The Rocker Road

I started the day pretty excited about the gig, getting the mood right by listening to some of CA's collection of rock songs, and found that I could still actually appreciate Dreamtheater and Malmsteen. I won't budge in my belief that Iron Maiden, Sepultura dan rakan-rakan are major causes of migraines. Sorry.

I would say my first taste of rock came from my mother who came back from Amsterdam with recordings of MTV and Sky Trax music videos.This, mind you was waaaaaay before Astro and cable tv. Mak even had Prince's 1999 concert tape. From those tapes I was blown away by the images of good looking men with guitar skills. You remember Duran Duran? And I was like, 11 years old then. For years the way to my heart was good guitar skills. My first beau was a big GnR fan, he even picked up a few sloppy chords on the kapok, but I still think he's better off with his computer stuff lah. Before I forget, Guns n Roses are coming to town next month.

Slowly I picked up an interest in Bon Jovi, Poison, Whitesnake, Def Leppard dan rakan-rakan. Oh, we peeple who listen to those peeple, don't mingle with the U2 and the Nirvana peeple, Don't ask me why, because I don't know.And then I discovered the super coolness of Queen from this crazy mamat who taught me how to play and sing like the 4NonBlondes. It was love when I first heard Queen's "Love of My life" and how fun it is to dance in all silliness to "I Want to Ride my Bicycle". From him I was introduced to the S3xpistols, Nine Inch Nails and all the similarly, strangely named ones. I also learned that Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Kiss don't really play heavy stuff despite their dark and bloody persona. When hanging out with my blood sisters of PPP days (you know who you are), we banged to Metalicca, and we weren't very friendly towards the Megadeth fanatics. One of the girls was going out with the guy who was involved in bringing in foreign bands to play in Malaysia, so that was when the love for classic rock blossomed, with us drooling over music by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and other Papa Rocks lah. I began to appreciate the works of pre-janggut Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and my ultimate favourite is "The Band" from Martin Scorcese's rockumentary, "The Last Waltz".

The alternative rock scene was mushrooming then, and many a young rocker wannabe thought rock was what Kirk Cobain lived and died for. After learning how to play a few Nirvana and Offspring materials, I decided, hey, it's the same thing played over and over again till the end of each songs. Where is the artistry in that? That's just the opinion of an angsty teenage musician in me lah that time...But that did not stop me from following the local scene back when I had backstage privileges to gigs at Atria and HRC.

And then I was introduced to the works of Steve Vai and Satriani by a dear dear friend who is also a mad,mad, death metal worshipper. With the right kind of ambience and hallucinogenic agents, one can actually learn to appreciate some of it. I tried(the music, not the hallucinogen) but err, nope, not for me, I did not want to sell my soul to mystical beings, no thank you. Vai and Satriani however, remained the titans of great guitar playing in my books for a while, until I heard Malmstein the first time with his rendition of "Dreaming". Can you tell that my taste in rock is very feminine?l

And then I watched CA perform for the very first time, some 5 years ago, it dawned to me that hey, I've got my very own rockstar, to cherish and to hold......yada yada yada. He plays thrash metal, which incidently has enough coloratura to stand side by side classical pieces, and rekindles my passion towards Metallica. Interesting to mention that the string quartet( 4 cello players actually) called Apocalyptica plays with the same virtuoso as any rock band, long hair, headbanging and all. I also like...

I have always daydreamed of a whirlwind romance with a long haired rocker with emotive guitar skills, and I got him. You know how it feels when you know he's the one you've always wanted. The puzzle fits all at the right places. Except when it comes to the music that I actually write and sing lah. You see, while circumstances puts me in situations where the interest in rock music is inevitable, my taste in music in general is pretty much very feminine and kental. Give me Lilith Fair any day. While I can only berangan to write like Stevie Wonder, I do have a dream to be able to sing like Patti La Belle, if not like the grand doyenne of soul Miss Ella Fitzgerald. Sometimes I while away my blues and pretend that I am Sheryl Crow, and improv Alanis Morissette's pieces, as if I am playing at Madison Square. That is about the extent of my dreams of being a star lah. On the other hand, CA plays the guitar with so much passion and skill that one can tell how happy a wife I have been. Heheh. You know what they say about guitar players eh?

As you can see, I have developed Atenah-ism, (ampun Kak Tenah, gurau)where my preamble is longish and I have yet to present my thesis statement. I was going to blog about CA'a gig on Saturday, and see how far I have digressed with my grandmama story.

So Saturday was the day when Fort Canning Park played host to the congregation of has-beens, would-have-beens and still-going-strong rock bands from Malaysia and Singapore. I went dressed in mostly black, save for my dark blue Per Una(70% Marks n Sparks, promo sikit ada sale cik sal...) jeans. Since I came with CA, I did not have to go through the main entrance, so that saved me from having to brush shoulders with metal studs and mohawks. It was a very sunny afternoon, CA's bandmates have saved us a shady spot under a flowering tree and it was just like having a reunion picnic. It is always wonderful to hang out with Zeotz (CA's band), because they can really crack jokes over the simplest things. Somebody described them as follows,

"Here is a band that defies the myth that "bands don't last". Members of ZeotZ have been playing together since 1991. Sources of influences include Slayer, Sepultura, Helloween, Sodom, Coroner, Iron maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Onslaught and Rusty Blade. The main element in the sound of ZeotZ is still the fast-paced energy, excitment and raw POWER that it portrays. Something you should know about these guys... THEY NEVER GIVE UP! Yup, they're going to be around for as long as the Stones."

CA, being a man of very few words, was obviously very relaxed with these boys. They are so tight I can actually imagine them still rocking on well into their golden years like Uja's rocker uncles. Four of them Zeotz are bapak orang, and only one left bujang trang tang tang. Dan Mencari Cinta. *hint hint*.

When Zeotz came on, CA introed with a very heart wrenching ghazal sounding prelude, and I was immediately taken to another realm. There he was a collosal display of extra-terrestrial mastery of the instrument. Oh, bear with me, I am falling in love for the umpteenth time. I did not care who was behind me,I was too busy snapping almost every movement that CA was making, and a few token shots of his bandmates.Heheh. He could not stand still lah, this guitar player, it's evident where Aishah got her tak boleh duduk diam genes. Even without his rocker long hair, he could still headbang and skip all over the stage and look every bit like a rocker lah.

When Zeotz played "The Forsaken Life", every wail of the guitar licks gave me goosebumps, and I began to see how socially conscious CA's lyrics are, despite all those grunts and guttural explosions of screams. It was easy to appreciate the music when you are in love with the musicmakerman eh?

All in all, I had a lot of fun hanging out with the guys, I totally ignored the "butt cleavage" parade that was the theme of the day that day. Oh, the things girls put on these days...*Eleh awak muda2 dulu pakai apa eh?*

After hours of berkubang like dugongs on the green, green grass of Fort Canning Park, it dawned to me that I may have been sitting on somebody's grave as the whole place was a memorial park of dead people when someone who was promoting an upcoming Slipknot concert, said that they were going to wake the dead. Erk...

I only stayed behind to watch one Malaysian band play before I left. I was not going to stay till the end of the show lah. I made CA promise to record Wings in my absence. Frankly,I was feeling guilty about leaving Aishah at the inlaws' for hours, I sped home to catch her before she went to bed without our standard Mommy-daughter goodnight bonding. I spent a good half hour before putting her to bed. Ahh, bliss.

CA came back at little after 2 am, excited to tell me how much fun he had hanging out with the boys from Wings, Amuk and Metalasia. Am glad he clicks with Malaysian rockers. I had trouble sleeping because my ears were replaying the sounds that probably had woken up the dead.The dead followed me home and they were playing in my ears. My chest felt a little tight and my head was killing me. It must be all that cigarette smoke lah. I knew if I were to spend another hour there, I would die of secondary smoke inhalation. Zeotz has another gig end of this month. Maybe I'll carry an oxygen mask if I go watch them again. But then again, I would not want to leave Aishah behind for hours like that again lah. Sebak...

Sapa sanggup tinggalkan budak ni lagi?In Steve Tyler's famous words, "I don't wanna miss a thing..."