Keep It Real. Keep It Local.

Keeping It Real.

Ive always felt that if you do music, you have to be completely honest with yourself and with other people. There's always a difference between people who does music passionately and those who does it just to fit in and impress. Because those who just wants to impress, doesnt create a connection between them and the audience (which is the most important thing when performing). People would definately go "oh thats cool and all that" but they wont remember them because they were not touched in any way. But if you really wrote your song like you mean it, sing it like you mean it and play it to people like you mean it, they will stop what they're doing and start listening to you. Because they believe you. Then you'll start to believe them. And you start to believe in your own music. And now, you're hooked on it. Just like most Malaysian singersongwriters are.

Keeping It Local.

Nowadays, all over the world, new bands are coming up, new singersongwriters appears everytime after their backpacking trip around the world and hiphop/rnb music is flooding up the radio charts. People are going crazy on who's coming for Sunburst, where is Jason Mraz playing, and is Rihanna still going to have a gig here? Who punched her?(just kidding) But i feel like people are not asking the right questions. How about, which local band will be playing at Sunburst, which local singersongwriter got to open for Jason Mraz, do we really need Rihanna here when all the bloody clubs in KL and radio channels are blasting her song till dawn.

Ive been a singersongwriter for a year now. Gigged in different places and have met wonderful people while i did it. Im not too sure how the local bands scene is but i do know that for now, the singersongwriter circle is definately getting bigger. New people constantly appear at Open mics and alot of them are actually good and they have their own story to tell! Eventhough more and more people are coming out to sing, but the community i feel somehow is tight. We all know each other. We help each other out. And we go for each other's show. There is no competition bullshit with us. We're all in it together. But the most important thing here is that we love music. And its what we do best. As it is, we do not get the amount of support we need. But we do extremely appreciate the support we have now. All im saying is, local music is as good as those internationally. (some might even be better) but the funny thing is, people just tend to support those across the ocean. (Singapore included)

The only way for Malaysians to support our own local music is if our own has been across the ocean and back. Oh... right. So after we all breakthrough internationally, people wanna take credit la. "Oh you know, he's actually Malaysian." "Malaysian what, we all can do it wan." "Im so proud im a Malaysian." W... T... F...

How about some support, now?

We cant do it alone.
But i can tell you. Malaysian local music indie scene,
has some of the best damn music Ive ever heard.

Keep it real, Keep it local - quoted from the Time Out Magazine.

Nick Davis
The Snow Symphony