The Great Battle of Seven Collar T-Shirt!

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This band needs no introduction at all. They’ve been around in the scene more than a decade, and the band itself has been in Malaysia music scene before the word “Indie’ itself was popularized by the tv series KAMI. Consist of 4 members currently, Duan, Muhammad, Adil, and Keng Lee, they are better know as Seven Collar T-Shirt.

One of the most established local English bands, have been active in the Malaysian music scene for over 10 years. Drones, their sophomore album was regarded as one of the most crucial English releases in Malaysia and has since brought them touring around South East Asia and the United Kingdom.

The Great Battle is SevenCollar T-Shirt’s third follow up to their AIM award nominated sophomore album Drones. Unlike Drones, The Great Battle displays a heavier, moodier and darker effort. The much awaited album has been hailed by music critics and music fans alike as one of the best efforts in the Malaysian English music scene. The album has most recently received 2 nominations for AIM 17.

(words taken from SCTS’ Facebook info)

(This interview was done long ago, so I’m sorry if there’s any time lapse here (;  – Editor)

Interview by : Diana Ludin (lovecoloursme@yahoo.com)

1.    First of all, thank you for sparing some time for this, we really appreciate it. As been recently released, why named it ‘The Great Battle’?

Ham: It was a battle to record the album, it was a battle to name the album, it was a battle to mix and master the album, basically, it was really a great battle for us to record a new album, hence the album title.

Adil: We have taken some time to record and release the album. There are a lot of obstacles in getting the job done. The Great Battle portrays all of the ‘battles’ in completing the album.  It also refers to the challenges that human face in their daily lives.

2.    Personally we heard that it took you guys quiet sometime to wrap up the entire album’s production. What took you guys so long?

Ham: We took our time because we needed to gel with our bassist Keng Lee as a unit. He replaced Fidi in 2006, and plus we had to make sure he works well with the band. We even brought Keng to tour with us in Indonesia, The East Malaysia and UK just to make sure he’s ready to record.  We also took time during the recording as this was self produced with our recording/live engineer Jeffrey  Little as well. For example the song December, we had to record the drum tracks several times in a span of two months just to ensure we get the beat (and sound)that we want. The same goes with the rest of the songs in the album.

Adil: We have been a bit busy this past few years with our daily job, studies and also we have a new bassist who replaced Fidi.

3.    After that period of time of creating this master piece The Great Battle, will the listeners expect anything new from Seven Collar T-Shirt compared to Drones in 2004?

Duan: Thanx for the kind words, we did take our time to come out with a release after Drones, a little too long maybe, apologies for that, but we are much tighter now as a unit, so I expect things to go much faster after The Great Battle. Some new materials are in the works, coming very soon…
Ham:  Expect a tight and heavy rhythm section with more emotional singing.

4.    How has the band changed since Drones?

Duan: We got older, and I feel like we are much more focused now.
Ham:  We are much tighter, heavier and more rocking than ever!
Adil:  For me, the band was much different musically as we have a new bass player Keng.  Keng’s new ideas in his bass riffs style has pretty much changed the sound of the band

5.    What has been your strong influence to continue performing till this very day?

Duan: The love for music and making music…
Ham: The joy of hitting the stage with passionate listeners supporting us and checking out the bands from our forever evolving with so little support music scene.
Adil:  My passion in playing drums.

6.    We heard that your bassist, Keng Lee just recently got married, congratulations from all of us here at Pizzza Magazine. Is this going to affect the band anyhow, anyway?

Ham: Keng Lee’s a committed band member and we are sure the wife will be rocking with us (in spirit) as well.
Keng: Thank you…. wow… word spreads fast… Nothing will change. Everything is status quo. My wife is very supportive of what I do & so I do not see myself being less involved with the band even though I’m married

7.    So when is it your turn Duan? Hahaha, are you taken? How about the rest of the band members?

Duan: Haha…not so soon…
Ham: The rest are still busy trying to get laid. It’s hard to get laid when you are busy rocking and rolling 24/7.
Adil: Hahaha… after Duan and Ham…

8.    Do you guys have other interests or talents each of every one of you like to do else than being a part of Seven Collar T-Shirt?

Ham: Everyone is contributing their musical skills one way or another outside the band, Duan, Adil and Keng are full time music teachers, I am involved is writing jingles and commercials.
Adil: I love doing ensemble works.  I enjoy doing musical performances that involves team work such as percussion groups, marching band..

9.    Tell us a bit about your two days concert, The Battle Protocol recently in KLPAC?

Adil: The show is the final performance for the battle protocol tour.  It’s a two days performance by only SCTS with special appearances from musicians  and artists.  The concert also features new arrangement of our repertoire.  We’ve played all songs from The Great Battle album, also several songs from the Drones album.  We have also worked with a great graphic and concept designer  Rewan Ishak, in making this showcase visually great with lights, props and projection.
Ham: We really poured our heart and soul into the production so it was sweet to see the support we received from the show.
Keng: We were really nervous at 1st…. there are so many free shows in the Klang Valley and we really doubt the kids would pay a premium price to watch us play in KLPAC. But nevertheless all our fears were allayed as we managed to sell quite a significant amount of tickets.

10.    How is it felt to work Yuna?

Ham: It was cool and she’s a very fun person to work with.
Keng: Her voice is really unique plus … she can really sing! We only had a few rehearsal sessions but she sang like a veteran

11.    The best local band for you?

Duan: Love Me Butch most definitely…
Ham: Wow, this is hard but we are big fans of Love Me Butch, They Will Kill Us All, Killer Calculateur, Bittersweet.
Keng: My favourite local bands are Khottal, Komplot (RIP), They Will Kill Us All, Killeur Calculateur

12.    Will you write your song in Malay soon?

Ham: We are currently working with a renowned local artiste for a malay song. We’ll see how this goes.
Adil: Maybe….

13.    We are sure that you guys have been performing countless shows either domestic or international, do share with your band’s weirdest experience so far.

Duan: we survived a lot of weird shows, one of the best was during our recent Battle Protocol tour in Kelantan, where the setup was in a hall of a private bungalow by the beach, and we ended up playing at 1 am!!! I remember anticipating the authorities coming and raiding the show but that didn’t happen, and that show became one of our best and most intimate performances ever. We had bbq by the beach and chilled with the audience till early morning before heading to Terengganu the next day. We love you Kelantan and Gegey Music!!!

Ham: There’s no weirdest experience for me, but the worst things that you can imagine in a tour happened to us when we were UK bound for our tour ie no place to stay, got stopped while performing, getting kicked out by the venue, no money to buy food.
Keng: I think the whole UK tour was a WEIRD experience…. it felt like more like a paid holiday than a tour cuz we only got to play 1 and the half shows in our 2 weeks in UK. Bands who are on tour play shows almost every other day…. Now that’s WEIRD
Besides weird… I think a scary experience was during our flight from Bintulu to Kuching, Our plane encountered heavy turbulence due to bad weather conditions. The plane felt like it was falling out of the sky. It was really quite scary.. but nevertheless we survived it

14.    Katy Perry or Hayley Williams? *wink wink, if you’re aware of what’s happening on the internet nowadays*

Duan: Katy Perry because she looks like Zoey Deschanel and I think Zoey is HOT!!!
Ham: Katy Perry because she’s shagging Russell Brand. Gotta give props to a lady who’s going out with a comedian. Eat your heart out Roger Rabbit.
Keng: I can’t name u a single song from Katy Perry so I guess I have no choice but to go with Hayley Williams…

15.    Where do you guys see yourself as a band in the next 5 years?

Duan: I wanna see the band really push our limits and getting involved in more diverse projects.
Ham: Producing more albums, playing live shows and breaking a hip while rocking out on stage.
Adil: Still performing, recording and producing.
Keng: Recording a Malay album. Yearly domestic & regional SCTS tour

16.    So what’s next in the line for Seven Collar T-Shirt?

Duan: We are planning another tour for the last quarter of the year, hopefully happening after Aidilfitri…
Ham: Expect a music video from our second single Fragile, directed by Rewan Ishak, a live DVD of The Battle Protocol and more mayhem on stage.
Keng: My immediate goal is to play a show in Perlis… then we’ve covered the entire Malaysia! At the moment it feels kinda bizarre to have played in Indon & UK but have not played in every state of our own country. Perlis kids.. show some love.. bring us up north!
Adil: More live performances

for more info, do check out their pages at www.myspace.com/scts www.facebook.com/sevencollartshirt

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