[AS PUBLISHED IN MALAY MAIL]
Honestly creative
By Jordan Barnes
COMMONLY dropping a new album will reap between two and four music videos.
It's practised by most-multi-millionaire megastars or four-piece rockers on a budget.
The group, An Honest Mistake, falls under the latter, albeit with a determined idea that is starting to pay off.
Frontman Darren Teh said the band toiled for years when they started in 2010 "begging for gigs."
"Club owners wouldn't let us play a gig more than once because they'd just paid us. I've seen so many bands get discouraged and quit because of limited opportunity."
The Kajang singer-songwriter helped prevent the decline by organising gigs to support his peers on the circuit.
That's in the past.
It's not that the band have given up supporting others in the creative industry, they're just attempted to do it on a larger scale.
"I didn't realise how massive it was until people started telling me. So I just kept going."
Teh is reflecting on the whopping 13 music videos the band made in exploratory collaborations for its new album, An Honest Mixtape.
The record itself is a front-to-back remix of the band's eponymous album in 2012.
A fiery punk rock sound has been transformed into an electronic beast fit for nightclubs, heavy on bass and dance beats.
"Malaysia's electronic music scene is growing.
"I wanted to harness these talented individuals and showcase them to Asia."
Of the 16 tracks on An Honest Mixtape, 10 have been given a synthesised makeover by Malaysian artistes and six by those overseas, in Singapore, South Korea, India and the UK.
Take the band's foremost hit If I Told You This Was Real, Would You Believe Me? - once a rip-roaring pop punk swing-along reminiscent of Panic! At The Disco five years ago.
With the help of "trap kings" and Sabah DJ duo DRPX, If I Told You This Was Real has taken on a new seductive life of its own, deep on electro house vibe and popping with dubstep drops.
The song's accompanying music video sees vocalist Sheryl Goh sinking into a bathtub, invoking a sense of the all-consuming thrill in store for listeners.
An Honest Mixtape, currently on CD release, follows suit in the same experimental vein.
Each song is a dance tune of individual merit bursting with crisp flavours and a put-your-hands-up feel to get the floor moving.
Most astounding about An Honest Mistake and the reason we encounter Teh in a Desa Sri Hartamas guitar store is the 13 music videos that go along with them.
The band had seen the opportunity for further collaboration, recruiting 13 different video producers, comprising a dozen homegrown talents and another from Philippines.
"The idea again was to highlight young creatives abilities in mixing while creating something original.
"I told them 'Do something that's never been done before. Get out of your comfort zone. It's going to be for your portfolio’,” said Teh.
He admitted the project, which only began in January, didn't take off right away.
Not everyone believed in the remix concept with friends even turning down the offer to get onboard.
Yet remarkably by March, a full 16 tracks had been remixed, recorded and produced.
Then work started on the videos, shot at various locations in and around Kuala Lumpur, with 13 ready in time for An Honest Mixtape's launch at The Bee, Publika last month during Urbanscapes.
The band plans to finish making the final three this year.
"We put this album together as a giant compilation CD that represents Malaysia," said Teh.
"The album is like a ticket for everyone to use to travel across the region.
The finished product has transcended all expectations, pulled off at breakneck speed and with brilliant results.
"Video producers had the liberty to do what they wanted. That opened up their creative minds."
It was all funded out of the band's payroll, totalling a relatively paltry RM20,000 for the album and music videos.
Teh and An Honest Mistake served as the hook that joined the dots between video producers and artistes from the electronic music scene who might not often come together.
Still, he played down his role in the extravagant, music moviemaking marathon insisting all credit go to music and video producers.
"They are the true stars of the album."
Honestly creative
By Jordan Barnes
COMMONLY dropping a new album will reap between two and four music videos.
It's practised by most-multi-millionaire megastars or four-piece rockers on a budget.
The group, An Honest Mistake, falls under the latter, albeit with a determined idea that is starting to pay off.
Frontman Darren Teh said the band toiled for years when they started in 2010 "begging for gigs."
"Club owners wouldn't let us play a gig more than once because they'd just paid us. I've seen so many bands get discouraged and quit because of limited opportunity."
The Kajang singer-songwriter helped prevent the decline by organising gigs to support his peers on the circuit.
That's in the past.
It's not that the band have given up supporting others in the creative industry, they're just attempted to do it on a larger scale.
"I didn't realise how massive it was until people started telling me. So I just kept going."
Teh is reflecting on the whopping 13 music videos the band made in exploratory collaborations for its new album, An Honest Mixtape.
The record itself is a front-to-back remix of the band's eponymous album in 2012.
A fiery punk rock sound has been transformed into an electronic beast fit for nightclubs, heavy on bass and dance beats.
"Malaysia's electronic music scene is growing.
"I wanted to harness these talented individuals and showcase them to Asia."
Of the 16 tracks on An Honest Mixtape, 10 have been given a synthesised makeover by Malaysian artistes and six by those overseas, in Singapore, South Korea, India and the UK.
Take the band's foremost hit If I Told You This Was Real, Would You Believe Me? - once a rip-roaring pop punk swing-along reminiscent of Panic! At The Disco five years ago.
With the help of "trap kings" and Sabah DJ duo DRPX, If I Told You This Was Real has taken on a new seductive life of its own, deep on electro house vibe and popping with dubstep drops.
The song's accompanying music video sees vocalist Sheryl Goh sinking into a bathtub, invoking a sense of the all-consuming thrill in store for listeners.
An Honest Mixtape, currently on CD release, follows suit in the same experimental vein.
Each song is a dance tune of individual merit bursting with crisp flavours and a put-your-hands-up feel to get the floor moving.
Most astounding about An Honest Mistake and the reason we encounter Teh in a Desa Sri Hartamas guitar store is the 13 music videos that go along with them.
The band had seen the opportunity for further collaboration, recruiting 13 different video producers, comprising a dozen homegrown talents and another from Philippines.
"The idea again was to highlight young creatives abilities in mixing while creating something original.
"I told them 'Do something that's never been done before. Get out of your comfort zone. It's going to be for your portfolio’,” said Teh.
He admitted the project, which only began in January, didn't take off right away.
Not everyone believed in the remix concept with friends even turning down the offer to get onboard.
Yet remarkably by March, a full 16 tracks had been remixed, recorded and produced.
Then work started on the videos, shot at various locations in and around Kuala Lumpur, with 13 ready in time for An Honest Mixtape's launch at The Bee, Publika last month during Urbanscapes.
The band plans to finish making the final three this year.
"We put this album together as a giant compilation CD that represents Malaysia," said Teh.
"The album is like a ticket for everyone to use to travel across the region.
The finished product has transcended all expectations, pulled off at breakneck speed and with brilliant results.
"Video producers had the liberty to do what they wanted. That opened up their creative minds."
It was all funded out of the band's payroll, totalling a relatively paltry RM20,000 for the album and music videos.
Teh and An Honest Mistake served as the hook that joined the dots between video producers and artistes from the electronic music scene who might not often come together.
Still, he played down his role in the extravagant, music moviemaking marathon insisting all credit go to music and video producers.
"They are the true stars of the album."
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