The Underground Scene to end all scenes . Part 1

[Shai Omarali]

My second post and the topic is on the popular underground scene.

Back in the days before I took up any instruments I was aware that a few UG scenes were sprawling in Tutong and Belait but they did not compare to the scene that started in 2000.

As a reminder, the olde school bands came back into the scene. Cowboys from Hell, Cryptic and Draconean were really instigators of the first wave of UG in the 90s but the scene back then was not that big.

It didn't become so big until [H8] came along. Loco, the former moniker of H8 was really active in trying to create a gig scene. The first UG gig I went to, which was not even UG-ish, was in Pusat Belia watching Loco and Cryptic played on stage somewhere in 1998-99. The drum set was phenomenal, as they were Zam Flotzilla's. That got us inspired to join the ranks of the UG scene.

I believe the UG scene had 3 generations. Loco, Cryptic and Draconean were the basis of the first gen, even though Saprosoul and other bands had been established. I say this because the bands above had been doing gigs together in a few public places before the era of ticketted gigs started. I remembered the time when Cryptic and Loco did a gig in Merce Snooker (or was it a different name?) and we were there as spectators. But since they had time to spare, they called us up to perform.

That was how 13th Project became part of the 2nd gen bands. We performed Faith, Take A Look Around, Nookie, and Pollution that night. So it was set. Each band had a specialty, Loco had Sepultura and Soulfly, Cryptic had Megadeth and 13th Project had Limp Bizkit. We became band acquaintances there onwards and started to organise gigs. The band camaraderie was tight that we hung out together as bands. We didnt have that many gigs before 2000, except for that one off thing we did with UK based band Matahari frontman, Ainol, now I Mean The Snakes.

Since 3 bands were not gonna make a good gig, we need more bands to fill in as second gen bands. So came other bands who were long established, like Draconean, Senjakala, in addition to other bands that names have been forgotten sadly. We had a major gig on 7th Floor Abdul Razak Apartment. It was the first proper UG scene ever. It was so wicked that many people wanted more.

Soon after, we had a gig every two weeks, sometimes week by week. The scene was so well accepted that it was hard to keep band list below 10. Other second gen bands came in. Oxyblaze, Choc, Wan Long Kok, Inchpin, Trank, FTM. These bands became the basis of the following dozen gigs or so in Brunei.

Wan Long Kok debuted with the biggest following ever, and they desrvedly get such support with tight bass beats and sound. Their specialty was Deftones.

Inchpin came out as a jamming band friend we have in our studio and at times I did their vocals for 5 or 6 gigs. Their specialty was Korn.

Trank was the first punk band to start in UG and they are definitely the instigator of other punk bands. They were the 3rd gen band which was succeeded by Not Famous, Knup, and Sova-X. Trank's specialty was Blink182.

Choc is a birthchild of KB scene. with their orange overalls and 8 membered band, it is quite apparent they did Slipknot.

Oxyblaze is a close friend of 13th Project. Another late 2nd gen band that specialises in Crazy Town and Deftones.

FTM, whose singer Christian got signed under an international label was a band of overseas students studying in ISB/JIS and had tight songs to match. Their bassist is worthy of mention.

And so those were the days. It all ended in 2004 or so when police raids became more rampant and there were just too much going on in the scene.

All in all, it was my glorious few years and i believe it was for others who managed to live in the UG scene as well.


The gig that ended all UG gig was the Drowned in Sound gig. It was raided and the raid was publicised. Then onwards, gigs became sporadic. Sure wished that it was just like the old days.

For these bands,

Loco/H8
Choc
Inchpin/Sadness In Her Eyes
Trank
Wan Long Kok
Oxyblaze
Cowboys From Hell
Cryptic
Senjakala/Karacoma
Saprosoul
Draconeon
FTM
Red Rebelz/ Rebelz
Krematory

It was the best local scene that ever happened. Our moshes were 300 people strong, it was sick. Back home I have close to 30 backstage passes to these gigs, from Eastern Storm 1 and 2, two Metalheads 1 and 2, to Big Pig Gig and Sun Day Out, and all other shiznit gigs in Seaview Hotel, BSRCs gigs, JP gigs, Polo gigs, the scene was crazy. Kudos.

[horace]

those were the days man... those were the days... bek jua ku ampit merasa, performed in house gigs til' the JP amphitheater :) hehehe

[enCRYPTICbass]

Hope those gigs will come back again. Special thanks to Azrin (Loco) for all the efforts and other local bands like Flotzilla & Loco. Good job on this page for Shai '13' & will meet u in the future. To nai, Zam Flotzilla is still active with his project band.

[Boris]

this is very good stuff.. you should do some more articles like this.. who knows ten or twenty years from now, it'll all be forgotten, articles like this will remind us what it used to be like.

[nai]

I always thought zam flotzila spelt with FODZiLLA. I'd seen him performed during a DRUM SOLO concert@JP Colonade, 2005 if I'm not mistaken.. anyone know what happened to him?

[Shai Omarali]

The Big Pig Gig you guys organized was one of the last few we did, Dinny. the scene was almost dissipating from then onwards.

I actually bought a Hi-8 camera from ebay an hour ago for 20quid just because i wanna digitise the old gig footage. I think we have some footage of WLK, Oxyblaze, H8 and stuff.

[Dinny]

i still have that article on my studio wall

[Shai Omarali]

The old days were in true underground spirit. One shitass gig in Brunei tennis Club, that was wicked with stagedives and all. Church!

And one gig made it to the front cover main article of Borneo Bulletin. The famous Rosli Abidin Yahya article.

[Wayne77]

i miss the old days =(