 |
| JOGJAKARTA CORPSE GRINDER community (left to right): Oki Haribowo DEATH VOMIT, friend, Jay DEADLY WEAPON (white shirt), Agung DETRITIVOR, Aryo DEADLY WEAPON, Dimex DETRITIVOR, Yogyakarta, 13 October 2011 |
My interview with Jay (vocal) and Aryo (drums) of DEADLY WEAPON (Yogyakarta, Indonesia grindcore)
By Dr Kieran James (University of Southern Queensland)
Personal Interview at: the restaurant at the back of Avila studio, Yogyakarta, 13 October 2011
Interpretation by Oki Haribowo of DEATH VOMIT
DEADLY WEAPON is: Jay (vocal), Aryo (drums), Made (Guitar), and Ndandul (Bass).
Kieran James: Hi Jay and Aryo, thanks for agreeing to do an interview with me for my proposed book on Indonesian death-metal. First of all can you tell us the band line-up and the history of the band?
Jay DEADLY WEAPON: Actually we formed in the year 2009 but the only original member left is Aryo. The three others are new. We played death-metal music [originally] and then we reformed in about June 2011 with three new members [and] with new concept. From death-metal we changed to grindcore.
KJ: Ah, well you know the obvious question I will ask you next (this job is easy): Why did you change to grindcore?
Jay: I don’t know. Maybe because all of us like grindcore. We changed the sound a lot.
KJ: Where have you played your shows?
Jay: Many places in Yogya, [and] two weeks ago we went to Jakarta.
KJ: What are your main influences for the new grindcore style?
Jay: From Sweden ROTTEN SOUND, Swedish style [KJ: actually this band is from Finland]. They are different from NAPALM DEATH, a little bit different.
KJ: Have you got any death-metal influences?
Aryo: MISERY INDEX [Baltimore, MD, USA].
KJ: How old are you?
Jay: 23.
Aryo: 24.
KJ: What are the good things about the scene in Yogya?
Aryo: I think in the Yogya scene it is quite developed because we have many communities in here like from metal scene we have Jogjakarta Corpse Grinder.
KJ: Do you consider yourselves part of the death-metal scene?
Jay: Just a little bit.
KJ: What are some of the problems here in Yogya?
Jay [interpretation for this answer by OKI]: I think personally we are just a little segmented, so when hardcore band plays in the metal scene or metal band plays in the hardcore scene, the hardcore people’s enthusiasm for death-metal is not so much and death-metal people’s enthusiasm for hardcore is not so much. But we still respect each other.
KJ: Why do Indo people like death-metal so much?
Jay: I don’t know how to answer it [laughs].
KJ: Why do you like to play grindcore?
Jay: Just because we like it and we love it.
Aryo: Actually we don’t choose grindcore; grindcore chooses us to play it.
KJ: What do you sing about in the lyrics?
Jay: A little bit political, mostly about social life, like that...
KJ: What type of politics?
Jay: Indonesian politics. We have a song called “Corrupted” and it explains about the situation of politics in Indo.
KJ: When you last played death-metal were the lyrics different?
Jay: When we used to play death-metal the lyrics were about gore.
KJ: Do you write the lyrics?
Jay: Yes, everything.
KJ: What does your family think about you playing grindcore music?
Jay: They support me. Both of our families [are] supporting us.
KJ: OK, if some people (not me) say “you are Indonesian people so why do you play western music?” what answer can you give?
Jay: It’s a hard question [laughs]. I really don’t know how to answer it.
KJ: What are the goals or plans you have for the band?
Jay: Maybe one goal is to make grindcore more accepted by the people just like hardcore and death-metal [are accepted by the people]. From what I know there are only a few grindcore bands compared to hardcore and metal. Our goal is to make grindcore more acceptable.
KJ: Have you recorded any songs?
Jay: We already have six songs. We have plan for a full album, maybe by end of this year [2011] or early next year. We don’t know the title yet.
KJ: Are there any countries or places you want to play in future?
Aryo: Czechoslovakia, the home of grindcore. [KJ: On 1 January 1993 the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.]
Jay: Maybe Japan, maybe.
KJ: Last question: Any message for the fans of DEADLY WEAPON?
Jay: "Stay grind!"
Aryo: "Keep support!"
KJ: Thanks very much guys and thanks also to Oki.
[KJ: This interview showed the DEADLY WEAPON guys were shy at first but later on they gave more detailed answers. It seemed they enjoyed the interview process because both stayed back at the restaurant for the interviews with DETRITIVOR, GENITAL CAVITY (now WARHAMMER), and CRANIAL INCISORED. Jay especially helped out with some extra comments during those later interviews. The GENITAL CAVITY and CRANIAL INCISORED interviews have already been published on this site.]
No comments:
Post a Comment