In the mid-1990s, Ska in Indonesia had its triumph. In several big cities in Indonesia, such as Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta, it was easy to find gigs headlined by lots of ska units. The excitement of ska at that time came complete with the fashion worn by ska connoisseurs, as well as the massive exploitation from both industry and media. This became like two sides of coin, for music lovers, at that time it was Ska’s triumph in the country. On the other hand, it was a “dark era” for ska scenesters. At least, this is what kultur’s guests tried to convey. Here’s our first part from a 3 part interview we did.

 

Born as Wirastomo Hizbul Wathon on December 13, 1977. Public known him with his band Sentimental Moods, they have released 6 original singles and collaborations, 4 EPs and 2 albums, also involved in a various artist compilation project and couple videos set. Wiro and Sentimental Moods also won awards from ICEMA in 2012, in the category of Most Favorite Group, Band Or Duo then The Most Favorite Track in 2014. Kultur always considered Wiro as one of the important figures in Indonesia’s ska music scene. But he repeatedly, humbly refused and asked us not to embed it on him.

We started the conversation by asking him how he got to know, and what made him choose ska, and how he lived with it. He said, his initial introduction to ska occurred in 1995, by enjoying satellite television broadcasts through his neighbor’s satellite dish in the city of Semarang. At that time he admitted that he intended to learn more about trash metal music through the MTV Headbangers Ball show. However, he could only enjoy MTV Asia. Through this broadcast show, he was enchanted by Pu3SKa, a ska outfit from the Philippines with the song “Manila Girl.” He explained:

“This is cool man, crazy! Put3SKA came without the distortion, danceable, attractive, the beat and music are solid and the fashion looks very, very different. I can’t imagine, in the future the ska will become a part of my life.”

From the city of Semarang, Wiro moved to Yogyakarta to continue his studies. During this time, she became acquainted with a man named Magentha Hiawata (aka Genta “keotik”). Genta is a young man from Jakarta who became a student at an art school in Yogya. Together with Genta, he often visits Jakarta, they gather in the Pejaten area, to be precise at the TK Mini (kindergarten school) Bu Kasur (Genta is the grandson of the National Education figure, Bu Kasur, who owned that kindergarten school). This Pejaten spot is arguably one of the epicenter of punk in Jakarta. Even Wiro himself agrees that the Skinhead culture in Indonesia starts here. At the same time, in the Cipinang area, East Jakarta, another skinhead crew was born, who later spread the concept of S.H.A.R.P. (Skinhead Against Racial Prejudice), spearheaded by Uzzy and Dzukrie from the band Overcast. Through this relationship, Wiro gets to know ska further as an element of the skinhead culture, he got this material through the book Spirit of 69 “A Skinhead Bible” by George Marshall brought by Utay (Adithiya Murti) of “The End” .

Through this book, Wiro’s passion for skinheads & ska is getting intense. He is looking for further information about ska, at this time the only option that can be done is to conventionally correspond with ST. Publishing using national postal service. Wiro then got a response from ST. Publishing, he received many catalogs including the likes of Captain Oi! then Cherry Red Records and ST Publishing‘s own catalog, which he later used as his reference for understanding skinhead and ska culture deeper. It didn’t stop there, Wiro said, he once collected money from busking on the streets for an overseas book deposit via paypal through one of his colleagues Anna, a punk rocker from Germany who was living in Yogya. Wiro handed Anna change for the book “You’re Wondering Now” by Paul Williams. “The money is still in the form of change, Anna seems like feel sorry to see me in that condition, in the end what she took was money, not the change, around IDR 20K if I’m not mistaken, nice it helped me a lot!” Wiro laughed remembering his efforts to correspond for the love of Ska. Apart from books as a source of literacy, Wiro also chose to collect VHS. A compilation of live gigs of British ska band SKA Explosion II is one of the collections on his stack. He reasoned that videos were more tactical at that time when the internet was not widely available in Indonesia.

Wiro’s figure has a pivotal part for the Indonesian ska scene, so many strategies he has carried out since the early times have now become “presets” for many ska outfits and scenesters in the country. Yet again he refused to be associated with this compliment. With a sharp memory, to kultur he mentioned many other figures who were part of the history of ska development in the country. Utay “The End”, according to Wiro, was the only source for skinhead culture reference in Jakarta at that time. During 1995-1998, Wiro often went back and forth from Pejaten-Yogya. Getting records and LP from Jakarta and forwarding these in the Yogya scene, he often borrows the student cards from his friends so he can be able to access the internet to dig deeper information related to those records. In this era he often visits one of his friends (who 13 years later invited him to form a ska band, Sentimental Moods), Beni Adhiantoro (Beni). Wiro told us that Beni is a natural born musician, the best drummer he knows. Beni is a member of the legendary band Sixtols, as well as the drummer for the Oi! band, The End, and was also part of a phenomenal Indonesian indie band, The Upstairs, The Adam, as well as the HC Metal outfit Straight Out.

Wiro added, the propagation of skinheads culture in Java (Jakarta and Bandung in particular) was very, very fast and massive, thanks to the spreading of the copy Skinhead Bible book. Sixtols from Pejaten (although they still mix ska with Oi!) and Skalie, a band from the Cawang-Jakarta area, were the first to become a ska-inspired band. Hadi Skalie, is one of the friends whom he gave a copy of the book ‘You’re Wondering Now’. Skalie, helped bring ska to life in Jakarta through a legendary studio at that time, Gamung Studio, which was one of the bases for Rude Boy in Jakarta at that time. At this moment, Wiro and Genta set up a band called Kaset SKA, which at that time only played in private parties. They often play at gigs held by Utay in his garage. Wiro and Genta were also members of Keotik Rebels, a collaboration of Oi! band. The name came from each of their bands, Suburban Rebels and Keotik Rebels.

Furthermore, the initial scenesters in Indonesia who helped disseminate and distribute the information and references of ska (which was still minimal at that time) according to Wiro was Mochammad Yasser (Ace The Boss), member of the former ska band Arigatoo, who later changed to Souljah.

“I believe Yasser himself is the man responsible for the dissemination of information about the American version of the cool traditional SKA band like Hepcat, the 3rd wave era around the island of Java,” Wiro added.

He met Yasser through Peter and Kiki from AlaskaQ, another ska unit from Jakarta. Wiro also added, from Bandung (Kumbang, Sir Iyai, and Komeng from Don Lego), Jogja (Heru & Bandhiez from ShaggyDog), Solo (Aan The Mobsters), Malang (Indro Skatoopid and Fukyu Records).

“They are what I mentioned before being more dedicated and contributing greatly to the grassroots level SKA scene. The rest are spreading SKA music and then assisted by Hardcore crew who bring the 3rd Wave, the American version of SKA information, one of which is the Subnormal crew from East Jakarta, R.G.B. (Rage Generation Brothers), Subnormal’s flagship band began to change their music format from pure Hardcore with a touch of ska, SKOINKCORE (Ska Oi! Punk Hardcore), then Subnormal also gave birth to another ska band, Pinnochio which became better known after joined into the phenomenal compilation called SKA Klinik“

Wiro closed his explanation for this chapter by conveying the fact that, After ska became overexposed and completely exploited by the national mainstream media of that era, he and many other scenesters were a little discouraged.

Wiro reasoned, “I don’t think it’s easy to become a Rude Boy or a skinhead because you have to understand their culture and the way of life from them. After mass exposure from many media, everything becomes instantaneous.”

Again he added, at that time S.H.A.M. or Skinhead Against Media Mainstream in Jakarta also appears. In this era of “Dark Age” (as he refers to the boom of ska in Indonesia at that time) it was natural for skinheads in Jakarta to be embarrassed by the existence of SKA, especially in West Jakarta, which they finally returned to focus on Oi! Music, Street Punk and Hardcore. Fortunately, it did not take too long for ska to be in the mainstream side of music in Indonesia, ska gradually began to fade in the national media and returned to the spirit of the underground after the 2000s.

To be continued. . .
(sam)