There’s no reason to astray, Stay with Liyana Fizi

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She just wants to sing, and write songs. And she still continue doing it even though she had to leave her baby, Estrella for good.

For our Featured artist this time, we have Malaysian indie darling, Liyana Fizi, who spent her precious time with us telling about her new solo project and her past with Estrella.

When Estrella was formed in 2006, the front woman of the band Liyana Fizi has been playing around KL, from small crowds to big venues. Later their first single “Stay” peaked to #1 on Hitz.fm’s Malaysian English Top 10 for 5 weeks and 1 on

Fly Fm’s Campur Chart for 3 weeks, and sustained heavy rotations on both Malay and English radio station in 2008. Numerous nominations and won 4 awards in Voize Independent Music Awards [VIMA] has crowned them a good place in local indie scene, especially for indie jazz and folk’s fans.

Wrote most of her song in English and few in Malay, her music can best be described as mixtures of jazz, indie and folks. Signed to local indie label Laguna Music in 2007 probably the best thing ever happened to her and Estrella, since the label helped a lot in promoting her band, and yet the main reason why Estrella lost their sweetheart. Read the interviews below, as Liyana spoke to us what really happened to her and Estrella.

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1. Hi Liyana, how are you doing these days? any interesting stuffs you would want to share with us?

Hey Pizzza people, i’m doing good. Been abit busy catching up with stuff, mostly work and schedules, coz I was away for awhile.

The closest interesting thing coming up is on 13 May at Bentley Auditorium, Wisma Bentley. Really excited, I’m gonna be the opening act for Club 8, a Swedish pop duo band brought in by Soundscape Records. So see you there ok? Get more details here:  http://doezine.blogspot.com/2010/04/event-club-8-live-in-kuala-lumpur-this.html

2. Are you writing any songs now?

Yea a few, when inspiration comes ☺

3. Who are your musical hero?

So many to list down. Hmm

4.  What is your first music instrument?

My Suzuki melodian, from tadika. Tadika Melody, Shah Alam.

5. Why did you left Estrella?

Well that wasn’t the plan, coz I never thought of leaving the band. Especially coz it was Yob (estrella’s old guitarist/ songwriter) and I who formed the band in 06, so it meant a lot to me. But there were too many changes made internally for Estrella by our label, so it became very different, and the direction for each band member became different too.

Yob left in October 2008, and I was suppose to just continue after our 2-year contract ended last year on 30 Sept 2009. That didn’t happen tho, coz there were claim rights to the Estrella album recordings and to the “Estrella” band name etc.

Good news is that Yob and i have both registered all the songs we had written for Estrella with MACP, giving us author rights. For performance and royalty and stuff.

Moving on, requests kept coming in, so while thinking of a new band name, I decided to just use my name for the time being. I still haven’t found a new band name tho. Any suggestions?

6. How’s your music journey going after you left Estrella.

So far, its been good I’m hoping to travel to more places playing music. I still perform in either a full-band format/ acoustic-duo format, with the same group of sessionist musicians from Estrella. The only change is that now we’re a free band, we have a new drummer, and the percussionist switched to playing bass.

7. So tell us a bit about your daily life, what do you do when you’re not playing music.

Daily life: I go to work..(boringgg)..i like to waste time with friends & family..I like to look for books. See movies, watch live music stuff like that.

8. Where are your inspirations for songs come from? Relationships? Friendships? Heart breaks?

All of the above + observations.

9. There are quite a numbers of female singer-songwriter coming out now like Ana Raffali, Diandra Arjunaidi, in addition to the existing artists like Yuna, The Otherside Orchestra, Robot Asmara and a lot others out there. Each of them are quite talented as well. What say you?

I say yes! All are talented, all different, all passionate. Nowadays when I drive, I jump and crank up the radio every time Robot Asmara comes on. Best.

10. Paramore, No Doubt, Cranberries, Garbage, Six Pence Non The Ritcher – all female-fronted band, give few words on each band.

Paramore – a band with a cute redhead who looks/sounds like Diandra. No Doubt – big fan of theirs since high school. Garbage – I only like 3 songs. Six Pence – Kiss Me, stuck forever in my head.

11. The local indie scene has seen the better days before, the time when KAMI series came out. Jam-packed venues, indie-gig almost every weekends, we still have the old Meet Uncle Hussein, Laila’s Lounge, Bittersweet, Estrella, Komplot, but now the scene seems fading away.  What will you think the future brings to our local indie scene, and to you too. Do you think the indie scene will make a comeback?

I don’t think its fading..its just changing. Transition time, for new music to come out and circulate. Don’t worry

12. I noticed you went to Melbourne for a show last week, tell us more about that.

My bandmates and I performed at a gig in St. Kilda, Melbourne called Muzika Musim Luruh last 7 April. Went together with Bo, Hujan, the Pilgrims, Brokenscar and Kugiran di Tepi Pantai. I brought with me some copies of my new single “Light Writing”, it was released here in KL at the end of March.

The trip was extra fun for me, coz I was involved in the filming of the pilot episode of  TAPAU: The Music, The Road, A Camera. It’s a brand new rockumentary series, where the featured artiste/ band would share the story behind their music, at different locations. We “tapau-ed” Melbourne, and we also did an impromptu shoot for “Light Writing” the Music Video. So stay tuned for that, boys and girls.

13. Have you ever been to Killeur Calculateur show?

I have! But just this one time, in Sunway. I’m a fan of Zamir and his mustache.

14. Are you going to Kelly Clerkson’s concert soon?

No I’m not.

15. Last words for your fans and PIZZZA team?

For my fans, hello + (flying) hugs and kisses. Thanks so much for everything. If I haven’t met you, you’ve made it possible for me to sayang strangers. Hope you enjoy the music

Thanks Pizzza, for the interview. So sorry for the delay. Let me know if you need a pizza delivery girl ok. Bye!

<3
Liyana

Get more info on Liyana Fizi through her
Myspace http://www.myspace.com/liyanafiz or her
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liyana-Fizi/130375171148
dont forget to follow her Twitter - Liyanafizi

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