An aspiring songwriter, Marcel Thee seeks to strike all boundaries between ear-fondling and adventurous musical sphere. Ranging from the critically acclaimed-crowd favourite Sajama Cut, of which he is the primary creative force, the transcendental-congregational "fuzz-folk" under his own name and into the noetic-novelty seeking attempts such as Roman Catholic Skulls and Strange Mountain, efforts of which staple himself as one of the most prominent figure within Indonesian music scene. When he's not busy poppin' out, Marcel juggles between professional music journalism and fatherhood.
On a frivolous move, I, whose penchant for attention seeking needs to be satisfied, decided to snatch some of his invaluable free time to do a little chit chat.
So here it goes:
Questions are in bold format.
I used to
be a rockist but somewhere in 2005, I discovered “Am I Evil” from Diamond Head.
The song abridged a precipice that was previously unfordable to “Dazed and
Confused” hence I’m able to appreciate every song in Led Zeppelin’s catalogue
and go on to an ability to appreciate most popular songs (Read: Non-rockist
songs). What song(s) that makes you able to appreciate the beauty of popular
music on the first place?
I don't know
if I'd ever seen music as being either rockist, as you said, and non-rock. The
first band whose full catalogue I was into was The Beatles, and they pretty
much laid the groundwork for popular music, or 'pop' as a genre. I fell for
Berlin, for instance, at the same time I fell for Faith No More when I was 9 or
so, and it's been pretty much the same ever since. There's never been much of a
separation, though as I grew older I recognized that the music I enjoyed the
most were not particularly the most popular ones. I've been figuratively blind
towards any kind of popular music since the late 90s though, and only recognize
a pop hit when it is very big like Ricky Martin or something – if he's still
alive. The Black Eyed Keys maybe? I know absolutely nothing about local pop
music. I do subscribe to the belief that the more popular and populist your
music is, the less challenging and hence, valuable, it is. That's a pretty
logical take.
In my opinion, “Is this
It” hinted that there was a killer scene going on and it’s gonna be big. What
album that makes you feel the same way? Be it from the 80s, 90s or 00s.
Well,
“Nevermind” was one for the 90s, obviously. I was too young in the early 80s
too recognize a scene. I guess “Is This It” for the 00s - though I didn't
recognize it as a scene starter because I was a little older then and saw it as
a great record in and of itself and nothing more. I was never into the other
garage rockers of that era. Locally, “JKT SKRG” is certainly one I experienced
up close and very much appreciate.
Speaking of
Strange Mountain. Sometimes I think that one can stroke the album title and
change it to whatever suits him/her. For example: I scratched the “Shadow of
the Metropolis” title on the tape and altered it into “Ghost of Her Shadow” or
“Beneath the Willow Trees, The Ghosts are Feasting and She Went Away” and the
songs (errr…..sounds) still made some sense. What do you think about that? Are
you aware of that “risk”? Do you even consider that it is some kind of “risk”
or are you ok with that?
I don't really
understand what you mean, but if we're talking about interpretations, than
that's absolutely great. Certainly much better for listeners to draw their own
meanings into it than expect some sort of explanation from songwriters. As for
my music, you can pretty much do that to any music I make, not just SM stuff.
I read an interview between Boards of Canada and
The Guardian. One of the band’s remarks was: “(Tomorrow's Harvest)
it's loaded with patterns and messages. There are various tricks embedded
throughout the whole body of this album, so it'll be interesting to see whether
people pick up on these things.” Are there such patterns or
“mechanical/quantitative fact” of any sort in Strange Mountain records?
Nothing
particularly eventful, but SM is certainly loaded with layers of unorthodox and
processed sounds. There are a lot of early SM songs that have my daughter's
voice, piano “playing” in it. And most of the field recordings were done at or
around my home, hence the distant traffic humming and such. I think Sajama
Cut's “Apologia” had a lot of hidden sounds, though difficult to hear because
of the sad production.
Pardon this
pompous question but is there a “correct” way to listen to Strange Mountain or
Roman Catholic Skulls? I mean, I played some albums like 6-7 times and most of
the time I fell asleep before the album came to the end. (I also read somewhere
that Awan Garnida or Bembi Gusti said that “a good album is the one that puts
one to sleep”.)
No, there's
not. It should be the same way you listen to any of your favorite music. I do
understand that for many, it is still considered music that is a little weird
or, god forbid, “experimental”. But it's just music filled with emotions to me
– Like all of my other bands. It's pretty simple – or “pop” - just delivered
with a very particular mood that is heavy on the remembrance aspect.
Suppose
that Jokowi is able to bring this country forward (and that includes promoting
the “ekonomi kreatif”-thingy), musicians will be running out of ammo in their
arsenal to criticize the government hence, there are some sort of risks that
“ill-favored” or irrelevant songs will be more frequently published or on the
contrary, the “abstract-yet-free to interpret” kind of music will be abundantly
written. What do you think about that?
Protest music
is fine but it's not something that interests me – certainly if it involves
local politics. I guess I'm apathetic, but for health reasons. I'd rather not
know than go insane. It's a middle-class survival thing. I can't go to a
protest in my daddy's sedan, you know. The small concerns spoken in music ring
truer to me, far more than some folk strumming and lyrics about toppling the
government.
Joko
Anwar once said that: “Seni itu cair”, hence the saying “air seni”. Futhermore,
he deducted that (roughly translated) “an artisan has to choose to put oneself,
be it on the commercial side or the
“to-hell-with-commercialization-this-is-my-art” side, can’t be both”. What do
you think about that? Do
you share that view?
Sure.
Obviously most self-subscribed “indie” bands are eager to reach some sort of
stature while retaining their cool. You can't really have that without looking
like a desperate tool. Certainly not here. Their efforts are embarrassing and
obvious. Just sell out; the underground does not need you.
Speaking
about music journalism, most of your articles brought out the good in an album
but with hinted criticism. For example: On your article about The Slave, you
wrote: “Bandung band The Slave are not aiming to re-contextualize rock music;
nothing on their debut album “Remorse” will reinvent the rock’n’roll wheel” and
““Remorse” may borrow liberally from the classic rock library a little too
eagerly” which I assumed as hinted criticism. And furthermore: “the songs are
catchy and solid enough – two important ingredients whose impacts are maximized
through its fittingly compressed production” and “that does not mean they can’t
knock some heads off while at it” which I assumed as the good side of The
Slave’s attempt. My questions are:
How do you
manage to reach such balance in your writing? Is that your own policy?
Yes, pretty
much. Not too many bands here can be filed under “Undeniably awesome” but I am
absolutely a supporter of anyone who wills to be unique and good, so I am
always looking at, firstly: the effort, and then the result. I rarely touch any
band that I don't like at all, except if they are utterly terrible and can be
used as an example of what not to do.
I was into
Marina and The Diamond’s Electra Heart. Is there any “mainstream” act that you
find interesting, I mean, plenty of wellness of an album or song to be
heralded?
I like Disney
soundtracks – that's pretty mainstream. If you mean “mainstream” mainstream,
then probably not. Sometimes I listen to The Strokes in the car and Nirvana
still when I'm with my kid; does that count? I've been listening to that last
Cloud Nothings record a bit, which I enjoy.
What is the
most exciting song to be played on stage, be it for “Marcel Thee” or Sajama
Cut?
Oh, Sajama Cut
is much easier to execute emotionally, so it's probably that. I like to be in a
team, so that always wins. I have a new band of sorts that are rhythmically
quiet powerful, so I'm looking forward to that too.
The hardest
song to be performed on stage, be it for its delicate structure or efforts
taken to replace the additional instruments (or studio trickery, if any)?
Pretty much
half of the new record will be a challenge to play, though we will definitely
break it into its essence. “Hong Kong Cinema” and “Street Haunts” are also
something we've tried in rehearsal but just never had the conviction to play
live yet.
I deemed
that the demise of Semak Belukar is due to their attempt to live up what they
say. I believe that you are an artist who “practices what he preaches”. For
example, you are practicing monogamy hence the lyric “maybe we’re just not
ready yet to have less than four wives” on “Fin”. My question is: Is there any
song in your catalogue that doesn’t suit your way of thinking? How do you feel
when you play it?
Well, “Alibi”
is one where the lyrics in the literal sense are complete fiction, but the
emotion is real. So it's a bit odd when people come up to me – which is nice,
but has happen one too many times – and think that I fell in love with someone
who fell in love with someone else. That is funny but odd. But most of the
songs are from my perspective, which makes it easier to get into night after
night.
Regardless
of Less Afraid and Janji Joni, suppose that you can bring your discography to a
certain point of time. What films that you think should put any of your songs
in their soundtrack? What song(s) on what film(s)?
I think most
of Manimal would have worked in an upbeat comedy or sad dramedy. I can't think
of any particular local films, sorry. What's a good one? (I don't know either-me).
Taking
close attention to Universal Music version of The Osaka Journal’s sleeve, there
is some kind of numerical pattern (date?) written after each songs’ title. It’s
been almost 10 years and I still don’t know what they mean. Care to explain?
Oh, well those
are just birthdays of significant people in my life. I think my father, mother,
and now-wife is there.
Some bands
wrote poor lyrics in english and I won’t name them. Have you ever been sought
after by lyricists from other bands for consultation when it comes to lyric writing in
english?
Hmm, I think I
have actually, but lately it has been mostly young music writers. Lots of
emails from them. But lyrics...I can't recall any in particular, but it has
ranged from really bad alternative posers to pretty good friend bands.
This
is a petty question: Will you re-release apologia?
Yes,
definitely. We get a lot of requests from various labels to do this, but it
doesn't feel like the right time yet. And this and next year will be a busy one
so I don't see it happening anytime soon. Maybe 2016? It almost happened last
year but I said no - Would have been too much in a year since we are also
re-releasing Osaka.
Another
petty question: What music do you feed to Anio? Or what music is she into at
this period?
She listens to
a lot of Strange Mountain, because I do a lot of the recording for that in my
home studio/ home office/ her nap room. She's into Nirvana Unplugged and some
Coldplay and some Interpol. That's what she likes and that's fine.
Christmas
or Easter. Which one you prefer?
Christmas is
fun, because there's a lot of get together. Gathering is what life is all
about.
Last petty
question: Do you know Tina Yuzuki? If you don’t, google her and thank me later.
But if you do/did, kindly ignore this question.
She's a fine
lady.
