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D'Kechewas rocked the stage at Media Prima Nite Live TV Screenings 2012 Post-Party
'KECHEWAS once again stormed a night, this time at Media Prima Berhad's TV Screenings for 2012, "The Media Prima Nite Live", on Friday 28 November 2011. The band had the same line up as per previous appearance at Hard Rock Cafe Penang last year. As usual, the Sifu, Ahmad Izham Omar, led the band into what is said to be their best performance so far. They chose good songs relevant to the crowd. They modified the song arrangements to be more accomodative of the ambience and, they even added in some "retarts" (odd timing pauses) in between verses and choruses. The vocalists, MZul and Iesta, a magnificent duo, who exchanged jokes in between songs, did so tactfully to the extent that panties were flying in the air onto the stage - pink and black ones to be exact.
The music saga started with the intense and provocative drum beat from Eddy filling the air with adrenalin rush. The sound was familiar to the crowd where you could see some half-head-bangings happening. Azhar joined Eddy with the riff that only confirms the crowd's anticipation of the song,...... Are You Gonna Go My Way by Kravitz. Shortly, the keyboards, the bass and the percussions filled the air and off went Iesta with the lyrics sounding just as charismatic as Lenny Kravitz, if not better. (Video recording of this song in the U-Tube link below)
....... a concise, simultaneous and forceful strike of the note "C" by the guitars, bass and keyboards, coupled with the drum hit, simply gave a punch to a very rocking song. Kappowwww!
Just as soon as the first song ended, the Drummer went "One, Two, Three......" (Errrr... was it "Two, Three, Four..."?), and the whole band rushed into the intro for Crying by Aerosmith (In the above U-Tube link). The sweet, calm and melodic first few verses of the song sort of stabilised the crowd for a while but the chaotic floor went crazy again the minute Iesta hit the chorus. At one point Iesta pointed to Azhar shouting Azhar's name and that was when, the magnificent solo skills of Azhar manifested itself to the world. Towards the end, the first "retart" was done with Iesta's hand up in the air pausing every band member's urge to hit a note resulting in a total silence enveloping the air. The minute the hand stroke downwards, a concise, simultaneous and forceful strike of the note "C" by the guitars, bass and keyboards, coupled with the drum hit, simply gave a punch to a very rocking song. Kappowwww!
The band took their time to rest a bit while MZul and Iesta entertained the crowd with jokes and prize giving sessions. The band also took the opportunity to clear the stage from having panties lying around (thrown by the crowd). Then it was the time for another song when MZul shouted "We're gonna do a number from Stoooone, Templeeeeeeeee, Pilooooooooots....". The crowd went into the luna mode again when the vocalist, this time MZul, starts the ball rolling for an alternative, grunge and popular song Plush. It was a cool and smooth song that ended with a heartfelt piano playing by Izham.... but,.. it wasn't an "End",.... it was a "Beginning". A beginning to another song - a gimmick Izham loves to do.The soft piano piece suddenly means a lot to the crowd when MZul started to sing Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger,... at which point, Johan was already sitting down on the stage's front staircase with his hands up in the air waving left to right and vice versa, only to be followed by the crowd. The soothing verses of the song came to a profound rhythmic composure when all musical instrument started to make sound at the bridge of the song, into the chorus. The song ended with Izham's beautiful piano playing again except that this time, it was the true ending with no gimmicks. To set the stage for what was to come afterwards, three additional musicians came onto the stage carrying a trombone, a saxaphone and a trumpet.
Izham started the piano/keyboards with a soulful rhythm and shortly, drums and bass kicked in with the horns flanking the motion. The sound was a familiar one (to those who were there at Hard Rock Cafe Penang previously) and Iesta's words only confirmed it when he went "Mustang Sallyyyy...... " (A song by Wilson Picket). Iesta, MZul and Johan moved their bodies to the grove while Dato Kamal's voice can be heard for backing vocals. The entire band participated extraordinarily on this one as most of them seem to claim that this is their signature cover song (as naturally earmarked at Hard Rock Cafe Penang). To mark the special status, Izham had the horns section from the band (Audrey's) that performed earlier during the TV Screenings to join us. To add the gimmick, we had a "retart" on this one! The second Iesta reached "Now you come around, signifying a woman baby.....", the entire band went silence until he continued "you won't, you won't let me ride.. Mustang Sally...", the band rushed in at "Sally".Next was MZul's dancing session. Mzul declared "I feel I wanna dance" and the band went funky with Prince's Kiss. Somewhere in the middle of the song MZul and Iesta did some "Piccadilly" dance moves but as usual, MZul couldn't resist dancing with the girls on the floor. He jumped down from the stage and started dancing with the crowd. Guess what, another "retart"!!! but this time, MZul took his time. It was a long silence until he went "Women not,..." at which point, Eddy struck the snare and the whole band was in action again.
The last number had to be Izham's choice. The leader chooses the finale. It is from his favourite band, The Beatles. The song was most appropriate to close the occasion with dignity, satisfaction and joy (except that the bassist suffered the most given the fast pace running bass for the entire song). D'Kechewas closed the night with I Saw Her Standing There.
The Bassist of D'Kechewas
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D'Kechewas are:
By order of appearance in the below photo from left to right:
Rhythm Guitars and Vocals: M.Zul
Bass: Johan
Keyboards: Izham Omar
Drums: Eddy
Lead Guitars: Azhar Borhan
Vocals: Iesta
Percussions and Backing Vocals: Dato' Kamal (not in the photo)
