D'Kechewas 2012 Line Up Bazooka'ed Media Prima TV Screenings 2013

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D'Kechewas 2012 Line Up Bazooka'ed Media Prima TV Screenings 2013

'KECHEWAS had Johan on Bass and Rhythm Guitars, Eddie on Drums, Iesta on Vocals, Izham Omar on Keyboards and Bass, Datuk Kamal on Percussions and Azhar Borhan on Lead Guitars. Our X-Man MZul was absent due to his study leave in the UK for Script Writing. We rocked the stage of Media Prima TV Screenings 2013 like we never did before. We even had special guest playing the bass for us, who else no other than the Media Prima big boss, Dato' Amrin. It was a night to remember. It was aesthetically fun. It was passion burning with the desire and love for music. It was D'Kechewas.

We hit the stage with an opening medley of Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Give It Away, Aerosmith's Walk This Way and a classic from Queen's Under Pressure. The trio medley gave the crowd a reason to stick around head banging like there was no tomorrow to appreciate music. Enough of a punchy opening, the band mellowed down into Every Breath You Take with Dato' Amrin leading the band with his bass lines like Sting himself playing the bass strings.

To light up the night, out of no where, Jacqueline Victor appears driving the crowd nuts and there was nothing else that we could do other than hitting a bluezy number of Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman. From the blues, we progressed into rock & roll manifested by Free's All Right Now, of course, still having Jacky on vocals. Jacky's voice was so mesmerising that something had to be done to reinforce that feel..... and with the wisdom of our keyboard wizard, Izham, Jackson 5's I'll Be There filled the air with Jacky's best ever live performance for that night.

The Jacky and GMD (Amrin) session ended full of flavour that it was appropriate to have some local taste to the explosive night. Iesta continued on with Search's Rozana and like Halley's Comet striking the Earth, on the second verse, Amy Search! jumped on board. Bloody'ell.... the owner of the song himself performing it - what an epitome line up! As we all know it, Amy Search is a big fan of the Stones (Rolling Stones),.. and what happened next, was beyond believe. The stage was rockin of Stone's Honky Tonk Women with everyone rollin and rockin. Truly a dream come true for a small jamming band like us.

Next with horns flanking us, we did a number on our signature cover for Wilson Pickett,...... Yes! Mustang Sally! Ride Sally Ride! ... and we were riding Sally all night long, we were. For some reason we've always enjoyed performing Mustang Sally and I think, we will continue to have this song on our list to mark our presence. As usual, Izham vetoed everyone with a song from his favourite band, the Beatles, doing a Twist & Shout and as you may have guessed,... the crowd was doing the Twist!! on the dance floor..... If that is not participation, I don't know what is..... Awesome! An ending with the Beatles have always been successful leaving behind a sweet after taste to the whole set.

The crowd began to shout, "We want more! We want more!". What more can we give? We had done 11 Songs, the most we'd ever done so far. Then we remembered that we used to fool around with some Hendrix in the jamming studio. So,.. Hendrix it is then. Izham abandoned his keyboards and was now grabbing the bass from Johan. Johan had to grab something else - the closest to him was a Gibson Les Paul,.. oh! whadda hell, guitar it is then. And with full of firing inferno, D'Kechewas bazooka'ed the night with Fire. The crowd was chaotic like it was the remake of Woodstock! Fuhh!! Hendrix never failed to crunch that raw feel in you, don't you think so? Everyone was tired and again, some sweet song that everyone can sing along had to be done for the real closing of the night. Surprise, Surprise, another Beatles - Hey Jude ended the concert..... and it was history that we all shall remember forever :)

 

The Bassist of D'Kechewas doing a Yngwie Johann Malmsteen teeth picking on the guitar

D'Kechewas 2011 Line Up Rocked the Stage at Media Prima Nite Live TV Screenings 2012

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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)

D'Kechewas 2010 Line Up - The Scout Boys

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Left to right: Johan, Ahmad Izham Omar, Dato' Johan Jaaffar, Eddy, M. Zulkifli, Azhar Borhan

'KECHEWAS was an idea toyed by Ahmad Izham Omar ("Izham"), a musician who thinks he can run 5km run alongside DJ Seelan Paul. Izham had an idea of forming a band of musicians who did not end up becoming musicians in life but still holds the passion for music - hence "D'Kechewas" which means "The Disappointed". It's a "dream finally reached" kind of feel, well, short of being perceived as "midlife crisis". No, no, don't be negative - It is a "dream finally reached" for me at least.

Izham is a musician but most of the time, he is (was) a CEO of 8TV. So if you want to say that he is not a musician per se, you can,... but then again, he just won the best album of the year 2009 under Anugerah Industri Muzik for Faizal Tahir's Adrenalin. Let's just assume that he spends 90% of his time as a CEO rather than a music composer - so ya, Izham in not a musician - I must be stupid to say this when he was the founder of Positive Tone.

Azhar Borhan is an Otai. Very experienced in the entertainment industry involving music but not quite a musician by profession himself. He is the GM for Content Development in Malaysia's largest TV content creation company, Primeworks Studios. He may have been one of the main man behind introducing Sheila Majid to the world but yah, "per se", again, let's just assume he is not a musician coz I see him in his office most of the time browsing thru his Mac.

M. Zulkifli has one confused career path history. This dude started of as a magistrate kicking asses into jails and what not and suddenly, like Moses after the burning fire of bushes, changes everything. He became editor for FHM, Malay Mail and some other publication, and later appears at 7am on TV as the host for Malaysia Hari Ini ("MHI"). MHI is just a cover up,.. actually, he is a nerd in the office doing whatever it is he does as the GM for Content for tonton.com.my and gua.com.my,..... and the soon to come, guava.com.my

Eddy is an arty farty guy... never heard him fart before but yeahh, he is an arts guy. As the Director of Arts, he produces images, adverts, whatever it is that you may call artistic or aesthetic (or at least in his mind) for clients of TV3, TV9, 8TV and ntv7. I heard a rumour that he does have a blues band performing in some bar but all I can remember about him is "the guy who creates TV advertisements". He even decided to advertise some products on his skin in a tatoo format. Cool guy.

Then there is me, Johan. As briefly described earlier, Izham, M. Zul, Azhar and Eddy do have some significant touch in their life that relates to music,.. but me, hmmmm, what can I say? I'm a bloody accountant for the past 14 years and will continue to be so for the next 14 years before someone manages to convince me to earn money via Network 21 of Amway. The one proud thing I can say is, as the GM of Finance Media Prima, I look after the money from the businesses that Izham, Azhar, M. Zul and Eddy manages.

There is another person, Iesta. A guest member who proved himself worthy of being called musician when he started to yell to the top of his lungs at Hard Rock Cafe Penang gig. This dude is the GM of Corporate Affairs for Primework Studios. Not sure whether he manages the "affairs" in the office but he is (well he thinks it's a "was" rather than "is") a bloody accountant as well.

So Izham had all these dudes, including him, to start jamming at various studios, mostly being Black Brown Blue Studio (not sure the arrangement of which colour comes first or next but it's BBB basically) in Hartamas and Akarkarya Studio (Acis-Sheila's) at Uptown Damansara. We were destined to perform at a Media Appreciation Night attended by all sorts of media people (Media "characters" more like it) as well as for an internal function for Media Prima at Hard Rock Cafe Penang. To date, I have not managed to get the video for the Media Appreciation Night but I did get some shots for the Hard Rock Cafe Penang gig as documented in my blog post D'Kechewas mustanged the night at Hard Rock Cafe

Yeahh, so that is D'Kechewas with the latest line up as below (This line up is not the original, there were some dudes who left earlier):

Keyboards: Izham (Captain)
Vocals and Guitar: M. Zul
Guest Vocals: Iesta
Lead Guitar: Azhar
Drums: Eddy
Bass: Johan

For a while we were quite frequent in these jamming sessions but it has since slowed down. I had a quick chat with Izham last night after buka puasa and we will, soon, re-commence, this "finally reached dream" - for a start, we can always do the usuals first before trying new songs - just to kick start the engines - our usuals are as listed below:

When I Come Around - Greenday
21 Guns - Greenday
Kiss - Prince
Rozana - Search
I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles
Every Breath You Take - The Police
With or Without You - U2
Mustang Sally - Wilson Picket

It is quite an experience to be back in jamming mood and mode. The last time I really had a jam streak was probably 14 years ago when I was in a Malaysian student band performing for the Malam Merdekas type functions in Melbourne Australia. So now, I have also started to jam with my long lost Australian band members as listed in my blog post Prelude. D'Kechewas is not meant to be a recording band but it allows people like me to live (or re-live) my passion in life. As a result, I have enrolled myself for guitar solo classes that I go every Sunday morning under the guidance of the #20 ranking guitar teacher in Malaysia, Saudara Rockers Hasnol (not sure which band he comes from).

I must thank my fellow D'Kechewas for having the trust in me playing the bass guitar although I am the most inexperienced of the lot. Somehow Izham felt that I am worthy of it - Thanks Boss. Also special thanks to Seelan Paul for promoting us at Hard Rock Cafe Penang and also to Datuk Kamal and Eliza who were the backup vocals at Hard Rock Cafe. To close this post, I would also like to thank The Edge for covering D'Kechewas,... well they didn't really covered D'Kechewas,.. it was actually covering Ahmad Izham Omar but Izham decided to revolve the interview around D'Kechewas given that the title of the article is "after hours" as extracted below:

D'Kechewas 2010 Line Up Mustanged the Night at Hard Rock Cafe

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UNDAY 9 May 2010: The whole Media Prima gang was seen to have conquered Hard Rock Cafe Penang at around 8pm. There was nothing that could have stopped them. Even Faizal Tahir and his band was forced to take up the sits on the upper floor. General public and families were squeezed to use tables at the edge of the broad space in front of the stage.

A handsome sharped featured DJ stood up and said "Yo MPB dudes in the house. I am Seelan Paul. It gives me great pleasure to present to you the band whom didn't want their names to be mentioned because they were afraid they may "kechewa" all of you. We have Azhar from PWS. Johan from Finance. Eddie from CSD. Iesta from PWS... and of course him who does not need introduction, Ahmad Izham Omar, our Head of Radio...". At this point Faizal Tahir was screaming something to Izham from the upper level... and all Izham could reply was "I Love You", his phrase of the month after having said the same thing when winning the Anugerah Industri Music award for best album for Faizal, "Adrenalin".

So the night started. D'Kechewas, even without their usual vocalist, M. Zul, started rocking with Iesta on the microphones with his husky voice calling out "Mustang Saaaalllllyyyyyyy......" flanked by Eliza and Dato' Kamal on backing vocals. Swift strokes of Izham's keyboards coupled with Eddy's intense drum beats and heart pounding bass by Johan, could only make the Media Prima gang rock the night out as Azhar fills the air with the best blues guitar riffs.



It wasn't enough with just the blues jam. D'Kechewas continued with the evergreen Every Breath You Take with Azhar on the original infamous guitar picking of The Police's mind soothing arpeggio.





Eager to proceed to a more relaxed jamming session in the hotel room, the band then embarked on their last song for the night (or so they thought). The Beatles' I Saw Her Standing There was appropriate for a last song as a tribute to the great 60's/70's band. Even Hard Rock Hotel in Penang had mosaic of The Beatles all over the place and photos in almost all the hotel rooms.

Just as D'Kechewas was leaving the stage, the Media Prima gang screamed for more with their leader Dato' Amrin shouting "We want more,.. We want more.. " Somewhere at the back Pak Mus of Harian Metro was yelling "Jerat Kugiran,... Jerat Kugiran.. " with the rest of the crowd continuing their cheer for more of the band. Almost reluctantly, D'Kechewas went up the stage again and started whispering to each other.

The drums started rolling again and the keyboards and bass hit the C chord with Iesta going "Gadis idamanku.. hanya engkau yang satu.. hadirlah.. dalam mimpi-mimpi ku.. " The rest was history. People started to sing along espcecially at "Rozana... " Such a classic Malay rock by Search will always leave a stain in the hearts of audience aged 30 and above (like what we had that day) - a stain that makes them sing along the lyrics even when they thought they did not memorised it. Of course Azhar's guitar solo mimicking Hillary Ang's masterpiece intensified the screamings further.

It was a night to remember by the Media Prima gang especially D'Kechewas. As Iesta had put it "Media Prima made my dreams come true.. " in his Twitter. The only professional musician in the band, Ahmad Izham Omar, was actually nervous initially (having to perform on stage with a bunch of amatuers) but later commented "I'm glad I agreed to do this coz the sound in Hard Rock was much better than the Media Appreciation Night 2 nights ago.. " Azhar was more interested remembering how he had been the first to listen to Sheila Majid's demo tape and Eddy was finally satisfied with the feedback speakers surrounding his drums.

As for me, a humble bassist, I can only hope that no one from the crowd that night noticed my errors in the chords (Every Breath You Take chorus - Izham had to yell "it's C !!,.. it's C !!.. "; and Rozana chorus where Iesta gave me a short look in the eye with a read in between the lines "What the F U X are you doin mate!"). One thing's for sure, now we can say "I have performed at Hard Rock!!!"



The Bassist of D'Kechewas

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Special Thanks to D'Kechewas as listed below:

Keyboards: Ahmad Izham Omar (the Sifu)
Lead Guitars: Azhar Borhan
Rhythm Guitars: M. Zul (absent)
Drums: Eddy
Bass: Johan
Vocals: M.Zul (absent), Tengku Iesta
Backing Vocals: Eliza, Dato' Kamal
Tamborines: Dato' Kamal
DJ publicity by: Seelan Paul (courtesy of Fly FM, Hot FM and One FM)