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Ska for the end times: Hockey Hook keeps it pessimistically upbeat
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Jammin': Pictured is Mohammad Tezar (center, on guitar) in the middle of Hockey Hook's performance at Pesta Pora, a music festival held in Jakarta, on Sept. 23. (Courtesy Ibrahim Partogi) (Courtesy Ibrahim Partogi)
B
em>Bandung ska-punk group Hockey Hook talks about having fun in the wake of a decaying world in its latest single -- and its dismissal of any optimism for the future.
Consistently churning out music decades past its scene's heyday in Bandung, West Java, ska-punk band Hockey Hook's persistence might appear as a sort of nostalgic-ironic pastiche in today's Indonesia music landscape.
Formed in 2010 when the now-only-remaining original member, Mohammad Tezar (guitar, vocals), was still in his freshman year in high school, its initial intention was far from any revivalistic ideas of the then-dimming genre and almost oblivious to the music scene that predated the band.
Born simply out of Tezar and his friends' fascination for the broad umbrella of punk, the band of classmates initially performed cover songs from American punk bands such as Rancid, Bad Religion, NOFX and Anti Flag, to name a few, and gravitated toward ska-punk organically.
Now, more than 12 years after its founding, Hockey Hook is looking to release its sophomore studio album early next year with the first single, “Dansa Akhir Zaman” (End of Time Dance) already out in the open since Aug. 31.
Still going strong, and growing more articulate in voicing their nihilistic-hedonistic outlook, the band is releasing its second single, “Gejala Anomi” (Symptoms of Anomie) by the end of October.
Dancing at the end of the world
As much as one might have a short laugh when “Dansa Akhir Zaman” hits the 1:35 mark, pondering over whether the cover artist's choice of symbolism was based on the song's brief carnival-like part, the coherence between the cover artwork by Bandung visual artist Gandhi Eka and the song itself is a good idea.
Opening with a grand, brooding guitar-driven intro, “Dansa Akhir Zaman” abruptly stopped and ditched its seriousness as Tezar counted up to four in a starting-pistol-like manner and moved, almost-mockingly, into the band's usual brass-forward repertoire.
While Tezar noted that the band's roots are indebted to “third-wave ska”, it is largely divorced from the genre's stereotypes and subject matters (except maybe togetherness and raising the glass for a toast). In “Dansa Akhir Zaman”, Tezar raspily sang about the planet's decay, paying heed to death and accepting the inevitable while having fun and sailing along with the raging tempest -- might as well have fun when you already know that the world is ending.
Tezar's lyrical sensibilities and its current penchant for critique started becoming apparent when the band collaborated on its 2018 single “Layar Nista” (screen of shame) with Bandung-based turntablist and DJ, Eone Cronik, who is also involved with hip-hop acts such Eyefeelsix and Homicide.
In the 2018 single, Tezar criticized today's rampant screen culture, mostly left unchecked, rejecting said culture in his slightly obscured lyrics. His writings, which are usually not quite cryptic, but far from blatant, were mainly inspired by American punk-group Bad Religion's vocalist, Gregory Walter Graffin.
“He plays with a lot of metaphors,” said Tezar, speaking to The Jakarta Post on Oct. 5. “Like in '21st Century (Digital Boy)', [...] it's full of metaphors about what was displayed by television. I aspire to write like he does.”
His mention of the particular Bad Religion song was quite uncanny as the song had a sense of foreboding, where they poked fun at the impact of digital technology on youths in 1990; but, now, the song is more relevant than ever.
Imminent chaos
Hockey Hook's coming single, “Gejala Anomi”, although not quite the same as the aforementioned song, also had a similar sense of foreboding to it as Tezar wrote the lyrics back in 2019, when the capital was filled to the brim with a series of demonstrations.
“I reckon that, from 'Dansa Akhir Zaman' to 'Gejala Anomi', they still have a certain connecting theme. But not intentionally,” Tezar noted. “I wrote the lyrics back when UU ITE was the talk of the town.” He was referring to the revisions of the 2008 Indonesian law for electronic information and transactions. Tezar then also noted the demonstrations following the omnibus Job Creation Law that was passed in the same year.
The laws, however, were not the focus of his writings, as he wrote more about his dismissal of optimism for the future in general. “I see what happened that year as an indication -- symptoms of the ensuing chaos,” said Tezar. “I mean, all the laws in question were approved.”
Talking further regarding his references in writings, Tezar pointed out Bandung rapper Randi Ismail, who releases music as Rand Slam. “I tried writing like Babap [Herry Sutresna from Homicide's nickname], but I don’t think that I enjoyed the process. I think I'm drawn more to Rand Slam's lyrics,” said Tezar.
“You know that track that he did with Jason Ranti? lari ke orang tua, tapi bukan yang botol, itu untuk kepalamu [go run to your parents, but not the one on the bottle, that's for your head],” Tezar recited the lyrics to Densky9, Rand Slam and Jason Ranti's “Manual Hidup Hepi Bab 1.1” (A Manual for Living Happily Part 1.1). The song's lyrics played on the brand Orang Tua that is well known for its wine and liquor products.
Working the pipeline
While the lyrics to “Gejala Anomi” were written in 2019, Tezar did not start with the composition until recently. “It was definitely finished before 'Dansa Akhir Zaman', but there was a moment where I suddenly thought of a song structure for 'Dansa Akhir Zaman' so we rushed that one and released it ahead of the other.”
The creative process of the band is quite methodical and fairly egalitarian where any given person in the band could write a song and then have it work together as a band. Tezar, however, emphasized that they usually would work out a standard structure for the songs and then they would start to work away from that structure.
“It would yield a rarer structure,” Riyan Nurhendi, the band's drummer, chimed in as he was hand-rolling his cigarette. Riyan joined Hockey Hook in 2020, when the band only started working on its sophomore album.
The band's turnover in members was also a continuing subject as it faced two “exoduses” in its career so far, leaving Tezar as the only surviving member twice -- just before the release of its 2016 debut studio album Randomness and its 2020 extended play (EP) Watch Your Mind.
Riyan remembers his experience of joining Hockey Hook as quite momentous, where he unexpectedly met two of his fellow drummers and close friends, who he hadn't seen for years, during a makeshift audition that the band arranged for the position.
“Because the band needed a permanent drummer during the process toward the coming album. It'd be hard to go that path without a complete set of permanent members,” Riyan reminisced.
Their 10-track sophomore studio album, coming around the beginning of 2023, features a more-collaborative process between the members where Rezki Delian Kautsar, the band's percussionist, and Ahmad Widiawan, the band's trombonist, contributed significantly to lyrics in the album.
“Around 30 percent, maybe,” Tezar said about the portion of the lyrics done by the other members. “Tibon [Ahmad's nickname] had a history with bullying. He did a rough sketch of the lyrics and then we worked together on the tone and the language.”
Given Hockey Hook's lush instrumentation in its past releases and its tendency for experimentation in sound -- take the band's collaboration with DJ Eone Cronik and Surabaya, East Java, piper (a bagpipe player) Amik Ragil -- it would be fair to expect some innovative interpretations in challenging the dated boundaries of the ska-punk genre.
