To form a good band, sometimes you have to break the rules. Two guys and one girl from the heart of Yogyakarta have shown their guts by excluding one of the most important musical instruments, the guitar.
Armada Racun offers quirky music for the local musical scene. The punk rock outfit doesn’t have a lead guitar but instead opt for two bass guitars, drums and a keyboard.
It took four years for the trio to get their first official release. Their first album was in limbo for years.
“It’s not a big deal for us to lose a project. We don’t really care about an official album. We came across this record label and since we didn’t really care back then, we just signed the deal. In the end we finally released the album,” says Vred, the band’s lead singer and bass player and also the brain behind Armada Racun’s subversive lyrics.
Vred’s big-mouthed friend Dani also plays bass in the band. “We hate consensus, so we have two bass guitars in the band. We don’t want to add a guitarist or make one of us play guitar. Both Dani and me are bass players,” Vred said.
“We just want to be ourselves,” Dani added.
As all punks, they don’t really care about attitude. It in fact improves the band’s standing. They are not your typical punk band and they can do anything differently. “We realized right off the bat to our decision to play this kind of music would meet resistance from the market. We don’t care about the market,” says Dani.
Le Peste, their debut album is a good illustration of Armada Racun’s character.
“We took the name a period when the medieval France was plagued by rats spreading a disease that killed half of Eurpoe. That’s what Armada Racun’s music sounds like,” Vred said. “We’re rats, we are used to be abandoned,” Dani said.
Although you can see them as nihilists, their music speaks softly. Vred wrote witty lyrics, while other members Dani and Nadia churn out perfectly layered music to make Armada Racun’s music completely interesting.
The band can be heard on myspace.com/armadaracun or twitter.com/rmdrcn. Le Peste has spread around. You might want to taste their poison, it’s addictive.
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