Garage Punks The Brandals are Ready for a Comeback

The past few years haven't been easy for The Brandals. The band, with most members well into their late-30s and early-40s, now devotes more time to domestic responsibilities than the "rock 'n' roll lifestyle." And an earlier attempt at a comeback was cancelled after the tragic death of drummer Rully Annash last year. Today only two original members of the band are left: vocalist and lyricist Eka Annash (Rully's older brother) and guitarist Tony Dwi Setiaji.

But if there is anything the Jakarta-based garage punks excel at, it's survival. Since bursting onto the scene in the early 2000s as one of Indonesia's first "big" indie acts, The Brandals' music has always been about trudging through life's hardships. While part of the band's early appeal was the chaotic quality of their urban-chic/stoned image and anarchy-drenched live shows—which were characterized by the band fighting with the crowd, destroying their equipment, drunkenly rambling through their sets—it was the underlying artistry of the blend between Eka's vivid descriptions of the Jakartan's city-stained souls and the classic punk/ garage revival swagger that made the band felt "real". The Brandals walked the talk; their strength was in the unshakable feeling that no matter how cool they looked, they were all suffering just as much as the rest of us. They were bitter, passionate, romantic, and best of all—always believable.

Perhaps that's why the band never really got their due. While everything about them should have theoretically spoken to the general mainstream public—to the same marginalized audience that makes up the massive fanbase of "people's" bands like Slank Ahmad Dhani—Eka's lyrics were ingrained with a poetry and truthfulness that went beyond the standard "we are victims/the government is bad" slogans of much bigger acts.

Now on the verge of their second comeback attempt, The Brandals have begun playing shows again. Aside from Eka and Tony, the band is rounded up by guitarist PM and bassist Radit Syahramzam—both of whom have been with the band for close to 10 years—as well as temporary drummer Firman from the garage rock band Teenage Death Star.

The band's reason for return was a simple.

"(W)e missed playing music again," says Eka. "Plus the whole domestic duty issues that held us back the first time we took a break have been resolved. So we can come back to The Brandals and be a gang again. Unfortunately we lost our drummer prior to our return."

At the same time, Eka held no reservations about getting back on stage without his brother. He knew that it was what Rully would have wanted.

"To be honest, personally I did not feel any doubts or reservations in moving on with The Brandals after Rully's passing," he said. "Of course we were devastated as family, but this is what he wanted. He was actually the initiator in us regrouping, and talked about what our next step would be just a couple of months before his passing. He was so passionate that he had to channel his energy and focus to another musical project ( the hardcore band Petaka) during our hiatus."

Eka feels that Rully's passion worked as a "wake up call" for the rest of the band to keep up with the drummer's "energy and passion."

"It will never be the same without him," he said, "but his spirit will always be a part of our creative process."

Getting back into the groove wasn't hard for Eka and his bandmates. It certainly helped that the band still has a relatively large and dedicated fan-base. Their first comeback show was outdoors, but fans cared little as rain began to pour (the band did have to eventually, cut their set short for fear of electrocution and damage to their equipment).

"We've only been around for 15 years now, which in this instant digital age felt like only last year we kick-started our career, playing those sweat-drenched gig in small clubs," Eka said. "We don't feel old. We've matured to some degree, but we're still trying to approach music with the same youthful spirit we had on day one.

"There are new generations of bands that have cited The Brandals as influence and to us that's the ultimate goal: To inspire kids out there to make music and start their own band to make a difference."

For now, the band is working on a new album, mostly of material they've demoed when Rully was still around.

"We've browsed through most of them, cherry picked the best ones, and combined it with our most recent material," Eka said. "There are about 6 songs that are already in good shape, so we're still going to crank up another 4-5 more songs to record for the new album. And knowing that we are doing things according to our own pace, the album might come out in another year or two. Who knows? Right now we just want to take it step-by-step and be happy making new music together."

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