Tobs & Kroni, Ix Chel, Half Asleep, Imans League @ Garage Studio, Selangor, Malaysia, 03/09/2022

 Tobs & Kroni, Ix Chel, Half Asleep, Imans League (Singapore) @ Garage Studio, Selangor, Malaysia, 03/09/2022

Post-gig Photo Shoot

Moving to another country and finding a fellow 41 year old, with the same passion & love of 90s melodic skate punk as me, is worth it's weight in gold. This person is known as TOBS, and his musical project features a rotating cast of friends with similar music tastes, hence the name TOBS & KRONI, who are from Selangor. The rotating nature of the band was on display tonight, as their usual drummer had a show that night with his big rock band, so they had a stand in drummer, who also played in some of the other bands that night. Bucking the trend of using & FRIENDS in the name, the band has a unique tongue in cheek twist, of using a variation on the word 'crony', which according to etymologists, was actually used in a more positive light than today's usage of the word. It's original meaning denotes a 'long-lasting' and 'familiar' friendship between peers, and this can be said of the supporting caste of characters involved in the band, who have known each other for over 20 years, and played in various music projects together. 

When the second song 'Play Again' kicks in, it's clearly an ultimate later-period DESCENDENTS tribute, and the bass lines are the icing on the cake for that sound. Lyrically, it is akin to 'MERICAN, with it's simplistic critique of Malaysian society, and a clear rejection of letting the state influence who you are. It's that good of a song, I can give it equal gravitas to actually being a Descendents song. Many of the other songs in the set remind me of LAGWAGON, particularly the fast chord progressions, and the unique breakdowns later in the songs; and that's no surprise really considering that one of the logos that the band use is in the same font style of Lagwagon, and a recent press kit had the same background wallpaper as the seminal album DOUBLE PLAIDINUM, which is a firm favourite amongst matured Lagwagon fans. Some of the slower songs in the set definitely had a WEEZER / BEACH BOYS sound, and again that's no surprise as they have covered these songs on their albums, and who knows, maybe some of these songs where the actual covers themselves. So overall, it was musically pleasing to hear a range of styles from bands I love & am familiar with, particularly as these sounds are not widely appealing these days. Lyrically, the songs had some interesting perspectives, exploring the life during lockdown in 'Most of my friends are bored at home', and a song about Ageism called 'I hate my hair'.

Tobs & Kroni

As the set was drawing to a close, the band played a few covers. They were joined on stage by another friend of theirs, a fellow punk writer, who sang two songs by the band USELESS ID. Now this in itself was something I found fascinating. Firstly, Useless ID have a big reach, considering they have albums on FAT WRECK CHORDS; yet I had yet to meet anyone who was a fan of the band - there were people in the crowd singing along to the songs, and the singer of Useless ID also did an online solo set during the Covid-19 lockdown for Malaysian fans, as part of the 'online shows' series promoted by CREAMPIE RECORDS Secondly, this links to the geopolitical situation in the country. Now the band have stated that their appreciation of and relationship with Useless ID developed organically, however it is interesting in contrast to the Malaysia's foreign policy. Due to the conflicts in Palestinian Occupied Territories, Israeli passport holders are banned from entering the country, so it's interesting to see that despite these barriers, people from both countries have managed to establish a friendship & connection. It just goes to show that all these acts of political violence (varying degrees, but from both sides) are inconsequential for working class punk rockers with similar beliefs; and in a way, the formation of this friendship is a radical act in itself, and another example of how the band are living the values they sing about in that Descendents worship song 'Play Again'. After this performance, I definitely want to see Tobs & Kroni play again.

The story gets even better, because for the finale, I heard the unforgettable introduction to MR COFFEE by Lagwagon. So I rushed straight to the front of of the crowd, grabbed the backing vocals microphone, and sang along with band. There's a back story here, because when I was 17 years old, I tried to start a band in college, at a time when I didn't know anything about what starting a band involved. I'd arranged a jamming session with my friend Al (whom recently I hadn't seen for over 20 years, and then he magically appeared at Slam Dunk Festival in 2019, and we sang along and watched Lagwaon play together), and at the jamming session I turned up impressed with myself for spending a whole week learning and mastering the introduction guitar solo to Mr Coffee. He had learned the whole song on bass guitar, and at that point I came to the stark realisation that I had a long way to go if I ever wanted to be in a band. With all that in mind, it all came back full circle, and made me intensely happy that after nearly 25 years, I was finally able to get to perform that song live, albeit in a more limited capacity. The night couldn't get any better for me after that.    

Next up on the bill was IX CHEL from Kuala Lumpur, whom I was interested in seeing play, after seeing some of their video packages on social media. I would class them as more of a Pop Punk band, but they did crossover into more Punk Rock elements throughout their set. They played through a range of styles, some fast, some slow, some punky, some indie pop, and had some nice melodic vocal harmonies, akin to Heather from the TEEN IDOLS. I wonder if these range of styles is with deliberate intent, or if it's because they are a new band, they may still be figuring out their identity in their early stages of their existence. I would definitely say that they are a good gateway band for modern audiences who are interested in exploring these styles further, and they had soft warm personalities which many people will find endearing & will be able to connect with - they had a good presence on stage and established a nice rapport with the audience. On a side note, there were a few children at the show that night, and this band aptly represented that family friendly vibe to the proceedings. It's great that there is a venue around where ALL AGES shows are welcome, and definitely a plus point that there is a no-smoking policy in the gig room, unlike some other so-called punk spaces. 

Ix Chel

Then it was time for HALF ASLEEP (originally from KEDAH), who featured two members of Ix Chel, and the drummer who played with Tobs & Kroni. They definitely had one foot more in the camp of the modern pop punk sound, but they did vary up their style often, and did make some tributes to the past. For example, they started off with an epic song like SPANISH LOVE SONGS, and then immediately went into a THE SPECIALS style number. Then they played a fast song, which finished off with a call back to the previous SKA song. Then later in the set, I am getting an ALKLAINE TRIO vibe to some of their songs. So overall, there was a lot of interesting elements to their set, and it was kept varied enough to sustain my interest. I must also give a special shout out to their guitar player, who was nailing some epic STRUNG OUT style guitar solos. 

Half Asleep

Between the bands, I was going round and talking to people, which is always just as enjoyable as watching the bands themselves. I met a nice bunch of young people who had travelled to the show from Pahang. One of them was wearing a BAD RELIGION 'Against the Grain' shirt, which is the same design as my tattoo, so we enjoyed having a chat about our mutual appreciation of the band, and having a singalong to Generator. One thing I have learnt from all my time ONT ROAD, is that punk transcends all cultures, identities & social characteristics.

The headlining band was IMANS LEAGUE, a three piece from Singapore, who were doing a weekend tour in Malaysia - it's great that the borders are finally open, and that we can welcome foreign bands again. I had previously seen them play in Malaysia during the 'Friends From Far Away Places' show back in 2019, and you can read about this elsewhere on the blog. They've been a band for quite some time, and they have definitely nailed down their style, and that was the predominant approach throughout their set. It was nice to have them here, and support the international punk rock family. 

The final positive I'd like to highlight about the show, was that before the bands played, they were introduced by an MC who gave a brief run down & biography about the band, and sometimes this veered into a short Q&A with the band members. I'd like to see this happen at all shows, as a casual fan it's nice to get some context about the band you are going to watch. 

A photo of a poster on the wall of the venue, from when NOFX played in Malaysia. There are clips from the show on Series One of the NOFX Backstage Passport TV Show.