Britain's Arkarna to shake Bengkel Night Park
By Helly Minarti
JAKARTA (JP): Just another four blokes from England and not yet in the league of other pop groups like Oasis or Blur. But they are sweet, showing nice manners in answering trivial and banal questions like "how do you like Indonesian girls?" during their Jakarta press conference Tuesday. No sign of a bad pop star attitude, like that displayed by the Gallaghers brothers of Oasis.
They call themselves Arkarna: James Barnett (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard), Ollie Jacobs (vocal, programming, keyboard), Lalo Creme (guitar, bass) and Sebastian "Bid" Beresford (drums).
The Arkarna foursome will perform today at 3 p.m. at the Bengkel Night Park, which has a capacity to hold 4,000 people.
Though still young -- Bid was born in 1969 and the other three are in their early 20s -- they already had a long track record in music before forming Arkarna two years ago. Ollie has been hanging out at his father's Roll Over Studio in London since he was 14, where he produced, remixed and engineered songs for many dance groups, including Pressure Drop, Herbal Infusion, Delta Lady, Dreadzone and Letfield.
It was at Roll Over that he bumped into Barnett, who started to play music at 14 before joining a few bands, including The Sandals and Spiral Tribe, which took him on tours throughout Europe at 17. Along the way, both developed skills and interests in techno music.
The single R U Scared was the first fruit of their artistic connection under Arkarna, which means a hidden knowledge -- a name inspired by one of Ollie's mother's Tarot cards. They composed more songs and found Lalo Creme at Roll Over's door. Bid came along when they three were recording Fresh Meat, their debut album. The album led them to series of college gigs. One of their hits, House on Fire, made it to the soundtrack of the film Batman & Robin.
In Jakarta, their most popular song is So Little Time; Fresh Meat has sold more than 75,000 copies and that's what brought them to Jakarta. Arkarna is an international band that will perform the latest trend in music -- baptized as electronica.
The music bears a myriad of names, including dance electronic, techno, house, rave, drum n' bass and jungle. Basically, this reinvented genre is an extension of dance music -- the thing you have heard in discos since the 1980s. Also called keyboardist- music, it is strikingly marked by its beats; sped up and slowed down, the tunes are changed by using computers, amplifiers, turntables and other electronic devices.
Electronica flourished in England and other parts of Europe before spreading to America in the past five years. It found its moment as a nominee for "the next big thing" in music after grunge and alternative.
Compared to the extreme Prodigy, labeled as the big explosion of Britain's electronica, Arkarna is a nice, bright harmless sparkle. No provocative hits like Prodigy's Firestarter and Breathe. Arkarna has casual outfits and a cute orangutan as their mascot, a contrast to Prodigy's intimidating costumes and makeup. Arkarna is more like the DJs who hide behind their electronic gadgetry and charm the dance floor with their music rather than being exhibitionists craving for a show.
Of course, techno abounds in their music, but it is still harmoniously blended with hip hop and a little rock to make it included in pop. Ollie and Barnett are hands-on when it comes to the composition, programming and most lyrics of their music; sometimes honed with Creme's shuffles and riffs on electric guitar, which adds a touch of renewed old rhythm to "humanize" their songs.
Asked if they considered electronica as a music fad, Ollie replied: "As a trend, techno may have a short lifespan but as a music genre, just like any other music, it will last."
For Jakarta, they will perform 10 songs taken form their debut album to shake the dance floor, including House on Fire, Eat Me, The Futures Overrated and So Little Time. Indonesian musician Agus Sasongko with his band will be the opening band. They released their debut album Ples Minus in January and they, of course, also play electronica.
When the Brits met the press five days ago, 75 percent of the tickets, Rp 45,000 each, had been sold. The audience, predictably a majority of girls under 20, are ready to swoon to their dance beats and, of course, their gorgeous look.