Blogger/photographer/music enthusiast Albert Ng put up a little page featuring photos and comments on his site www.glaringnotebook.com about our show at No Black Tie on 15 January 2006. Thanks Albert. Here's the link. Go check it out!

THIS JUST IN! (14/3/06) -

More photos (minus Euseng, Zach Tay and Rafil) courtesy of Matthew Ong (thanks!):














The comfy surrounds of No Black Tie prior to an invasion of songsters.




















Jerome Kugan conjures the eternal light of lost songs out of the pristine No Black Tie woodworks.















Deserters (Izuan Shah and Kid Kowalski) gettin' into the mood in their maiden performance.















Azmyl Yunor & the Sigarettes (Adrian Yap, Keng Lee and Jeremy Liew) kickin' out the jams.




















Broken Scar (Kevin and his bro) bustin' out double servings of acoustic chops.















The Sofa Sessions contemplating the science of the sweetest chord progression.

Photos from the "Black Metal" Press Conference

(Sorry, everyone, this came out a bit late. Experienced some problems with loading up the photos. Anyway, here's a little report on the Black Metal PC.)

About 300+ people including musicians, politicians, activists and journalists turned up to the press conference at Paul's Place on Monday afternoon to hear the indie music community's response to the police raid earlier on New Year's Eve at 10:30pm at the same venue. And the response is: the police carried out the raid unlawfully and the media coverage (especially the local Malay language tabloids) of the whole incident was heavily biased and unethical.


















There was a panel of eight people made up of Azmyl Yunor (musician, lecturer) , Amir Hamzah (lawyer), Rafil Elyas (musician, engineer), Julian Mokhtar (musician), Paul Milott (musician, owner of Paul's Place), Jaclyn SM Kee (activist), and two musician guys whose names I didn't quite catch ("Sorry!"-JK), discussing why the raid was unjustified and how it was a senseless and hostile attack on the peace-loving indie music community in KL.
















Among the police actions that came under criticism was how they didn't have a warrant or a valid reason to raid Paul's Place and arrest 380 young people who were there to enjoy a "punk" concert (not a "black metal" concert as was claimed by the police and the media).
















The panel said the raid was tantamount to a gross violation of basic human rights, that the police's cited reason of "suspicion of black metal activities" was not acceptable for their dramatic arrests. The media too came under fire for what the discussion panel members called "irresponsible journalism" that grossly violated the journalistic code of ethics of fair reporting of the incident.















The panel also explained that dramatic symbolism seen on the posters and merchandise available at Paul's Place that night was mere fashion and not to be taken too literally. Hip hop followers wear lots of bling, so punk fans like to wear black T-shirts with rather gory prints. But that doesn't mean the kids are Satan worshippers or drinkers of darah kambing.
















After the press conference, a group of about 30 t0 40 musicians and supporters went to the Brickfields Police Station to enquire about the condition of the four who were by then still in police custody. We found out that three of them had been charged under the printing act, and one other under the entertainment act.
















After waiting almost an hour, we found out that three out of the four were in the process of being released, while the last one (we presume him to be David, Paul's Place staff) had to wait for someone (the OCPD was not there, for some reason) to process his case. After finding this out, much of the crowd dispersed.








While things are still uncertain about the fate of Paul's Place--now that its image has been tarnished in the eyes of the wider public with this sham of a raid--and its equipment confiscated--it was very heartening to see members of the indie music community there supporting the venue and their right to musical expression without police harassment and media misrepresentation.

For more info on this strange case, go to Centre for Independent Journalism's site.

PAUL'S PLACE RAIDED!!!

If you don't already know, Paul's Place (on Old Klang Road) was raided on New Year's Eve. And yes, we are shocked (especially after Meor's arrest just the other day)! Since other sites are already writing about it (check out ricecooker.kerbau.com), we're only summarising some of the details (taken from reports by Centre For Independent Journalism and ricecooker):

*Brickfields police raided Paul's Place during a punk concert called "This Year's Final Threat". They were accompanied by the press. The raid was apparently done to stamp out the so-called "black metal" culture. Sound equipment and musical instruments were confiscated *tools of the devil?* yeah, right. All the musicians involved during the gig have denied that it was a "black metal" gig. Come on people, get your dictionaries out: punk is not metal.

*About 380 young people were arrested by the police, including those inside and outside the venue plus some others who were drinking and hanging out in some shops near the area. They were forcibly taken to the Brickfields police station where they had to take urine tests. Apparently, three tested positive for drugs. These three plus Paul's Place bartender David remain in police custody while the others were released without charge. Four out of 380! You do the math! What was really the point of this circus?

*Six of the detainees, three men and three women, were chosen by the police and paraded on New Year's Day in front of a hostile and obviously-biased media. The report made it to TV and look out for the so-called "official" reports. One of the detainees who was paraded said that she was forced by the police to appear before the media, adding that the media were not interested in the her side of the story. Obviously, this is one of those media publicity stunts organised by the police to prove they're apparently doing a good job of stamping out the "black metal" threat. Wha?


PRESS CONFERENCE AT PAUL'S PLACE, 2 January 2006, 2pm

In response to what appears to be a gross misconduct of power and violation of human rights by the police, Rafil Elyas (of 360 Degree Head Rotation and Disarseter Records) and a few friends are assisting Paul's Place owner Paul Millot to fight for redress. In lieu, they've set up a press conference at the venue to address the following issues:

a) Definition and characterization of the Black Metal sub culture; music, lifestyle and philosophies.

b) Superficiality of sub culture embracement in Malaysia. Here, youths follow the fashion but not the philosophies and beliefs.

c) How Black Metal clamp down operations have spilled over to other sub cultures and musical genres, punk, hard core, rock.

Rafil will chair the discussions, with Julian Mokhtar, Azmyl Yunor, Hana Abd Aziz, Paul Millot and Jaclyn SM Kee talking. It should be a stimulating discussion, we reckon.

If you're at all interested in local music, human rights issues or just want to show your support for Paul's Place, please come one and all to show that music has to remain free from police brutality and stupidity.

Paul's Place Press Conference
Date & Time: Monday, 2 January 2006, 2pm
Address: 8, 2/137B (Top Floor), Resource Industrial Center, off Jalan Klang Lama, KL
(It's situated "behind" the block of shops that's directly across the highway from Pearl International Hotel.)

See you there!