Skinny jeans and all: The members of Hujan are (left to right) Dimas (keyboard), Acer (drums), Noh (vocals), AG (guitar) and Jaja (bass). (JP/Nauval Yazid)

The boys from Hujan, an up-and-coming band from Malaysia, have heard on the grapevine that they’re the ones behind the popularity of skinny jeans.

“We’ve never defined our style actually. We just wear what we feel like wearing, but then we saw some people point to some outfits in a shop, including skinny jeans, and they said, ‘Oh, that’s like Hujan!’,” lead singer Noh said amid laughter during a recent interview in between the band’s jamming sessions with other newcomers on the Indonesian music scene.

The band is also in town for tonight’s Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM) awards, which recognize mainstream acts from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. They have received six nominations, the most nominations for any band, tied with solo artist Afgan.

Not bad for what started out as a one-man act posting songs on the Internet.

“Not bad at all,” said Dimas, the keyboardist and the band’s sole Indonesian member in the band. “Hujan is Noh, and Noh is Hujan. We started with Noh writing songs that he put on MySpace in 2005.

“Then suddenly, more than 2 million visitors were listening to our songs. Radio stations started taking notice. Our videos on YouTube also hit the million-viewers mark. Before we knew it, we were receiving requests to perform. That’s when we started thinking of forming a proper band.”

Under the seemingly endless musical direction from Noh — who writes and sings the songs and guarantees that whatever happens to him will affect the evolution of Hujan — the band consists of Acer on drums, Jaja on bass, Dimas, who also acts as producer, on keyboards, and AG on guitar.

AG’s formal guitar education brings the band its essential thick jazz element.

“We like jazz, we like rock, and there’ll always be two sides of us,” explained Dimas. “We play jazz songs with a rock style, and vice versa. We can’t deny that we feel comfortable with these two genres, and we like what we’ve played so far.”

So there’s always an invitation, joked Noh. “We can be invited to JavaJazz and play jazz, and invited to some rock festivals, and we can play rock as well.”

He added more seriously, “I listened to these Indonesian indie bands, like The S.I.G.I.T, Sore and especially White Shoes and the Couples Company. I’d never heard an Indonesian band that sounded like White Shoes before and I was intrigued! That’s when I started writing what eventually would be Hujan’s songs.”

Any initial comparison to these other bands may be inevitable, given their similar backgrounds: Most of these bands have a strong online fan base that crosses continents (as shown by Hujan’s London gigs last year), flirt with commercial radios, top indie charts and bring particular outlook to the music. Yet the music itself differs.

Some of Hujan’s hit tracks stand out even when you hear them for the first time: The traditional jazz chords peeking through “Aku Scandal” (Scandalous Me), the easy-to-nod-along-to “Pagi Yang Gelap” (The Dark Morning), the catchy intro to “Bila Aku Sudah Tiada” (When I’m Gone) and radio-friendly “Dugaannya” (The Assumption) with its memorable chorus.

These singles can be found on their two EPs and one major album, all of which were released in Malaysia to critical acclaim.

They are now preparing the release of their next album Mencari Konklusi (Seeking a Conclusion) in August, as well as shooting the clip for the title track in Bandung, where they also shot their video for “Dugaannya”.

Bandung, apart from being Dimas’ hometown, played an important part in their encounter a few years ago with a then unknown band called The Changcuters.

“Oh, that’s the band we’d like to collaborate with at the moment,” Noh says.

“Our friendship started way back before they become famous. We brought them to Malaysia once, and they also helped us promoting our music in the local music scene. But now each of us is busy with our schedules, and especially them now, with also being movie stars!”

Safe to say, then, that we won’t be seeing a film starring the members of Hujan anytime soon?

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Dimas said smiling. “After all, those films were made to cater to The Changcuters’ characters. What we’d like to do is get onto the soundtracks of some films, and we’ve done that with some Malaysian films. We’re just happy with the way we are at the moment.”

Their contentment extends to their position on venturing into the Indonesian market.

“All this recognition actually brings us pressure about where to go next,” Dimas said.

“We started online before getting into the indie scene, and it took us one year. It took us another year to get from the indie to the mainstream Malaysian scene.”

He pointed out that some Malaysian media were already comparing them to the trend in the 1980s when Malaysian bands were popular in Indonesia.

“They say that the only difference is that Hujan has not entered the Indonesian market yet.”

If they don’t seem to be rushing at the opportunity, there is a reason, as Dimas explained.

“I think right now we’d like to keep our spirit independent. We don’t want to blend just to accommodate the mainstream Indonesian market. Not yet. And I can’t downplay the sentiments of the record labels either. I have to respect them.”

Without going into detail, Dimas did mention that the ongoing tension between Indonesia and Malaysia has had some influence on their entry into the massive Indonesian market.

At the same time, he also emphasized that, “No matter what, Hujan is a Malaysian band. It cannot

be some multilateral band because the members come from different countries.

“There are words in our song that cannot be translated well into other languages, including Indonesian, without losing their meaning.”

Nevertheless, Hujan has succeeded in breaking down the stereotype of Malaysian bands as performing tear-jerking melodies.

When some people were played the band’s songs for the first time, they reacted with surprise, saying things like “I’d no idea that Malaysian bands could do this kind of song” and “I’ve heard this before on the radio!”

Given this kind of reaction, along with accolades and award nominations, it won’t be any surprise if Hujan does move out of the comfort zone and breaks into the jungle of the Indonesian music scene.

After all, they are versatile, as indicated by their name Hujan (“rain”) itself. “There’s nothing special about the name,” Noh said.

“You can say that when we play fast songs, we hope to create a hujan badai [thunderstorm] effect. But when we play slower songs, we hope the songs can create a hujan romantis [romantic rain] atmosphere.”

Sounds like an independent soul, indeed.

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