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Jakarta Post

Pure Saturday: Defying pop levity

The journey of indie pop pioneer Pure Saturday has been documented in a book

Felix Dass (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, July 28, 2013

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Pure Saturday: Defying pop levity

The journey of indie pop pioneer Pure Saturday has been documented in a book.

Pure Saturday is one of the longest serving indie pop bands in the country. Having been around for 19 years, the band is a landmark in Indonesian music history.

In their early days, they introduced a creative pop flavor, involving a mix of three guitars with odd beats from drums and vocal harmonies, a fresh take on the genre that still emphasized keyboards and synthesizers. Together with Puppen and Pas Band in mid 1990s, the band inspired the indie music scene in Bandung.

Their debut self-titled album was released independently, bringing revolutionary elements such as presenting
75 percent of the lyrics in English.
The band also picked sensitive themes at the time, regarding bad policing and the Cold War as well as the emptiness of teenage angst. The lyrics blended well with the levity of their guitar melodies.

Hai magazine bought the rights of the album and distributed it to a wider audience. Pure Saturday was finally released nationwide by Ceepee Production in1995.  

After the success, Aquarius Musikindo '€” then a major label '€” offered the band a one album contract that led the band to release Utopia in 1999. Utopia was yet another breakthrough album that saw the band invade another strange territory with loops, samples and heavy distorted guitar effects. The album didn'€™t find commercial success but the songs linger in fans'€™ memories and are often requested when the band plays today.

Another big break for the band came few years later when they released Elora in 2005 with new vocalist Satria Nur Bambang replacing Suar Nasution. The band changed its label by joining FFWD Records and apparently its musical direction changed again. Elora provided a simpler profile and new atmosphere brought by the new vocalist. He eventually marked his own style in the band, despite early resistance from the band'€™s loyal fan base.

'€œIt was hard to join the band because I was facing so much resistance from people. It'€™s like hitting a wall of expectations. It'€™s never been easy, especially when you'€™re challenged with a mature band identity that is rooted very deep in the audience while you'€™re the new person trying to continue the legacy in your own way,'€ said Satria of his first years in the band.

'€œNo-one wanted to be the vocalist of Pure Saturday and replace Suar Nasution. No-one, not even me, but I was in the state where no other option was available. So I faced the choice,'€ he went on.

Suar Nasution is the iconic face of Pure Saturday, forever loved by the fans. But Satria managed to carry the weight of the world by leading the band on stage with his own style.

In 2012, Grey was released. The band pursued its interest in 1970s progressive rock. It worked with Indonesian progressive rock god, Jockie Suryoprayogo. The band said progressive rock had been their muse and Grey facilitated it.

In its current format, Pure Saturday involves Satria on guitars and vocals, Ade Purnama on bass and vocals, Arief Hamdani on guitars and the twins Yudhistira Ardhinugraha on drums and Aditya Ardinugraha on guitars. Sometimes, Suar Nasution still joins the band on stage.

Now, their story is being documented in a book. Writer Idhar Resmadi and the band'€™s old acquaintances at UNKL347 published the book, Based on a True Story, this year.

'€œDendy Darman from UNKL347 wanted to continue their trails in publishing company. They were thinking to make a band biography back in 2011. He offered me the project and I instantly came up with a single name: Pure Saturday,'€ says Idhar.


'€œThey can survive for two decades, which is interesting What I'€™m trying to tell with this book is how inspiring they are with their simplicity. If you'€™re expecting stories about sex, drugs and rock n'€™ roll, you won'€™t find them here because no stories like that came from them. They are simply a simple form of simplicity,'€ Idhar explained.

Due to the band'€™s long story, the project needed to be specific in capturing important moments. Idhar was fortunate that he grew up with the band.

'€œPure Saturday is one of the bands that accompanied me when I was growing up, so being able to write about them is actually being able to write about me. The story is about friendship,'€ he explains.

Ade and Satria said they felt special with the publishing of the book.

'€œAt first, we didn'€™t have the self-confidence to have our story written in a book. We had a very plain life as a band, so why should this uninteresting story be published in a book? But then, yeah, it was nice to see the final product,'€ says Ade.

'€œFor me, making a book is a good project that this scene should consider more often. It'€™s important to document stories,'€ adds Satria.

'€œIt'€™s a proud moment for us, especially when you see comments from people who have read it. It'€™s amazing to see the stories in the book are about us. I'€™ve never thought that our story was amazing enough,'€ says Ade.

The book is available from the UNKl347 chain and more info can be found at unkl347.com.

Photos Courtesy of Donny Pandega/Pure Saturday

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