On my listening list: Machinae Supremacy, Dethklok, Judas Priest, The Kovenant, DivineFire

Omg. When's the last time I updated?

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T'was a hectic Sunday as I was down at Esplanade Waterfront for Noise 2009, as part of Firi's performing forces. Firi had a large group, probably the biggest of all the participants, namely:

Nadiah (vocals)
Farhana (vocals)
Kunjung (vocals)
Firi (guitar)
CT (guitar)
Me (bass)
Jeremy (keyboard)
Moses (erhu)
Zahid (drums)

Five songs were performed. Firi decided to include one of my songs too - a collaboration of sorts. It's very true, since he and CT did play major parts in helping the song take shape.

1. Reflections
2. Srikandi Sawah Padi
3. Untitled
4. The Black Antonio
5. Someone Loving Me

Anyway, we were there the whole afternoon, starting from sound check from about 130-230, then lunch followed by running through the programme in the dressing room. Running through the programme on the bass without an amp was SERIOUSLY PAINFUL, and soon enough my fingers were hurting from having to slap everything, or play super loud in order to just barely be heard.

By and by, it was time for the concert.

During the agonizing wait, I realized I was so stressed that my arms started cramping up. I was also hungry. The time by then was about 830 and my last meal was at about 3pm. Then, like an answered prayer, my little princess appeared and fed me a packet of biscuits, which made me feel better. When it was time for us to go onstage, I was rarin' to go.

The first item was going off without a hitch when I realized that my phone was in my pocket, and IT WAS NOT SWITCHED OFF. Biting my lip, I played through the song, then when Firi was talking during the lull between songs, stuck my hand in my pocket and switched it off by feel.

The rest of the songs were pretty good. The audience started clapping halfway during Srikandi, enchanted by the three pretty ladies. Zahid spaced out during Untitled, and almost didn't come in. During Black Antonio, I stepped to the front for my solo, but unfortunately I also stepped in front of the monitor, which meant that I couldn't hear myself. My solo was 'just a tad' messy, according to princess. She loved the piece though.

Firi said that the applause for Black Antonio was really loud... But of course! When the music is loud, the applause is loud. Such are the laws of live gigs... =P

I was seized with hunger after the performance, so we went for supper (Princess's mum and bro came for the concert) at a Hong Kong cafe, where we bumped into Dr Z. I also had this conversation with the manager who took our order:

"One hot milk tea please."
"Cold one is it?"
"..."

Thrill of the day.

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Composition seminar today consisted of improvising with the octatonic scale. Die-hard rockers as we are, CT and I got together to get something going. We were joined by Firi and Flying Sheep. with whom we presented a quartet.

So, flying sheep, how's your first experience working with rockers? =)

Dr Z also picked different combinations of people to improvise. The lesson ended with the two rockers. I picked out an '80s groove utilizing a drone on the open E string, and we had one heck of a fun time.

Wish my dear princess could have been there.

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I'll wrap up the post here, for I have wasted a bit too much time on it! Gotta compose til daybreak after this.

COFFEE...