Sona Fariq
New member
To who ever you are.
I'd like to say something uber cool and super different and exaggeratingly weird and breath-stakingly phenomenal about myself... But uhm, everyone have already done that. So I think I'll stick to being normal. I love my parents, I work 9-6, I pay taxes, I pay for the house I'm living in, I love visiting Farmart and feed animals. I own a guinea pig. I love my partner, she's Chinese and her name is Claris Pang. I'm a Pakistani mix, but I don't mean to make it sound exotic, cos I'm normal. And I look malay.
My first few bands, we covered Radiohead's Street Spirit, Coldplay's Yellow, Green Day's When I come Around, a few Blink 182's, Slipknot's SIC and Wait and Bleed and a few more from Nothingface's album, Violence. My first band was called 20 Dischanger. I'm sure some of you may have heard of this esteemed band. Concurrently, I was playing in a band called Samanta. During that time, we play alongside Seven Sundays, Serenade, The Pinholes, Subway Stars and a couple of other good ol Indie rock bands. Then I was in a hardcore band called Juliet's Diary and listening to bands like Odd Project, A Static Lullaby, Thrice and you know, stuff like that. While I was playing for Juliet's, I was also playing in a band called Vermin Soda with a Female frontman. Or should I say Frontwoman. Anyways! We tried to pull off a Tsunami Bomb of Singapore but we had our own directions. We did the good old hardcore punk with odd time signature and clean vocals. Things were goin' great for us while Juliet's went south. And then Juliet died, followed by Vermin Soda.
But hey, I was still in Samanta when I was in that two other bands! Haha. So I carried on with this Disco Indie rock thing. Some of you might call it Scandie Rock or some of you might even call it Disco Rock, I personally called it "Trend". So yea, we're the "In-thing" for quite a bit. We had a good genre going on and it's called "Egopop". To which the "Ideology" of "This is Egopop" was stolen by the band "Electrico". "This is Electrico". Nice one boys. But we didn't mind you pick-pocketing our intellectual property, cos we got old and decided to make our government richer.
And then, I started judging for band competitions in tertiary schools. Namely Singapore poly, Nanyang's BandzOut and a couple more. Now that is where I met "Monaf". My old childhood friend approached me and asked me if I wanted to join in and start anew with all the other band members. So I agreed. This particular band, is the most interesting one I've ever played in. Imagine Circa Survive meets Deftones with majestic endings. Movie like songs. Yup, it was beautiful. But then, the struggling begins. The band went through major ups and downs with the old drummer and time management and recordings and financial issues and studio issues and shit. Till now, no one have ever heard of Monaf and their songs. Except for the money spent and the people involved with the recordings. Yes, only the MONEY and RECORDING ENGINEER heard our songs. Then we all eventually drifted apart and lead our own lives.
Then I played in a Deathcore band called Aletheia A'dore. We've got good stuff going on. Covered As Blood Runs Black. Influenced by Underminded, Glass Casket, Between the Buried and Me and a couple more. Felt good. Loved the boys who were in that band. Then the band went down cos during those days, in order to get gigs, the band needs to sell tickets. Instead of getting richer or die trying, We got poor and died, Fullstop. So I moved on with my life.
Then my good old buddy from "Monaf", who is also my childhood buddy back in the Nu-Metal days at World Trade Center 1998-2001. He called and said that he was bored. So I said that I was bored too. And we agreed that we're pretty talented in our fields of instruments. So we decided to open a two piece band and shut the 5 piece music scene for a bit. There, the birth of, The Nebula. A two piece band playing math-rock and experimental grindcore. Yup, I told ya, we planned to shut the music scene for a bit. We infused something from Imran Ajmain and Zhou Jie Lun a.k.a Jay Chou and even Hannah Montana to Marduk. In the middle, we have blues, jazz and bossa novas. Yup. And then the band went with the wind and vanished...
But then the same guy who played with me in The Nebula said, "Dude, I have a friend, she's Chinese and she's into Japanese fashion" and I went, "Dude, I need a friend." Ok I lied about that, That part, did not happen. What happen was, he said that he had a friend, a local rapper from XS.Collectives. He had a plan. It was very cloudy, but he had a plan and a vision. Since I was a free man, I said alright. We reeled in a bassist whose repertoire revolves around Power-Metal. So we all came together and tried, Soul R&B. That's right, Soul R&B. Niggas be like, "Daaayuuummmn Son!". So yea, We tried and came up with really soulful songs, but not R&B-ish. We infuse Hip-Hop and Trip-Hop, Post-Rock and Soul. And out came, Moira. That is my current official band. Yes, I had to mention "Official Band" because...
I have another band with another childhood friend of mine who's an accountant from the big 4's in the day and a 7/4 time signature guitarist by night. With our sweet female vox. We play stuff like... Hmmm.. Personally, we sound like "Mew". So yea. And I have another band playing stuff like Paramore and Evanescence. So In total, 3 bands now and breathing.
So, I've been playing the drums for more than 13 years. I am currently listening to India Arie, Submotion Orchestra, Bjork, Excision, Ben Sage and Savvy, Meshuggah, The Faceless, Between the Buried and Me, still Marduk and Gorgoroth.
I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you. -Helmi. Ok who am I kiddin', I got this line from "Valerie" of V for Vendetta.
Having my story be told, how did you survived, lived and breathed music? Do share. May god bless you. =)
I'd like to say something uber cool and super different and exaggeratingly weird and breath-stakingly phenomenal about myself... But uhm, everyone have already done that. So I think I'll stick to being normal. I love my parents, I work 9-6, I pay taxes, I pay for the house I'm living in, I love visiting Farmart and feed animals. I own a guinea pig. I love my partner, she's Chinese and her name is Claris Pang. I'm a Pakistani mix, but I don't mean to make it sound exotic, cos I'm normal. And I look malay.
My first few bands, we covered Radiohead's Street Spirit, Coldplay's Yellow, Green Day's When I come Around, a few Blink 182's, Slipknot's SIC and Wait and Bleed and a few more from Nothingface's album, Violence. My first band was called 20 Dischanger. I'm sure some of you may have heard of this esteemed band. Concurrently, I was playing in a band called Samanta. During that time, we play alongside Seven Sundays, Serenade, The Pinholes, Subway Stars and a couple of other good ol Indie rock bands. Then I was in a hardcore band called Juliet's Diary and listening to bands like Odd Project, A Static Lullaby, Thrice and you know, stuff like that. While I was playing for Juliet's, I was also playing in a band called Vermin Soda with a Female frontman. Or should I say Frontwoman. Anyways! We tried to pull off a Tsunami Bomb of Singapore but we had our own directions. We did the good old hardcore punk with odd time signature and clean vocals. Things were goin' great for us while Juliet's went south. And then Juliet died, followed by Vermin Soda.
But hey, I was still in Samanta when I was in that two other bands! Haha. So I carried on with this Disco Indie rock thing. Some of you might call it Scandie Rock or some of you might even call it Disco Rock, I personally called it "Trend". So yea, we're the "In-thing" for quite a bit. We had a good genre going on and it's called "Egopop". To which the "Ideology" of "This is Egopop" was stolen by the band "Electrico". "This is Electrico". Nice one boys. But we didn't mind you pick-pocketing our intellectual property, cos we got old and decided to make our government richer.
And then, I started judging for band competitions in tertiary schools. Namely Singapore poly, Nanyang's BandzOut and a couple more. Now that is where I met "Monaf". My old childhood friend approached me and asked me if I wanted to join in and start anew with all the other band members. So I agreed. This particular band, is the most interesting one I've ever played in. Imagine Circa Survive meets Deftones with majestic endings. Movie like songs. Yup, it was beautiful. But then, the struggling begins. The band went through major ups and downs with the old drummer and time management and recordings and financial issues and studio issues and shit. Till now, no one have ever heard of Monaf and their songs. Except for the money spent and the people involved with the recordings. Yes, only the MONEY and RECORDING ENGINEER heard our songs. Then we all eventually drifted apart and lead our own lives.
Then I played in a Deathcore band called Aletheia A'dore. We've got good stuff going on. Covered As Blood Runs Black. Influenced by Underminded, Glass Casket, Between the Buried and Me and a couple more. Felt good. Loved the boys who were in that band. Then the band went down cos during those days, in order to get gigs, the band needs to sell tickets. Instead of getting richer or die trying, We got poor and died, Fullstop. So I moved on with my life.
Then my good old buddy from "Monaf", who is also my childhood buddy back in the Nu-Metal days at World Trade Center 1998-2001. He called and said that he was bored. So I said that I was bored too. And we agreed that we're pretty talented in our fields of instruments. So we decided to open a two piece band and shut the 5 piece music scene for a bit. There, the birth of, The Nebula. A two piece band playing math-rock and experimental grindcore. Yup, I told ya, we planned to shut the music scene for a bit. We infused something from Imran Ajmain and Zhou Jie Lun a.k.a Jay Chou and even Hannah Montana to Marduk. In the middle, we have blues, jazz and bossa novas. Yup. And then the band went with the wind and vanished...
But then the same guy who played with me in The Nebula said, "Dude, I have a friend, she's Chinese and she's into Japanese fashion" and I went, "Dude, I need a friend." Ok I lied about that, That part, did not happen. What happen was, he said that he had a friend, a local rapper from XS.Collectives. He had a plan. It was very cloudy, but he had a plan and a vision. Since I was a free man, I said alright. We reeled in a bassist whose repertoire revolves around Power-Metal. So we all came together and tried, Soul R&B. That's right, Soul R&B. Niggas be like, "Daaayuuummmn Son!". So yea, We tried and came up with really soulful songs, but not R&B-ish. We infuse Hip-Hop and Trip-Hop, Post-Rock and Soul. And out came, Moira. That is my current official band. Yes, I had to mention "Official Band" because...
I have another band with another childhood friend of mine who's an accountant from the big 4's in the day and a 7/4 time signature guitarist by night. With our sweet female vox. We play stuff like... Hmmm.. Personally, we sound like "Mew". So yea. And I have another band playing stuff like Paramore and Evanescence. So In total, 3 bands now and breathing.
So, I've been playing the drums for more than 13 years. I am currently listening to India Arie, Submotion Orchestra, Bjork, Excision, Ben Sage and Savvy, Meshuggah, The Faceless, Between the Buried and Me, still Marduk and Gorgoroth.
I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you. -Helmi. Ok who am I kiddin', I got this line from "Valerie" of V for Vendetta.
Having my story be told, how did you survived, lived and breathed music? Do share. May god bless you. =)
