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MUSIC MANIA
October 29, 2005, New Straits Times/Malay Mail

By ERROL DE CRUZ
Click to enlarge.

MUSICIANS plying the Klang Valley pub and club circuit should be grateful that there are a handful whose managements are providing employment opportunities.

Among the nightspots in this elite group are The Wall (Jln Petaling, KL), Backyard (Tmn Sri Hartamas, KL), Waikiki (Kelab Syabas, Lrg Sultan, PJ) and Ol'Skool Bistro (Jln Gasing, PJ), all of which feature different acts every night of the week.

It's a great concept for all concerned. The management and audience get to be entertained by different acts nightly, and the artistes, too, have different faces to perform for; everything's fresh.

Backyard Pub, this month and the next, has its JamFest 2005 every Thursday, with three acts every night. Owner Jerry Chong said that part of the proceeds from this five-week music festival, (inaugurated last year as a tribute to late pub performer Jairus Anthony), will go to charity.

Thus, it was exhilarating to hear that we could go pub-hopping on Thursday as there were good acts to catch in three places. The Wall was featuring Viji, Fasee, Edmund and Justin.

Backyard was staging Frequency Cannon, Krude and La Viva.

Ol' Skool went one up that ladder and had two top billers - Centrestage champions SWV and the legendary and original Falcons!

We hear that things at The Wall in Chinatown went very well with the new quartet, but at Backyard and Ol'Skool, things weren't up to scratch.

At Ol' Skool, SWV, starring Seen, Wan and Vishnu, had the packed room rocking early with its repertoire of hits from the 70s and 80s, but the star-billers whose heyday was in the 60s and early 70s left behind a disillusioned audience.

Ol'Skool, run by deejay Calvin Gunaratne, boasted a standing-room crowd, many of whom were musicians of the Falcons era - Ronnie Pereira, Brian Pereira, Charles Nathaniel, Paul Cheah, Bala, Ralph Gomez, Clement Arul... the list goes on.

All had come to catch and partake of the reunion of one of the most influential bands in Malaysian rock history. The gig, however, fell flat.

Three Falcons - drummer Jerry Felix, keyboardist Grenville Pereira and bassist Jerry Ventura - turned up late and took the spotlight without a sound check.

This was a shame, really because we could all see the expertise up there. Felix had all his awesome rolls, Pereira had his chops, Ventura thumped along ably and guitarman Frankie Samuel showcased his famous rock-steady riffs. It was great to hear the hits the Falcons were famous for, especially those burners from Mountain and Cream. No one plays them today.

But for the soundmen, it was a nightmare, and try as they did, our feathered friends did not soar. Unwittingly, Ventura had it capped it when he introduced the set: "We haven't done this in more than 20 years, so don't expect much."

Unfortunately, brothers-in-arms, we did.

On the other side of town, the same thing was going on at Backyard. Some of us had gone there at eight hoping to catch at least two hours of JamFest 2005 before heading for 01' Skool. The opening bands - Frequency Cannon and Krude - however, turned up late and again, without an earlier sound check!

(CORRECTION: It was Frequency Cannon and not Krude that showed up late that night and delayed the proceedings. Apologies to all customers for the inconvenience caused due to circumstances beyond our control. From Backyard Pub management.)

Hey, guys! Do you think that we pay good money (happy hours or not) to listen to sound checks? When you get on stage, we expect that you would have got your act together. Patrons and publicans pay to put you on stage. Even if you don't get paid, you owe the audience good music.

Publicans are going out of their way to provide platforms for local and locally-based musicians. This effort must be reciprocated. That's the only way the music industry here will go anywhere.

But, the beat will go on at places like the ones we feature today.

Next week, 0l' Skool features Vernon and Fats (Monday), Os Pombos (Wednesday), La Viva (Thursday), President's Men (Friday) and Bonfire (Saturday). Deejays here include Calvin and Gandhi, so it's a complete package.

Backyard will present Double Take's Mia Palencia and Roger Wang, as well as Julian Mokhtar, Jim Madasamy and Shuhaimi (tonight), Viji, Fasy and their Vampire Friends (Monday), Raymond and Alwin (Wednesday), Alfred Ho and probably the Two Hats Gang (Thursday), Raymond Cheah, Jason Noah and Simon Justin Leo (Friday) and Albert, Vijay and Badar (Saturday).

For more, call 012-206 6444 (Ol' Skool Bistro) or 012-201 6333 (Backyard).
- ubuyusell@nstp.com.my

Link: Photos
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