Accidente, Bad Idea, Synkyyys @ “Friendship & Rebellion” Angkasa, Kuala Lumpur
After 3 weeks of settling into life in Malaysia, I finally got to take some time out and take in my first punk-rock show. Prior to leaving the UK, some punk pals of mine put me in touch with some contacts, and one of them came from Yorkshire pals DRY HEAVES who had toured SE Asia back in the day. So I arranged to meet Sinchan at the show, and I was able to purchase an advance ticket for the show using paypal. I live far out of central Kuala Lumpur, and there isn’t any public transport, so I took my new car out for a spin and made the drive to the venue.
I soon met up with Sinchan, and he kindly introduced me to many different people. He was super friendly, and I spent a lot of time outside the venue, talking to him and others. It was great to just be there and meet some other punks. Unfortunately this meant that I had only a passing look at some of the other bands playing that night. I did catch 3 songs of SYNKYYYS who are a two piece band from the north of Malaysia. They played a fast, stripped down, crusty style, and concluded with a MOB 47 cover. Nice!
BAD IDEA were also on the fast sound and played a fast punk-rock style, with short songs. The singer was a super pumped happy guy who exuded heartfelt platitudes in between songs – they were pleased to be playing in KL, and the crowd really enjoyed the set.
The venue itself was situated on the first floor on a busy street. It was a large space which I would say was a third full that night – plenty of people to make it an enjoyable show. There was plenty of merchandise and distro stalls, and there was also a relax area at the back, where there were even children present, which was great to see. Some of the children were even down at the front during the bands – Awesome!
The main pull of deciding to come to this show as my first was ACCIDENTE, who were on tour in South East Asia at the time. Prior to the show, Richard CUBESVILLE FANZINE and Adz from Lake District punk-rock scene, messaged me, urging me to go and check them out. I listened to two of their songs on bandcamp and immediately I was thinking ‘I have to go to this show’. That night they were just as good as I had heard – catchy, melodic punk-rock songs. The band members were full of gratitude and smiles, and they even swapped around some instruments during the set. They had a lot of fans in the audience, and I saw plenty of people singing along and dancing at the front. One cool middle aged punk-rock guy in a LAGWAGON shirt (Hello Shahrizal!) was having the time of his life, and he got up on stage and sang a chorus with the band. The crowd loved it so much that they were cheered back on for an encore.
I left the gig very happy that night, and had a super positive experience – people in the Malaysian punk scene are very nice people, and the bands have passion for their craft. I gave my copy of the COMETBUS compendium book to Sinchan as a welcome gift, and bought a NICKY WIRE CD from the distro, before making the 30 minute drive back home.
Fantastic start to my new punk-rock life here, and I look forward to going to more shows in the future. Perhaps you may even here about a rare performance from MC POSITIVE BASTARD?
Unfortunately, later in their SE Asia tour, an Accidente show in INDONESIA was raided by the police and the band were deported, meaning they had to cut their tour short, and fly home immediately. What a massive shitter! There is a benefit sale going on to help them recuperate the unseen costs of this, so if you can help out then please go here: https://hardcoredetonation.bandcamp.com/merch/special-crowd-funding-for-accidente
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