Sunday, August 07, 2005

The Tinnitus Effect...

And so they day of the finals came....since the auditions, we kinda bonded and started working hard together...finally i cld see dem put in more effort...mebi the excitement of performing finally hit sum of them haha...

Niways, on monday me fahmy n has decided that we shd have a session before we jam wif juz the guitars and keyboard...but we had to find a place 1st...so i asked fadhly and he agreed....so it was decided that we go to fadhly's hse on tuesday morning....

Sumhow we knew we had to make a drastic chg 2 our song selection. We haa 2 improvise on it as there was sure as hell there wasnt enuf tym for us to chg song....so after much discussion btwn me fahmy n has, we finally decided on a unique arrangement....here how it goes, we're gg 2 use 'Her ghost in the fog' by Cradle of filth as an intro which will be followed by Cranberries' 'Zombie' before gg into Marilyn Manson's version of 'Sweet Dreams'and finally ending the song uniquely wif 'Teenage Riot' by The Ataris....The ending part of the song wld be use as credits....haha u noe, wen yana intro to the audience the members of the bands....

For those who wants to noe, the original selection of the medley Zombie n Sweet Dreams was choosen by Ian n Don...The intro, was enthusiathicaly choosen by Has and the outro was my choice...Fahmy was the one who suggested we have an intro n outro...

Well aniways, we jammed on wednesday and the choice made by me, fahmy n has was accepted by yana, ian n don wif open arms...sumhow they liked it...and so our Medley was born....

We were suppose 2 jam on thursday 2 but we had 2 cancel it at the last minit but we manage 2 squeeze in 2 hrs of jam session on fri before the actual event. After the 2 hrs, all of us felt happy and confident abt our song selection...and personally, my opinion that we have improved imensly since the audtions...the gulf in btwn was big man...i was damn proud....

Let's be honest here, in terms of skill, comparing wif the other contestants, we were only average so i tot a medley wld win us points as we wld be judge on creativity and originality...another aspect of the marks will go on dressing. Our dressing had to be themed wif the song we played and also we had to be uniform...So as our song was mostly gothic, we agreed to dressed in black. Sort of a formal/casual kinda look...pants and shirt...or smth lyk that...We were also gonna be judged on thighness and from the way we jammed, i was satisfied wif that part...Lastly, i told dem the advise given to me by one of the judges, my fren Hafiz from steel damage...he told me must act more...no matter how simple the song is, juz act more....i noe he meant abt showmanship...it seem important to him...he said cuz this was a competition, if it was a normal performance, he wldnt bother abt showmanship but since it was a comp, he said ACT MORE!!! hahaha.....and so i relayed the msg and they were down wif it...in fact during the jam session, we really had fun...there was so much 'action' hahaha we did alot of silly stuff while playing the songs....

And so we reached the Dome at 4...finally reaching sumwhr as a band...haha...and we report to the organizers and was told to come back at 5 for sound check and stuff...after the sound check, we went to chg and again sat down as a band...this was the 1st tym we actually sat as a band....and we really look lyk a band...mebi due to the all black outfit....

Truthfully, i was slightly dissapointed coz many of my frens cldnt make it...in fact, only dila, fadhly, ahmad, albert, ding yu and june showed up. Bryan was there too but he had a job to do...he was part of the SIT club members...many who said they wld come din came...yu cheng, hafiz, amalina...they had their reasons...but they did give their wishes to me n show support 'mentally' as sum of them said haha has's frens riffdi and ken came too...so we had a small fan base hahaha....

Niways, we were scheduled to be slotted as the 7th band but due to the fact that the other contestants was having common test, we were pushed foward to the 2nd slot...but there were 2 guest bands before us....

By the tym the 2nd guest band finished their songs, i cld see that some of my members was starting to have stage fright...but the lively spirit was still there...and by ard 6.45, it was our turn....and so we wnet on stage....i wasn't sure how the crowd reacted as i was concentrating on the volume of my bass and making sure that we cld hear each other...

Den the 1st blow came...Don's guitar gave us a problem...there was no sound coming from the amp..haha funny as 3 bands had performed using the same amp wif no problems...it took up nearly 5 mins of our tym to settle it man...kinda malu ah...n it really made out spirits die alot....finally we found out the problem came from the cable...during this tym, i tried to entertain the crowd wif sum songs....mainly 'the pink panther', majulah singapura' and a nasyid hehe for those who duno, its a islamic song...kinda more lyk a short prayer which they make into a song...haha

And so we cld finally start...but before we start, me n yana apologised to the crowd for the delay...we were really down by what happened...a big blow for us...and i was rite...it killed our spirit as everyone with the exception of yana din do much showmanship...i tried to get them movin by movin ard alot n being lively without much success....and after abt 8 mins, we ended to some applause....

After our performance, i congrtulated them for their hard work...they did a gd job...i was proud to be their leader...and we kinda separated for abt 3 hrs each gg to our small grp of frens...but after awhile i came back to where don n fahmy were sitting and soon ian n has joind us....and later yana n her gd fren natasha joined us too...so we were a band again, looking united...feeling happy...we oredy achieved our 1st goal and that was to qualify...and now we din mind if we got a consolation prize as the other bands had tons of skills....

As mentioned before, my aim was to be in the top 5 n fahmy's aim was top 3...but looking at the competition we were happy to settle for 7 hahaha....we were oredy joking abt getting 7th....we din mind....

And so the prize giving session came...it turns out the 5 consolation prize was not given in order, meaning we wont noe our position if we were not in the top 3....as the host, Abu a fren of mine, was gettin ready to announce the consolation prize winners, my members asked me to collect the certificate for the band as i was the leader....

And so i waited for our band name to be called...and after the 4th consolation prize winner was said, we looked at each other shocked....only 1 name left...and as it turns out it wasnt us....WE WERE IN THE TOP THREE!!!!

We cldnt believe it....all of us were shocked.....And as it turns out, we got 3RD!!!! hahaha....we were estatic tho it may seem lyk i wasnt...as i went on stage i was still in shock...i din noe if i was even smilling...den abu asked me to call the whole band up...n they went on stage proudly....

3RD!!!!! hahaha....i really cant believe it!!!! The prize was $50 worth of prizes and a 1hr jam voucher at Lee Kwong Seng....

Today is Sunday and i still cant believe we got 3rd...shocking considering we barely got thru the auditions....wats more shocking is that some of the organizers told us we actually lost out by 2-3 points due to lack of showmanship....haha...but i dun mind, the top 2 deserve to be there....they r really good....Shameer's band got 2nd and Ian's(not my drummer) got 1st....Congrats to them....

Well, yesterday i got some more unexpected news...turns out the top 3 winners of bandzout had to perform at NYP's national day celebrations on 10th Aug....so if any of u reading this is free that day, do come down....thx...

So for now i wld lyk to take this oppurtunity to thank some ppl...

1stly i lyk to thank Fahmy, Don, Has, Yana and Ian for their effort...The Tinnitus Effect did it guys....thanks 2 u all....and congratulations....

Next, i like to thank the members of my own band, Last Parade aka Left Turn On Red, Fadhly and Roma for supporting me in this competition and putting trust in me that i won't forget abt our band even tho they joke abt it hahaha...

Also, thanks to those who came, Dila, June, Riffdi, Ken, Albert, Ding yu and Ahmad...i really appreciate u guys being there....

Next, thanks to those who cldnt make but wished us luck...Sam, Sze kee, Mei Juan, Hafiz, Kenny, Yu Cheng, Geannie, Amalina, Clement,Michelle, Janson and many more...sorry if i din mention ur names coz many ppl wished us lucked...

And Thanks to the organizers, the Sit Club...especially has's fren who i din catch his name for always being there wen we needed to ask qns. Bryan for handing in the form for us, we wldnt be in the competition without u submitting the form ;) hahaha...to the Judges, Hafiz n Hendra from Steel Damage and the 2rd judge Alex...i many not noe u but u gave me the prize hahaha thx....

Lastly, i like to say thx to my parents n family for supporting me in music...u may not have liked it at 1st but u saw my love for it and accepted it...THANK U....

And a Big THANK YOU 2 ALLAH....thx for giving me the strengh to do everything and giving me the inspiration and being able to write dem out in music....but most of all thx for giving me lyf....

Shad checked in on...Sunday, August 07, 2005