Why Would I Write

  • Gig #119, Gig #120

    It’s been a while since my last show. I think I say this too often. Probably. But I’ve finally decided to get onto the stage again, with two shows for the coming week! If you’re on a long raya break, no excuse for you to not show up! Join me for some chill tunes and cool beer. Details below:

    PLOY Open Mic #95 ft. Sarah Daniella [Facebook Page]

    Time: 8 PM – 10:00 PM
    Date: 3rd June 2019
    Venue: Ploy at Clearwater [Google Maps]

    The PLOY (at Clearwater) Open Mic is our 2nd longest running open mic night which happens every Monday evening just outside the palace! Each installation features one of our finest musicians, with this one featuring…

    ***SARAH DANIELLA***

    SARAH DANIELLA started singing at the age of 10, influenced largely by gospel and soul music. Her love for the blues developed later on as did her love for rock. She blends these influences to create a unique fusion of music.

    Over the years, Sarah has been a part of a few musical groups and bands. She has more recently begun to focus on her solo project, Sarah Daniella Music. Joined by Ravi Shankar on drums and percussions, the two of them perform a mix of original songs and familiar standards by acts such as The Beatles, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Madonna and the likes.

    She is no stranger to the stage and has performed at events such as Tun Siti Hasmah’s retirement dinner where both Tun Siti Hasmah and Tun Mahathir Muhammad graced the event, Filem Festival Pelajar 2014 (FFP), Multimedia University Convocation Dinner 2012. She has also performed in many other livehouses and performance spaces such as Merdekarya, Pisco Bar, PLOY at Clearwater, The KL Journal and many others.

    She sites Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Etta James and Joan Jett as her biggest vocal influences.

    Follow her: https://www.instagram.com/sarahdaniellamusic/

    ***OPEN MIC***

    8.00pm – Juliana Heng
    8.15pm – Yan Chang
    8.30pm – 2storeyheart
    8.45pm – FEATURED ACT
    9.15pm – Clement Lee
    9.30pm – Andre D. D’Cruz
    9.45pm – Dzaim Adzmi

    Poolside Open Mic #92 ft. Eloise Lau [Facebook Page]

    Time: 8 PM – 10:00 PM
    Date: 6th June 2019
    Venue: The Swimming Club, KL Journal Hotel [Google Maps]

    The Poolside Open Mic is our 3rd longest running open mic night which happens every Thursday evening right on TOP of The KL Journal! Each installation features one of our finest musicians, with this one featuring…

    ***ELOISE LAU***

    Eloise Lau is a folk-pop singer-songwriter who has written songs in the full range of the emotional spectrum, from not wanting to get our of bed to wanting to watch a person burn and fall. An experienced performer, she has graced the stages at both local and international venues – as the only Malaysian representative at the 2013 ChildAid Asia concert in Tokyo and most recently at Urbanscapes2017’s #rediscoverKL. In 2016, she embarked on an ambitious song-writing project as a part of her thesis in her final year of university, which gained recognition from local press. She was also nominated as one of the best College/Uni acts at the 2016 VIMA awards and was interviewed as a featured guest Astro VBuzz which was aired exclusively on local TV. Expect to see more of Eloise Lau in 2018!

    Follow her: https://www.instagram.com/eloise.lau/

    ***OPEN MIC***

    8.00pm – Layeena
    8.15pm – 2storeyheart
    8.30pm – Jenssen Kuek
    8.45pm – FEATURED ACT
    9.15pm –
    9.30pm – Black Plastic Hat
    9.45pm – Young & Onn

  • 60 minutes of fame

    I spent my weekend being quite productive, I must say. I organized my keyboard spare parts into plastic boxes, and threw out a lot of cardboard boxes and plastic bags. Now I have extra space in my closet for more keyboard stuff.

    I’ve mentioned about having thoughts of recording my own podcast in the past before, and while that hasn’t taken off, I managed to do the next best thing: by being a guest on a podcast I regularly listen to! Over the weekend, I took up Don’s invitation to be a guest on The Board podcast and it was a lot of fun. I was expecting a lot of awkward silences and dead air, but conversation flowed pretty well. I had never been interviewed about keyboards before, so that was fun. I get to speak about something I’m interested in.

    The audio quality of my microphone is pretty terrible, I should have recorded locally so he could merge the files but it’s listenable. If you’ve ever wondered what I would sound like on radio, feel free to listen to the episode. Thanks again to Don for having me on! I’ll be up for another episode down the road if the opportunity rises again!

    I think my body might be telling me to quit drinking. Last night I was out for some beers and I noticed that every time I took a sip of beer, my jaw started to hurt for no apparent reason. It kept happening throughout the night. However, whenever I took a swig of water, my jaw was fine. No pain at all. I’m not sure what the cause is and googling doesn’t give me anything useful. Hopefully it was just something fucky in the air (or drink) last night because it would suck if my jaw hurt every time I drank alcohol.

    In addition to drinking beer, I had a lot of water which helped my body immensely the following day – I didn’t have to sit on the porcelain throne for most of the day (something which usually happens after a night of drinking). I guess I know what to do whenever I go drinking in the future. Water = good.

  • You Had Me at Merlot

    If you’re like me, someone who is always on the hunt for new music, you end up listening to a lot of mediocre artists. But once in a while, you’ll encounter an artist that blows your socks off, and makes the hunt all worth it. You sit up and question yourself, how many bands out there are this fucking good and just waiting to be discovered? For me, this happened last week with the band Mike Mains & The Branches.

    I was listening to Matt Carter’s podcast, Labeled: “The Stories, Rumors, & Legends of Tooth & Nail Records” when during one of the ad rolls, there was a song by Mike Mains being promoted – Breathing Underwater. I instantly fell in love with the hook of the song, looked it up on Youtube and listened to the song in full, many times.


    Mike Mains & The Branches – Breathing Underwater

    Coincidentally, the next episode was a feature with the lead singer/writer of the band, so I listened to him talk about songs that inspired him, and how he went about his songwriting process. Towards the end, they shared a bit of the song called Swamp and holy shit, I was blown away. From the poignant opening line sung over the somber piano chords, the build up, to the way Mike (the vocalist) belted out “Everyday feels like waking up in a swamp”. I knew this band was special.


    Mike Mains & The Branches – Swamp

    After the episode ended, I immediately listened to their latest album and grew enamored with each track. I kid you not when I say every song on When We Were In Love is fantastic. I continued checking out their discography (which stretches all the way back to 2010) and was not disappointed.

    While, in my opinion, the band isn’t artistically ground breaking like Dance Gavin Dance (also – completely different genre), they remind me a lot of California Wives, Walk The Moon, and a hint of later Taking Back Sunday. If you’re looking for some chill, indie pop rock, you can’t go wrong with these guys.


    Mike Mains & The Branches – Live Forever

    Here are some of my favorite songs from the band.

    Mike Mains & The Branches – Pouring Rain

    Mike Mains & The Branches – Stereo

    Mike Mains & The Branches – Stop The Car

    Mike Mains & The Branches – Around The Corner

    Mike Mains & The Branches – Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

    Mike Mains & The Branches – Drifter