Raid at the bucksy coffee-house!

Raids, ahoy! Just gotten back from a charity jamming session at Taipan’s Starbucks where the ever-vigilant MPSJ personnel barged in halfway through Altered Frequency’s turn. Followed Joanne and apparently what seams to be my twin, Rowen (he doesn’t like to be called Rory for some reason… heh heh!). She had orders to cover the event by our slave-handler from Star’s R.AGE. I tagged along as witty companion/advisory personnel.

Hosted by a couple of Taylor’s CPU students, the Nite Gig was in aid to raise donations for the SPCA. Several amateur bands and Altered Frequency were nice enough to perform on the veranda of Starbucks.

I’m not really a big fan of heavy metal music but that seams to be the local trend these days. The loud electric riffs, incoherent screams… uggghh… not really my cup of tea. The bands that were a hit with the ladies (ie: screaming girls!) however did more ‘contemporary’ songs. Guess heavy metal (albeit a more famous trend for Malaysia’s indie music scene) has more of a niche following rather than mainstream.

There was this sweet looking bass-guitar wielding girl in a band called Creedy Jane. They were pretty good in my opinion with their very own original song entitled Smile. They have the kind of poppy-acoustic tune that I am drawn to. Well, ok maybe the girl bassist has something to do with it too. :P

Hey, in the topic about girls… Wow, groupie girls are kinda hot. Well, some were too gothic for my liking but there were some lookers hanging about with the bands. Actually, the Starbucks cashier was kinda cute too. Nicole, I think her name was. She was the one who recommended some Tazo tea for my hearing problem (I sat next to the speakers for the better duration of the gig).

Don’t hate the player, hate the game, ok? Peace! :P

So anyway, all the bands managed to perform, leaving Altered Frequency as the last performance. They played several of their album songs plus a few… pimped-up classics before MPSJ came in and shut them down. Many of the audiences gave an audible “F**k you MPSJ!” and other rebellious profanities before quietly moving off.

It kind of reminds me of the incident at Paul’s Place last New Year’s Eve during my internship with The Star. Of course, everyone there was arrested (including people eating at nearby restaurants) and had to celebrate 2006 at the Breakfields Police Station. That could explain why many of the audiences just now disappeared really fast.

Of course in the end it wasn’t that serious. Apparently, the cover excuse for shutting down the gig was due to “licensing issues”. Starbucks did not have the proper permit to host a gig. Sounds like bull to me… My guesses are probably:

a) They had a quota of raids to fill in for the month.
b) The most likely scenario, other businesses/residents made complains. This was what actually really happened at Paul’s Place. The Chinese shop owners around Paul’s Place made a complain cause they did not like too many… of certain individualitys hanging about their premises, if you know what I mean.
c) Getting some "claimage charge" for all the equipment they confiscated. Well, they only took the drumset, sound and lighting systems. At least everyone who performed tonight didn't get thier own personal equipment taken.

So anyway, the thing was at its final performance anyway before being shut down by The Man so no big deal I suppose. A bit of embarrassment for Altered Frequency and the CPU organizers but hey… like what one of the band members quipped during the raid: “Any publicity is GOOD publicity!”

Thanks again, Jo, for the invite. Hope the article goes well. EVERYONE, BE SURE TO LOOK OUT FOR IT IN THE STAR R.AGE!

It was also good to finally meet my evil twin. What? Of course I am the good one! DUh!

PS: All photo credit goes to Jo. Go to her blog from my links (ashkenne's journal) for more story! See, I do advertising for my frens too! :)

“You won’t find bin Laden in there.”