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Sleeping on sidewalks: Photobook captures the rambunctious realities of touring punk bands
A new photobook documents the band as they tour Southeast Asia in all its ragged glory
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On the road: In 'Waywards to SEA', Ikvin Rosyadi showcases the do-it-yourself ethos of a touring punk band living on the road. (Maldoror Manifesto/Courtesy of Ikvin Rosyadi)
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resented as a band tour photobook, Waywards to SEA may sound like it would be filled with gleaming rock’n’roll adventures: beams of stage lights, gigantic stadiums, seas of adoring crowds and hysterical tears from fans as their idol runs around on the stage. None of those kinds of images can be found in Waywards, which concerns itself with the grind and more modest side of underground rock escapades. This photobook by photographer Ikvin “Unyil” Rosyadi records the journey taken by hardcore/punk band, Koteka is the Reason (Koteka), from East Java, as they tour through various countries in Southeast Asia between late 2018 and early 2019.
For the tour, Koteka spent two weeks going around Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore to play shows. Tour rituals such as what the band calls sempoyongan (staggering), are included in this 135-page book. 24-year-old Unyil recounts the touring experiences with a humanist approach; the band running like mad to catch buses while carrying their gear, nights spent on airport floors and sidewalks, and small parties initiated by punk collectives in each country to welcome the band. It is as much a story of the band’s journey as it is the photographer’s.
Punk photographer
To make his living, punk fan Unyil works as a graphic designer at a sports-focused publication in Surabaya. Petite in stature, the passionate photographer goes to practically every underground punk show in his hometown of Surabaya. The Jakarta Post met him at his residence in the city’s Ngagel Rejo neighborhood on July 23, 2020.
While he had not known Koteka for long, Unyil’s decision to join the band as they journeyed around Southeast Asia was triggered by his interest in the band's political stance. He respected their consistency in rallying their message around the brutality of the state apparatus, issues relating to the extraction of the country’s natural resource for corporate profit, and the continuous human rights violations in Papua - all issues the band communicated to their audience in-between songs at their concerts, and through their song lyrics.
“One of the advantages of being in a band that is not involved in the mainstream is that they’re free to talk about any issues,” Unyil said.
“[The issues] are voiced through their songs. That's what attracted me to this band. Their courage absolutely set [the audience and myself] ablaze," shared Unyil.
Band, not clowns
At first, Unyil took photos without a plan to convert it into a photobook.
“I thought, what a shame if the fun [we had] was to be enjoyed only by us. That's why I finally thought it would be fun to share this tour experience with other people. It can also be an archive of the band, their own track record.”
The tour started in East Java, with the band performing in Blitar, before going to Malang then Madiun. They then flew to Malaysia and performed in three cities: Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Malacca. They also played Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore.
During each concert, the band would start by chanting “Naar de Papua Merdeka!”, roughly meaning “Onto an independent Papua”.
Unyil wanted to also offer another perspective on stage photography. Instead of focusing on a band’s ferocity on stage, he wants to focus on their offstage experiences. There are many photos of them sharing space in a cramped hotel, riding in the back of a pickup truck to get to the next destination, the new friends the band makes along the way and many backstage activities that often go unnoticed by the audience.
“I want to convey that a band is not just an entertainment tool. They are not machines nor entertainer clowns. Moreover, they finance the tour with personal funds, and from the merchandising sales. I want to show them as human as possible,” Unyil shared.
“I am trying to reconstruct the image of a touring band. Not everything is filled with luxury and convenience. Perhaps, people who understand about this scene already know this. But not necessarily the general public. We do everything independently. And the ‘luxury’ we receive is the cross-country network of friends and strong solidarity."
Unlicensed: A longer conversation
The photobook is published by Maldoror Manifesto, an independent publisher and record label from Surabaya managed collectively by Unyil and his friends. When the copies of the book have sold out, Unyil plans on freeing the rights to the book so that more people can enjoy it.
“I want this work to be accessible to anyone, anywhere. And most importantly, to trigger people to be brave enough to publish their work in physical mediums, don’t let it just be stuck on their social media feed,” he explained.
Hilman Fathoni, a member of Creative Commons Indonesia, said that when a publication was released to the public with a copyright license attached such as Creative Commons, the publication had a legal freedom to republish it as they saw fit as long as it was not being sold.
This fits very well with Unyils’ goal, of wanting his work to be as accessible as possible, and for it to have a long life.
“Paranoia about copyright protection has long settled in our society. For example, there is a feeling of guilt around copying and sharing content on the internet. In fact, the essence of digital files is to be shared quickly. Especially in the punk scene and zines, as it has a strong connection with the reproduction of knowledge that should be shared for free,” said Hilman, who is also actively managing an archive-sharing channel called Perpustaxaan (a play on the Indonesian words for "library" and "punk"), which archives local punk documents.
For people like Unyil, Hilman and many others, the essence of punk is about the constant sharing of knowledge.
“We can always see how punk bands from old times to the present showcase their music, messages, artwork or zines with the text ‘anti copyright, please copy and distribute freely’. This continues to today with music-sharing blogs and free zines and countless more.”
