1] Hi
man! Thanks very much for finding some time to talk. OK, introduce yourself
please, where are you from and how/when it happened you started your label?
Hi Dirt! First of all thanks for the interview. I’m Zaki from Malaysia, pretty much a whiny bastard myself, currently live in Kuala Lumpur, working in Selangor, my hometown is in Kota Tinggi, Johor and born in Muar, Johor. I started Dogma Artistic Guerrilla (DAG) in January 2001 and previously a moniker for my stencil design/art activities. Gradually it changed to represent any form of arts, music and literature that I’ve made, be it my artworks, bands and writing (zines, books etc): Basically to signify anything that I produce as an individual at that time.
And it was also transformed to a tiny distro (called DOGMA: Press & Distribution) approximately back in 2002.
But I started to consider it as a label when my wife, Leyla Euphoria (of Neurotic Euphoria) joined in to release Nuisance Drilled’s CDEP in 2009. Since that moment, DAG is a collective of two and no longer a solo effort anymore. And it’s also pretty decent to call it as a label when looking at DAG is currently focusing on releasing more music oriented stuff.
It is important to state here that I have reallocated the whole DAG distro works at Your.Slave.State: DIY Distribution since October 2009. Instead of focusing merely on DAG releases, it’s distributing stuff from other labels locally/worldwide as well.
2] DOGMA ARTISTIC GUERRILLA, ha! How you got such unusual (& cool!) name for the label? Were there any other, alternative variants of the label name? and what's this name - DOGMA ARTISTIC GUERRILLA - means, any special sence in there?
I’m glad that you consider it’s such a cool label name. But I don’t think it is a cool name nonetheless, because it’s long and intricate for some to memorize. By the way, I couldn’t come up with any suitable nuance to represent all my activities during the brainstorming for a unique name. Despite the dissatisfaction of an agreeable name, I ended up using DAG until now.
And in 2001 it was originally written like this: ‘DOGMA: Artistic Guerrilla’. ‘Dogma’ is the moniker/headline and ‘Artistic Guerrilla’ is the tagline. But it’s periodically changed (refer the answer number 1) and currently made into a phrase as ‘Dogma Artistic Guerrilla’.
It means: My own mind, my own ‘dogma’… and keeping it practical. Not to shove it unnecessarily. Furthermore try to remain ‘artistic’ through ‘guerrilla’ approach. Every release has its own agenda and motivation. Maintaining the aesthetic value is a virtue. Esoterically DIY method, at all times.
3] OK, so how many releases do you have to this current date? Feel free to name a full catalog (if it's not very big, haha)! And do you have a favourite release from your own catalog?
So far DAG releases can be summarized as:
Arts: You can check my artworks at http://zachvanalley.deviantart.com.
Music:
DAG10 ROTGUT/SETE STAR SEPT - Grindovermatter Split 7” Vinyl (December 2012)
DAG09 TOOLS OF THE TRADE/COMPULSION TO KILL Split 7" Vinyl (December 2012)
DAG08 ELECTRIC MOON - Flaming Lake Full Length Cassette (September 2012)
DAG07 SINGKARAT/HOLIDAY SAKKERS Split Cassette (September 2012)
DAG06 ROTGUT/JERK KEROUAC Split Cassette (September 2012)
DAG05 ROTGUT/SETE STAR SEPT - Grindovermatter Split Cassette (December 2011)
DAG04 NEUROTIC EUPHORIA/NUISANCE DRILLED - demo{phobia}2011 Split Demo CDR (August 2011)
DAG03 MAJNUN - Rehearsal Demo CDR (November 2010)
DAG02 AURAL MAYHEM PROJECT: The Four-Way Split CD (August 2010)
DAG01 NUISANCE DRILLED - All is Well, Euphoric Ending CDEP (April 2009)
Literature:
A DREAM? Zine issue no.1 - no.2 (1999 - 2000)
xDIRIKU UNTUK DIJUALx Zine/Newsletter issue no.1 - no.7 (2001 - 2003)
EMBER Zine issue no.1 (November 2008.)
…and certainly more to come. Every release has its own criterion, so it’s hard to tell which one is my favourite.
4] On your website there's a note under the label name - "Arts, music & literature". What about it? I mean, which component is the main in this trinity? Is this a short but capacious resume of your label? I know you have musical releases, but i don't know if you ever released... books?
I’ve already explained this at the previous question number 2. So I think it’s not appropriate for me to repeat it again. And I do consider zine is also a form of literature.
I have also contributed my writings in other publications made by local labels/publishers:
GOBLOG: Koleksi Tulisan Blog Orang Kecil Book (August 2006)
INNERVIEW Zine issue no.2 (June 2008)
A DREAM? Zine issue no.2.5 in HOMESICK: A Malaysian Zine Omnibus Vol.1 (October 2010)
PUNK ROCK: Disebalik Fesyen & Muzik Bising Book (January 2012)
This is so far the ‘notable’ ones that I remember.
5] Hey man i'm wondering what official profession do you have, and do you work on this profession? what are the most popular profession(s) in Malaysia now? In barbarian Russia these are economist and lawyer. So what about your country?
I’m a figure drawing lecturer at the local private university. It’s ‘9 to 5’ kind of work on a daily basis. Probably the most popular professions in Malaysia currently are businessmen and politicians. They’re actually the same. Yes, I regard the politicians similar to businessmen, because most of them are making good money by swindling government’s fund.
6] There were all different artists to design your last few releases - ELECTRIC MOON album, SINGKARAT/HOLIDAY SAKKERS and ROTGUT/JERK KEROUAC splits... personally you designed SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split. Do you always have (or looking for) different artists to design your releases?
I prefer different artists/designers to do the artwork/design/layout for DAG releases. It’ll be excellent if the band can provide it themselves because it’s easier when dealing with style, concept, theme and preference of the release. Hassle free that is. Of course the royalty will be given (separately with band royalty) for that creative works. However, I’ll do it myself if the band can’t provide artwork/design/layout by themselves. For SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split, I did the design/layout works only, but the artist who responsible for the artwork is Junji Ito, Japanese horror mangaka.
7] by the way, your art for SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split is fuckin brilliant! so sick and mad, haha! what was the inspiration? Some japanese manga maybe, or directly the musick of both bands, haha?
As has been explained in the previous question number 6, I want clarify it again; I didn’t make the artwork but Junji Ito thru his manga, Uzumaki. Fairul/Paloh (Rotgut’s vocalist) asked me to use the artwork where he found it from internet. Haha. And without doubt, Fairul/Paloh is the biggest fan of this mangaka. Nonetheless… yeah, it does represent the insanity of both bands.
8] Alright, let's digress a little from the subject talk. Malaysia is so far away from barbarian Russia, haha! seems so exotic place for me! can you tell something about living in Malaysia please? you actually moved from Selangor to Kuala Lumpur, right? it was just some domestic necessity? Does Kuala Lumpur is a bigger & more comfortable city compare to Selangor?
Living in Malaysia means as a normal civilian like me you have to work in order to survive and to make sure you have something on the dinner table for the whole family. We don’t have ‘dole’ or ‘food stamps’ as most of other countries in the world providing its citizen. There is no benefit paid by the government to the unemployed and no free food provided for the people with low income over here. Yes, there are welfare houses for the underprivileged especially the homeless, handicap, orphan, old folk and the likes. There are several benefits for the needy as well… but the requirements to receive welfare are kind of tough. If you’re none of the aforementioned and not really dreadfully in need (by their own term), it means you’re competent to work and able to gain your own money: So that you’re ineligible for the benefit. Case closed… and you’re off to live in distress.
But currently there is a scheme called Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) where government devotedly giving out money to the selected citizen especially those household income lower than RM3000 (approximately USD960 or EUR740) per month as we are heading towards General Election season. And there are some benefit also given to the populace as a campaign of its political agenda. It’s always like this, when every time there’s an election they will usually use money to garner a vote. But before this almost nothing beneficial has been done for the people. ‘Money Politics’? You name it.
No, it’s not a domestic necessity of changing places, be it from Selangor to Kuala Lumpur or anywhere else. Originally I came from Johor, a southern side of Peninsular Malaysia. I lived in Selangor since 1996 when I enrolled in a local public university for an art course. After finishing my study in 2001, I started to work and stayed in Selangor until January 2011. I have officially moved to Kuala Lumpur in February 2011 right after the birth of my daughter; that was when my parents-in-law decided in taking care of her meanwhile me and my wife are working on a daily basis. The Selangor address still available though, but since currently we’re no longer staying there thus I’ve decided to change it to Kuala Lumpur address instead; it’s safer and easier for me to handle the mailing process off the label/distro.
As of the current information: Kuala Lumpur is the federal capital and most populous city in Malaysia. It covers an area of 243 km2 (94 square miles) and has an estimated population of 1.6 million. Meanwhile Selangor covers an area of 8104 km2 (3129 square miles) and has an estimated population of 5,411,324. So let’s do the math of which is the bigger and do a psychological test of which is more likely a comfortable place to live in. But for me both are the same, it’s just nowadays I have to move miles away back and forth to work from KL to Cyberjaya, Selangor that basically takes me about one and a half hours of traveling as a daily routine.
9] To continue the previous question - how would you characterize modern life in Malaysia (or, at least, in your city)? i mean, what about prices for food & petroleum (high or not very much?), availability of medicine, development of various social institutes, freedom of word, level of criminal and corruption etc...?
Malaysia is considered as a developing country but approaching the peak where it would become a fully developed country. It has a very diverse economy from natural resources (agriculture, forestry and minerals), industrial sectors, finance/banking, tourism, science/technology etc and all of this has developed a lot in recent years; thus you can witness a lot of development especially commercial buildings had been built to cater the necessity of this progression. But somehow the poverty here in Malaysia is surprisingly rising up (since mid 90s) if we compare it with the ‘healthy growth’ of its development that has been boasted by the ruling party and its alliance. Pretty much imbalance, isn’t it? Yet their aim is there will be no poverty in Malaysia by 2015. Interesting!
Furthermore while the growth of buildings and infrastructure is rather enormous just about in every corner of this region, yet the act of maintaining it somewhat is lacking hither and thither. For example we can see a lot of potholes in the roadway, dirty flat houses, abandoned buildings, clogged drainage, murky/polluted rivers etc. All of which has waited so long to be seriously taken care of. Even though lots of charges (such as toll gate collections) and taxes have been profoundly/endlessly paid by the citizen, yet still the authority said that we’re lacking of financial support to overcome such problems; with the so called leaders are habitually exempted from toll charges in many places, then with almost the entire capital of every government projects has fallen into their pockets and the alliance. Can we imagine just how much the integrity left amidst all the evidence has been swept under the carpet? How wonderful it is. Now who do they think they are fooling? Yes, we the people are not as dim-witted as the authority would like to think we are.
The modern life in Malaysia is pretty massive with its rapid changing of social structure and lifestyle comparing to what we had in 20 years ago. It means let say if you were in a deep sleep or comma in the 90s and only waking up in this present time, I bet you’ll be sent to a mental asylum for not believing what you’re witnessing right now, especially if you live in KL, the capital city of Malaysia.
Based on a trusted statistic, Malaysian population is approximately 27,000,000 and occupied by 17,307,000 vehicles. With the amount of vehicles that we have comparing to the populace itself, Malaysia is considered as a country that uses a lot of petrol. Perhaps we may think that as one of the main crude oil suppliers in the world, the petrol price in Malaysia should be a lot cheaper. But the extensive usage of oil based on the amount of vehicles could be a valid reason of the price hikes we are dealing these days. Yes, the oil price in Malaysia is quite high but still if we compare with other Asian countries, Malaysia is considered the cheapest one. However, I’m not really sure if you ask me about the quality of oil that we have been offered comparing to the other countries.
But from my understanding, Malaysian crude oil has been exported abroad because of its high quality and ironically, in return Malaysia imported low quality processed oil for the usage of its own citizens. And in my opinion about the countries that are able to offer low oil prices, the first priority should be given in favor of their own people before exporting it. Therefore they can control the price themselves and not relying on the world oil prices. Perhaps the government should rightfully use the profit they’ve got from oil industry thoroughly for the subsidy purpose or even better supply it first for the citizens and export the remaining instead of send abroad the whole lot of its resource. If only this is accomplished, then government will be truthfully qualified to its ‘People First’ mantra. Or else it will be just ridiculed as another hidden agenda by the government.
About the food and medicine here for me are considered high with its unfair price of which needs no further explanation. If I elaborate more in order to tell you every detail, it’ll take lots of paragraph. Besides I think by giving the brief idea about the Malaysian ‘healthy growth’ and oil prices somehow has explained a bit on the other things plus the overall situation in term of price and its quality. What you need to do is to associate all of it and put it all in one jar of scrutinization; there you’ll see in some way something badly wrong is happening. Okay, okay… I’ll try to explain a bit, and promise it’ll not be a lengthy explanation. I always compare price and quality because basically I do understand thing comes in a package of which I don’t mind if I have to spend a little bit of money to obtain a good quality product/service. But somehow the price is ridiculously high especially for the supply of medicines by the private hospitals/clinics. The common reason given by these institutions is the medicines provided by them are very high quality and hard to get as in very limited of its production yada yada yada. This situation is completely unacceptable because most of the medicine prices are different from one place to another and there’s no standardization of price at all even though the type of medicine that has been offered is completely the same. The saddest part is the medicine/service provided by public hospitals/clinics; of course they offer a cheaper price for the masses but the medicine is allegedly low quality of a very strong drug/medicine that somehow a human body can’t endure. And lots of cases have occurred concerning to medical errors of all these years especially by these public hospitals/clinics. Why all of this has happened? Is this all because people paid the tiny bucks, then they have the right to do the job halfheartedly and give a shitty service with its low quality medicine? Give me a break. And where exactly the hell of ‘People First’ mantra they have been telling us about?
Frankly speaking, to live in Malaysia especially in Kuala Lumpur by any means necessary is to be prepared for the high cost of living. Almost everything here is expensive and the price of goods/services are uncontrollable too.
The freedom of speech is not encouraged at all over here in Malaysia. Since last time when we had a draconian system called Internal Security Act (ISA) established in 1960, every words of condemning the authority will be taken into account as a rebellion or upheaval therefore will be put into detention without trial and punished physically/mentally for the first 60 days. Within that period detainee is not allowed to communicate with outside world plus the lawyer and family members are not allowed to visit them as well. If the order to detain for 2 years is signed, the detainee will be brought to Kamunting Detention Camp whereas the real punishment will be put into a daily routine. This is pretty much horrifying experience based on the collected stories by the ex-ISA detainees themselves. Then on September 15th, 2011, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak has made an announcement about this code of legislation will be abolished and replaced by the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (simplified as SOSMA) which has been approved by Parliament on April 17th, 2012, given the Royal Assent on June 18th, 2012 and Gazetted on June 22nd, 2012. Okay, even the name has changed, I believe that the system and its mechanism is still the same… and the cruelty lives on!
All in all, I can consider that most of the things aforementioned are contributing to the fact about the level of criminal in Malaysia and is reaching its worrying state. When the ruling class keeps on sucking the honey, then lower class continues on licking the baloney. Where the people are constantly forced to live under pressure and when life needs you to do the best to keep on living in this world then comes the survival of the fittest theory takes toll, a wise decision has to be made… and I consider the criminals are actually those who are somehow less fortunate to live in this cruel world.
Corruption? Guess what? I think I have indirectly mentioned it throughout this response. All I can sum up, corruption is the mother of all awful things in the Malaysia’s constitution law and its enforcement. Alas it’s happening everywhere right here right now in the entire universe. Hurrah for that!
10] haha, i guess when a fan of extreme musick hear "Malaysia" he thinks about SMG first of all. just because they are too well-known, haha! but what other good extreme malaysian bands can you advise to check out? Now i know ROTGUT too, killer band. can you name some not very well-known but worth attention bands?
Yeah, they’re enormous with lots of releases. I was the guitarist of Opprobrium Adornment circa 2001/02 along with Randy the drummer before they changed the name to SMG. I adore the way on how Randy does his work… a truly dedicated chap.
About the worth attention bands (either extreme or not); I suggest you to check out Hereafter, Gasoline Grenade, The Bollocks, The Dirty Dogs, Gang Buster, Penyangak, Rotten Ruckus, Dum Dum Tak, Always Last, Soul Savior, Carbon4Teen, Hurricane, Home Run, Mass Separation, Parkinson, Psychotic Sufferance, Compulsion To Kill, Tools of the Trade, Alchemy Of Sickness, Singkarat, Pakatan Haram Jadah, Khayall, Kah-Roe-Shi, Depress, Atomicdeath, Osmantikos, Defeat, Antiprotokol, Aghory, Disgrace, Wardogs, Hellexist, Gymnastic Skull Whistling, Khesom, Thrash Ohooi!!, Sharon Stoned, Sarjan Hassan, Crimescene, Jerk Kerouac, Krosot, Lavatory, Crown ov Horns, Black Wings of Vengeance and Wwhirr.
Okay, that’s all I can think for now. I hope it’s enough for you.
11] OK man, you released fuckin awesome split SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT ~a year ago. It was sold out in.... 4 days! Damn, haha! Looks like this crazy japanese duo is very popular in Malaysia! do you plan to work with SETE STAR SEPT more in the future? And what about 7" version of SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split - you still gonna release it one day or no?
Yeah, it was pretty crazy. But it’s limited to only 100 pieces, which is very small in number… so it does help for the speed of sold out thingy. We didn’t intend to make it very limited in the first place, because to tell you the truth we released the split cassette just to fulfill the void by the meantime before the actual 7” version has released. It doesn’t matter if we sold it fast or not in the first place.
Why not? As long as Sete Star Sept are okay with it, they’re undeniably more than welcome to collaborate with us again. And the 7” version of the split will be released on December 25th, 2012.
12] Talking about this split... you actually made the artworks for this release. i like it a lot, really. a guy twisted into a spiral with a mad suffering face... looks killer! as far as i know you also did artworks for NUISANCE DRILLED "All is well, euphoric ending" release. do you paint for DOGMA ARTISTIC GUERRILLA releases only, or you have design orders from other labels (& bands) too?
Okay, I’ve already explained about the artwork of the split in the previous question number 6 & 7. I have done several artworks for bands & labels too instead of DAG releases only. The latest ones are logotype/logo/layout/artwork for Tools Of The Trade’s Defy CD, logotype for Krusty Blade Records and currently finishing an artwork for Trismus Records’ split CD release. Just to let you know, I’m temporarily stopped doing artwork/design since the 5th metacarpal of my right hand is broken due to a fight I accidently involved in October; had to do a major surgery and currently attending a physiotherapy program. However, I’ll definitely start over again in 2013!
13] hey man, what is the most well-known & popular pop star in Malaysia now? yes, a pop star, haha! i remember there was a pretty interesting release "Senandung Pawer-Kord: Saduran Pop 80'an oleh Kugiran Perasan" where punk bands were covering '80 malaysian pop atrists. i think you know this release. what is your favourite malaysian pop star (current or from old times)?
I consider Yuna currently is the most well-known & popular pop star in Malaysia. She is formerly an independent singer-songwriter but now has signed with Verve Music Group, a record label based in California.
Honestly I don’t have any specific local pop stars that I can consider as my favourite, but if you insist to know some (current and old) that are at least worth checking out, I’d prefer P. Ramlee, R. Azmi, Nordin Ahmad, Yuna, Zee Avi, Nasir Bilal Khan, Mat Sentul, Hamid Gurkha, Jamali Shadat, Sudirman, Amy (Search), Adibah Noor, Sarimah Ibrahim, among others.
14] what kind of musick do you like? Extreme first of all (powerviolence, grind, noisecore etc...) or other genres too? and what were the best releases of 2012 in your opinion? releases that you would recommend to check out.
I like all kind of music from traditional instruments, folk, pop to noise; the weirder the better actually. But most importantly it should be DIY in the first place. The best releases of 2012 would be: ‘Postmanic’ (Abrasion), ‘Drop the Dime’ (Weak Link), 'All We Love We Leave Behind' (Converge), ‘Atra Mors’ (Evoken), ‘Honor Found in Decay’ (Neurosis), ‘Yellow & Green’ (Baroness), ‘Sorrow and Extinction’ (Pallbearer), ‘Legend’ (Witchcraft), ‘Widowmaker’ (Dragged Into Sunlight), ‘Terranean Wake’ (Worship), ‘Transgression’ (Lavatory), ‘Superficial’ (Self Deconstruction), ‘The Revolution Continues’ (ManLiftingBanner), ‘For My Parents’ (Mono), ‘Taring’ (Seringai), ‘We Set The Pace’ (Stompin’ Ground), ‘No Absolutes In Human Suffering’ (Gaza), ‘Give & Take: Malaysian Hardcore Punk Compilation 2012’, among others.
15] not a secret - one more country of South-East Asia which is famous for extreme scene is Indonesia. can you compare this country with Malaysia in part of extreme scene? i mean, what is common and what is the difference of malaysian and indonesian extreme bands? maybe indonesians play a little faster/slower, or sounds more sick and raw...? haha. or maybe both countries represents one big & common extreme scene of South-East Asia?
I think basically it’s almost the same and the acceptance from the masses is the same as well. We’re dealing with the same kind of society where religious convictions take a major role in our daily life, so does dealing with the same mindset of conservative community which resulted from that sort of tradition and belief. We’re dealing with the same kind of authority where the corruption is their middle name. Thus the problems we are dealing are probably the same. So above all, our anger is approximately the same. Let’s not forget Thailand, Singapore and Philippine scene, they also have a lot of good quality bands in term of music and most importantly, the ethic. There are lots of bands to mention, but I think you can search it thru internet to check out by yourself. Anyway, I’ll put here 5 bands of each country in order to guide you a bit for something that is worth checking out of this region. Indonesia: Jasad, Burgerkill, Proletar, Rajasinga and ((Auman)). Singapore: Wormrot, Demisor, Stompin’ Ground, Abhorer and Impiety. Thailand: Surrender of Divinity, LowFat, Goryvomit, In Vein and Failure Trace. Philippine: Aggressive Dog Attack, Bad Omen, Backfist, Feud and Decadencia. Just ignore the trend, only the real ones will keep it genuine and stay true till the end!
16] alright, now some practical question, hah. i'm just wondering where do you get cassettes for your releases? do you order it in abroad (in China, Europe, USA, Japan...) or there're some places in Malaysia who produce audiocassettes? i myself have to order in abroad just because i can't find what i need here in russia. there're really a limited capabilities here, damn. so what about you?
Hi Dirt! First of all thanks for the interview. I’m Zaki from Malaysia, pretty much a whiny bastard myself, currently live in Kuala Lumpur, working in Selangor, my hometown is in Kota Tinggi, Johor and born in Muar, Johor. I started Dogma Artistic Guerrilla (DAG) in January 2001 and previously a moniker for my stencil design/art activities. Gradually it changed to represent any form of arts, music and literature that I’ve made, be it my artworks, bands and writing (zines, books etc): Basically to signify anything that I produce as an individual at that time.
And it was also transformed to a tiny distro (called DOGMA: Press & Distribution) approximately back in 2002.
But I started to consider it as a label when my wife, Leyla Euphoria (of Neurotic Euphoria) joined in to release Nuisance Drilled’s CDEP in 2009. Since that moment, DAG is a collective of two and no longer a solo effort anymore. And it’s also pretty decent to call it as a label when looking at DAG is currently focusing on releasing more music oriented stuff.
It is important to state here that I have reallocated the whole DAG distro works at Your.Slave.State: DIY Distribution since October 2009. Instead of focusing merely on DAG releases, it’s distributing stuff from other labels locally/worldwide as well.
2] DOGMA ARTISTIC GUERRILLA, ha! How you got such unusual (& cool!) name for the label? Were there any other, alternative variants of the label name? and what's this name - DOGMA ARTISTIC GUERRILLA - means, any special sence in there?
I’m glad that you consider it’s such a cool label name. But I don’t think it is a cool name nonetheless, because it’s long and intricate for some to memorize. By the way, I couldn’t come up with any suitable nuance to represent all my activities during the brainstorming for a unique name. Despite the dissatisfaction of an agreeable name, I ended up using DAG until now.
And in 2001 it was originally written like this: ‘DOGMA: Artistic Guerrilla’. ‘Dogma’ is the moniker/headline and ‘Artistic Guerrilla’ is the tagline. But it’s periodically changed (refer the answer number 1) and currently made into a phrase as ‘Dogma Artistic Guerrilla’.
It means: My own mind, my own ‘dogma’… and keeping it practical. Not to shove it unnecessarily. Furthermore try to remain ‘artistic’ through ‘guerrilla’ approach. Every release has its own agenda and motivation. Maintaining the aesthetic value is a virtue. Esoterically DIY method, at all times.
3] OK, so how many releases do you have to this current date? Feel free to name a full catalog (if it's not very big, haha)! And do you have a favourite release from your own catalog?
So far DAG releases can be summarized as:
Arts: You can check my artworks at http://zachvanalley.deviantart.com.
Music:
DAG10 ROTGUT/SETE STAR SEPT - Grindovermatter Split 7” Vinyl (December 2012)
DAG09 TOOLS OF THE TRADE/COMPULSION TO KILL Split 7" Vinyl (December 2012)
DAG08 ELECTRIC MOON - Flaming Lake Full Length Cassette (September 2012)
DAG07 SINGKARAT/HOLIDAY SAKKERS Split Cassette (September 2012)
DAG06 ROTGUT/JERK KEROUAC Split Cassette (September 2012)
DAG05 ROTGUT/SETE STAR SEPT - Grindovermatter Split Cassette (December 2011)
DAG04 NEUROTIC EUPHORIA/NUISANCE DRILLED - demo{phobia}2011 Split Demo CDR (August 2011)
DAG03 MAJNUN - Rehearsal Demo CDR (November 2010)
DAG02 AURAL MAYHEM PROJECT: The Four-Way Split CD (August 2010)
DAG01 NUISANCE DRILLED - All is Well, Euphoric Ending CDEP (April 2009)
Literature:
A DREAM? Zine issue no.1 - no.2 (1999 - 2000)
xDIRIKU UNTUK DIJUALx Zine/Newsletter issue no.1 - no.7 (2001 - 2003)
EMBER Zine issue no.1 (November 2008.)
…and certainly more to come. Every release has its own criterion, so it’s hard to tell which one is my favourite.
4] On your website there's a note under the label name - "Arts, music & literature". What about it? I mean, which component is the main in this trinity? Is this a short but capacious resume of your label? I know you have musical releases, but i don't know if you ever released... books?
I’ve already explained this at the previous question number 2. So I think it’s not appropriate for me to repeat it again. And I do consider zine is also a form of literature.
I have also contributed my writings in other publications made by local labels/publishers:
GOBLOG: Koleksi Tulisan Blog Orang Kecil Book (August 2006)
INNERVIEW Zine issue no.2 (June 2008)
A DREAM? Zine issue no.2.5 in HOMESICK: A Malaysian Zine Omnibus Vol.1 (October 2010)
PUNK ROCK: Disebalik Fesyen & Muzik Bising Book (January 2012)
This is so far the ‘notable’ ones that I remember.
5] Hey man i'm wondering what official profession do you have, and do you work on this profession? what are the most popular profession(s) in Malaysia now? In barbarian Russia these are economist and lawyer. So what about your country?
I’m a figure drawing lecturer at the local private university. It’s ‘9 to 5’ kind of work on a daily basis. Probably the most popular professions in Malaysia currently are businessmen and politicians. They’re actually the same. Yes, I regard the politicians similar to businessmen, because most of them are making good money by swindling government’s fund.
6] There were all different artists to design your last few releases - ELECTRIC MOON album, SINGKARAT/HOLIDAY SAKKERS and ROTGUT/JERK KEROUAC splits... personally you designed SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split. Do you always have (or looking for) different artists to design your releases?
I prefer different artists/designers to do the artwork/design/layout for DAG releases. It’ll be excellent if the band can provide it themselves because it’s easier when dealing with style, concept, theme and preference of the release. Hassle free that is. Of course the royalty will be given (separately with band royalty) for that creative works. However, I’ll do it myself if the band can’t provide artwork/design/layout by themselves. For SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split, I did the design/layout works only, but the artist who responsible for the artwork is Junji Ito, Japanese horror mangaka.
7] by the way, your art for SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split is fuckin brilliant! so sick and mad, haha! what was the inspiration? Some japanese manga maybe, or directly the musick of both bands, haha?
As has been explained in the previous question number 6, I want clarify it again; I didn’t make the artwork but Junji Ito thru his manga, Uzumaki. Fairul/Paloh (Rotgut’s vocalist) asked me to use the artwork where he found it from internet. Haha. And without doubt, Fairul/Paloh is the biggest fan of this mangaka. Nonetheless… yeah, it does represent the insanity of both bands.
8] Alright, let's digress a little from the subject talk. Malaysia is so far away from barbarian Russia, haha! seems so exotic place for me! can you tell something about living in Malaysia please? you actually moved from Selangor to Kuala Lumpur, right? it was just some domestic necessity? Does Kuala Lumpur is a bigger & more comfortable city compare to Selangor?
Living in Malaysia means as a normal civilian like me you have to work in order to survive and to make sure you have something on the dinner table for the whole family. We don’t have ‘dole’ or ‘food stamps’ as most of other countries in the world providing its citizen. There is no benefit paid by the government to the unemployed and no free food provided for the people with low income over here. Yes, there are welfare houses for the underprivileged especially the homeless, handicap, orphan, old folk and the likes. There are several benefits for the needy as well… but the requirements to receive welfare are kind of tough. If you’re none of the aforementioned and not really dreadfully in need (by their own term), it means you’re competent to work and able to gain your own money: So that you’re ineligible for the benefit. Case closed… and you’re off to live in distress.
But currently there is a scheme called Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) where government devotedly giving out money to the selected citizen especially those household income lower than RM3000 (approximately USD960 or EUR740) per month as we are heading towards General Election season. And there are some benefit also given to the populace as a campaign of its political agenda. It’s always like this, when every time there’s an election they will usually use money to garner a vote. But before this almost nothing beneficial has been done for the people. ‘Money Politics’? You name it.
No, it’s not a domestic necessity of changing places, be it from Selangor to Kuala Lumpur or anywhere else. Originally I came from Johor, a southern side of Peninsular Malaysia. I lived in Selangor since 1996 when I enrolled in a local public university for an art course. After finishing my study in 2001, I started to work and stayed in Selangor until January 2011. I have officially moved to Kuala Lumpur in February 2011 right after the birth of my daughter; that was when my parents-in-law decided in taking care of her meanwhile me and my wife are working on a daily basis. The Selangor address still available though, but since currently we’re no longer staying there thus I’ve decided to change it to Kuala Lumpur address instead; it’s safer and easier for me to handle the mailing process off the label/distro.
As of the current information: Kuala Lumpur is the federal capital and most populous city in Malaysia. It covers an area of 243 km2 (94 square miles) and has an estimated population of 1.6 million. Meanwhile Selangor covers an area of 8104 km2 (3129 square miles) and has an estimated population of 5,411,324. So let’s do the math of which is the bigger and do a psychological test of which is more likely a comfortable place to live in. But for me both are the same, it’s just nowadays I have to move miles away back and forth to work from KL to Cyberjaya, Selangor that basically takes me about one and a half hours of traveling as a daily routine.
9] To continue the previous question - how would you characterize modern life in Malaysia (or, at least, in your city)? i mean, what about prices for food & petroleum (high or not very much?), availability of medicine, development of various social institutes, freedom of word, level of criminal and corruption etc...?
Malaysia is considered as a developing country but approaching the peak where it would become a fully developed country. It has a very diverse economy from natural resources (agriculture, forestry and minerals), industrial sectors, finance/banking, tourism, science/technology etc and all of this has developed a lot in recent years; thus you can witness a lot of development especially commercial buildings had been built to cater the necessity of this progression. But somehow the poverty here in Malaysia is surprisingly rising up (since mid 90s) if we compare it with the ‘healthy growth’ of its development that has been boasted by the ruling party and its alliance. Pretty much imbalance, isn’t it? Yet their aim is there will be no poverty in Malaysia by 2015. Interesting!
Furthermore while the growth of buildings and infrastructure is rather enormous just about in every corner of this region, yet the act of maintaining it somewhat is lacking hither and thither. For example we can see a lot of potholes in the roadway, dirty flat houses, abandoned buildings, clogged drainage, murky/polluted rivers etc. All of which has waited so long to be seriously taken care of. Even though lots of charges (such as toll gate collections) and taxes have been profoundly/endlessly paid by the citizen, yet still the authority said that we’re lacking of financial support to overcome such problems; with the so called leaders are habitually exempted from toll charges in many places, then with almost the entire capital of every government projects has fallen into their pockets and the alliance. Can we imagine just how much the integrity left amidst all the evidence has been swept under the carpet? How wonderful it is. Now who do they think they are fooling? Yes, we the people are not as dim-witted as the authority would like to think we are.
The modern life in Malaysia is pretty massive with its rapid changing of social structure and lifestyle comparing to what we had in 20 years ago. It means let say if you were in a deep sleep or comma in the 90s and only waking up in this present time, I bet you’ll be sent to a mental asylum for not believing what you’re witnessing right now, especially if you live in KL, the capital city of Malaysia.
Based on a trusted statistic, Malaysian population is approximately 27,000,000 and occupied by 17,307,000 vehicles. With the amount of vehicles that we have comparing to the populace itself, Malaysia is considered as a country that uses a lot of petrol. Perhaps we may think that as one of the main crude oil suppliers in the world, the petrol price in Malaysia should be a lot cheaper. But the extensive usage of oil based on the amount of vehicles could be a valid reason of the price hikes we are dealing these days. Yes, the oil price in Malaysia is quite high but still if we compare with other Asian countries, Malaysia is considered the cheapest one. However, I’m not really sure if you ask me about the quality of oil that we have been offered comparing to the other countries.
But from my understanding, Malaysian crude oil has been exported abroad because of its high quality and ironically, in return Malaysia imported low quality processed oil for the usage of its own citizens. And in my opinion about the countries that are able to offer low oil prices, the first priority should be given in favor of their own people before exporting it. Therefore they can control the price themselves and not relying on the world oil prices. Perhaps the government should rightfully use the profit they’ve got from oil industry thoroughly for the subsidy purpose or even better supply it first for the citizens and export the remaining instead of send abroad the whole lot of its resource. If only this is accomplished, then government will be truthfully qualified to its ‘People First’ mantra. Or else it will be just ridiculed as another hidden agenda by the government.
About the food and medicine here for me are considered high with its unfair price of which needs no further explanation. If I elaborate more in order to tell you every detail, it’ll take lots of paragraph. Besides I think by giving the brief idea about the Malaysian ‘healthy growth’ and oil prices somehow has explained a bit on the other things plus the overall situation in term of price and its quality. What you need to do is to associate all of it and put it all in one jar of scrutinization; there you’ll see in some way something badly wrong is happening. Okay, okay… I’ll try to explain a bit, and promise it’ll not be a lengthy explanation. I always compare price and quality because basically I do understand thing comes in a package of which I don’t mind if I have to spend a little bit of money to obtain a good quality product/service. But somehow the price is ridiculously high especially for the supply of medicines by the private hospitals/clinics. The common reason given by these institutions is the medicines provided by them are very high quality and hard to get as in very limited of its production yada yada yada. This situation is completely unacceptable because most of the medicine prices are different from one place to another and there’s no standardization of price at all even though the type of medicine that has been offered is completely the same. The saddest part is the medicine/service provided by public hospitals/clinics; of course they offer a cheaper price for the masses but the medicine is allegedly low quality of a very strong drug/medicine that somehow a human body can’t endure. And lots of cases have occurred concerning to medical errors of all these years especially by these public hospitals/clinics. Why all of this has happened? Is this all because people paid the tiny bucks, then they have the right to do the job halfheartedly and give a shitty service with its low quality medicine? Give me a break. And where exactly the hell of ‘People First’ mantra they have been telling us about?
Frankly speaking, to live in Malaysia especially in Kuala Lumpur by any means necessary is to be prepared for the high cost of living. Almost everything here is expensive and the price of goods/services are uncontrollable too.
The freedom of speech is not encouraged at all over here in Malaysia. Since last time when we had a draconian system called Internal Security Act (ISA) established in 1960, every words of condemning the authority will be taken into account as a rebellion or upheaval therefore will be put into detention without trial and punished physically/mentally for the first 60 days. Within that period detainee is not allowed to communicate with outside world plus the lawyer and family members are not allowed to visit them as well. If the order to detain for 2 years is signed, the detainee will be brought to Kamunting Detention Camp whereas the real punishment will be put into a daily routine. This is pretty much horrifying experience based on the collected stories by the ex-ISA detainees themselves. Then on September 15th, 2011, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak has made an announcement about this code of legislation will be abolished and replaced by the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (simplified as SOSMA) which has been approved by Parliament on April 17th, 2012, given the Royal Assent on June 18th, 2012 and Gazetted on June 22nd, 2012. Okay, even the name has changed, I believe that the system and its mechanism is still the same… and the cruelty lives on!
All in all, I can consider that most of the things aforementioned are contributing to the fact about the level of criminal in Malaysia and is reaching its worrying state. When the ruling class keeps on sucking the honey, then lower class continues on licking the baloney. Where the people are constantly forced to live under pressure and when life needs you to do the best to keep on living in this world then comes the survival of the fittest theory takes toll, a wise decision has to be made… and I consider the criminals are actually those who are somehow less fortunate to live in this cruel world.
Corruption? Guess what? I think I have indirectly mentioned it throughout this response. All I can sum up, corruption is the mother of all awful things in the Malaysia’s constitution law and its enforcement. Alas it’s happening everywhere right here right now in the entire universe. Hurrah for that!
10] haha, i guess when a fan of extreme musick hear "Malaysia" he thinks about SMG first of all. just because they are too well-known, haha! but what other good extreme malaysian bands can you advise to check out? Now i know ROTGUT too, killer band. can you name some not very well-known but worth attention bands?
Yeah, they’re enormous with lots of releases. I was the guitarist of Opprobrium Adornment circa 2001/02 along with Randy the drummer before they changed the name to SMG. I adore the way on how Randy does his work… a truly dedicated chap.
About the worth attention bands (either extreme or not); I suggest you to check out Hereafter, Gasoline Grenade, The Bollocks, The Dirty Dogs, Gang Buster, Penyangak, Rotten Ruckus, Dum Dum Tak, Always Last, Soul Savior, Carbon4Teen, Hurricane, Home Run, Mass Separation, Parkinson, Psychotic Sufferance, Compulsion To Kill, Tools of the Trade, Alchemy Of Sickness, Singkarat, Pakatan Haram Jadah, Khayall, Kah-Roe-Shi, Depress, Atomicdeath, Osmantikos, Defeat, Antiprotokol, Aghory, Disgrace, Wardogs, Hellexist, Gymnastic Skull Whistling, Khesom, Thrash Ohooi!!, Sharon Stoned, Sarjan Hassan, Crimescene, Jerk Kerouac, Krosot, Lavatory, Crown ov Horns, Black Wings of Vengeance and Wwhirr.
Okay, that’s all I can think for now. I hope it’s enough for you.
11] OK man, you released fuckin awesome split SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT ~a year ago. It was sold out in.... 4 days! Damn, haha! Looks like this crazy japanese duo is very popular in Malaysia! do you plan to work with SETE STAR SEPT more in the future? And what about 7" version of SETE STAR SEPT/ROTGUT split - you still gonna release it one day or no?
Yeah, it was pretty crazy. But it’s limited to only 100 pieces, which is very small in number… so it does help for the speed of sold out thingy. We didn’t intend to make it very limited in the first place, because to tell you the truth we released the split cassette just to fulfill the void by the meantime before the actual 7” version has released. It doesn’t matter if we sold it fast or not in the first place.
Why not? As long as Sete Star Sept are okay with it, they’re undeniably more than welcome to collaborate with us again. And the 7” version of the split will be released on December 25th, 2012.
12] Talking about this split... you actually made the artworks for this release. i like it a lot, really. a guy twisted into a spiral with a mad suffering face... looks killer! as far as i know you also did artworks for NUISANCE DRILLED "All is well, euphoric ending" release. do you paint for DOGMA ARTISTIC GUERRILLA releases only, or you have design orders from other labels (& bands) too?
Okay, I’ve already explained about the artwork of the split in the previous question number 6 & 7. I have done several artworks for bands & labels too instead of DAG releases only. The latest ones are logotype/logo/layout/artwork for Tools Of The Trade’s Defy CD, logotype for Krusty Blade Records and currently finishing an artwork for Trismus Records’ split CD release. Just to let you know, I’m temporarily stopped doing artwork/design since the 5th metacarpal of my right hand is broken due to a fight I accidently involved in October; had to do a major surgery and currently attending a physiotherapy program. However, I’ll definitely start over again in 2013!
13] hey man, what is the most well-known & popular pop star in Malaysia now? yes, a pop star, haha! i remember there was a pretty interesting release "Senandung Pawer-Kord: Saduran Pop 80'an oleh Kugiran Perasan" where punk bands were covering '80 malaysian pop atrists. i think you know this release. what is your favourite malaysian pop star (current or from old times)?
I consider Yuna currently is the most well-known & popular pop star in Malaysia. She is formerly an independent singer-songwriter but now has signed with Verve Music Group, a record label based in California.
Honestly I don’t have any specific local pop stars that I can consider as my favourite, but if you insist to know some (current and old) that are at least worth checking out, I’d prefer P. Ramlee, R. Azmi, Nordin Ahmad, Yuna, Zee Avi, Nasir Bilal Khan, Mat Sentul, Hamid Gurkha, Jamali Shadat, Sudirman, Amy (Search), Adibah Noor, Sarimah Ibrahim, among others.
14] what kind of musick do you like? Extreme first of all (powerviolence, grind, noisecore etc...) or other genres too? and what were the best releases of 2012 in your opinion? releases that you would recommend to check out.
I like all kind of music from traditional instruments, folk, pop to noise; the weirder the better actually. But most importantly it should be DIY in the first place. The best releases of 2012 would be: ‘Postmanic’ (Abrasion), ‘Drop the Dime’ (Weak Link), 'All We Love We Leave Behind' (Converge), ‘Atra Mors’ (Evoken), ‘Honor Found in Decay’ (Neurosis), ‘Yellow & Green’ (Baroness), ‘Sorrow and Extinction’ (Pallbearer), ‘Legend’ (Witchcraft), ‘Widowmaker’ (Dragged Into Sunlight), ‘Terranean Wake’ (Worship), ‘Transgression’ (Lavatory), ‘Superficial’ (Self Deconstruction), ‘The Revolution Continues’ (ManLiftingBanner), ‘For My Parents’ (Mono), ‘Taring’ (Seringai), ‘We Set The Pace’ (Stompin’ Ground), ‘No Absolutes In Human Suffering’ (Gaza), ‘Give & Take: Malaysian Hardcore Punk Compilation 2012’, among others.
15] not a secret - one more country of South-East Asia which is famous for extreme scene is Indonesia. can you compare this country with Malaysia in part of extreme scene? i mean, what is common and what is the difference of malaysian and indonesian extreme bands? maybe indonesians play a little faster/slower, or sounds more sick and raw...? haha. or maybe both countries represents one big & common extreme scene of South-East Asia?
I think basically it’s almost the same and the acceptance from the masses is the same as well. We’re dealing with the same kind of society where religious convictions take a major role in our daily life, so does dealing with the same mindset of conservative community which resulted from that sort of tradition and belief. We’re dealing with the same kind of authority where the corruption is their middle name. Thus the problems we are dealing are probably the same. So above all, our anger is approximately the same. Let’s not forget Thailand, Singapore and Philippine scene, they also have a lot of good quality bands in term of music and most importantly, the ethic. There are lots of bands to mention, but I think you can search it thru internet to check out by yourself. Anyway, I’ll put here 5 bands of each country in order to guide you a bit for something that is worth checking out of this region. Indonesia: Jasad, Burgerkill, Proletar, Rajasinga and ((Auman)). Singapore: Wormrot, Demisor, Stompin’ Ground, Abhorer and Impiety. Thailand: Surrender of Divinity, LowFat, Goryvomit, In Vein and Failure Trace. Philippine: Aggressive Dog Attack, Bad Omen, Backfist, Feud and Decadencia. Just ignore the trend, only the real ones will keep it genuine and stay true till the end!
16] alright, now some practical question, hah. i'm just wondering where do you get cassettes for your releases? do you order it in abroad (in China, Europe, USA, Japan...) or there're some places in Malaysia who produce audiocassettes? i myself have to order in abroad just because i can't find what i need here in russia. there're really a limited capabilities here, damn. so what about you?
Only one place here I know in Kuala Lumpur providing such service. The supply is a tad limited, but the price is fairly affordable for a small label like us. Anyway for a pressing plant like this usually prefer a big amount of order instead of small one, because as the manager once told us that we can get a cheaper price for a single copy if we produce 500 copies and above per title. But seriously I’m not obliged to that kind of business modus operandi. We would like to keep the maximum of 100 copies per title for cassette format, 300 copies per title for vinyl format and 500 copies per title for CD format; this is what we prefer for the time being. The reason is pretty simple because we’d like to keep it as minimum as we could produce after we came to realize that it’s hard to sell even a copy these days and people tend to download rather than to have the hard copy material. As for example; NUISANCE DRILLED’s All is Well, Euphoric Ending CDEP took 4 years to clear up all of the copies. And after almost 3 years we still have around 50 copies of AURAL MAYHEM PROJECT: The Four-Way Split CD. Pretty disheartening, isn’t it? Unlike the era in between year 1995 to 2000, where a thousand copies seems too little to supply the demand of DIY music lovers locally/internationally.
17] OK, let me know what plans DOGMA ARTISTIC GUERRILLA has for 2013? Do you have some planned releases to do? Would be cool to know some info!
In 2013, we will put out the official zine of our distro: ‘YOUR.SLAVE.STATE’, HURRICANE’s full length album: ‘In Vein’, NUISANCE DRILLED’s full length album: ‘Relics’, NEUROTIC EUPHORIA/DEFEKTRO split cassette, SELF DECONSTRUCTION/COMPULSION TO KILL split cassette and SHOW OF BEDLAM/TRAUCO split cassette. Hopefully all will be accomplished.
18] hell yeah, i like movies a lot. first of all good old movies - from USSR times, but foreign too of course. what malaysian movies do you recommend to watch? it can be modern or old films, and any genre of course - drama, comedies, horror and other. cuz i think i never saw any malaysian film in my life. Need to fix this omission, haha!
Okay, good question. I jot down here some of the essential local movies within each era…
1930s: Laila Majnun. 1940s: Noor Asmara. 1950s: Abu Hassan Penchuri, Penarek Becha, Bujang Lapok, Orang Minyak, Nujum Pak Belalang, Anakku Sazali and Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup. 1960s: Labu dan Labi, Laila Majnun (1962), Ibu Mertua-ku, Puteri Gunong Ledang, Si Tanggang, Antara Dua Darjat, Badang, Raja Bersiong, Madu Tiga, Tiga Abdul, Sitora Harimau Jadian, Dajal Suchi, Sabarudin Tukang Kasut, Do Re Mi, Mat Bond, Ahmad Albab and 6 Jahanam. 1970s: Mat Karong Guni, Keluarga Si Comat, Panglima Badol, Gila-Gila and Pasung Puaka. 1980s: Si Luncai, Abang, Da Di Du, Dia Ibuku, Setinggan, Perjanjian Syaitan, Toyol, Langit Tidak Selalu Cerah, Kami, Sikit Punya Gila, Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan, Ilmu Saka, Azura, Ali Setan, Bujang Selamat, Gila-Gila Remaja, Kembara Seniman Jalanan, Ujang, Rahsia, Mekanik, Anak Sarawak and Misteri Rumah Tua. 1990s: Fenomena, Mat Som, XX Ray, Perempuan, Isteri & …, Layar Lara and Jogho. 2000 - 2012: Wayang, Sepi, Pensil, Kala Malam Bulan Mengambang, Zaiton: Ceritaku, Bunohan, Cuci, Sumolah, Zombi Kampung Pisang, Mukhsin, Gubra, Sepet, Man Laksa, Baik Punya Cilok, Rock, Puteri Gunung Ledang, Chow Kit, Dari Jemapoh Ke Manchestee, Kaki Bakar, Spinning Gasing, Talentime, Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula, Setem, Gadoh, Papadom, Muallaf, Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah, ...Dalam Botol, Estet and Songlap.
…and hopefully this is enough for you to check out.
19] well, traditionally the last thing i'd like to know is where i can eat good & cheap if i would come to your country/city one day, haha? do you know some not expensive small restaurants or nice clubs? and what should i taste from malaysian cuisine, what do you recommend?
The cheap food nowadays that you can usually find is at the hawker stalls everywhere in Malaysia. Surely it’s not that dirt cheap but I can guarantee you it’s cheaper than any of commercial restaurants that usually charge up to 50% - 100% more than the reasonable price should be. About the hygiene of these hawker stalls basically are okay-ish or so so… but yeah, we can always observe it by ourselves whether we’re comfortable with it or not. By the way it’s suggested to bring a friend that is regular with any of these hawker stalls, so your friend can recommend which one is the best in term of its goodliness.
So far the reasonably priced small restaurants located somewhere nearby my neighbourhood are Kafe Mesra (Pusat Bandar Damansara), Restoran Yusuf Tom Yam (Bangsar), Restoran Sate Kajang Haji Samuri (Damansara Uptown) and Medan Ikan Bakar (Jalan Bellamy). They offer a large variety of choices at its best.
I don’t know much about any of nice clubs here as I’m not a type of person who loves to spend time in a club sipping beer and the likes. However you can check out the clubs located somewhere at Mont Kiara, Jalan Telawi (Bangsar), Changkat Bukit Bintang, Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Sultan Ismail and some other places nearby as well. But I’m not sure about what they can offer you in terms of price, goods, services etc.
To be satirically considered as an ‘essential Malaysian’, you should at least taste roti canai and nasi lemak. So these are the least of cuisines you should try if you’re in Malaysia. Anyway to add more of a Malaysian taste in your tongue, I’d suggest you to eat karipap, nasi goreng kampung, nasi dagang, nasi kerabu, nasi kandar, nasi briyani gam, asam pedas, masak lemak cili padi, masak lemak tempoyak, satay, rendang, popadam and among others. You’ll surely love it… but please be prepared with its hot and spicy (extra gravy) taste of the Malaysian delight!
And please take a sip of teh tarik, sirap bandung, cendol or air batu campur while eating those aforementioned. Extra creamy! Yummy!
20] Great, thanks for the talk man. Keep up the good work! feel free to leave all necessary contacts for people - websites, emails, addresses, links... HORNS!
Honestly I’m exhausted answering all your questions that basically needs me to explain immensely. By the way, thanks a lot once again and sorry for the late reply. Feel free to ask if you would like to know more; especially about our local DIY (extreme music) scene in general. Hope to see you here in Malaysia. SALUTE!
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