BEAT THE SCENE: DEFINITELY MAYBE.

This time, we've interviewed Definitely Maybe for our Beat The Scene column. They're kind enough to attach their newly recorded song (they're still in the recording process) with the Q&A. Here's the interview.

E/F: what’s the name of your band? What’s the origin of that name? Have you changed the band’s name before?
D.M: “Definitely Maybe" original name was actually “BOUYAKA” which carry the meaning S.O.S taken from the African language. After a few problems happen to the band follows by a little change to the line up, we decided to choose "Definitely Maybe" as our new name because we think that it is quite unique & attractive words when it is combined together in a sentence. Actually there are several reasons why we choose “Definitely Maybe” as our new name such as:
1) We are quite unsure about the perfect band name at that time. So, we hope that by putting “Definitely Maybe” it will help explains the “unsure” situation.
2) All of us love the movie “Definitely Maybe”, a romantic comedy movie that was released in 2008 which is the same year the band was formed.
3) We actually have many songs that the lyrics, themes & topics are related with the movie.

E/F: Please list the name, age, school, and respective instrument of each band member.
D.M: Definitely Maybe official band members for 2009 is:
1) Yaya as the vocalist (19 years old, studying in KLIUC)
2) Bazz as the 1st guitar (19 years old, studying in KLIUC)
3) Reezal as the 2nd guitar (19 years old, studying in KLIUC)
4) Daniel as the bassist (19 years old, studying in KLIUC)
5) Shakir as the drummer (19 years old, studying in KLIUC)

E/F: What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
D.M: Our genre of music would be pop punk, alternative, & rock. Nevertheless, we always try to catch our listener’s ear by making our music sounds catchy, funky & a bit happy so that listeners from any age can listen to us & have fun. Our strong influences is Hey Monday & Paramore, but we try to mix the sound from A Day To Remember, New Found Glory, Bunkface, Dichi Michi, Hello, Is This The Band, Arsonist, VersaEmerge, MXPX, Set Your Goals, All Time Low, You Me at 6, The Get Up Kids, Renfue, Pee Wee Gaskins, Forever The Sickest Kids, NeverMeansMaybe & all other local & international bands. We listen to all types of songs from punk rock, to hardcore to old school, deathcore & also metal to get our ears used to the music, maybe it might help us in making out interesting tunes for our own songs.

E/F: How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?
D.M: We have known each other for almost 1 year. We all meet up in KLIUC because at that time, all of us are new students from new intake in KLIUC.

E/F: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
D.M: We formed this band during our 1st year of studying in KLIUC because we feel very bored studying without any entertainments. So we set up this band at the college & start jamming together. Another reason why we set up this band is because, during our 1st year studying in KLIUC, the student’s society organized a BOTB. So, we try to participate & see how far we can go with the BOTB. Successfully, we did qualify to the finals grand event but we didn't win the BOTB, instead we just received the consolation prize. Actually, each of the band members inspired each other to make music together because we feels that we can do something outstanding with the bands & maybe we can share our individual experience in making our music better. We exchange ideas with each other in making the music sounds great & unique.

E/F: Do you have a record label? Are you a member of any music organizations?
D.M: We do not have any record label yet & we didn't sign any official deals with any music organization.

E/F: where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
D.M: we have performed at Dataran Remaja Bukit Jalil, Studio Cafe Wangsa Maju, Lepaq Cafe, Wisma Bentley Music Mutiara Damansara, & Rainforest LG One Utama. For us, the venue is not a big deal. We accept any shows at different venues if we feel confident with the organizers. Different venues give us different experience as we will be challenge by many aspects especially sounds. So, it gives us opportunity to improve our ability & skill in getting good sounds no matter where we play. But of course, we would like to play at big venues such as One Cafe, KL Live, MCPA & others. Our latest upcoming shows will be at Legend Hotel for the Seri Bintang Selatan prom night.

E/F: which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any
covers? Do you have a set play list?
D.M: We usually play 3 of our own songs during performance as we are still new & we are in the stage to promote our own tunes to the publics. We still play cover song as a strategy to attract people that still don’t know about Definitely Maybe. Our usual set list of songs during show is as follows:
1) A boy, A girl, Their World (Own Song)
2) Say Hey! Darling, (Own Song)
3) Pressure cover by Paramore
4) Curahkan Sekali Lagi (Own Song)
5) How You Love Me Now cover by Hey Monday (additional song)

E/F: who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?
D.M: We write our songs together. The main themes or topics for most of our songs are not fixed. We sometimes write song about love story, life journey, local scene, true experience, & many more. To make it simple, we write songs about everything that we like & what is inside our mind. So, our song topics always differ from one song to the other song. The most important thing is, we will make sure that we didn’t insert or mention any negative elements in our songs.

E/F: Could you briefly describe the music-making process?
D.M: We gather at least once a week playing the guitars, finding the right melody, matching the melody with the right chords, arranging the vocal parts & after that, the final process is to walk into the jamming studio & give the new song a try.

E/F: What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?
D.M: our practice or rehearsals session is more spontaneous. we didn’t set any specific date or time to practice but we always try to make sure that we practice or rehearse at least once or twice a week. If we have show or gig during the weekend, then only we will try to practice more during the whole week.

E/F: How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?
D.M: yeah. You guys can visit our Myspace profile  at www.myspace.com/definitely. We have our sample songs in our Myspace profile.  We are currently in the process of recording our new EP titled, A Boy, A Girl, & Their World. So we hope that you guys can wait patiently for the CD to come out hopefully in December 2009.

E/F: Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge for offering financial or emotional support?
D.M: kepada sesiapa yg berminat dgn hasil karya kami dan rasa nak sponsor ape2 material kepada kami, kami sentiasa alu-alukan. Kami tak kesah la ape2 jenis material sekali pun. Atau ade ape2 cadangan ke untuk kami improve just bgtau kami. Boleh contact kami kat www.myspace.com/definitely or email kat dm.definitelymaybe@yahoo.com. Apa2 cadangan yang bernas ke x bernas ke akan kami serap sebagai penggerak band kami.

E/F: Any last words?
D.M: thank you to Gegey Music for having a review about us & thank u guys for supporting us from the beginning until now. Keep on supporting us & help us spread the words about Definitely Maybe to your friends. Don’t stop supporting our local scene because we need all your support guys ! thank you so much !

Check them out at

http://www.myspace.com/definitely

here's a little preview of their upcoming song "Say Hey! Darling"

BEAT THE SCENE: AVALON’S WHISPER.

Post-Hardcore quintet from Kajang who just love to put great sounds together-ranging Pop-punk to Metalcore into a nice piece of music arrangement was interviewed by Joe The Boss; and they shared a few interesting things about them with us. Cccccheck it out.

Joe: For those who have yet to check you guys out tell us about yourself and Avalon's Whisper.
AW: We are a post-hardcore quintet which was founded in Kajang back in
2005 by a bunch of so-called 'baju-ketat-rambut-pacak-belakang-emo-looking-kids' who wanted to play some music with aggresive movements and showmanship as the additional expression. so far we have done 2 releases, and now we're working on our debut album which was scheduled to be released by next year, but there will be a single taken from the upcoming album to be released by December or earlier than that. and now we are also looking for a good record label to help us out in keeping this band managed better than how it does today.