first collaboration with a rock band and I was excited to see how well the band could play.
As soon as I received the instrumental to the song, I was blown away! Musically, they were very mature and I had no idea Norman could sing that well.
As soon as we had done Nanban, I had this idea that I should speak to Norman and become a permanent member of the band due to the awesome chemistry amongst the band members. Everyone spoke the same language.
A few weeks later, before I asked to join the band, Norman asked me instead to be part of the band upon agreement by all the band members.
We would then go on to push Nanban for radio airplay on THR Raaga (Malaysia's number 1 tamil radio station). Once we saw Nanban getting positive reviews, we started working on our second single, Gaveena. Gaveena would go on and enter the Malaysian Top 10 charts and stay there for about 6 weeks. This was truly surprising as we did not expect such an outcome.
We have shot 2 videos as a band both for Nanban and Gaveena (links below). Being with a band is different from my experience being in a rap group. There is more work involved due to live instruments. With a band like ours, there are even more challenges as we all have day jobs and hold managerial positions so our responsibilities at work usually takes precedence. Nevertheless, we try to commit ourselves to meet up and work on new material.
At the moment we are working on our 3rd single, Sabthame Melody which is a song about music. We are hoping to release it by the end of the month. This would be our last single for now before concentrating on the album.
So look out for our album to be dropping soon.
Nova Rock consists of Norman (Lead Vocals), Jonathan (Lead Guitarist), Shenchker (Rhythm Guitarist), Alvin (Bass Guitarist) and myself (Rapper).
This is a long awaited post indeed as I had to wait for the right mood to post this because I did not want to be stumped for words. So here goes. I will relate my share of the story on that blessed day.
The vigil was scheduled to begin at 8:00PM on Saturday the 27th of September. But being the people (Murali, Sriganesh and I) we are we only started driving to the Bukit Jalil LRT stadium at 7:30PM and reached there at about 7:50PM. By the time we parked and got onto the LRT it was already 8 and reached Dataran at about 8:20PM to find the field cordoned off by rolls of "police line, do not cross" tape around the who vicinity of the field.
Before we got off the LRT we saw patrol cars and a lot of people gathered near 7-11 opposite Puduraya. Therefore when we saw no people in dataran we figured that the crowd could have moved there since the field was cordoned off. Just to be sure Murali flipped out his "more canggih than my" phone and checked MalaysiaKini. It had been reported that the crowd had marched to the "Court Malai (Hill)" Vinayagar Temple to perform prayers and have a small gathering.
As we walked back from Dataran to the temple, droves of people were heading in the opposite direction i.e. towards dataran. We asked one guy and he mentioned that it was over and they were heading home. Sad but not that sad because I managed to bump into Haris Ibrahim who is one of my favourites in the field of blogging. It was an honour to meet him. We had a small chat and asked him if there was anything there near the temple. He said it was almost done but it was worth having a look and bid us to "keep the fire burning" and we followed the crowd. We kept the fire burning indeed as there were still people at the 7-11 holding candles.
There were many Hindraf supporters with their shirts reading "keep walking" and a silhouette of Mahatma Gandhi. There were also people with yellow shirts that read quotes such as Daulat Tuanku and Justice for Altantuya with a picture of Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) on it. They were still holding their half melted candles and standing there with the crowd from Hindraf.
We decided to light our candles too. Yes, we brought our own. As we were lighting it, along came YB Ronnie Liu and YB Chong Eng (DAP BM). They shook hands with the crowd and mingled with them like how friends would. I was impressed how the two MPs were very down to earth. Even we spoke to YB Ronnie Liu and YB Chong Eng. We managed to take pictures too. I had a lengthy conversation with YB Chong Eng as she is from my home state of Penang.
After conversing with the MPs we stood around for awhile and sang happy birthday to RPK with the crowd, chanted a few slogans such as "Hapuskan ISA" and "Free Raja Petra". After that the Police walked over to YB Ronnie Liu and advised him to advice us to disperse. The Police were indeed very co-operative and stood there without bothering the participants and were making sure that nothing got out of hand. They even shook hands with the "opposition MPs" and showed them utmost respect. KUDOS to the police.
YB Ronnie then advised us to disperse and to adjourn to the stalls at Petaling Street. He was willing to treat the small crowd that were gathered there.
Through the whole account and the crowd we saw, we estimated about no more than 500 people. When we read other news reports, they mentioned 2000. To our disbelief we saw the pictures by the press and clips on youtube, I would indeed have to agree that the crowd was equal to or more than 2000.
I would also like to comment here about the t-shirt i wore for the vigil. I was wearing a Bone Thugs n Harmony t-shirt. The first reason why i wore it was because when they had a gathering at the Masjid Jamek LRT station a few days before the vigil, to explain about the anti-ISA campaign, they advised supporters to spot a red and black dress code. I assumed that it would be the same for the vigil and the only red and black shirt i had was the Bone Thugs N Harmony t-shirt (I did not have a black pants but i had a red shirt....but that would defeat the purpose) The second reason I was wearing the shirt was because Bone Thugs N Harmony (BTNH) is my favourite rap group and they have presented a number of songs with positive messages (albeit their songs about drugs and street life, gangsterism, etc.) I really care a damn about what BTNH have said about the usage of drugs and all as I have a mind of my own and I am mature enough to distinguish the good vs. the bad. The third reason why BTNH came to mind was because they have this song called change the world. I have included the video for this song below and i hope you enjoy it. I have included an excerpt of the lyrics sung by Krayzie Bone in this song which roughly depicts the current status of our beloved country's political situation:
"Sometimes I sit and think about if I could change the world Get in the mind of the little boys and girls Show 'em that it is a better way Satan got you trippin' don't listen to what the devil say 'Cause he can deceive ya Play with your brain and mislead ya But it won't be long 'Til the angels come There's no where to hide but he'll run Babylon the great has fallen God is callin' We all in y'all in Souljahs go marchin' in bombin' 'em But this time we ain't talkin' We are tryin' to hit the target we launchin' Police brutality got to cease But I see the NYPD don't want peace And the LAPD don't weant peace So we'll never be free So come on
We only got 'til the end of time (we got to the end of time) To change the world (we shall overcome) change the world the world [x2] It's a crazy mixed up world It's the end of the world It's a crazy mixed up world 'Cause it's the end of the world [x2] "
Here's a video of the song (Krayzie's verse is at 3mins:55sec ) as well as other photos from the vigil...ENJOY :) Till then it's your Boy VixStaRR (the Accidental Blogger)
Murali and Sri-G (Murali is obviously ecstatic to be there! :) )
i am back my dear minions. yes, Daddy is back with a new flavour. I have been dormant these past couple of years that i have gained a status of a comet; you know, "something you can see only in the next 5000 years" kinda status.
But yes, I am going to start blogging again. Be it about politics or a "pile of shit", you know I am back.
What got me started was my pal Vick (same name, different people. Apparently where i work, the name Vick, Vicknesh, Vicknes, Vickneswaran...etc, seems to be a common name and i blame my parents for naming me so...but i thank them for being creative just a little bit for naming me Vicknesharajan) reminded me that there are very few Indian Malaysian Bloggers, that i should continue to blog. I guess there is a point. But, i would like to stress that there are a handfull of Indian Malaysians who read as well.
Reading is such a difficult task in our community because we tend to keep ourselves occupied with movies, violence and shit like that. Now don't get me fuckin' wrong but this is the situation that i have observed. Whenever I talk about something 'Inteligent', my people shy away.
WHY? because, it does not concern them...but the fact is, it concerns all of us. We need to push for our people to move further, to reach beyond the reaches and to gain the success, rescpect dan lain-lain.
Bear in mind, that here i am not speaking only about Indian Malaysians but also the other races that make us Malaysian. We need to pick up something knowledgeable (and i don't mean all those entertainment magazines) so that we can grasp the reality and stop focusing on issues that are not beneficial.
I am clearly stepping out of the matter here and would like to stop. But i would be back with more comments on my rantings.
Till next time, this is your boy Vix (the Accidental blogger)
