Monday 7 October 2013

LOKA

Ohayou gozaimaaasu~

How's weekend? Mine was awesome! My beloved Liverpool FC won in Anfield and before the match, I went to a concert.

Ok, where to begin? I went to Cikini Gold Center to watch a concert. Yep, a concert, a band. A rock band. Well, it's been a while since I went to L'Arc~en~Ciel concert last year... so I was a little bit excited this time cause I didn't know about the band at first.

WHAT'S THE NAME AGAIN?
Well... the band I watched on Youtube last month named LOKA. I didn't remember how I ended up on their channel but I was glad I got lost in CrossTheLimitRecords'. I watched their video Naked To My Soul and my eyes couldn't stop staring at the drummer. You know, first impression is the thing. This man got me at the first hit. Actually, Japanese music is not a new thing to me. I grew up with L'Arc~en~Ciel songs and Doraemon (I wonder when Nobita will actually grow up, ok, nevermind. Neeext~) but this band doesn't sound Japanese at all. Probably if I closed my eyes I wouldn't think that they're Japanese like seriously even the front man sings in fluent English! He's kinda remind me of One OK Rock's Taka who sings in fluent English as well but their music is a little bit different from OOR. It's heavy yet sexy. I don't know... sort of.

RAPING THE REPLAY BUTTON
I was lost in their channel for about an hour or so. That's more than enough to give my opinion about this band. Here's the video I watched, Naked To My Soul, 
you see, they're pretty much intimidating as Kihiro (the vocalist) shouted "I just wanna FUCK you!" (well, Kihiro... THAT's intimidating) anyway, I was headbanging on my desk (at the office, yes), didn't realise that til the end of the video. If you think that Naked To My Soul wasn't intimidating much, Kihiro still got more to come. Slick is another song with tantalize lyrics. I wonder, Kihiro, who's the girl that made you wanna get laid and turn you round and round? And oh, I love the way they add some synthesizer sound in this song... PLUS Kenichi's drumming skill is beyond god-like! 

as if it wasn't enough... I clicked on the next video called From Yesterday which apparently their latest single.
Dang! Second hook. This time the guitar player took my attention. Man, I love the way he played those distortions. Oh, the noises... precious sound to my ears. I raped the replay button literally LOL. 

An hour later, I was surprised by their Indonesia Tour Comment video (that's what happened when you're on Youtube, a video after a video after a video...). Indonesia Tour? Honto ne? and YES, it's real. The video was amusing! Each of them spoke in Bahasa Indonesia, not the formal one... the casual one or I may say 'bahasa gaul' cause Kenichi said, "ciyuuus? miapaaah?" like an alay LOL. I browsed their website just to make sure about the tour and yes it's official. Not to mention that big picture of Kenichi the drummer was quite a distraction, hahaha you better see them here. Last time I checked, I emailed the promoter and registered myself for the meet and greet session with them XD.

SONGS TO EVERY MOMENT
I had a week or so to get to know them more before the concert. So I got their previous discography on my tablet. 

I started to get intimate with them since I listened to their songs almost everyday LOL. I have to admit that they sound more American rather than Japanese, regardless the English lyrics. LOKA is rich in beats and distortions. Not only the raging-intriguing-intimidating lyrics that made their songs 'alive', I must admit that LOKA's musicality is somewhat brill. Apart from my admiration to Kenichi (ahem...), each LOKA's member is beast. I don't know about you but I think Oblivion Heart is the most LOKA one among the other songs. From the intro to the last hit, a perf combo. I fell asleep when I was listening to this song (WTF?). 



To those of you who don't want to look too weak for love thingy, I suggest you to sing one of these songs from the top of your lungs: Yellow Cherry and of course Oblivion Heart. If you're into those bad things then Naked To My Soul and Python will do good for you. 

Uhm... what else? In a bad mood or feeling down? Kihiro knows how to lift you up again. Left of Me, Hey God, Alive, and From Yesterday would do the magic.  

They also got some deep songs. Hey, rock stars are human too (aren't you, LOKA?). Well, I prefer deep as I try to avoid the word 'mellow' though I was quite mellow after that. I love Don't Ever Leave Me Out right from the first tune. You know, some rock stars are actually deep thinkers. They could make sad songs without looking broken or shattered. I actually love the lyrics. Thanks to you, Kihiro... the "so many reasons why I say so you know my everything" part was very moving. :')

And so I went to Cikini Gold Center that afternoon. It turned out that the concert was held on the rooftop! Coolness. I was alone. Yep, alone. All by myseeelf... don't wanna be all by myseeelf... (enough with the drama, Ran. Jeez...)
I joined those who wanted to meet LOKA as well. I noticed a fan girl on her cool wheelchair behind me. We had a little chit chat when the door finally opened......... there were four rock stars sitting on the couch. LOKA.

I was literally smiling from ear to ear. Last month I watched them on Youtube and now they're sitting right in front of me. A little glance to Kihiro the front man, a little glance to Katsumi the bass player whose hair resembled Sonic The Hedgehog, a little glance to Sin the guitar hero who seemed a bit shy, and... A COMPLETE EXAMINATION OF A MAN WITH THE LONG HAIR WHO GOT ME AT THE FIRST HAIR FLIP, KENICHI. I got the 2nd turn so I began to approach them...

FANGIRLING TIME!
I brought my tablet with me so that I could take some selfies with the boys. I asked them to do so and they said OK. So here's my selfies hahaha. Roc stars? what rock stars? they looked CUTE! :D



As if selfies weren't enough, I asked them to make ugly faces and stupid pose with me. And again, they're OK with that. Hahaha.

Done with the fangirling thing (though I thought it was too short, bleh...) and now I'm about to tell you their ripping performance. They're already great on the videos but watching them live is another story. It's worth every rupiah you spent on the ticket. There was this sudden hard rain like an hour before their performance. Everyone went down to the 4th floor, me included. I was waiting til the rain stopped. Luckily, this time I wasn't alone. I got my friend with me :D I told her if the the rain didn't stop then we're outta here cause we had Liverpool match to catch up.

The rain stopped and we walked to the rooftop again. Yadayadayada blahblahblah from the MCs and in a few minutes later LOKA appeared on the stage. Like FINALLY!


I haven't seen them live so I can say that my experience last Saturday was exceptional.
Kihiro's stage act was powerful, he talked the us the audience pretty often. I didn't say, "what?" or "huh?" every time he asked us something cause he's got the Cali tongue. Unlike Hyde-sama, he made me confused with his English, hahaha... 
Sin whom I thought was a shy guy turned into a beast on stage. He was energetically restless (WHAT?), well stage is definitely your playground, Sin... you knew how to play. I enjoyed his descants and yes I could stand there all night long to watch him strumming the green guitar.
Katsumi's bass guitar. Red. Fierce. He's another member whom I never thought could be so lively appealing. You did look so great, Katsumi. Yes, you did. I don't know what's with him and the green top but he seems keen on it very much. I don't know maybe he got many?
So... last but not least was the one who got me at the first hit. What's his name again? Kenichi. Holy Mother of God, he was topless (let me breathe for a second)... and holy cow, he's a badass drummer! No, there's no double bass drum like the ones I saw on the video. Actually, People, I have no words for Kenichi's drumming skill. Seriously, lost words. Thanks for posing before I left, Gorg!

I had to leave earlier to see my other love, Liverpool FC. If I had one word to sum up LOKA, that would be: SICK. I was more than please to be there, watched them nailed the stage and a little bit wet because Kihiro threw a water bottle, errrrrr... I also met Ilma whom I mentioned earlier above. She got a crush on Katsumi and looked too happy. We're both happy and still buzzing about LOKA til now. I feel you, Ilma... ;)
and that would be the end of my astonishing weekend. I do hope LOKA would come back here again for another tour. Sure thing they'd be big in the future.