PAS band's harsh music tunes blare their 'individuality'

PAS band's harsh music tunes blare their 'individuality'

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): Parents, if you pass your teenage children's
bedroom and hear harsh music blaring out loud, it could be one of
those mind-boggling tunes from PAS, an Indonesian band stamped as
the flag bearer of so-called alternative music.

You might not want to hear the music, let alone the lyrics.
Along with their shocking music, come those angry words,
including obscenities in some of their first English songs.

Off-stage, the four members of PAS, the two brothers Beng Beng
(guitar) and Trisno (bass), with Richard (drum) and Yukie (vocal)
seem like any other young guys. Funny and calm, these four lads
in their late 20s can surprisingly turn wild once they're on
stage, singing their angry songs about injustice, social concerns
and Generation X's frustrations.

Why all that angry attitude? They all laughed in response to
the question. "Why not? There are too many people singing
cheerful tunes already," giggled Beng Beng, whose versatile
fingerpicking on the guitar can be soul-wrenching. "There are
some critical conditions in society and if they endure too long
it makes you want to kick them out. And we face it everyday on
the campus and in the outside world," Yukie added angrily.

Yukie has just finished his studies in the Japanese Department
of Padjadjaran University, Bandung. Trisno and Beng Beng are
still studying at the same university, majoring in, respectively,
German and in the school of Agriculture. Richard was the only one
who didn't continue his study after graduating from high school.

They set up the group in 1993. After wrestling with unmatched
ideas -- and their egos, so they confess -- of playing the ideal
music according to their individual points of view, the four
agreed to just set everything free. It means, "each of us is free
to play what he's truly like based on his previous music
background," said Yukie.

As for "what" they like, Beng Beng is fond of everything old
and classic in rock. "Stuff like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and
others from the evergreen era," he said. Trisno is a true punk-
lover. Richard loves the 1990's bands like Pearl Jam and Faith No
More, while Yukie absorbs any music genre from pop to
contemporary.

"We all are fans of the renowned guitarist Steve Vai, who has
inspired us deeply in playing and acting on stage," Richard said,
adding that they also like Panthera.

As for "how" they play, all the members agreed to take the
extreme side of the act. "Rather than putting aside our egos and
tolerating each other, why don't we make room for every ego in
the group, unite them and set them free," said Yukie. Not
everyone can get along with their "set-your-mind-free" style in
playing music. "We had two keyboard players come along before,
and told them just to play along the way they wanted and felt.
They got confused," said Beng Beng. So, now they prefer to stay
with the original format of a traditional band of bass-drum-
guitar.

Their differences and spontaneity in expressing their music
are the key to finally reaching the middle ground of every
composition. The result is harsh music with rich composition and
arrangement, smart lyrics and, painstakingly, frontal rejections
from big major labels.

"They're confused on how to categorize our music and don't
think that ours is anywhere near commercial," said Beng Beng.

Albums

On the other hand, PAS also refused to compromise by changing
their music to something trendy the market will easily accept.
Luckily they had a good fan, who then turned into their first
manager and friend, the late Samuel Marudut (1970-1994) -- the
owner of a radio station in Bandung. And so it was with Samuel's
back up that they decided to produce their first album.

Samuel found someone who was willing to lend them some money
so PAS could release their first mini album, 4 Through the SAP,
in 1993, which comprised only four songs. "We actually had more,
but producing costs a lot," said Beng Beng and Yukie.

That's how PAS got their stamp as the first Indonesian indie
label band, which referred to their independence in producing an
album away from a major label. Unlike some indie label American
artists who deliberately refuse to cooperate with major labels to
reflect their 'individuality', PAS got the indie label because it
was simply the only choice left. "If we had found a recording
company who were willing to accept our music, we'd have loved to
work with them by then," said Beng Beng.

4 Through the SAP was distributed throughout Bandung by a
local distributor and managed to sell 6,800 copies in that city
alone. Since then Bandung radio stations have started to air PAS
songs.

The second album, In (No) Sensation, was released in 1995 by a
major label. "Under one condition, that we're free to compose
anything we want," said Beng Beng. Their first hit, Impresi
(Impression) -- a political tale personifying a modern demagogue
-- started to be played and became known from its video clip. It
sold around 40,000 copies -- not bad for their music genre. The
sales of the third, indieVduality, released in January 1997,
surpassed the total sales of the second album in its first two
months.

PAS albums may not sell as much as other local alternative
groups and musicians more well-known -- although their latest
hit, Anak, Kali, Sekarang (Child, River, Now), once managed to
sneak to the top it never became a popular song, the lyrics of
which everybody could fluently chant. But PAS creates another
phenomenon on stage. "Trisno and I had had enough of playing
music well onstage while wondering if the audience really enjoyed
our music since they didn't react much -- simply staring at us --
while we were playing in our previous group," said Beng Beng.

Besides, "In gigs people see more than listen, so we decided
to give them a "view" by acting out ourselves so the audience
would be in turn moved to act along and be entertained," he
added.

So they bang their heads to every beat, jump as high as they
can and use as much of the stage as space allows them to while
keeping their music intact. "At the beginning, the audience are
surprised -- perhaps shocked -- and seem so "silently busy"
watching all the movement we make on-stage, but after the fourth
song, normally they melt and start to react as we hope," said
Beng Beng. And those acts are more than headbanging as PAS
suggest in one of their songs, Bang Your Head, ("the lightest
song we ever wrote, simply an invitation to enjoy our music" so
they said) but also "moshing" (throwing your whole body at the
stage).

In their unexpectedly successful gig at Hard Rock Cafe
recently, the band attracted a big crowd. Those teenyboppers who
swarmed around the stage, joined in every word of the lyrics,
even in the only song written in German, Schiebung des Maedchens
(Swindle the Girls).

Yet, each of the group members humbly said that the band's
name, PAS, reflects just how they play. Pas means "just enough".
They said they owe it to Bandung, home to bottomless musical
talent, which gives them such a musical atmosphere and enables
them to get everything they need -- from the latest edition of
good music magazines to a musical peer circle with whom they can
improve their playing.

By the way, what is PAS music? "Anything but black metal,"
quipped Richard who later added that rock is the root of PAS
music. "Alternative is what the press call us. We don't
categorize the music we play," said Trisno.

PAS will be going on a self-arranged tour through 11 cities in
Java, Bali and some parts of Sumatra in November before they
record their fourth album at the end of the year. "We will end up
in Bandung, our town, in a free-of-charge gig. It's our tribute
to Bandung and its people who have been supporting us all the
way," said Yukie.