RANDOM.....when fire becomes an ocean

Now…
Out of sheer randomness, Antu would like to talk about

Oceans Of Fire

“We butchered ‘chan-mali-chan’, and it becomes belacan”
– Kelvyn Yeang, on the in-take of a Malay traditional song.

Oceans of Fire are a quartet set to put music on fire, from the tempo of Jazz, to the beat of metal music. Their creativity in songs seems limitless. Having fun and putting all tunes mash-up together. This rising band hopes to ascend and put new colors in our air waves.

The band member consist of Kelvyn Yeang, band leader and lead guitar

Chiat on rhythm guitar

Jonathan Chen on bass

and their drummer, Jonathan Scully

They are no stranger to Penang music scene, as they have been actively participating in Penang Jazz Festival and the winner Malaysia Northern Region Yamaha Asian Beat Finals in 2006.

“We cannot sing, so we play instruments. We are an instrumental band.”

When ask to describe about their music, the word ‘eclectic’ would come to mind. No denying it, as each one of them comes from different music locale. Kelvyn is from a rock background, working professionally in projects and teaching guitars. His good friend, Chiat, is also the co-founder of Ocean of Fire (OoF), jamming together since their high school years. Scully, their drummer, is also teaching drum professionally, loving jazz and rock, and anything in between. The bassist Chen is classically trained. He plays the violin, piano and drums.

“We are not trying to compete, we are just offering a different sound of music”--answered Kelvyn when asked on what OoF focused on.

I couldn't agree more. For the plain passion of music, this band had been performing endlessly, sharing their views and offering new types of music each time. Recently, the band had just release their album called ‘Destination’. During their recent performance, Kelvyn gave an in-take of every song and its history. Example the song ‘Run Run Run’ was created after hearing their friend had been chased by a man-eating goose, ‘Papadam from China’ was created when they eat papadams sold RM1 at a mamak stall and the song ‘I Found You’ was produced by Kelvyn, for his wedding proposal on the day of the band’s album launch.

I got to catch them perform live at NBT and asked a few questions:

Describe the music of Ocean of Fire and what does OoF have to offer to music lovers.
We are a little bit of everything. Our music is different as we are experimenting and exploring different tunes every time. Its vast music: OoF is offering listeners and music lovers an alternative music to listen to. As music is an expression of emotions and feelings for us, we deliver it by playing it.

OoF is Penang-based band. In your opinion, what’s the difference in Penang’s music scene and KLs?
Penang Island is small. The music scene there is ‘warm’, as in, people know each other. It’s cozy as everybody would acknowledge and know who’s who and what’s what. Here in KL, as we know, it’s a big city, with lots of talents, variety, and countless of musicians; thus knowing contacts and fellow music friends is quite a challenge.

If OoF can change one thing in our music local scene, what would it be?
Actually, there are many things that we would love to change, but if it’s to choose only one, it would be, as we all know, for the media to play more of our local music scene. It would be great to hear our song to be played in the air waves and to be seen in the media. There are many talents out there, and media should take an extra bit of effort to showcase them. It’s a good platform for bands like us to deliver what we have to offer.

What is Oof in-take and opinions on music itself?
Music is an expression of a person’s view. Either if it’s on life, love or anything. Thus, I believe that Music cannot be a culture by itself. A little bit too much of one kind of music, in our opinion, will effect a lot in one’s life. We believe that variety in music is good and the explorations of sound are limitless, it creates new waves each time.

Where do you see OoF in 5 years to come?
Reaching out to more and more music listeners; having variety of music listeners who listens to our songs. That would be great as we want to reach every corner of the earth, bringing music to their ears and passion in doing so.

Any quotation that OoF would like to point out?
“Music is a powerful tool”, it delivers one’s mind, opinions and views. Abusing it would be a shame, thus, a musician must know their responsibility in delivering positive message across to their listeners. As we said, music can affects one’s life, so delivering a ‘healthy’ music is a musician’s responsibility.

And that night, was a awesome night indeed










From the pictures, need I to say more?

For more details on their music and album, go to
http://www.myspace.com/oceanoffire1
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ocean-of-Fire

Hhmmm...

Fruit for thought:
1-we have many talented local acts
2-we have internet
3-we have our ear

Then whats stopping you (yes you) from exploring and supporting our local music scene?


If its not you, who else?

What do you think? Write your views and comments about the column. I would like to hear your opinions. Anything & everyone is welcome.