“Sharing is not Stealing, Love is Sharing, Everybody Loves Irene”
-Work hard from morning till night, then wash your body with warm water. Make a hot chocolate with a marshmellow in it, relax on your favorite comfortable sofa. Play Everybody Loves Irene song until you fall asleep-
Everybody Loves Irene
Interview ini seharusnya sudah di-post beberapa minggu yang lalu, maaf untuk keterlambatan ini, saya sedikit sok sibuk dengan pekerjaan (euhh, terdengar sok sekali). Jadi, ini adalah interview saya dengan Everybody Loves Irene, draft pertanyaan dibuat oleh teman saya Tinta (yang merupakan fans berat Everybody Loves Irene), lalu saya menambahkan beberapa point pertanyaan. Maka tergenapilah 25 q's & a's dengan Everybody loves Irene yang baru saja menggebrak dunia musik digital dengan album terbarunya, On Second Thought, I Might Wanna Change Somethings.Semoga tidak terlambat bagi kalian untuk menikmati interview ini. Turunkan bokongmu, mainkan album Everybody Loves Irene, dan baca tulisan dibawah!1. Mengganggu jika nama kalian disingkat menjadi eli saja? yeah, image, music, and text are matters!
Mengganggu jika dilihat dari segi image dan brand. Ntar orang malah nangkepnya eli itu nama orang. Seperti Eli Eboy, Elias Pical atau Elia Kadam. Tapi perlahan-lahan ELI telah menjadi brand sendiri. Yah mungkin orang akan capai kalau tanya “Eh, kapan Everybody Loves Irene manggung lagi? Terakhir gue nonton Everybody Loves Irene itu bulan lalu, sebelum Everybody Loves Irene rilis album baru”
2. Siapa tau aja ada yang belum tau, bisa diceritain sedikit aja gimana eli bisa ada, dan nama band yang satu kalimat itu bisa muncul?
Berawal tahun 98, kala itu Dimas (bass), Yudhi (gitar), dan Mulyadi (drum) membentuk band sekolah bernama Gotoon yang kemudian menjadi band cover version band britpop di Poster Cafe. Kemudian merekrut Irene menjadi vokal di tahun 2001 dan mengganti nama menjadi Everybody Loves Irene karena terpengaruh sitkom Everybody Loves Raymond dan film Me, MySelf and Irene.
3. Bagaimana proses praproduksi, produksi, dan postproduksi album On the Second Though, I wanna Change Some Things? explorasi instrument baru? Orang-orang yang membantu di album kedua ini?
Ini menarik. Sound engineer kami adalah J. Vanco, dia sangat jenius dan kami sangat menikmati bekerja dengannya. Sebelumnya Vanco telah merekam banyak band yang berkualitas seperti Efek Rumah Kaca dan Sore. Vanco dan Yudhi telah sepakat membuat konsep garage raw trip-hop di album kedua ini. Jadi, ketika mendengarkan di headphone banyak terdengar suara kresek-kresek dan banyak suara-suara yang kasar. Merekam album kedua ini dilakukan secara live, bukan overdub. Eksplorasi yang kami lakukan di segi vokal adalah memakai mic vocal terbalik dan di lagu Blood in a rush Irene menyanyi dengan tidur tertelungkup agar seolah-olah ia menyanyi setelah berhubungan badan. Beberapa instrumen yang kami pakaikan efek overdrive seperti bass di lagu Architect, dan di semua lagu, Rhodes Piano, Hammond Organ dan synth-synth yang lain pun kami kawinkan dengan overdrive. Kami juga mengajak beberapa teman seperti Wahyu (Marche La Void), Thera (Wonderbra), dan juga pacar-pacar kami untuk menyumbangkan suara sebagai Broken Choir di lagu Solitude Dialogue. Biasanya choir mempunyai suara yang indah, namun choir yang kami pakai adalah choir yang tidak mempunyai suara yang merdu oleh karena itu disebut Broken Choir. Beberapa instrumen tambahan seperti perkusi dan violin juga kami pakai di album ini.
4. Kenapa memilih lagu Planet Bumi-Rindu untuk di daur ulang?
Tahun lalu, Planet Bumi merilis album Working Class Zero, dan mereka mengundang kami untuk mengisi pada launching album mereka. Untuk menghormati mereka, kami mencoba ‘merusak’ satu lagu mereka menjadi trip hop. Karena kami menyukai lagu Rindu yang populer ketika mereka masih eksis di jaman Poster cafe, akhirnya kami meremake lagu tersebut. Setelah acara tersebut, vokalis Planet Bumi, Nyoman menyukai album itu dan akhirnya kami menggarap remake tersebut secara serius.
5. Meng-cover lagu orang lain, apakah adalah sesuatu yang sering dilakukan eli, baik di panggung atau rekaman/di studio?
Kalau sewaktu manggung jarang. Mungkin kami hanya meng-cover 1 lagu untuk 1 album. Dan cenderung merusak. Kami merusak old school punk-nya The Misfits ‘Hybrid Moment’ dan juga Britpop-nya Planet Bumi menjadi triphop.
6. Untuk Yudhi, sudah ada materi lirik Bahasa Indonesia atau bahasa daerah?
Belum ada, bukannya kami sombong sok pakai Bahasa Inggris, kami merasa bahwa Bahasa Indonesia adalah salah satu bahasa yang paling rumit di dunia. Karena jenis musik kami diadaptasi dari musik luar, jadi sangat susah menerapkan bahasa Indonesia di lagu kami. Kami sedang terus belajar untuk mengembangkan kemampuan kami, yah doakan aja..
7. Strategi pemasaran album kedua kalian sedikit berbeda, bagaimana hasilnya sejauh ini? Dan apa alasannya pake strategi tak lazim seperti itu?
Kami merilis album ini secara DIY, bukan indie, karena kami total melakukannya sendiri. Dan kami mempunyai kekuatan untuk mempromosikan album untuk masuk ke media-media arus besar. Jadi kami berpikir keras bagaimana menyusun strategi pemasaran kami. Akhirnya kami memilih internet dan teknologi sebagai basis promosi kami. Alhamdulilah, karena internet kami bisa lebih dikenal di penjuru dunia dan dapat kesempatan untuk manggung di luar Indonesia. Oleh karena itu, kami membuat tagline Sharing is not Stealing, Love is Sharing, Everybody Loves Irene. Kami mempersilahkan orang-orang untuk mengunduh single Rindu di www.everybodylovesirene.com dan membuat launching via internet pada tanggal 08-08-08 dengan live streaming. Dan di tanggal yang sama kami mengitari Jakarta dengan membagikan single Rindu tersebut melalui Bluetooth.
Pada September, bulannya puasa, kami agak kebingungan mau promo bagaimana. Karena di bulan ini biasanya musisi-musisi itu kan biasanya merilis single religi, sedangkan kalau melihat materi album kami, tidak ada lagu yang bertema religius. Setelah putar-putar otak, kami kebetulan menemukan kawan kami di jaringan maya yang rupanya sedang menulis cerpen berjudul ”Bunuh Diri Massal 2008”. Agak sulit juga menghubungi orang ini karena saat itu beliau sedang berada di Bangkok. Usaha keras membuahkan hasil, kami akhirnya bisa berkontak dengan mas Fajar Nugros dan meminta ijin agar single kami ”The Big Bang Propechy” bisa jadi soundtrack untuk cerpen ”Bunuh Diri Massal 2008”. Akan tetapi karena waktu yang mepet dan dana yang kurang, kami kawinkan cerpen ”Bunuh Diri Massal 2008” dengan single ”The Big Bang Propechy” menjadi sebuah cerpen klip yang disebarkan melalui lintas maya.
Kami berkolaborasi dengan penulis cerpen Fajar Nugros dan Alanda Kariza. Dan situs Bunuh Diri Massal (http://bdm2008.everybodylovesirene.com) hingga kami menjawab interview ini telah diakses selama 126086 kali.
8. Tertarik dengan netlabel? Seperti yang kalian tulis, Sharing is not Stealing, Love is Sharing, Everybody loves Irene +p Btw, any comments for netlabel?
Kami rasa, fondasi Everybody Loves Irene di dunia maya sudah sangat kuat. Jadi penawaran yang dilakukan oleh netlabel terkadang tidak lebih baik yang telah kami lakukan. Dan kami tidak ingin ada konflik dengan iTunes bila kami sign dengan net label. Kami ada kontrak eksklusif dengan mereka. Kami lebih memilih iTunes, karena iTunes adalah salah satu yang pernah mendukung kami.
9. Makna dunia maya bagi everybody loves irene?
Sangat bermakna, beberapa dari kami telah mengunggah jiwanya ke dalam dunia maya.
10. MP3 sharing + internet, gimana eli melihat hal ini sebagai pembuat musik dan album?
Sharing is not stealing remember, kami membagi segalanya dengan sesama, kami membagi perasaan hingga membagi single kami. Manusia cenderung berbagi hal-hal yang disukanya. Dan kalau kamu juga suka dengan musik kami, silahkan berbagi dengan yang lain!
11. Karena saya belum pernah melihat gig kalian, bagaimana konsep pertunjukan everybody loves irene?
Kami bukan band fashion, jadi nggak fashionista. Kami membawa set panggung sederhana seperti meja yang berisi telepon, lampu tidur dan beberapa gelas minum dan botol wine. Hal ini adalah visualisasi dari artwork album. Lilin-lilin kecil dan televisi jika memungkinkan kami bawa keatas panggung sebagai pengganti lampu. Terkadang kami mengajak teman-teman visual jockey seperti Andri LMS untuk turut serta.
12. Ada pengalaman gig yang paling aneh dan berkesan gak?
Kalo aneh: Kami manggung di salah satu pub di Jakarta. Tiba-tiba ada oom-oom yang mabuk dan merequest satu lagu sambil berteriak ”UNBREAK MY HEART!!! GUA MAU UNBREAK MY HEART!”. Galau banget kayaknya si Oom...
Paling berkesan: Baybeats 2007 Singapore dan Laundry Bar Malaysia. Kami nggak pernah menyangka kalau orang-orang di Singapura dan Malaysia selalu sing along ketika kami perform. Sungguh pemandangan yang nggak pernah kami dapat di Indonesia
13. Kalian menikmati sebagai performer? Siapa yang pemalu di panggung?
Ya menikmati dong. Percaya atau enggak, Irene yang paling pemalu. Perhatikan ketika Irene bernyanyi, pasti ia sejajar dengan salah satu personil dari kami.
14. Setelah Baybeats, ada keinginan/tawaran lagi untuk main di festival di luar negeri?
Ada sih. Katanya akhir tahun. Tapi belum confirm. Yah doakan saja. Kami sebenarnya lebih ingin main di dalam negeri saja. Bayangkan, kita udah ke Malaysia dan Singapura tapi masak belum pernah main ke Surabaya?
15. Mungkin masih banyak orang yang ingin tahu, gimana sih caranya kok bisa sampe main di festival luar negeri?
Semua karena internet. Maintain terus!
16. Properti pesawat telepon era 70-an menjadi benda wajib kalian untuk cover album, any reason? Secara telpon rumah sekarang bicara 30 menit bayar 6 menit saja. Hahaha...
Nggak ada. Benda itu telah kami sulap menjadi sebuah microphone. Ketika manggung, kami bisa memakai benda itu untuk berbicara atau menyanyi.
17. Jika everybody loves irene adalah sebuah judul film, apa genre dan setting nya? siapa yang menjadi sutradaranya?
Kami buta masalah film. Maaf.. paling Quentin Terrantino yah cocoknya..
18. Gimana sih foto band yang artsy menurut everybody loves irene?
Yang menunjukkan jati diri si band itu sendiri. Nggak usah dilebih-lebihkan.
19. Masing-masing personil lagi gila sama apa nih? mungkin ada side project?
Yudhi sedang sibuk menjadi composer, Aul sedang sibuk project Lego, Dimas sibuk mempersiapkan perkawinannya, Mulyadi sibuk pasca perkawinan, Irene bekerja demi masa depannya.
20. Make a sentence for the next ELI album title!
The third impact is not the end of the world.. semacam itulah.
21. Make a paragraph, how people should listening to ELI's songs!
Bekerjalah dengan giat dari pagi hingga malam, setelah itu mandi air hangat. Buatlah coklat panas dengan marshmellow di dalamnya, rileks di sofa favorit. Setelkan lagu Everybody Loves Irene hingga terlelap.
22. Make a statement about sinetron in Indonesia! ;P
Semoga para pelaku sinetron disini lebih banyak menonton disney ketimbang bollywood
23. Menurut kalian kenapa krisis finansial global yang dipicu kolapsnya pasar uang di Amerika bisa terjadi?
Serius mau nanya ini?
Bush telah kehilanggan kepercayaan masyarakatnya karena perang irak. Oleh karena itu untuk mengembalikan kepercayaan masyarakatnya, ia melegalkan kredit perumahaan yang mudah. Kepercayaan masyarakat kembali dan para masyarakat AS ramai-ramai membeli rumah bak kita di Indonesia kredit motor: Hanya dengan 500 ribu, bawa pulang motor. Ternyata kredit ini macet. Terjadilah itu yang namanya subprime mortgage. Bersamaan dengan itu, kas pemerintah AS minus karena perang irak. Belum lagi keserakahan pelaku pasar yang mengakibatkan Lehman & Brothers bangkrut. Adooh.. lanjutannya mendingan ikut kuliah ekonomi aja. Kami nggak mau MellonZine jadi Warta Ekonomi! (hey, saya Sarjana Ekonomi! :p -Jay)
24. Berapa lama kalian bisa tetap hidup tanpa internet? ;P
rata-rata hanya 5 jam
25. Dua puluh lima point pertanyaan adalah angka yang bagus untuk mengakhiri wawancara ini. Apa arti angka 25 buat eli? Hehehe, Ok, terima kasih eli, silahkan jika ada kata dan kalimat yang mau disampaikan pada pembaca, sukses terus!
Umur 25 tahun berarti... harus menikah...
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Everybody loves Irene: "We released this album as DIY (Do It Yourself) not Indie"
This interview supposed to be posted weeks ago, I'm so sorry for the delay, a bit busy with my current job (euhh, sound so yucks!). So this is my interview with Everybody Loves Irene, question draft made by my friend, Tinta (who is really love Everybody Loves Irene, actually), then I add some additional question to them. So this is sum up 25 q's and a's with Everybody Loves Irene who is just banging digital music world with their album, On Second Thought, I Might Wanna Change Somethings. I hope it's not too late for you to enjoy this interview. Put down your ass, play that Everybody loves Irene album, and read below!
1. Is it bother you if your name abbreviated as just as ELI? Yeah, image, music, and text are matters!
Yes it’s bother, if we saw it from image and brand. People may catch that ELI is a someone name. Such as Eli Eiboy, Elias Pical or Elia Kadam (all of the name suggested are Indonesian well-known figure). But slowly, ELI has been a brand itself. Yeah, peoples might tired if keep asking “Hey, when will Everybody Loves Irene on show again? The last time I saw Everybody Loves Irene is last month, before Everybody loves Irene released its new album.”
2. Just in case if anyone don’t know yet, can you tell us how Everybody loves Irene was formed, and where does that sentenced name could came?
Started at 1998, when Dimas (bass), Yudhi (guitar) and Mulyadi (drum) formed a high school band named Gotoon, then became a britpop cover band at Poster Café. After that, we recruit Irene as vocalist at 2001 and changed our name to Everybody loves Irene, influenced by a comedy situation Everybody loves Raymond and a movie Me, Myself and Irene.
3. How is the pre-production, production and post production process on album On the Second Thought, I Might Wanna Change Somethings? Exploration on new instrument? Peoples involved in this album?
This is interesting. Our sound engineer was J. Vanco, he is so genius and we really enjoy the work with him. Previously, J. Vanco had recorded many excellent band such as Efek Rumah Kaca and Sore. Vanco and Yudhi had agreed to create a garage raw trip-hop concept on this album. So when we listen to it on our headphone, we can hear noisy and raw sound. We recorded this album, live not overdub. We did exploration on vocal, with using the vocal microphone reversed, and in the song Blood in a Rush, Irene sing with her body laid, to make effect as she sing after making love. We put overdrive on some instruments, bass on Architect, and on all songs, Rhodes Piano, Hammond organ, and some synths also overdriven. We also ask our buddy such as Wahyu (Marche La Void), Thera (Wonderbra) and also our spouses to participate as a choir on Solitude Dialogue. Choir, usually has a beautiful sound, but this choir is not like that, it doesn’t have beautiful sound, so we call it Broken Choir. We also added some other instruments such as violin and percussion.
4. Why did you pick Planet Bumi’s song to be recycled?
Last year, Planet Bumi released Working Class Zero album, and they invited us to show on their launching party. To give a respect, we ‘destroy’ one of their song become a trip hop song (Planet Bumi considered as a Britpop/alternative band). Because we do love the song Rindu that was popular in the Poster Café era, so we remake that song. After that launching party, Planet Bumi’s vocalist, Nyoman, stated that he loves that ‘destroyed’ song, then we started to seriously remake that song.
5. Make a cover song, is this a thing that Everybody Loves Irene regularly did, in the stage or studio maybe?
We did it rarely on the stage, and also we might only make one cover song for one album. And much likely ‘destroying’ the song. We make a mess with the old school punk Hybrid Moment by The Misfits and the Britpop Rindu by Planet Bumi into Trip Hop.
6. For Yudhi, do you already have lyric in Indonesia or local dialect?
Not yet. We didn’t meant to show off or whatever to use English, but we feel that Bahasa Indonesia is one of most complicated language in the world. Because our music is adapted from abroad music, so we felt is hard to put Indonesian lyric in our song. We keep learning to improve our ability.
7. You provide a bit different marketing strategy for your second album, how is the result so far? And what is your reason to use such marketing strategy?
We released this album as DIY (Do It Yourself) not Indie, because we totally did it ourself. And we don’t have the power to promote our album on mainstream media, so we must think harder how to market our album. Finally we pick internet and technology as a basis of our promotional move. Thank God, because of internet, we can be recognized widely on the globe, and got the chance to set gig abroad. So, we create a tagline “Sharing is not Stealing, Love is Sharing, Everybody Loves Irene”. We invite peoples to download Rindu for free from www.everybodylovesirene.com and made a launching via internet on 08/08/08 live on video streaming. At the same date, we go around Jakarta and distribute the single via Bluetooth device.
On September, there was a Fasting Month, we were a bit confused how to promote on that month. Because in this month, musician usually release religious song, then we don’t have any religious-themed song. After think hardly, coincidentally we found a friend from the internet, work on his short story project, titled “Bunuh Diri Massal 2008” (2008 Massive Suicide in English). It’s not easy to contact him, because he is at Bangkok that time. After a hard effort, finally we could contact the man named Fajar Nugros and ask for his permission to put our song, The Big Bang Prophecy together with the short-story as story-video-clip, distributed via internet.
We work together with author, Fajar Nugros and Alanda Kariza. And Bunuh Diri Massal site (http://www.everybodylovesirene.com) have been accessed 126086 times until we answer this question.
8. Do you interested with netlabel? As you wrote Sharing is not Stealing, Love is Sharing, Everybody loves Irene +p By the way, any comments for netlabel?
We thought that we have quite strong foundation on the internet. So, things usually offered by netlabel, sometime not better than what we have did. And we don’t want any conflict with iTunes if we sign with a netlabel. We have an exclusive contract with them. We choose iTunes because they have helped us in the past.
9.What is the internet mean to Everybody loves Irene?
Very much. Some of us had uploaded its soul on the internet.
10. MP3 sharing + internet, how Everybody loves Irene see this as a music producer?
Sharing is not stealing remember, we share everything with other, we share our passion and our song. Human are likely to share what they love. So, if you love our song, please share it with other!
11. Because I never saw your show, how is your performing concept?
We are not a fashion-minded band, so we are not fashionista. We bring a simple stage set, such as a table with a telephone on it, bed-side lamp, and some drinking glass and wine bottles. They are visualization of our album artwork. Small candles and television will be brought if possible as a substitute of the light. Sometime we ask our friend as visual jockey such as Andri LMS.
12. Do you have any weird or unforgettable moment on stage?
Weird: we had show on one of a pub in Jakarta. Suddenly a drunk man request a song and yelling ”UNBREAK MY HEART!!! I WANT UNBREAK MY HEART!” . The man look so messed up.
Unforgettable: Baybeats 2007 Singapore and Laundry Bar Malaysia. We never guessed before that peoples in Malaysia and Singapore would sing along on our show. Really, we never experienced that in Indonesia.
13. Do you enjoy your time as a performer? Who is the shy-kid on stage?
Of course we enjoy that. Believe it or not, Irene is the one who is shy on the stage. Watch when Irene sing, she must be in a line with one of the player.
14. After Baybeats, do you have any plan or offer to play abroad again?
Yes there is. It said in this end of year. But not confirmed yet. Actually we are more interested to play in Indonesia . Imagine this, we have travel to Malaysia and Singapore, but never made our way to Surabaya?!
15. Maybe many people out there don’t know this. How to play a gig abroad?
Everything because of internet, keep maintaining!
16. Old school telephone, has become a must-there property on your cover art, any reason?
No reason. We have converted that telephone to a microphone. We could use that “telephone” on stage to talk and sing.
17. If Everybody loves Irene is a title of a movie, what is the genre and setting? Who will be the director?
We are blind-bat on filmography, we are sorry… It might be Quentin Tarantino.
18. How is an artsy band photo according to Everybody Loves Irene?
The one that show the band personality itself. Don’t make it too excessive.
19. Each of you, what are you crazy for now?
Yudhi is busy as composer now, Aul is on his Lego project, Dimas is preparing his wedding, Mulyadi busy on his post-wedding time, Irene is working her job for her future.
20. Make a sentence for the next Everybody Loves Irene album title!
The third impact is not the end of the world.. just like that…
21. Make a paragraph, how people should listening to Everybody Loves Irene songs!
Work hard from morning till night, then wash your body with warm water. Make a hot chocolate with a marshmellow in it, relax on your favorite comfortable sofa. Play Everybody Loves Irene song until you fall asleep.
22. Make a statement about sinetron (TV series) in Indonesia! ;P
Hopefully the peoples involved in the making of sinetron would considered to watch Disney than Bollywood.
23. What do you think caused global financial crisis following the collapse of American financial market?
Seriously want to ask this?
Bush has lost the people trust because of Iraq war. So, to win back the people trust, he makes an easy housing credit, become legal. He wins back the trust, and people of America massively bought housing, just like peoples buy motorcycle on credit in Indonesia. Awfully, this credit is stuck. Then that subprime mortgage is realized. At the same time, America has a minus cash, because of Iraq War. Again, the market profit taking and cut loss behavior made Lehman Brothers declare its bankrupt. Ouch… The next, you might come to Economy class. We don’t want Mellon Zine become Warta Ekonomi. (I have a degree on Economy ;P -Jay)
24. How long can you live without internet?
Five hours average.
25. Twenty five question is a good number to end this interview. What does 25 mean for Everybody Loves Irene? Hahaha, okay thank you Everybody Loves Irene, please if you have some words for reader… Success!
On the age of 25 years old, it means…. You must getting married…
*Words by: Jay
*Interview by: Tinta + Jay
*Translated by: Jay
*Photo by: Everybody loves Irene documents
*Contact Everybody loves Irene: www.everybodylovesirene.
