Ade Surya Paloh continued smoking his cigarette when thronging fans began to mob him, surrounded him, asking for his autograph.

He used his left hand to wipe the sweat dripping on his forehead. He had just finished doing his thing that evening, playing guitar and singing for the indie band Sore.

The gig was staged to celebrate the release of their new EP titled Sombreros Kiddos. The release party itself, held at the AOD record store, was a blast. Hundreds of Sore devotees had to elbow their way in and when inside they could barely find a spot to land their feet and coupled with poor sound quality, fans should have had more than enough reason to go home early. But they did not.

Ade Paloh was in good mood that night and he was nice to endless stream of fans and hangers-on who came to congratulate him on the new release. Sore’s second guitarist, approached him:

 “Can I borrow your lighter?” he asked Ade.

Ade Paloh gave the lighter to him and said: “Sombreros Kiddos is a refreshing break for us. But it also gets us thinking, are we going to do this for a longer period of time?”

“We’ve been together for so long. Sometimes, I feel tired with all of this. It’s been too long, you know,” he said.
This does not sound too good for a band of the stature of Sore, a respectable indie outfit that has had their fair share of trials and tribulations in an otherwise stellar musical career.

Praises have been heaped on their two full-length releases, the 2006 debut Centralismo and their 2008 sophomore Ports of Lima. Time magazine named Centralismo as one of the best five releases in Asia when it came out. Ports of Lima was chosen as the best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone Indonesia magazine.

Their blend of 1960s psychedelia, jazz and power pop has been a rare gem in Indonesian music dominated by silly love songs and slow-rock ballads.

Sore’s appeal has gone beyond Jakarta’s insular independent scene. In recent years, members of Sore were busy enough doing their side jobs arranging music for movie scores. There have even been discussions about casting all the members of Sore to play roles in a feature film.

Sore comprises six musicians, Awan Garnida, Ade Firza Paloh, Gusti Pramudya, Reza Dwiputranto, Mondo Gascaro, and Dono Firman. All musicians in the band play their instruments and sing in the records, except for Dono who joined the band after the release of Ports of Lima.

Sore consist of six musicians, all of them sings on their records, except the programmer Dono Firman who was the last person to join the band, right after Ports of Lima was released. Dono also doubles as sound engineer for the band and it is he who mixes sound for the band’s intricate compositions, a job that he does in collaboration with producer David Tarigan, formerly of Aksara Records.

Three members of the band; Ade Paloh, Reza, and Awan, who plays bass are all lefty. Awan can easily pass off as leader of the band on the merits of his commanding presence on the stage, augmented by his unassuming charm.

Throughout the years, Sore has built a strong following who call themselves Kampiun (an old Indonesian slang for Champion) who are more than happy to buy the band’s records, come to their shows and buy official merchandise peddled by the band.

And Sombreros Kiddos is dedicated to these loyal fans.

“This EP is for our Kampiun. We want to give them something special,” said the piano player Mondo Gascaro.
Only 500 copies of Sombreros Kiddos EP were pressed and 90 percents of the copies were pre-ordered by fans. Individual package of the album comes with a nice surprise for Sore fans. Sleeves of Sombrero Kids bear the names of fans who pre-ordered the mini album.

Another surprise for fans is that some of the songs on the EP sound like “No Fruits for Today”, a national anthem among Sore fans, a song that always serves as an encore in every Sore gig.

The new EP however put Sore fans in a serious conundrum. On the one hand the new release is something that they should celebrate. And celebrate the fans did when they gave a huge sing-along at the AOD gig. But on the other, the fans also came to the realization that the live show could the last they would enjoy for the foreseeable future.

Ade Paloh also said something that could bring tears to the eyes of Sore fans.

“That was the last one for a while. We’ve rejected so many offers to have a break. It’s hard, you know. We don’t want to fake our feelings. We cannot do something we don’t enjoy, right? We don’t want to give people something that’s not worth it,” said Ade.

“We don’t know what’s next,” he added.

Another member of the band, Reza, made no effort to hide his feelings.

“When I came on the stage, I was feeling terribly sad. So many people came to our show and we don’t even know whether we will go on as Sore or not. Personally, I want to continue as a band; and I believe that the boys are having the same thought. What’s important next is that we could rekindle the old spirit,” Reza added. Fans could be forgiven for thinking that there were internal problems plaguing the band.

To further indicate that the end is probably nigh for Sore, the band has also worked on the future release of what could possibly their swan song. Members of Sore are currently working on a “box-set” titled Los Skut Leboys.

“Each members of the band is required to write six songs, and then we can choose just about anybody that we like to play the songs and it does not have to be members of the band. Then, we will put them in a box set,” Ade Paloh said.

Currently, Sore has accumulated 13 songs for the project, mostly written by Ade Paloh. “I have paid my dues,” he said with a chuckle, adding that Los Skut Leboys will be released later this year.

In spite of the somber mood of the AOD gig, after an encore of “No Fruits for Today”, Ade Paloh said something that could lift the spirits of the fans, “I love you when you love me, we’re gonna make a big family. I love you when you love me, we’re gonna make a big, family…”

And everyone could only cross their finger that night that Sore would not call it a day soon.

Popular

Ministry orders remote working for civil servants to help ease traffic congestion

Netanyahu vows victory after Iran strikes, fears of wider conflict grow

18 people killed in South Sulawesi landslide