UGLYM3N

~Wind Rising

date: 16th aug 2009
time: 1.30pm
venue: beach club kl

its another milestone achieved, but its not as simple as that. cos in the process of making it happen, many things had occured consequenced from chain-reaction.

in the wildest dream i have never thought wind rising would have bagged the ultimate prize, many congrates to them and they must strive in making the japan trip a worthy enjoyable holiday to be remembered. they have reached beyond what all of us have expected. and they gonna treat the asia grand final as a holiday, but not a competition, a show sharing the same stage with other top bands from aroud asia, especially japan.. its a big shame, i may just, have to skip the trip…

i have coached or contributed ideas to a number of bands down the road namely force 1, poor sapiens, uglyboyz, eclipse, itosii… but to nurture wind rising is the most enjoyable task to date.

~Itosii live on RTM

~Uglyboyz

it all started in early june this year when i get to know the yamaha asian beat will be held in alor star for the first time in 3 years after kedah turned host for the northern region.

with my vast experience of yamaha asian beat competition with uglymen, i guess the ammunition might just be enough to give them some valuable tips and tricks of the yamaha asian beat trend.

~uglymen as guest in 2007

~poor sapiens

oceans of fire in Asia Finals.. spotted any uglymen similarities?

here are some of the yamaha asianbeat competition history i went through:

Yamaha Asian Beat Northern Region Finals 2009

Yamaha Asian Beat Northern Region Finals 2007

Yamaha Asian Beat Penang Finals 2007

Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Finals 2007-08 (photos)

Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Finals 2007-08 (results)

Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Finals 2007-08 (journal) part 2

Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Finals 2007-08 (journal) part 1

Yamaha Asian Beat Singapore Finals 2006

Yamaha Asian Beat Malaysia Finals 2006

Yamaha Asian Beat Kedah Finals 2006

Yamaha Asian Beat KL Finals 2006

Yamaha Asian Beat Penang Finals 2006 part 2

Yamaha Asian Beat Penang Finals 2006 part 1

Yamaha Asian Beat Johor Finals 2006 part 3

Yamaha Asian Beat Johor Finals 2006 part 2

Yamaha Asian Beat Johor Finals 2006 part 1

Yamaha Asian Beat Asia Finals 2004-05

Yamaha Asian Beat Singapore Finals 2005

Yamaha Asian Beat Kedah Finals 2005 (result)

Yamaha Asian Beat Penang 2005

initially i thought of using uglymen’s ROBOTz as their compeition song, but cover songs normally will fall in finals, so i suggested them (then uglyboyz) to pen their own composition. so chin sing (guitarist) started to compose a song with kaevin (drummer). but they faced a problem, they did not have a bassist. So we looked through all the options we have and we called up haris.

so we have a new line up with kaevin, chin sing and haris, thus chose a new band name as:

kaevin = Wind
haris = Ris
chin sing = Sing

Wind RiSing was born.

haris chipped in his ideas and they completed a song called Nevermind. while they also penned the lyrics together.

~hard work paid off, best bassist in northern region / national finals

on the process of perfecting the band, tai suan, metal and cikgu badrul also helped in shaping the final product.
it was head-splitting and brain-wrecking in cooking up the best food for the band. many factors to be drafted out.

so, after some tensed practise and preparation for 3 weeks, they headed to the Yamaha Asian Beat Northern Region Finals 2009 heats in muzik sistem. they successfully gained a ticket to the finals in flamingo club the next day.. and eventually won the competition, with haris cliching best bassist award.

however, behind the scene, some people were talking on how wind rising won it, because of the band strong connection with the organisers (muzik sistem), all sorts of stories were coming up such as biased judging. but, to the neutrals who witnessed the show, they know that it was a fair result. my personal opinion was crafttonez were the best of the crop that night, what a shame they deployed a cover song, they are certainly capable of pulling off a winning number of their own.

so, wind rising, brata and rocha went to KL to compete with all the other national finalists for a place in Yokohama.

***********************

here we are in KL.

without our always-reliable “tour-guide” and “band assistant” mr Ric Tan, this trip woundt have been smooth and complete.

~Ric and me at beach club

~this is how wind rising sleep in hotel room

~ as the youngest in the band, probably the entire competition history in malaysia, kaevin gets a lot of caring from his band mates…

~kaevin and chin sing having “some fun” on the bed… activities inherited from uglymen

~getting ready to proof the critics wrong… haris looked like the green barrot??

~met up with uglymen’s good friend a.k.a  UGLY cd producer kenny tay

~panel of judges (far right, john thomas not in photo)

~ best bassist goes to Haris

~john presenting the best drummer award to kaevin

~and wind rising is going to japan….
champion: wind rising
2nd: kyoto protocol (not sure spelling correct)
3rd: brata

brata did a very convincing and powerful show in the finals, and i thought they deserve a better result, guitarist was a joy to watch, power riffing and melodious chord work plus harmonious backing vocals, he was the best guitarist to me that day.

~after the show, wind rising were interviewed and chatted with the judges, all they could utter were…hehe, haha, i duno.. hehe (note the red line spelling checker i forgot to disable… hehe)

~one photo with the judges before departing

~haris showing off his fluent japanese…

~with his head so big, tai suan poured in loads of help to the band

~good luck in japan