1. Do you remember the first band you heard or CD you bought? What or who was it?
Jrx: Well, when I was a kid my dad used to own a very small record shop at downtown Kuta in the 80s, so I hardly buy records [CD didnt even exist yet in Indonesia]. But I remember growing up listening to Dads fave like Men At Work, Midnight Oil, Rod Stewart, Bob Marley, Roy Orbison, Gipsy Kings and some Indonesian bands/solo artists..mostly ready-to-cry pop artists that are probably die already. But when I was 15, I fell in love w/ Nirvana and all the Seattle warriors. But the first record I bought was Sepultura Chaos A.D coz I couldnt find this album in my dads shop.
2. When and why did you decide that you wanted to become a rock star?
Jrx: Funny question. I don't like the term rockstar so I prefer punkrocker or musician. And the first time I wanted to be a musician is when I was 16 . We had a hi-school party and one of my class mate was playing the drum. I was never see anyone playing drum so close and I got so amazed by the sounds and they way he played it. That hits me and from that moment I wanted to be a musician. In school I got involved in some cover bands playing Guns n Roses and Bon Jovi cos no one are into grunge at the moment. Weird.
3. Have you always been a fan of the punk genre? What do you like about punk?
Jrx: A year later [1995] when I was 17, Green Day came and open up my mind about all the youth rebellion and about being a punkrocker. I fell in love with the whole concept of being different, honest and not listening to what people say. The resistance, the alcohol, eyeliner, tattoos, wifebeater, everything.Thats when this entire roller coaster ride started. I'd never wanna be a rockstar but if people today call what I do is being a rockstar, I don't care. Me and my band know what were made of.
4. Do you consider your music a fusion of punk and rockabilly? How does rockabilly come into play in your music?
Jrx: Yes, were a blend of punkrock and a bit of rockabilly. At the beginning we dont know anything about rockabilly, until 1997 when I know found out about the Orange Countys Social Distortion. This band blew my mind and gave me bigger impact than Green Day, still until this day. I know rockabilly from their interviews and stuff. Then we try to find out about other rocka/psychobilly bands like The Reverend Horton Heat, The Cramps, Johny Cash and all that. But still, Superman Is Dead roots are punkrock. We just put rockabilly elements in our lyrics, guitars and the way we dress up, mainly. We mix it up cos we love both genres. Also we don't wanna look and sounds like an average punkrock bands.
5. What was the first punk band you heard?
Jrx: Sex Pistols, but didnt like them very much until now.
6. Who are your influences?
Jrx: Social Distortion, The Clash, Ramones, Green Day, Rancid, U.S Bombs, Tiger Army, Dropkick Murphys, NOFX, The Living End, Johny Cash, The Reverend Horton Heat, AFI, Transplants, Cypress Hill, Avenged Sevenfold, Michael Buble, Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and some Balinese/Indonesian punkrock bands.
7. Why is most of your music in English rather than Bahasa?
Jrx: Its just a habit factor. Cos mostly were listening to western bands so when we write songs, English is the first language that came up in our head. Easy and simple like that. But in our newest 6th album Black Market Love we tried to write a bit more songs in Bahasa cos we have so many important and significant massages for the generation, and we want them to understand what were singing about. We wanna show people what were made of. We wanna make some point since theres so many misunderstanding about us goin on in Indonesia. Lots of people thinks were just some punk band with tattoos that just wanna be rich and famous.
8. Do you have plans to play in North America, Europe or Australia, where some of your overseas fans are based?
Jrx: Yes we do have many, but until now it's not happening yet. We got so many offers to play overseas but it's always got canceled. Maybe it's not our luck yet. Plus it's not easy you know, for a 3rd world country band like us, who have a shitty money rate, to go travel overseas. Next year we have another offer to play in U.K, hopefully this ones for real. God please put some mercy on me.
9. Which countries outside of Asia have you played in?
Jrx: A really really empty country called None. [kidding]
10. Which artists would you like to work with?
Jrx: Mike Ness, Brian Setzer, Billie Joe Armstrong, Johny Cash, Joe Strummer, Tim Armstrong and Shaggy Dog [ska swing band from Indonesia].
11. Has the music scene in Bali and Indonesia in general changed since the bombings? How has your music and outlook on life in general changed since then?
Jrx: Yes, it brought us so much anger and frustration. Bali is never gonna be the same since the bombings. So many people got crazy, lose their jobs and the criminal statistic got higher. And as the youth of counter-culture, we have a lot of things to fight now. Fascism, ignorance, discrimination, terrorism [by east and west], religion fundamentalists & media brainwash. Were fighting for our minority rights [yes, Bali is the most minority province in Indonesia]. We want our home to be like what it used to be, but theres so many fascist-pig out there thinks that our home needs to be destroyed. That's what the Bali punkrock scene is all about now. Were sick and tired of being in the middle of this so-called religion war. We dont wanna be a part of it and we dont wanna take sides cos we think both sides are wrong. I hope U.S President Mr. George W. Bush is reading this interview. MR. BUSH, PLEASE STOP THE WAR IN IRAQ! It destroys and hurts the whole world, race and religion. You know the reason why they bombs Bali? It's cos U.S keeps bombing Iraq. They want revenge and Bali is a perfect target since there are many westerns in Bali. We Balinese really feel the impact of the war in Iraq but we got no power to resist that. We are minority in our country. We are victims for things were not. So Mr. Bush, please stop it if you got a sense of humanity.
Special thanx to Zhy yang mengirimkan interview ini. Cheers!
Jrx