Tangsel Creative Foundation (TCF) yang dikenal sebagai jejaring Komunitas Kreatif terbesar di Tangerang Selatan baru saja melaksanakan Pemilu Raya TCF pada Sabtu, 25 April 2026 di City Gallery Tangerang Selatan. “Pemilu Raya TCF adalah upaya demokrasi ala komunitas kreatif yang menggunakan pohon sebagai surat suara, dan tanpa ambang suara pencalonan, setiap anggota TCF bebas mengajukan diri…

Last night’s lyrics for Sir Dandy’s “Gibson Atau Epiphone” (Ade Paloh Version), made up entirely on the spot by Acong. I had to try very hard to not forget I was playing guitar while laughing my butt off. This will be a lot funnier if you’ve heard the original version of “Gibson Atau Epiphone” on Sir Dandy’s Lesson #1, in stores everywhere.

Ade adalah gitaris Sore band yang dulu vakum sekarang aktif lagi Dia dulu meminjamkan gitar kopong kepadaku Satu merknya nggak jelas tapi senarnya nylon Padahal gua pikir itu gitarnya Gibson atau Epiphone

Sekarang Ade jadi sering bantu-bantu kalau gua ada manggung Dia mainnya pengen main bass Padahal kagak bisa-bisa amat main bass Tapi Ade cuek aja maksa main bass Sambil mikir-mikir kapan gitarnya gua balikin

Si Ade pasti heran kok gitarnya kagak dibalik-balikin Dia kagak tahu kalau gitarnya sudah patah Gua tinggal di Bandung

Last Saturday at the Cornetto Summer Ice Cream Festival was the first Sir Dandy full band show since May, after performing on tvOne's RadioShow (a long hilarious night, remind me to tell you about it someday), and third one of the year, besides a few Sir Dandy duo shows accompanied by Iman Fattah. I've previously written about the bizarre circumstances involved in preparing for a Sir Dandy gig, which you can read about here. Needless to say, this one was no different.

First off, we would be without two regular members. Ade Paloh had a previously-scheduled gig with his new band Marsh Kids with not enough time and too much distance to accommodate both, while Widi Puradiredja had a wedding to attend and was uncertain to make it either. This left Acong, me and Ildo Hasman with a few days to search of a bass player available for the show, which would obviously require rehearsal because we would be bringing in someone new. We didn't look for a keyboardist, because we usually perform as a four-piece if Widi can't make it, and he said if he could make it he'd just go on and play. Yeah, that's how we roll.

Acong let me and Ildo sort out the bass player situation. Names were suggested, some were contacted but unavailable. And then we had a crazy idea.

Two nights ago was Sir Dandy And The Boys In The Band's first gig of 2012, for yet another relatively high-profile event. This time it was for Love Garage, with a line-up of international names and local live acts and DJs. Considering we hadn't played together since late December, we figured it might be a good idea to rehearse before the show.

You see, this is a band that rarely rehearses. Most of the live arrangements were sorted out in the early days of the band - Dandi Achmad Ramdhani alias Acong alias Sir Dandy, Widi Puradiredja, Ade Paloh, Ildo Hasman and me - and since the songs are quite easy to play, for most gigs we just show up and perform. Whenever we do rehearse, it's usually because someone other than Widi can't make it and we have to get someone else in. If Widi can't make it, the rest of us usually just play as a four-piece. It still works without keyboards, it's not as if we're Yes playing without Rick Wakeman. Lack of rehearsals means the arrangements are pretty much the same in every show, but that doesn't make it predictable because somehow Acong always finds a way to throw a curve ball at the band and the audience. It takes a lot of concentration to not crack up when he starts changing the lyrics in the middle of a song.

Anyway, this was the first time we rehearsed since late October 2011, when we had a couple of upcoming gigs where we needed keyboards, and Widi wasn't going to make it due to other live engagements with his main band, Maliq & D'essentials. So we asked Rendy Surindrapati to fill in, since his band Hightime Rebellion were on the same bill as us at one of those gigs (opening for Tame Impala and !!!), and he was available for our show the week before that at Djakarta Artmosphere.

So we gathered a few days before the Djakarta Artmosphere gig at the Maliq-owned Organic Studio (also home of Organic Records, who put out Sir Dandy's album) to rehearse with Rendy. As luck, or misfortune, would have it, Ade couldn't make it, and so we got Widi - who was at the studio - to play bass during rehearsal. At the end of practice, Widi checked Maliq's schedule, discovered it did not conflict, and decided he was going to play with us after all, on synth. And so the six of us played on that stage without all six of us ever being in rehearsal together. At the Tame Impala and !!! gig, Widi was definitely unavailable, and the five of us (with Rendy) found that the only time we had to practice together was during soundcheck. As misfortune would have it, technical problems meant that things were running late, and so our soundcheck was cut short without having time to even play a single song.

On a side note, if you think that's nuts, that's nothing compared to a gig we played in early October at Institut Teknologi Bandung. Ildo couldn't make it, so Widi was going to play drums, his usual role in Maliq. Then Widi couldn't make it, so we asked Twentyfirst Night drummer Aryo Pradana. And then Aji Anindito, Organic Records' promotions and media relations guy, told me that Aryo couldn't make it either.

"So who's playing drums?" I asked.

"Me," said Aji.

"Don't you usually play bass in your metal band?" I asked again.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it," said Aji.

At that point he was always present at Sir Dandy's shows, so I guess he could figure out the drums. You don't have to be Neil Peart to play drums with us. And then the day before the show, Grahadea Kusuf of Bandung electronic pop group Homogenic tweeted Acong to ask what time we'd be playing. Of course, Acong told him he should play with us. And of course I butted in and told Dea I'd e-mail him live versions of the songs so he'd have a better idea of what to play on his synth. Dea said he'd think about it and would let us know as soon as possible. He finally said yes while the rest of us were en route to Bandung. A few hours later the five of us were onstage, only three of whom had actually played those songs together before, one guy who just agreed to play with us that morning, and one guy whom we didn't even know could play drums. Needless to say, it wasn't our tightest show ever, and on top of that my guitar seemed to be out of tune without me realising it or knowing how to fix it even if I did realise it. Well at least some special guests from the Bandung scene came to see us, and we got a nice hotel to stay at.

And so on to yesterday's rehearsal. Nothing too crazy, except that Ildo couldn't come to practice because he had prior engagements with his band L'alphalpha. So Acong, Widi, Ade and I rehearsed without drums, so Widi could come up with parts beforehand. Then in the middle of rehearsal, Widi switched to drums and we decided we'd play "Kebakaran Hutan", a Sir Dandy song left out from the Lesson #1 album sessions and will be included in Organic Records' upcoming compilation Radio Killed The TV Star Vol. 1 along with new songs by Maliq & D'essentials, The Upstairs, Rock N Roll Mafia, Sore, Homogenic, Swimming Elephants, Twentyfirst Night, Endah N Rhesa and more. After trying out a few arrangements - one of which would have included a snippet of Sherina's "Geregetan" - we decided to do a punkier version that would segue straight into "Juara Dunia", which you may consider Sir Dandy's hit song, though I've discovered each song gets a great reception at shows. During rehearsal, we even managed to end up with the skeleton of a new song based on some chords Widi pounded out on his synth, then switched to drums and played a disco beat while the rest of us played along and Acong came up with lyrics off the top of his head. At the moment the song's called "Ketagihan", but it's too early to say how it'll turn out. As we left it, I think it sounds like a cross between The Upstairs and Hightime Rebellion, with The Rentals' "Friends Of P" thrown in for the chorus.

On to the gig. It took place in the parking lot of eX Plaza, also the site of last year's Love Garage featuring Two Door Cinema Club. But while last year's Love Garage took place in one public holiday, this one has been split over two non-consecutive days with Day 2 taking place this Wednesday with - it has to be said - a more prestigious line-up including Royksopp and Erol Alkan. Not that Day 1 - featuring James Yuill and Canyons - was deserted, but it took a while for people to gather. A gradually-increasing handful of people stood in front of the stage to see Angsa & Serigala, Hightime Rebellion, Sir Dandy and Bayu Risa up close, while everyone else were content to watch the show from the benches and picnic tables on the sides of the venue.

We got onstage at 18:30, 50 minutes later than originally scheduled. Our set length was also reduced from 40 minutes to 30, so we decided to drop one of the eight songs originally planned. Ironically for someone obsessed by setlists, we actually rarely use them. There's only one 10-song album (plus one compilation song) to draw from, so it's usually the same set of songs from gig to gig. Before the gig we discuss what order the songs are going to be in, and during the gig Acong usually asks me which song we're going to play next. I give one or two suggestions, then when Acong does his pre-song introduction - which he makes up on the spot - we pay attention for clues or keywords regarding what he's decided to play.

After "Jakarta Motor City" had a long run as our show opener, recently it has been replaced by "Gibson Atau Epiphone", which was also going to be the opening song for our Love Garage set. Then Acong started talking about transportation, and instantly we knew that we weren't going to start with "Gibson Atau Epiphone". I said that wasn't what we originally planned, but I should know better by now. Just roll with it.

After a version of "Jakarta Motor City" that was more truncated than the usual live arrangement - there was supposed to be one more chorus but Acong went straight to the ending. And then on to "Gibson Atau Epiphone" and "Anggur Merah", then the return of "Ode To Antruefunk" after a few months' absence - it's Ade's favourite song to play, but its frantic pace gets Acong tired and he tends to skip it.

Then it was time for "Kebakaran Hutan"'s live debut. Ildo had heard the studio version on my iPod and the recording of the live version from our rehearsal without him earlier in the day, but this was going to be the first time he actually played the song. No pressure there, then. All things considered, I think it went pretty well - apart from a bit near the end when Acong's vocals lingered just before entering the last chorus, causing a brief mess-up on the drums, followed by a quick recovery. The segue into "Juara Dunia" wasn't too bad, either, though I did have a bit of a struggle to hear Acong talking over the music and waiting for him to say "Sikat!", which was our cue to start the song's intro.

As usual, our closing song was "Sekdrag", and just before Acong was about to start the song, one of his guitar strings snapped. He carried on regardless, and we made it past the first chorus. Then as he started playing the second verse on his own, he decided that the guitar didn't sound good and asked the crowd if he should just end the show or keep going. They voted for the latter, and Acong told me to play guitar for him. I have to admit I wasn't prepared, because during that part of the song I usually play a lead guitar line. Now I had to play rhythm, and it started off well, but I messed up near the end because I forgot the chords. I managed to remember them properly on the last verse, though. Overall I'd say this was one of my better shows, not too many major errors.

After the show, Acong asked me how I thought the audience's reaction was, considering we could only see the handful of people watching from up close, whereas everyone else stood back and watched from a distance. Since this band always stands out when it's on a bill with other performers that are more polished, I said the crowd's reaction - especially those who were only seeing us for the first time - would probably be, "Oh my God!" Which can have several meanings, including "Oh my God, this band is so shit! Especially the guitarist!" or "Oh my God, this band is so cool because they mess up but they don't give a shit!"

Rendy Yusuf from OZ Radio asked if all the mistakes were part of some scenario. I told him that would be too insane, even for this band. We don't intentionally set out to play awfully, otherwise we wouldn't bother having any rehearsals at all. On the other hand, there are also people who enjoy the mistakes and tell us not to be too polished. As long as I'm on guitar and Acong keeps changing things up on the fly, I don't think this band will ever be too polished. I also spoke to Hogi Wirjono from Future 10, the event's co-organisers, and who also gets namechecked in "Anggur Merah". He watched us from the front-of-house area and said the crew over there cracked up the whole time. As long as someone finds us entertaining, I consider it a good show. At the moment I don't know when our next show will be, or if we'll rehearse. But you can expect it to be unexpected.

Below are some photos from the show, click on the links to see gig reports and more photos.

IRockumentary:

Gigsplay:

I had given up any aspirations of playing in bands by the time I hit my mid-twenties and graduated from university. Not that I seriously pursued music in my teen years. There was that one gig I played at my junior high graduation party, but I suspect I was asked to sing only because I had decent English pronunciation, not because I could sing like I was the second coming of Kurt Cobain. (Though in true Nirvana style I did trash the mic stand, much to the disapproval of the equipment rental company.) Then in high school I formed a band with a friend of similar musical tastes when we were in junior high together, but as it turned his interests had moved on to hardcore, whereas I was still more Billy Corgan than Biohazard. So that didn't last too long. And you'd think university would be an even better time to find like-minded individuals to start a band with, and you'd be right - if your university was Institut Kesenian Jakarta, birthplace of many fine Indonesian bands. Unfortunately I didn't attend IKJ, and couldn't find anyone to regularly play music with at UI. Being useless at music probably didn't help my cause.

So I ended up becoming a music writer, which is what often happens to frustrated musicians. And it didn't seem I was likely to become President of Indonesia, so I would have to settle for music journalism. And I was cool with that - besides going to gigs for free and getting lots of complimentary CDs, I also got to meet many of my favourite Indonesian musicians, and in some cases even befriend and influence them.

One of those cases was Ario Hendarwan of The Adams, with whom I bonded with over The Beach Boys and Weezer. He suggested we do something together, and after going through the options, I ended up writing lyrics for a song The Adams contributed to the Quickie Express movie soundtrack in 2007. Below is a video some fans made for the song a few years later as a school assignment.

Around the same time, Ario had also started Monday Math Class, with him providing music for lyrics and vocals by Priscilla Jamail. Some demos they put up on MySpace drew some buzz, followed by their first gig invitation. I just dropped by their rehearsal but ended up being asked by Ario to operate his laptop containing the backing tracks. Since all that involved was pressing the space button, I said yes. Along with Gianni Fajri on backing vocals, this was Monday Math Class' debut performance.

We only did one song, because it then started to rain heavily and we couldn't stick around to finish the rest of the set, because Ario had a gig with The Adams afterwards. But from there, Monday Math Class' line-up evolved to include Ezar Darnadi on bass and Gigih Suryoprayogo on drums, while Gianni also ended up playing acoustic rhythm guitar.

Which left me as the odd one out. Having a drummer meant I was relieved of my laptop duties, so I ended up doing background vocals and blabbering in between songs, because Priscilla was a bit on the shy side. I felt like a useless douchebag just standing up there and yakking, so I figured I had to make a more meaningful contribution. Co-writing some songs helped, but I still felt like a liability onstage.

And then Sir Dandy happened.

Sir Dandy - Dandi Achmad Ramdhani, or Acong to his friends - was previously known in the scene as the frontman of Teenage Death Star, proud proponents of the philosophy "Skill Is Dead". Their shows were always raucous affairs, with the line between band and audience being obliterated, along with any semblance of musicianship with instruments getting unplugged, players forgetting their parts, and so on. Here's a video from their album launch show in mid-2008:

Almost a year after that show, Sir Dandy announced he was doing a solo performance at Jaya Pub as part of Superbad, the monthly showcase for emerging bands and old faces from Indonesia's independent scene. I was there to check out another band, but it was Sir Dandy's performance that left a lasting impression:

In its own way it was just as chaotic as a Teenage Death Star gig. But just the sheer audacity of being able to write such simple songs and play them with no fear - and making the crowd go wild - despite just starting to learn how to play guitar. It inspired me to go home and pick up the acoustic guitar lying around at home. Lack of progress beyond the C, D, E, G and A chords led to me losing interest - but seeing Sir Dandy made me think those chords were more than enough to do something with.

It was like a door unlocked in my mind. Suddenly I was able to write songs on the guitar on my own, whereas previously I had to rely on others. I also made use of friendships with musicians so I could learn how to play their songs, like Sore's "Mata Berdebu". Inevitably, I ended up wanting to play guitar for Monday Math Class too.

Inevitably I'd discover it's not that easy playing guitar for Monday Math Class with such limited capabilities, and I probably ruined a few shows because of it. But I still wanted to play, so I decided I needed some practice at an easier level, then work my way up. I got in touch with Acong and asked him for the chords to Sir Dandy's songs, and I learned them at home. I even started coming up with my own lead guitar parts! Eventually Sir Dandy had some gigs, and Acong invited me to join him. Not knowing any better, I said yes. We were a duo probably more like Tenacious D or Flight Of The Conchords rather than The Everly Brothers, and managed to score an opening slot as the launch of Sore's Sombreros Kiddos EP.

All this gave me more confidence for playing in Monday Math Class, and just in time, too - we got asked to play at the Java Rockin' Land 2010 festival, in front of our biggest crowd to date.

OK, maybe it wasn't a vast improvement, but certainly much better than when I started. Save for a show a week or so later, we haven't played live since then. Call Aldri at +628179847777 if interested. The current line-up of Monday Math Class is Priscilla Jamail (lead vocals), Ario Hendarwan (lead guitar), Ezar Darnadi (bass), Ildo Hasman (drums), Muhammad Asranur (keyboards) and myself.

Meanwhile, Sir Dandy was also evolving. Somehow Acong managed to hook up with Widi Puradiredja of Maliq & D'essentials, who offered to produce his album. We had a show line up and the three of us rehearsed. Then an hour before playing, Ade Paloh from Sore showed up to play bass. Eventually this sort of thing would become the rule rather than the exception.

The current line-up of Sir Dandy And The Boys In The Band - as Acong would eventually call us - started to come together in January 2011. We had a gig at Galeri Nasional on the same day as Widi's wedding, so I suggested Ildo - whom I was playing with in Monday Math Class - on drums. A day before we were supposed to rehearse, Ade got sick, and rather than look for a replacement bass player, Acong said just the three of us would be fine. We rehearsed in Ildo's room/home studio, and just as were about to finish, Herald Reynaldo - lead singer of L'alphalpha, Ildo's other band - dropped by. On a whim, we asked if he was interested in playing bass for the gig, and he said yes. But before we could rehearse again, Acong had to go home and I ended up trying to teach the other two. Plans to rehearse again fell through, and so the first time all four of us played together was at soundcheck for just one song. But I think it went well.

Ade returned and Ildo kept his place for the next Sir Dandy gig at Backyard Coffee, situated on the lower floor of Organic Records' base of operations. Widi just watched, then decided he wanted to play keyboards at the next show. And so the debut performance of the main Sir Dandy And The Boys In The Band line-up was for Superbad at Jaya Pub, which is also where Sir Dandy's first ever solo show took place.

Since then Sir Dandy And The Boys In The Band - with the occasional fill-in guest such as Twentyfirst Night's Dimasz Joy Adithya, Maliq & D'essentials' Ilman Ibrahim, Homogenic's Grahadea Kusuf, Hightime Rebellion's Rendy Surindrapati and more - have played a number of unlikely high-profile gigs, including the Java Soulnation festival, Djakarta Artmosphere, PL Fair at Lebak Bulus Stadium, Terusik Traxkustik All Star Edition (in my office's backyard, funnily enough), opening for Tame Impala and !!!, and Java Rockin' Land at the same stage where Ildo and I had played with Monday Math Class a year earlier: