I have been anticipating Seven Collar T-Shirt and Estrella’s gig in the UK for months but not without trepidation. I know for a fact that things did not turn out great the first time round last year when KNUKE brought in Hujan to the UK, but I’ve decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. First-time organisers. I’m not even going to go into the bit where I think the organisation is more of a syok sendiri venture by rich kids who think they know music wanted to do some service to the students studying in the UK and at the same time gain a name for themselves.
I’ll cut the long story short. The London leg of KNUKE and Laguna’s Seven Collar T-Shirt and Estrella’s tour ended badly. The opening bands were all appalling. All FIVE of them. Estrella played a strong set of 11 songs, but Estrella will always be Estrella. If you’ve seen one of their shows, you’ve seen them all. SCTS on the other hand keeps on improving with every single performance. If I’m not mistaken, I last saw them at a Campur Chart gig last year and I know their new album is due soon, so I assumed that apart from the usual ‘hits’ the boys will play some new tracks for this show. I was an excited bunny, but my heart sank just a bit when I saw almost half of the hall leaving right before SCTS played their first note. Fair enough, maybe London Malay kids don’t like loud guitar sounds. Right after their fourth song, ‘Drones,’ the lights went on and it’s curfew time. SCTS closed their set with ‘Faith’. Five songs and that’s it.
Some opening bands actually performed more than that. It’s not the venue’s fault. If it’s curfew, it’s curfew. But where’s the stage manager when you need him/her? According to KNUKE they weren’t allowed to appoint their own stage manager. Well, here’s the thing, kids: next time appoint one anyway and get this person to work with whoever’s in charge at The Venue (or any other venue). Nobody else should know the event as well as you and your team would. It’s frustrating enough as a friend and fan who travelled far to see SCTS half way, but imagine being in the band and actually flying from even further away, only to have endure horrible opening acts and then have your set cut short.
I would also like to throw this question out: Why couldn’t this event have been promoted to the locals? I didn’t see flyers or anything like that, even within the student union. Is it some sort of rule that ‘foreign cultural nights’ are not supposed to be advertised?
Oh, wait. This just occurred to me. Does it have something to do with entertainment taxes?
What’s this about CDs selling for 10 quid a pop? Get real. You’re trying to introduce a band to students, lower the price. We all know it sells for less than RM30 in KL. Don’t say you’re trying to lure non-Malaysian customers because for 10 pounds, they can get Pearl Jam’s rereleased ‘Ten’ on Amazon. Plus, what non-Malaysian customers would you be talking about anyway? You’ve been promoting the whole thing to only Malaysians.
If you think I’m condemning the whole gig, I’m not. I’m just not a fan of KNUKE and how they operate. I’m also still bitter about not being able to see SCTS’s full set. In fact I think if you’re around Manchester, you should pop by Moho Live on the 5th of April to catch SCTS (hopefully performing a full set) and Estrella. It’s not expensive, and they sing in English. In a certain sense, they are better than some British bands that I’ve seen in clubs here.
I… went off tangent. Let’s go back to the main point, stage managers. Have a good watch; be alert. If it’s time for the band on stage to leave, tell them. Bands need to keep themselves in check too, especially if they’re newbies. 15 minutes mean 15 minutes. Don’t spend half the time looking for some chick because you want to dedicate the song to her, or trying to have small chat with the non-existent audience.
To KNUKE, it’s not easy, I know. I’ve organised gigs and invited foreign bands to perform as well, but you guys need to buck up a lot for next year’s shows.
Now, I’ll end this with a note to the supposed stage manager: Fuck you for ruining my night
