By: Claudia Siregar |
On Friday, March 6th 2020, the Speedofsound Mag team had the chance to attend 630Recs’ Strshow, a 4 hour long joint concert featuring Dental Surf Combat, Deadly Weapon, Tarrkam, Cloudburst, and Smavg. The joint concert, held at Rossi Musik Fatmawati, served as 630Recs’ sixteenth show – and a celebration of the local hardcore scene in its own way.
The show opened with Dental Surf Combat, continued by Tarrkam and Deadly Weapon, all of which I unfortunately missed since I had to work overtime that night. The Speedofsound Mag team arrived just in time for Cloudburst, a Jogja-based metallic punk hardcore unit formed in 2011. The high-achieving (proven through their first album’s place in Swedish online magazine’s The Metal Rebel’s Best 20 Metal Albums) band succeeded in carrying the crowd throughout the performance, with signature, piercing screams from vocalist A. Okta and heavy basslines from bassist Ridho N. Staying true to the chaotic nature of hardcore punk and metal, Cloudburst served us with a chaotic performance wrapped by an even more chaotic setlist. They ended their set with an all-out performance of their song Harakiri Rhapsody, during which vocalist A. Okta took his shirt off, seemingly symbolic of the Japanese ritual of harakiri.
The next band off the list was Smavg (had a hard time pronouncing their name for a while…Smaveg? Or was it Smaug as in KVLT Kult? Good thing I found out how to pronounce their name the right way before going to Strshow), 630Recs’ “new favourite”. It’s not that hard to see why the Bandung band became the record label’s new favourite, since they put on an energetic show that night albeit the thinning crowd. Smavg opened the show cursing the infamous novel coronavirus, before proceeding with their set. Heavily relying on speedy guitar riffs, the band closed Strshow with a bang. I, for one, surely spent 80% of my time headbanging in front with the rest of the Speed of Sound Mag crew thanks to the exhilarating, quick show Smavg put on.
As we reflect on what role shows such as Strshow play in the national music industry on National Music Day, it is important to acknowledge that joint concerts such as Strshow are crucial in helping the local talents rise and become recognised by the public, especially that of the independent music scene. Overall, through Strshow, 630Recs have done a good job in exposing not just ibukota favourites, but also local independent hardcore talents from all over Java. We hope to see more shows like this not just from independent event organisers and record labels, but also major EOs and organisers.
Special thanks to: 630Recs
Speed of Sound Magazine 