I'm so thankful that I
can get along with people who play in the bands, come to the concert, or listen
to similar sounds like I do. Back in the day, it was hard for me to get rid off
such worse judgment that I had on people who disliked my musical preference.
But, presently, I believe it will be so shallow and selfish if I had to put on
my perspective of my musical preference as the best idea upon other common cynical ideas about so called independent or underground music, bands, and stuffs. Talking about people’s
perspective, most people who admire certain bands will think that the band’s life
is somehow nice and desirable, especially if the band itself has been famously
known for their good and marketable music.
Personally, I
don’t think it is wrong for having such idea. You know, being a part of a band with
a tight schedule of performance and tour doesn’t always mean having much money or
nice cars. It’s easy for most of us to assume that being in a band means,
living glamorously from royalty, wearing fancy clothes, and sometimes, having sexy
female groupies. I mean, it’s a classic nature of most people to instantly
speak out a certain opinion which tends to become a shallow judgment. Yes, some
of them may live that kind of life, but not all of them. Instead, when it comes
to daily survival, some of them must find another different way to pay the
bills, sometimes, when it is also the way that they attempt to produce their
music.
Some of you will
probably think, “Serious?” Absolutely! Nowadays, it doesn’t matter even if your
band’s song is being played in a famous local radio, your band’s video is being
watched by more than five thousand people, but, esto es Indonesia, vato (this
is Indonesia, dude). Here, you may be able to freely download tons of your
favorite band’s songs without concerning their royalty meanwhile in Germany,
you must stand before the judge for committing crime by your illegal download
activity. My sister in law who lives there told me so, by the way. Therefore,
don’t be so surprised when some players and members of the bands choose to attempt
and have another potential business for their regular income. And they have
proven that they can survive with it.
I befriend with
many nice people in Surabaya hardcore scene, which makes me so grateful for that.
One of them is Johonas Budhi Pamungkas a.k.a. xDandux, drummer of the old local
Surabaya hardcore band, Devadata. Honestly, I can’t remember exactly of how
long I’ve been knowing this man, probably, 2007 or 2008, I don’t know. But one
thing that I know for sure, he is one of many musicians who doesn’t only count
and rely his life on music. If many of my friends who play in bands usually
attempt some clothing business, running music studios, or becoming a graphic
designer, I can say that xDandux is one of several exceptions. He has been
running his small café business that serves traditional Balinese culinary named
WaSik that stands for Warung Klasik located in Jalan Pakis Tirtosari III, Surabaya since four
years ago.
Presently,
xDandux also runs his new business, an antique gallery named “WaSik Gallery”
located in Jalan Padmosusastro 138, Surabaya. I visited his gallery couple weeks ago on a
sunny Friday afternoon. At that time, this tall tattooed guy was sitting on his
comfortable office chair, actually waiting for potential customers to come by and
shop, but unfortunately, he had to welcome this fat sweaty ugly guy to ask him
some these upcoming cliché questions.
“Hi, Dandu, how are you?”
“Fine, man. Thanks.”
“Presently, how many businesses
that you have been running so far?”
“Up to present day, there are
two, Warung Klasik, and WaSik Gallery.”
“How long have you been running both
of them?”
“You know, I started first with
Warung Klasik on 2012. Three years later, by the end of 2015, I caught an opportunity to run this antiques gallery. But
I’m not alone running this business, I work together with some friend of mine.”
“What makes you prefer to choose
opening and running your own business?”
“I think it’s more about comfort.
I believe that I’m more comfortable to decide what’s good for me. Frankly, I’m not into an office hour employee,
with this daily fingerprint attendance, and sitting behind the desk, those stuffs are not me.”
“Hahahahaha, okay. But what’s
with these food business and antiques? Why do you choose two different fields of business which don’t
correlate to each other?”
“They actually do. It is like
this, first, I chose to run this warung (street cafe) business because I
believed
that it was new thing, especially for me, and I could still see the
challenge. Second, I love classic stuffs, that’s
why I decorate Warung Klasik with many old merchandises, old toys.
Apparently, I see another
opportunity for a business expansion. Yes, an antiques gallery. It
should take time before I started the business. Both businesses have their own obstacles. If we run a food
business, we need to make sure
that what we cook satisfies our customer’s taste and appetite. It’s
absolutely different with running antiques gallery, which compels us to
understand, not only the value, but also its authenticity, and it’s not an easy job. However, there is a same
responsibility that we must attempt at running any kind of business, whether it’s big or small. It is our
customer’s trust. It is also not an easy job for me at running these businesses especially when
some people like us must stand against the common stigma within society which judges our
personality based on our present appearance.”
“Are there any certain
philosophical values from your business?”
“Yes, absolutely there are.
Especially in my antique’s business. You know, history is an important part of people’s life. History teaches us
how to appreciate what our ancestors had attempted, therefore, we can live a better life today. For
some people, their old stuffs may only be worth as junks at their house. Putting aside the fact that their
parents’ collection of old paintings could be worth thousands of dollars, more importantly, some antiques
may have significant historical values accompanying important periods of people’s life. Each antique
may function as a reminder to certain significant event of a person. Simply, history within
antiques is what makes people realize who they were and who they are. You know, some antiques may
represent and visualize your childhood, for example. They have esthetic values and
can be used to creatively and artistically decorate your house, just like I did to Warung Klasik. But when I talk about ‘classic’ here,
it doesn’t mean ancient, but it is more like Indonesian post-colonial period antiques.”
“Dandu it is nice for me to know
that, as a person who contributes to the scene for years, you realize the fact that running your own
business is the way you live your life realistically. But certainly, being a musician in an underground scene
is a part of your life that I’m certain is a part that you can’t put aside. My question is, does your
business interrupt your work with Devadata?”
“No, not really, since each of us
is presently busy with other jobs or activities. You know, my older brother and Devadata’s guitar
player, Bodas is also running his ‘Das’ rock shop.”
“But it doesn’t mean that you
guys are not productive at making new songs, right?”
“Absolutely no, as a matter of
fact, Devadata will have a ‘Disrespect’ tour in Malaysia and Singapore, hopefully on this September. Also, in
this end of July, I’ll go to Malaysia to help a Malaysian band, Wynken Delirium. You can also check out our live
session with Jozz Studio, playing our song ‘Die For Nothing’, taken from our latest album, ‘Supremacy’
on Youtube.”
“That’s wicked, hahahaha. You
guys certainly can’t leave your true passion. Okay, two last questions, Dandu. First, does your business
just ‘help’ you financially, or instead, is it apparently profitable? Second, how expensive can
antiques be sold? ”
“Alright, for the first question,
I can tell you that it’s pretty helpful. You know, when life comes to paying the bills and basic needs,
I’m so grateful that by running this business, I can apparently afford those things. Furthermore, just
because we don’t depend on monthly salary jobs, but we independently run our, even though, small
business instead, it doesn’t mean that we could be or should be poor, right? But again, it all returns
to the way you live your life. Understanding both what you need and what you want. Man, when it comes to
lifestyles, there is never enough money on your pocket, for real. For the second question, I had some of my
antiques sold for IDR 4,000,000. For my case, considering that I’m a rookie in this business, I can
say it’s the most expensive one. But there are many antiques big shots who can make more shitload of money, man,
trust me.”
“Okay, Dandu, thank you so much
for having this conversation. Stay true, buddy!”
“Absolutely, my friend.”
After this
interview, I ran my motorbike and kept thinking about some of Dandu’s words
about understanding both of what you need and what you want. Honestly, I’m pretty
sure, it’s not as easy as it sounds, not just for me but for most of people I
believe. As a person with “Monthly Salary Job” I find it is still so difficult
for me to manage my income and my expenses. I occasionally think and hope that I’m not
so automatically called “sold out” by doing certain jobs which involves my
capability, since I believe that many friends in the scene and other people out
there, just want to be realistic at living their life. And taking care their
family, off course. Do you guys think it’s a defensive statement? Well, be my
guess then.
