Photos from MCOBA Dinner

I don't have much time to blog here, so let me just share the photos instead...

The formal photo of the band. From left: BroNadzri (lead/rhythm guitarist), BroTifli (lead keyboardist/vocalist), BroSadat (bass guitarist), BroMihad (percussionist/vocalist), Shazz (2nd keyboardist/pianist), BroArida (vocalist), BroWieBurn (drummer), BroAki (vocalist)

The goofy side of us... well, kinda.

Waiting for our turn, patiently... It's already midnight and Ahmad Fauzee's band was playing so passionately. At least I got to see Ahmad Fauzee in action, right in front of my nose (we were sitting at the table right in front of the band's stage).

The little stage for us. Keyboardists had to stand in front of the stage due to limited space. The vocalists... well, they prefered to be on the main stage beside us.

Concentrating hard - BroMihad, BroNadzri, BroWieBurn and BroSadat.

Not much of my photos, of course,

- Shazz @ DCmates

12 Nov 2008

The Big Night

Friday, 7th November 2008... 24 hours before the 'big night'. I arrived to check out the venue, waiting for Sadat to arrive - he called me right after I bought my dream hat at Sungai Wang Plaza! Right timing, bro!

Saturday, 8th November 2008... Let the photos do the talking (and I wil blog some more later if I'm free).

Timecheck 01:30PM, Istana Hotel lobby, empty but not quiet. Mihad said we can have lunch together (all the band members, I mean) around this time, but never mind, I already had mine. Hhmm... waiting...waiting...

Timecheck 01:40PM, the great Ballroom. The 'meeting' on coordination of agenda and setting up for the whole show was still going on. It's almost 2PM! Hhmm... it will be a loooooooong wait.

Saturday night jam at Jalan Bukit Bintang. I was on the way to Istana Hotel. Kenit called me around 8:45PM, checking on my situation - I was at my house main door about to leave, after an hour 'mending' on my make-up (I hate make-ups!). He said, the dinner had not yet started, so take your time... Yeah, right!



The moment I arrived, parked my car, about to rush to the lobby, I saw a group of 'weirdly-dressed boyz' walking towards me. Huh? "Why do you guys look so awful?! Hahaha!!" Thus, I joined them for a drink at the nearby Mamak restaurant. Sadat playing his mobile game, "This is the only thing I can do (while waiting)." Yeah, that's why I brought along a story book to read, just in case. From right: Shazz (2nd keyboardist), Sadat (bass guitarist), Tifli (lead keyboardist).


Mihad, in action, debating (or should I say, gossiping) on what had happened, what's happening, and what possibly will happen... Anything la dude, as long as you're happy. From left: Wieburn (drummer), Kenit (guitarist), Mihad (percussionist/vocalist), Aki (vocalist). Missing from picture: Arida (vocalist).


To be continued...

Saving the full story to the end,
- Shazz @ DCmates
10 Nov 2008

Jamming session 06 Nov 2008

I was a bit calmed down after the long (emotional) week. I arrived early, as usual, and waited for others. All of them arrived after 7:30PM, so imagine how bored I was waiting from 6PM.

As I was having my drink at the Mamak next door to the studio, I sorted out my file with the list of songs to be played. There was a lot of duplicates in the file, so I made quite a mess on the table. I just ignored the 'jelingan mamak' who noticed the lump of mess I made...

I thought we're taking out Runaway, but the boys insisted of sticking to the list. So Mihad and Tifli practiced hard on the song, making harmony out of the vocals. I guess the more they listened to the song, the better they understand how to 'pitch up' the high note in the chorus part. Good job, guys!

Overall, we ran through the whole list of songs twice, alongwith the narration and introduction from Tifli (as our band 'MC'). I tried to 'wiggle' some chords during the intervals of songs, as a background sound for the MC.

All went well. Hope to rock the dance floor, tomorrow night. Good luck to the DCmates!

Not sure if I could eat tomorrow, the tinge of nervousness is an inch away...,
- Shazz @ DCmates
07 Nov 2008

Jamming session 03 Nov 2008

I was pissed the day before, and it didn't go off due to my lack of sleep, monitoring my kiddo's high temperature overnight. The afternoon itself exhausted me even more, with running around sending kiddo to clinic etc, that I was feeling really down... stressed!

When I reached a parking spot in front of Rhythmix Studio, I didn't bother to walk up too far to K3K where my Band Leader would be. Mamak is enough for me, I didn't need WIFI anyway.

Sat down, ordered my light dinner and iced coffee, plugged my ears with "Sway" and started reading the music notes that Tifli gave last week.

Understanding and collaborating the rhythm and melody from both sides (softcopy audio and hardcopy visual) were quite tricky. I managed to write down the lyrics within the music notes, so that I could understand better how to come in for the keys melody and rhythm. I even had to sing out loud and snap my fingers to the tempo just to understand the 'slot-ins', etc.

After a while, Mihad called to verify the venue of our practice. (Huh?) At that same moment, our 2 vocalists (Arida and Kamal) arrived. They sat on another table, inviting me over to join them but I had to say 'no'.

Sorry, guys! I had to pack and go up to stamp on the 'poor' piano in the studio to understand these notes I just studied. Sigh...

I was tired enough to doze off in the studio for a while, before we started our jamming session. I requested to leave slightly earlier than the end time, because I needed to attend to my kiddo.

So roughly, we practiced all the songs mentioned in previous blog. All those songs were confirmed... until yesterday. Sadat emailed everybody that he could not sing and play "Runaway" at the same time, no matter how many times he practiced. Can't blame him though, it's not that easy, hehehe...

Thus, I left a message to Mihad over his Facebook status (since he looked more active in there compared to his email) to take out "Runaway" from our Saturday list of songs. Not just because Sadat can't sing, but also because I don't feel it's worth to force a song to be played just because it's my favourite, plus, I'm not in the full-blast mood for the dinner anymore to play such 'happy runny' song. Just wanna get over with this show and get lost!

Wow! So emotional hehehe... Sorry 'bout that. :-D

It's been a long year with the band... and being a committed band member who eventually still became a "nobody's friend" kinda make me piss. (If you read my personal blog, you know what I mean.)

With the amount of energy drained, emotions challenged, commitment tested, schedules juggled and money spent, I really think I've had enough. Friends in my Facebook are already aware that I'm "back into music", and that was after I uploaded photos from FSPU Band show (not DCmates show), so I guess that should be enough to kick start my little portfolio.

The aim was for people to know I can play music, and the mission is accomplished.

Still feeling down... and tired,
- Shazz @ DCmates
06 Nov 2008

Photos: Jamming session 29 Oct 2008

Here are some photos I could capture during the last jamming session with DCmates, at Rhythmix Studio.

Attendees: Mihad, Wieburn, Shazz, Kenit, Sadat, Tifli, Arida, Aki (new vocalist, to join us performing on MCOBA dinner).

The last 2 photos are really blur... Can't be helped.

Arida trying out Kenit's guitar when he's out for a puff. Err..., am I supposed to tell that out loud? Erks! Sorry, BroArida... Can't help but telling it to BroKenit! [Shazz giving an innocent look]

Can you see the 2 keyboards we're playing here? The one I was playing belongs to the studio - not so friendly buttons I tell you!

Very blur image of a ghost... Yeah, the drummer is so skinny that he 'blends in' with the drumset, as if he's not there... If he's not wearing his hat (the one I kidnapped), you might think he's one of the cymbal stand! Huu huu huu... "Jangan mare, bro!"

Sadat was studying hard on the notes given by Tifli, that the air molecules vibrated so much and shook this photo capture. Hehehe...!

Planning on disappearing act for this comming Dinner... wahahaha!!
- Shazz @ DCmates
31 Oct 2008

Photos: Concorde event with FSPU Band

Below are the photos captured by Halim (FSPU Band lead guitarist) on 25th October 2008.

Morning - setting up the equipment are Concorde, KL. Junior tagged along, until the 'great babysitter' arrived around 2:30PM.

It's darn starving, and hot! Hard work should be accompanied with good food rewards... even if it's at some mamak stall behind the hotel. I think we came here about 4 times that day alone, before the big dinner..., following Dr E (the face under the hat beside Fasha). Phew!

Full rehearsal, well sort of. We didn't have much time then, but we managed to cover some songs to test our sound.

Mama Rock already got her 'clothes clippers' to be used for the music file. It was Dr E's idea to use those pink-coloured clothes clippers. Behind me was Mahen, the Bassist and Band Leader. Ehem... don't I look rugged in here? ;-)

The FSPU band, minus a few? Wait... lemme count. I think there's some missing in this. I will upload the full line-up later, once I get it from other photographers.

Exhausting fun, and a big relief when the whole thing was a success...,
- Shazz @ FSPUBand
31 Oct 2008

Jamming Session 26 Oct 2008

Instead of starting at 4:30PM, we started at 5:00PM after everybody arrived.

Instead of my kid having a nap before the practice, I ended up taking that nap on the couch while waiting for my kiddo's turn, but she ended up dozing off right when we arrived Subang. So I had to carry her around... Sigh!


The practice this time round was 'celebrated' by 4 kiddos - 3 boys of JimBob's and 1 gal of mine. To make the boys behaved, Mihad released his secret weapons (the same method he tried on my kid last time, but to no avail) - the maracas and tambourine - and let them played with them.


My kid? Well..., despite all the begging of "Nak gi jamming! Nak gi jamming!", she ended up sleeping during the whole session. She only woke up the moment the silence filled the air in the studio... Just like old times. Good thing too, otherwise she would be disturbing me and my concentration, or she would even start a quarrel with the boys! Hhmm... (I can hear Mihad's comment, "Just like her Mommie!", whatever that means.)


But her begging, "Nak gi jamming! Nak gi jamming!" continued after our jamming session. Huh! I wonder if she really understands the meaning of 'jamming'. :-S (... just like Mommie, hahaha!)

We had a few rounds of songs planned to be played for the MCOBA dinner, including my fav - "Runaway". One after another vocalist in the team rejected the offer to sing the song due to the chorus 'jump of 10 notes' (not just an octave, you know!), which all doubt could make it. Sadat turned out to be the only guy who could get that part right, so he has no other choice now but to sing at least the chorus part. "Bro! No more 'run-away', eh?!"

That's all I could remember at this moment regarding that jamming session. Will continue updating everybody on our next session..., eh, it's tomorrow! Hhmm...

Deaf me with some more good dance tune, bebe!
- Shazz @ DCmates
28 Oct 2008