Hello again World,
After finishing my blog post about my Melodic Power Metal band H.M.A.S. Vendetta (www.facebook.com/hmasvendetta) last night, I figured that I want to share more about the culture that we’re identified with and how I fit in and blend in with the culture.
H.M.A.S. Vendetta as you know writes songs about the history and the culture of Australia. The way I see it is that H.M.A.S. Vendetta is a highly patriotic band. I however, I am not an Australian. I am an international student from Jakarta, Indonesia. The reason why I came to Melbourne was because this was the place where I wanted to start my music career. I have always wanted to be a musician, a rock star. It has always been my passion and music is the element that drives me in my everyday life. However never in a million years, would I imagine being in a bogan band.
It was late October last year that I left my previous band “Bachelor Kisses” and ended up being in H.M.A.S. Vendetta. The band was looking for a bass player and they placed flyers around Brunswick. I happened to spot one of them and contacted them for an audition. Eventually I was the chosen one to fill in the slot of playing bass for H.M.A.S. Vendetta. I have never listened to Power Metal nor Battle Metal before I joined the band. I would have never guessed that my playing style would complement the band greatly. What’s more odd was that I would have never imagined myself playing in a band singing about the glories of Australia and of being a bogan!
Due to our patriotic lyrics and our attitudes of glorifying being a bogan in our hit single “Boganheart”, I think that it is a bit of a no-brainer for people to guess that the types of crowd that we play in front of are the rough, suburban, VB-loaded bogans with the Southern Star tattoo on their body. But truthfully, none of us really hang out with a lot of the suburban bogans. Will, Zach and Rory are normal Australian citizens who go to work by day and often come back home to their respective missus by night. However it is IMPORTANT to keep in mind that that does not mean that the songs that we write are ‘fake’ or that we are doing it for the sake of being unique. We do believe in the country and when we say that we are proud bogans, that means we really are. Just like what the lyrics for “Boganheart” says: “I am the one they call Boganheart, born to be lord of the bogan. Forever known as the Boganheart, my spirit cannot be broken!”
In this band I am the main person in charge when it comes to organising gigs. And because I am a university student- I tend to subconsciously book university event gigs such as welcome party for university students and university battle of the bands. As a result we end up playing in front of more university students than we do in front of bogans. The point is, the type of crowd that we usually play in front of determines a part of the band’s culture. The activities and the topics that we talk about after every gigs with the punters partly determine the sort of culture that we adhere to.
However I have to say that university students are not the major factor that forms the band’s culture. It is the rock scene in Melbourne that shapes the band’s culture. We organise gigs featuring other rock bands while in return they might give us gigs too in the future. And that idea of returning the favour to one another in support is the main culture that we stand up for. In the past we have played with numerous bands such as Winterstorm, Barbarion, Bogan Nation, Elm Street, Siren’s Gate, Pretty Suicide and Demonhead just to name a few. Sharing the stage with other bands help build good relationship with other bands while maintaining that strong connection with one another. The music industry is a tough industry and I don’t think that a band could survive by not building connections around and maintaining that positive relationship.
H.M.A.S. Vendetta has only been gigging around the Melbourne rock scene again for the past one year after a year of recording with the previous line-up. Therefore I must admit that we have not yet built a solid fan base to determine the type of following that we have. It is a good idea however if we start targeting the sports crowd. Who knows the sports crowd would develop the type of culture that the band adheres to.
Rock On,
Austen ‘Ozz’ Kosasih
Live at Cherry Bar 16/10/2010
