By: Mark
Ambrose
In
May and June of this year, Singapore’s Wormrot embarked on
their first US tour in years, culminating on June 3rd at the
Meatlocker in Montclair, NJ. The set was
once in a lifetime spectacular, enervating a wall to wall crowd from start to
finish. Though the show wrapped up after
1 AM, I was wide awake for hours afterward, trying to put into words the
emotionally transcendent moment the few of us lucky to be there had
witnessed. This show, and this tour,
were the result of years of planning, frustration, and hard work by bookers,
tour managers, local musicians, and the band themselves. I was honored to sit and speak for a few
moments that evening with founding member, vocalist and lyricist Arif. He went in depth about a number of topics:
just how tumultuous it can be for foreign visitors to the United States,
especially musicians; the frustration of creating art in a colonized society;
the experience of playing a heralded set at this year’s Maryland Deathfest; and
the relentless struggle of being separated from his wife (Wormrot
manager Azean) and their son in order to perform around the world.
SL: First off, can you explain what happened when the
tour booked for 2017 fell through?
Arif:
So we were supposed to tour the US last year but we weren’t prepared
visa-wise. It was a little bit of last
minute preparation and due to the political climate we didn’t want to risk it. We were a little more prepared this
year. Visas are expensive and we had to
go through interviews with the US embassy in Singapore. Thankfully things went smoothly and we’re
here now.
SL: On top of that, you had some issues around your
equipment this time – apparently some things were held up in customs?
Arif:
It’s not a tour if shit doesn’t happen.
One of our friends was supposed to come with us and mentioned the wrong
fucking thing and was deported. We were
being interviewed and he was asked, “What do you do in the band?” And he
probably mentioned he sells stuff. And
if you mention money, they’re going to interrogate you. And on top of that, our luggage was all in
his name. That was the start of the
complications. It took us about a week
to get our luggage back, but we borrowed equipment from bands, used our same
clothes for a week – no toiletries or whatever.
So it was a little rough. But
thankfully everything is with us now.
SL: So with these hurdles and headaches – is that
particular to US touring or is it anytime your travel internationally to play
that you’ll encounter these frustrations?
Arif:
I think it’s probably our luck is not that great. I’m sure it’s easy to
travel. Our luggage was supposed to be
under our names but someone in Singapore customs put it all under one
name. I guess… better luck next time!
SL: What was your preparation for Maryland Deathfest?
Arif:
It’s good NOT to prep yourself. Be
yourself. We’re not trying to impress
anyone or show off or say we’re better than other bands. If people like it, fucking great. Try not to pressure yourself every show. Stay calm and have fun.
SL: Are you working towards any new material or a new
release?
Arif:
Afer this tour we’re heading out again – not another tour but the Obscene
Extreme Festival in the Czech Republic.
It’s the 20th anniversary so we’re really honored to be
there. After that we’ll probably start
writing the new album. But we’re going
to take our time – we do not like to rush albums. Usually what we do is Rasyid, our guitarist,
will come up with a riff and a few drum beats and we’ll jam it out in a
studio. And I’ll just blurt our
something to go alone with the music and write the lyrics during the recording
process. On “Voices”, after they recorded the guitar and drums so I had fixed,
concrete music, I started writing the lyrics.
SL: This will be the second album with drummer Vijesh
on drums. Does he take an active part in
songwriting or is it jammed out in studio?
What’s the musical approach?
Arif:
Raysid is the main songwriter of the band.
He has all the riffs built out already. Vijesh and I will have some
tweaks or modify things.
SL: As you work towards new material, what are some
topics that have been on your mind? A
lot of bands, especially in grindcore, are focused on the immediately
political, but with a record like “Voices”
it seemed a lot more personally focused with some crossover to broader issues.
Arif:
A zillion grindcore bands start talking about politics – and this is just my
opinion – it’s pretty redundant. They
are talking about changing the world but the world is still fucked! So there is no point in my point of
view. I’ll take every single album of
ours as a diary. I think its way more
meaningful so we can look back at the lyrics and go “oh shit we went through
all that shit!” So we try not to be as political… It depends on what we
experience through the year. If it was a
depressing year, it’s probably a depressing album. With “Voices”
that ended up being a really depressing album.
We lost our drummer [Fitri] that year and we almost quit the band. But we pulled it through.
SL: Do you feel in a more positive mode now?
Arif:
So far it’s been very positive. I’m a
little concerned about the next album – it’s probably going to be a very
positive album! But at the same time,
we’re still going through social issues.
We’ll mix it up.
SL: Is there much you’re taking in, as far as music or
culture, that’s locally produced?
Arif:
Singapore is basically a Westernized country.
The majority of our shows or TV is US stuff. Locally we have cuisine and stuff like
that. Culture-wise – it’s basically
fading off. We don’t have much forested
area – its high rises. A lot of the old
buildings have been demolished. So, I
have no idea – we are a westernized island.
SL: What do you dig into to get centered or relaxed?
Arif:
Really, spending time with my wife and son.
Family comes first. Living in
Singapore you can become a robot. It’s
all about work. There’s no time for
leisure. You have to make the best out
of it. Touring is sort of like a
holiday, but a tiring fucking holiday.
It’s always about work. Actually,
I work in a warehouse doing a twelve-hour shift every day. When we get back from tour, the next day will
be back to work. Living in Singapore is
really fucking expensive, too. I’m sorry
to depress you!
SL: Well with the amount of energy and money people
expend to really keep a band going, it’s pretty remarkable that you guys can
still work, and do these tough tours, and maintain a job, and keep making,
frankly, amazing records!
Arif:
You know, we have friends back home who used to be in bands and had to quit to
make money or keep a job or have a family and at the time I would say, “Oh
you’re a fucking pussy!” But you have to
pay your rent. Now that I’m at that
stage, having a child, I can see that quitting a band is probably a good
move. But I’m not going to be a
robot. I need a break from that reality
and Wormrot is a big deal in my life. Wormrot is bigger than
the three of us now and I’m not going to put it to rest.
SL: Last question: What are some bands you were able to
take in and enjoy this tour?
Arif:
Oh man – we have seen so many great fucking bands. We’re touring with Escuela
and they’re just killing it every night.
I loved Sarlacc – a Star Wars inspired band that is
fucking groovy. Organ Dealer.
Chepang. I didn’t
get to watch Pig Destroyer but they probably killed
it. I managed to watch Godflesh for five minutes and it was amazing. There are a lot of underground bands that
kicked our asses every night that I can’t remember the name of right now!
The End
