The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2012 02:13 AM PDT SquareCircles has crafted an album where home truths linger in the mind long after the earthy grooves fade out. THE stage at Rockefellas Bar in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, isn't exactly the most high profile of venues to be making career statements. But for some bands, you create your own magic. On the night of July 31, this live venue set the wheels in motion for Klang Valley-based folk rock outfit SquareCircles to lay down its marker. It was special scenes on stage once the last chord faded out at this particular SquareCircles gig. The band's roaring set had gone down well with the attentive crowd, but the most significant sight was the smiling band members taking a moment to reflect over a set that fell perfectly into place before the high fives were palmed on each other. In many ways, this was a turning point that has given the band the added lift to meet challenges head-on. What started out as a mostly acoustic project, back in 2008, has grown into a band, out to deliver a more complex and expansive musical narrative. The band's natural camaraderie has also been most infectious. Fronted by singer-songwriter Sujesh Pavithran, 51, this outfit, which had some personnel shuffling early in its existence, has been reinventing itself repeatedly since it started actively gigging this year. The band's line-up, which also includes multi-instrumentalists like N.R. Lohan, 37 (electric and slide guitars), Kevin Theseira, 30 (bass), Krishna Kumar, 27 (cajon and tabla) and Wong Lip Kee, 30 (keyboards, percussion and harmonica), has been a credit to the concept of collective musicianship. All of them are familiar faces in the live circuit. Understandably, it's never easy when some bandmates have other music commitments, but SquareCircles' music, according to Sujesh, is clicking into sharper focus with each passing gig. Over the last few years, the band has carved out a unique sound that transcends musical trends. Nothing too clinical or contrived here. Mostly informed by earthy folk textures and Sujesh's grizzled authenticity, SquareCircles' feisty music brew is carefully crafted to make you think, wink and groove. Frequently and surprisingly accessible, the tunes – spiked with social comment – have struck a nerve with the masses. "The band dynamic is very clear cut and well-rooted – I bring the words and tunes to the table along with a basic arrangement, and the guys add their own ingredients in texture and flavour. Amazingly, each of them has his own touch and tone, so the overall result is not just me, but SquareCircles," said Sujesh in an interview. With a debut album Immediately Seek Attention, released in May, things are more settled now. The live exposure, more importantly, has given the band proper insight and perspective in cutting a path that is entirely its own. As the fans gather in anticipation for the next show, Sujesh picks up on the SquareCircles story and carries it to the next chapter. This album has been a long time coming – five years in the making? Well, actually, not that long. Around mid-2008, I started writing some songs on guitar (as opposed to on bass, which I played in my previous bands since 1990). This led to the notion that perhaps I should form a band based around me playing the acoustic (nylon-string) guitar and singing my own material, and with a group of people I was comfortable with backing me. So when I got the band together, the material was already there and growing … we took those songs on the road for a few months and began recording bits and pieces in the second half of 2009. By the end of 2009, we had all the tracks of the eight songs on the CD laid down, but fine-tuning the parts took another six months. Then we passed the raw tracks to our mix/mastering man to work on, and that took well over a year, so most of 2010, the band didn't play, waiting for the CD to be ready. It was in mid-2011 that we moved to the next stage, when the initial mix was ready. Late 2011, we began to go out and perform again – when the finished product was finally out this May, we were very nicely cooked as a band, as opposed to, say three years ago. Was it intentional to get the material on solid ground – road testing the songs, playing with the right bandmates, feeling out music directions – before booking a studio session? From the start, my intention was to record, and finding the right team was a rocky journey. The music direction, I was loose about that – I just put down what came to my head. When I started, I first sent out text messages looking for a bassist and percussion player – I was lucky first time around, Kevin (who I already knew) and Krishna agreed to come aboard. I knew some of the stuff I had written would pique Lohan's curiosity and I was right; he was interested but only if he could play electric guitar. That wasn't my plan at first, I was looking to do a whole acoustic thing, but I trusted his musical savvy, having played with him for more than a decade at the point. So he got on and we practised as a four-piece for a while, and then found a cajon player. Along the way, a Japanese lady who was working here joined us for a bit on percussion. Wong, at the time, was taking care of the live sound for us, and he would sit in to play percussion or drums on occasions. When we got together again last year, the cajon player and lady dropped out, citing other commitments and Wong joined the line-up. He's the mix/master guy for us, and by the time he was roped in as full-time member, he had spent so much time cleaning up and listening to the songs that he probably knew most parts in his sleep. Since we already had Lohan on guitar, Wong's role became a multi-facetted one – he does the hand percussion, harmonica and mini-synth. Incidentally, there was no booking of studio sessions – the whole CD was recorded in my home on a Roland 24-track hard disk recorder, and I passed the sound files to Wong to mix and master on his computer. He worked his magic from there ... There was a CD of songs from SquareCircles circulating at the Penang Island Jazz Festival a few years ago. Did all the songs earmarked for this album make it on that CD? That was in late 2009, actually, and we played on the fringe stages there. Those songs were live demos done during our practice sessions. If you have a copy, you're lucky – one original track there, an instrumental, isn't on Immediately Seek Attention, but is slated for the next CD. The other, also an instrumental, is a cover, sort of a hidden track. I won't say which tune ... What was it that appealed to you about the recording process? Little, really, because it really is hard work; I admire the guys who do it for a living. I was literally out on a limb because I was recording the vocals and rhythm guitar parts all alone, with no one to tell me if I was doing it right. Or operate the recorder. It was the cheapest way, though! Songs like A System Of Lies and When The Robbers Came are very topical. Are the lyrics exclusively about the troubled Malaysian experience? Why, if so? I think many citizens of many nations can find context in our songs. Of course, I wrote it from a Malaysian perspective, because 2008 was a phenomenal awakening for Malaysians, politically. And subsequent events have shown that the songs' themes are applicable to both sides of the divide. I'm a writer first, but I thought writing about the Malaysian experience was best left to the experts. I took the tongue-in-cheek song route – and in this, I was influenced by people like Rafique Rashid, whom I regularly went to watch in the 1980s. Now, that guy could make you laugh and piss you off at different times – I once saw a drunk stumble on to the stage and try to grab him by the collar! As a frontman, this is not your first brush with the music scene. But is SquareCircles a commitment that has ultimately given you creative satisfaction? Totally, man! This one is good until I can't play anymore, physically. Creatively, it's been very gratifying because I didn't worry about formats or length. Some songs are under three minutes, others more than five ... it's all very free-spirited. Right now, I've got a whole lot of new songs ready for the band, but we decided we'd wait for a while before attempting them. In fact, at least two songs on our setlist will be on the next CD. I think musically, this has been my most creative and productive phase. Perhaps, it's because I painted my room orange ... it all took off from that point anyway. > SquareCircles' Immediately Seek Attention CD is available at Victoria Music and Speedy outlets nationwide. More information can be found at the band's Facebook page (facebook.com/SquareCirclesMalaysia). The band will appear at Azmyl Yunor + The Sigarettes' last stop of the Wilayah tour at No Black Tie, 17 Jalan Mesui, Kuala Lumpur, on Oct 1. Showtime is 9pm. |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2012 02:09 AM PDT Guitarist and singer Joe Bonamassa rocked the stage in Singapore. Every generation of rock 'n' roll has its fair share of heroes. However, it could be said that in recent years of pop rock domination and manufactured acts, there may have been a decline in fresh hard rocking talent emerging. This is particularly so in the case of the venerable electric guitar, that stalwart instrument of rock, the pillar that represents all that is good and powerful about rock 'n' roll. In the past decade or so, Joe Bonamassa has been strengthening that pillar. While still relatively unfamiliar to mainstream South-East Asian audiences, Bonamassa has a dedicated following among aficionados of the blues and classic rock genres. With a signature sound of hard driving riff work and clean soaring solos, Bonamassa has just only begun to tap into the Asian popular culture, and his first show in the region for this year opened to a capacity crowd in the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore recently. Dubbed "An evening with Joe Bonamassa, the guitar event of the year", the show was a tour de force of classic rock 'n' roll action, anchored by a firm foundation in the blues. Touring as a four-piece band comprising Tal Bergman on drums and percussion, Carmine Rojas on bass, and Rick Melick on keyboards, Bonamassa took to the stage a day after arriving from the United States. While best known for his dexterity on the electric guitar, the evening opened with a string of acoustic numbers, shored up by Bergman on percussion. This would represent the proverbial calm before the storm, giving hints of the promised "event of the year". As the main title of the concert suggests, Bonamassa would open and close the evening on his own terms, much like when Led Zeppelin first billed itself in a similar manner in the early 1970s, eschewing the time-honoured tradition of playing after an opening act. The title track of his new album, Driving To The Daylight, highlighted the opening sequence, this time as a purely acoustic number in contrast to the clean but electrified version on the album. With the scene set, and the spirit of the crowd in high anticipation, the main set took off with Slow Train, a grinding blues rock that builds from a rhythmic foundation of drums and bass, taken from the album Dust Bowl. Bonamassa took the song from the platform to the open country, riding on a crescendo wave broken from the signature riff only to detour into thematic solos of powerful notes and flourishes, while the rhythm sections drove relentlessly on through the musical landscape set by Bonamassa's guitar. Speaking before the concert in the comforts of his dressing room, Bonamassa picked away at a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar (unplugged, of course) while ruminating on touring in Asia and his music in general. "These are much smaller crowds, but then again, we're not that well known here, but I'm glad we're going to have a good turn out tonight. Of all places, I'm surprised that Bangkok (Thailand) is going to be doing well, and Hong Kong, too!" He considers these tours an investment in the Asian market, and when asked about getting down closer to the fans Bonamassa said, "Yeah, we never thought about workshops until you've brought it up. If the kids and players want to hang out and jam, I think it's a great way to get close and learn about what gets them going." One gets the sense that Bonamassa is all about the music, preferring to let his work do the expressing and keeping his words for the lyrics. The conversation covered past blues and rock greats and Bonamassa was surprised to learn of the active followers of these genres in Malaysia. Bonamassa was disappointed that the Kuala Lumpur gig, originally scheduled for mid-September, had to be cancelled due to logistical and procedural issues, but hopes to include Malaysia in the next Asian tour in 2013. Back on stage and dressed simply in all black, Bonamassa cuts a modest yet intriguing stage presence. Eyes hidden behind Maui Jim sunglasses, as if to suggest perhaps that the notes exploding from his guitars are just too incendiary, the combination renders an image of intensity and concentration. Instruments are switched intermittently, reflecting the various tonal ranges and unique musical responses possible, but also for sheer convenience as Bonamassa, a well-known guitar geek, takes advantage of a variety of tunings, which lend richness and chord ranges that would not be possible if the standard conventional tuning were to be adhered to. The weight of his touring group's collective power is evident as the bass line thumped along with the melodies and lead parts, thunderous drumming riding the beat through cascading guitar goodness, counterpointed by keyboard work that lends delicacy and body to an orchestration that fully exploited dynamics and relentless energy. The blues would not be complete if only fiery solos were highlighted. Bonamassa's vocal styling has been variously described as soulful and powerful, and at 35 years old, it can be be said that its nearing, or at, maturity. Bonamassa's singing was able to rise above the controlled rawness of the music and demonstrated versatility, segueing effortlessly from the delicacy of the acoustic set right through to the emotional and rocking conclusion of the evening. "I'm much better live than in the studio; being out there giving your all and wanting to please the audience just makes it all so much more intense." At just over two hours, the concert ended with a string of encore numbers, the crowd on their feet, throwing disdain to seating plans and ticketing concerns as they drew as close to the stage as possible. Sloe Gin, a classic Bonamassa live number, became the basis for arguably the night's longest sequence of improvisation, drawing all members of the band to trade licks and runs, while Bonamassa worked the stage like a prowling panther, before concluding the night from the drummer's podium, guitar aloft and triumphant. > Driving To The Daylight is distributed by Warner Music, while the Live From The Beacon Theater, NY DVD which features Eric Clapton is available online. The review, backstage access and interviews were made possible by Sammy Shirra-Moore, The Deck. |
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