In an attempt to generate interest for the indie scene (and to dip my toes into organising something on a small scale), as well as cross-sell some established and fresher acts, I wanted to see if a show could be run that involved a family of players - namely, players that played for more than one band.

"Collusion" was coined because it seemed like a shadow conspiracy of sorts; the type of mysterious thing that sinews with outstretched vines. Little did we anticipate that rehearsal schedules would almost overlap, and trust me: streams were almost comedically crossed.

We set the date, we set our prices (RM7 to watch one band, that's value!). The rest was left to fate. I freaked out at the thought of not having sold all but one early bird ticket (to my girlfriend, no less) - but all in all, we pulled in a reasonable crowd for an indie show, although it might sound discouraging to some when I felt bad for Russell's, based on the work and manpower that was put in.

I believe that there's still an untapped market for English indie music when it comes to pushing for a slice of the public's mind, but I wish I knew the secret sauce to make middle-class kids sit up and give a shit. And I reckon that the best way to do that would be to give the aspiring ones the chance to play, and to bangkitkan the feeling to their friends.

(Some might argue that "'you don't pay attention to The Propositions' is not the same as 'you don't pay attention to the scene'", which is also fair.) I have friends who have no compulsion to watch me play. And I cannot blame them as much as I can blame myself not pushing it to them more.

I mean, let's be honest - I wanted to put this show together so that my own band could play and cut our teeth a bit more. We're not cool, we're not fashionable, we don't play with reverb - in short, we don't know if we're meant for a greater calling. In many ways, we don't really are (although it would be nice).

I've got a sketchy idea on how to move forward with the Collusion as a platform, but it really comes down to figuring out how to make people pay attention. Like cats, folks can't resist nice and shiny things - and we need to unearth the bangle equivalent of it.

Thank you to Russell Curtis and the Russell's KL team for being so accommodating!

We'll be back soon.

#indierock #thepropositions #music #malaysianmusic #indiemusic #malaysia #rock #skiesarered #theendleaves #ficklefluke #thepaleones #Collusion #Russellskl #TTDI