Jose Phine by Matt Dixon, January '09

Bulan Bintang from Jose Phine Demo

1. Please introduce Jose Phine and give a brief history of the band
It all started back then when we're still studying in the same university... I think around 2003-2004. After almost one year we formed the band without a name, we decided to name it Josephine with numbers... that was the initial name of Josephine. You might be asking what is all about with the Josephine... act Josephine was the name of our math lecturer....that goes Josephine with numbers (math)... and fyi, the sound was more like The Get Up Kids. emo-punk whatsoever. We started to record our first material in late 2004 with five of us at that time (myself, Polo (drummer), Patch (guitar), Kimin (vocs), Pali (bass).

After a couple of shows (2004-2006) due to different interests among the band members, we shifted our music style and Pali (bass) went out and was replaced by Brute from Sneak Preview (according to Brute, Sneak Preview was a punk band w/out future at all). With the additional of Brute, we renamed our band to be Jose Phine; just Jose Phine. By early 2007 we started to collect new material which was totally influenced by band such as Saetia, Tristan Tzara, Utarid, Raein, June Paik and a few more. We recorded our first demo in the middle of 2007 which three of the demo songs you can find on our myspace page... Bulan Bintang (The Moon and the Star), Api Api Api (Fire Fire Fire!!) Rosyam Noor (Brad Pitt Malaysian Version). From the middle of 2007 until now, we have not recorded any new material yet but we have several new songs that need to be taped soon... and we just came back from an Indonesian Tour along with Tyrant (Malaysia), Dying in Motion (Swiss) and Full Chin from Japan.

2. Let's talk about the Indonesian Tour for a moment. I read your blog after you got back and it seemed like you guys really had a great time. What were your favourite cities to play? Was this your first experience playing in Indonesia? Also, do you have any cool stories from the tour?
We really had a great time there; meeting a lot of new friends, stupid jokes 24/7... yeah and plus Indonesian people are good and friendly. Our trip organizer Mandra (from Tersanjung13) and Ketu (Grave Dancer) were one of the main factors why the tour was awesome.

Our first show was in Cinere Mall, Jakarta. Second we played at University Muria Kudus, we were kinda shocked at the first place because the show was a stage show. After that we played at Jogjakarta; we haven't had the opportunity of to know each other very well...(too tired from the trip i think haha)... but I'd like to mentioned to you this one cool indie band; Suddenly Sunday... the music is kinda catchy and cute and they seem talented in their scene. The last show for the tour was in Solo. Among all the places before, Solo was the most awesome show. The crowd was really cool and we met a lot of new friends there like Chotax, Benot, Tuink, Aji and many more....from my personal view, I like the band called Ali Jamil....you can check them on myspace.

3. You mentioned you were surprised to be playing on a stage. What is your ideal show situation? Do you prefer to play house shows / DIY spaces rather than clubs?
Yep. Actually we dont have any sort of rule for this. But I like to share our thoughts of shows is more a smaller room, packed with kids... we very much appreciate the shows when we (as the one who play) and the audience share the same level... playing in a no stage area gives us the feeling of that; a feeling that we and the crowd are no different / no barrier. There is no level of celebrity/popularity/idol or whatever.

5. The band seems to be quite influenced by the DIY Punk ethic. What attracted you to it in the first place and how has it influenced you and how the group goes about its business (putting out records, booking tours, etc)?
Thats right. What attract us?ermm...for me, I love music...and I am quite sure the rest of the my band loves music too. But why did we choose to the DIY punk ethic is because the idea of the DIY itself - you do it yourself and if you cant... a lot of people might want to help you..and they really there [for you].

I am also not sure what punk is all about but if you were in Malaysia right now we could show you the difference ideology/appearance of certain bands who play just for the profit/fame or what ever you may list it and the ones who play because they have nothing else to do. They just love doing it and they are still doing it.

I am not against anyone here... and I am not saying that those who play for the money are wrong; they have their own reasons too and if they play just because of that what should I care?

The idea of you have nothing else to do and start to plug in your guitar then scream along the way is quite influencial in the first place.

About the record, booking tours, etc... I have this one friend named Arwith who handles all of this. He is from Utarid previously and now plays with Kias Fansuri. We have known him for a year and he has been helping us with all of this. Sometimes he also plays for Jose Phine. Due to work requirement Jose Phine members are scattered all over Malaysia; that is why we need an adhoc replacement sometimes.

5. Are Utarid Booking and Utarid Tapes associated with one another? Utarid Tapes has been making a lot of noise and putting out some really rad stuff. And of course they released your demo tape. How did the relationship between Jose Phine and Utarid Tapes develop? What attracted you to them in the first place?
For Utarid Tapes and Utarid Booking, the man who handles it is the same person but of course receives other help also. The function between both is straight to the DIY music but with difference intention. Utarid tapes is more like a label... UT have released a lot of local and outside bands, while Utarid Booking is more like a touring agency. If you are planning to make a tour of South East Asia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines and Indonesia you may find UB helpful. The relationship between the band and UT developed in mid 2007. At first we had been working with UB to handle one show for Eucalypt (Australia) in Ipoh, Malaysia. What attracted us to them? I do not know how to answer that, but i am sure meeting new friends, changing ideas between another, etc are wonderful and UT and UB is one of them.

6. It's safe to say that you've been heavily involved in the DIY music community in Malaysia, so I'm wondering how your experiences playing in Malaysia have been, both good and bad, and what are your thoughts on the current state of the scene?
Our experiences playing in Malaysia are not really tremendous. I can say it is quite moderate. Other than us, there are several active bands in Malaysia I can list here such as Dhaigila, Dramacoma, Halal/Hadhari, Killeur Calculatuer, Monaco Heart Attack and many more. Personally for me these guys are talented. We managed to share one stage with them before and it was quite an amazing moment for us. The bad thing I'd like to mention here are punctuality. Let's say on the flyer the show will start around 2PM but in the end it may drag up until 5PM to start. I am not saying that we've never come late to a show before. We are also trying to minimize this habit and improves our ethic from time to time. I do not know if the problem is associated with our culture or what.

7. What are some of the things you try to communicate through your music? Lyrically are there any specific themes, politics, or ethics you try to express?
We would like to say that in our lyrics are not really into political/ethical kind of things. I am not the one who always write the lyrics but as far as I am concern we always talk about life and past experience and our thoughts of something. We also use our own language (Bahasa Malaysia) in our lyrics.

8. What is it that you hope (a) Jose Phine (b) you as a person can accomplish through music/art or whatever else?
For JP, I hope we will be more active in this year. For me I hope later when it ends all this stuff; the friendships still remain.

9. What has been your most memorable show and why?
Our memorable show was when we did our release party for our demo during mid 2007. Despite all the obstacles, we managed to handle it. I just couldnt figure how we passed those days.

10. What does Jose Phine consider worth fighting for?
Chasing our dream.

11. What's up next for the band?
European Tour!!!, full length release, stuff etc.

12. Final words?
Regret for wasted time is more wasted time!!! So just move on.

Listen to Jose Phine:
myspace.com/josephinemusics

JOSE PHINE ARE COMMITED TO NOT WASTING TIME
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