PRABU PRAMAYOUGHA

PRABU PRAMAYOUGHA

What are your earliest memories of loving music, and what was your first favorite song or band?

It was probably Michael Jackson. I was an avid big fan of him. I wasn’t quite sure where I got into him at the first place but all I can remember is that I had a handful of VHS bootlegs of his concerts & stuff. Well, my dad’s musical taste was also responsible for making me like this now. He fed me with all these his favorite tapes when I was a child like I got introduced to Queen, Rush even to Al Jarreau. So when the other kids at school listened to tp 40s or like children nurseries, I already jammed to Tom Sawyer! Haha! I’m not saying that he gave me bad influence for giving me that stuff too early on me but I seemed to enjoy it and already listened to the unique stuff when I was on that age. So it’s all good. But yeah anyway, probably MJ’s Bad was my first favorite song ever I guess and Beatles was –still is- my first favorite band.

When did you begin to associate music with your identity, and when did you realize that you wanted to create your own music?

Probably at school years. I pretty sucked at all these youth activities or hobbies, especially sports. And of course, since I got introduced to music at very young age, it was probably like the coolest thing for me and I couldn’t live without it. So probably at middle school, I decided to dive in to music because I realized it was the only thing I was good at. So yeah, middle school years were the time when I started my own band & started writing my own stuff –which was usually just a huge mess and sounded pretty crappy.

In the beginning, how did you approach songwriting? Did you study other songwriters' work for reference or just try different things until you found what "works"?

At first I just made up something from all these tid bits that I previously listened. So like there was this one song that consisted of these songs that I liked and I just put everything in haha! But then again, that’s how probably songwriting working. You just create something from your listening experience. So as time went by, I finally found my own “formula” which in Indonesia I’ve never heard of before. Well, it’s just basically like typical pop punk songwriting but I have my own twist of chord progression & vocal melody and I found out that no one’s ever done it in here. So I’ll just stick with it for now.

Which instruments did you learn first, and what was your process for learning to play? How soon after learning did you begin creating your own songs?

Oddly enough, it was drums haha! I wanted to be a drummer but when I discovered Green Day, I started learning guitar because of Billie Joe. Back in the days, I usually saved up some money to rent an hour or two for a practice session at the local music studio. I taught myself how to play, which was quite pathetic & lonely because my peers weren’t so keen about music, they were into sports and video games. It took me a couple of months that I could do basic drum. But then, boom, Basket Case video on MTV happened. That was the revelation of my life that I should have learned to play guitar haha! It took me long enough to write my own songs, as I have mentioned above, I started a band & decided to play my own stuff on middle school years.

How did Saturday Nigh Karaoke form? Did Indonesia already have an established pop punk scene at that time? Did the Internet play a big role?

I started Saturday Night Karaoke during my college years, to be exact in 2008. Actually I was playing with a hardcore band during that time but to be honest, it wasn’t that fun haha! Deep inside I still wanted to play poppy punk stuff that I have big love for. So I started writing some pop punk songs again from the scratch and brought some old songs to play them with Saturday Night Karaoke. I asked some friends at campus and they said yes, so off it went. Well, as per usual, the term pop punk always becomes an anomaly. During that time, the term pop punk was associated with bands like Four Year Strong, A Day To Remember or well, some people would say the “easycore” type. I mean, our kind of pop punk was –is still- pretty segmented and pretty much considered as “old music” and I totally understand about that. So it was pretty hard to play back in the days. Luckily, my connection doesn’t only circulate around the punk segment. I have handful of friends from different scene and genre like indie pop, thrash even hardcore! So Saturday Night Karaoke usually ended up play at multi genre gigs which was pretty damn good so we could play for different audience! And the internet, oh man, god bless the internet. It really did help us a lot. So it all began at RTTB actually. I sent Marc one of our crappy Eps and asked him nicely whether if he would put us up there amongst all these great pop punk bands around the globe. Surprisingly, he responded and said he would upload us there! So from there, we got new listeners from everywhere. Thanks Marc!

It seems that Indonesia has a very healthy and supportive music community. Do you receive a lot of feedback from fans outside of Indonesia? Do you think SNK is more popular at home or abroad?

Does it look like that? Haha! Well, glad if you see it like that but you know, it has its ups and downs these days but all we can do is just to keep on playing. Yeah! After we put out our albums on international labels – SP Records (Japan), Waterslide Records (Japan) & Monster Zero - people from different countries started to say hi to us or even nicer like asked us to play in their places! Man, I wish we were that rich and our money currency was high so we could fly and play everywhere easily. It’s really heartwarming that my crappy band got this chance to be known a little wider from our own country. I gotta say now it’s pretty much equal. After 10 years of playing, we finally found out that our playtime is getting higher and some random people actually listen & cover our stuff. I never thought it would turn out like this so yeah it’s pretty cool! But still, abroad people, thanks for caring! Would like to thank you in real life too!

You've maintained an association with Japan that is really cool. How did you first come into contact with the Japanese pop punkers? What were the circumstances that led to your recent tour there?

Randomly, this dude –who happens to be my real life friend now- named Kazuki added me on Facebook one day and told me he was so into my band. Then I realized he’s the singer of the band that I like too, Felix! The Band. So from there we started talking a lot. Then from him, some Japanese friends followed like Yoshi from Nerdy Jugheads, Yuki from SP Records. Then Saturday Night Karaoke got a deal with SP Records to release our debut album there, so it was kind of like snowballing from there. Amongst all countries that we would like to play in, Japan is the most relevant for now. Our currencies aren’t that different and the visa is easier to retrieve. That’s why we decided to do a Japan tour in 2017. But still, we want to play around the globe!

What interests you about the Japanese culture specifically? How does it compare to your experience growing up in Indonesia.

At first, it was the music. I was a big fan of some Japanese bands/musicians, namely like Hi-Standard, The Blue Hearts, Tulip even some of their old idols like Tomoyo Harada or Iyo Matsumoto. I’m so in love on how they always write something catchy. Do you realize that? Even the saddest song in Japanese pop culture always sound really catchy. Maybe from there I read more about the culture and stuff. So when I went to Japan, it wasn’t that big deal of culture shock because I’ve read some of those things previously. Japanese culture is very unique and I think somehow it has some sort of similar way like what we have in Indonesia like the polite manner & communication type thing. But of course, Indonesia is way more chaotic haha!

What is your view of the USA scene? Do you think it's interesting that so much of the international pop punk scene is rooted in the same list of USA bands, yet there are SO many excellent international bands that probably don't get due credit in the USA?

Well of course, everything that happens in USA will always be a common conversation topic across the worldwide punkers since that’s the Mecca of the  music/movement. I think it’s okay but well yeah sometimes it also bugs me that some great non-USA bands –that also clearly got inspired from the USA bands- are being overlooked. I mean, take it this way, some USA bands started the style, shaped it up, but there are bands out there who perfected the style, you know? Japanese bands are the best examples. They perfected the vocal harmony & chord progression, which is awesome, so why can’t those bands from there get a little more exposure? I mean, come on.

At one point you ended SNK but then started again. What were the reasons for this? Do you find that your inspiration is inconsistent? Do you ever experience depression as a musician? I find that this is a common thread among songwriters to some extent.

You just said it haha! Sometimes when I argued –which happens a lot- with my bandmates, I just couldn’t take it. But luckily, I have good support system in my life about musical career. So the last time I “disbanded” Saturday Night Karaoke, Athif (drummer) had a deep insightful conversation on how he actually still wanted to play with the band and his argument was pretty reasonable so I thought, if there was any kind of way that I could play again and cleared the air between the members, it would be fun again. This might sound so stupid, but most of my songs were written during low times. Brokenhearted, fired from a job, rejection, you name it. At some point, I feel like I need to feel low to be able to write good songs, but as time went by, I realized I can write something in a merrier situation, or let’s say, different mood. I can’t wait to release these new songs that we’re currently working on, some of them were written on different mood! Please stay tuned!

Can you talk about your brief power pop project The Shoptalks? What inspired you to write in that specific style? Do you find that your current songs are more inspired by power pop rather than traditional pop punk?

I’ve been in love with power pop since a long time, The Vapors, Nick Lowe, De Cylinders etc. So there is always this time when I try to write a punk song but it ends up poppier than I thought and that song won’t fit for Saturday Night Karaoke. So instead of pushing it to the band, I decided to release it under new monikers –The Shoptalks & my own solo project. But nowadays I always try to fit my passion for powerpop to Saturday Night Karaoke and I think I found a better way to mix them up without losing the band’s identity. Oh man, that sounds so silly.

You are a very skilled and passionate musician. Do you receive support and encouragement from your family? What do they think of what you do?

I actually did! Haha! But when I told them I wanted to do it a little more serious they gave me this kind of objected opinion and told me to stick with the normal life plan. You know, like get a normal 9 to 5 job, buy a home and get rich. But most of the time, I just don’t listen and just get on with my music haha! As long as I survive, they won’t be bothered too much.

Do you find it difficult to balance "real life" with your passion? What is your approach to this disconnect between our everyday roles versus our identities as musicians?

Totally. I got so frustrated by this moment many times in my life. Even not me, Athif (Drummer) is currently working for a national TV station and it affects so much to the band. But there’s always a thing called compromise, so I can just talk to my work partners when I need time to play and take like annual leave to do it. Or just like only play gigs at weekend. Sometimes it’s kind of hard when you have to do it like that when you want to pick up the pace on the “passion” aspect, but for now as long as we can play, that’s all what matters.

What are your ultimate goals as an artist?

Traveling around the world and play this music that I like! I wanna see the world by doing something that I like. I mean, most of the people from where I come from who are able to travel accross the globe are pretty much like rich people or academic people. I want to be someone who can play pop punk around the world. Amen to that!

When you look back at what you have accomplished so far, what stands out as your proudest moments? 

Good question. Honestly, I don’t know to answer because everything that I’ve done through music is always important and standing out to this moment. But if I have to say, having international friends and listeners through music is pretty awesome. I never thought that many people will actually care to listen to my silly love songs that I wrote in my 4x5 bedroom. That’s pretty cool!

What advice would you offer the aspiring songwriters and bands hoping for success in today's digital, social media-driven scene?

Just keep on creating something. Even though it’s hard to play or to produce, just don’t stop. Also, believe on something that you’ve created and just release it. There are handful of channels that can be used on the internet. They’re so helpful and also you’ll never know that someone out there will actually listen to your stuff. Keep on playing!