Empire Garden ke, Gotik Malam Edan?!...

RETURN OF THE TITANS
By N. RAMA LOHAN (The Star, 30 May 2006)

The giant has woken from its slumber. If rock music has seemed lame and lacking the kind of passion we remember from the 1970s and 1980s, be warned, the furnace is about to be turned up. Yup, the mercury is rising with industry standard Search’s 10th and latest album, Gotik Malam Edan, expected for a June release.

What’s gotten the industry especially excited is the reforming of the original line-up, which now includes Amy on vocals, Hillary Ang on guitar, Nasir on bass and Yazid on drums. The wait was long, but judging from the vibe surrounding the band and the sound of the new material, it has been worth it.

Ang’s return to the band has generated much interest from fans since he’s been actively involved in his own pursuits for more than 15 years now. “It’s good to be in the band again. Initially it felt odd, but after a while, it felt like I had never left the band,” enthused the 44-year-old guitarist. ”I will be here for the long term, or until the band kicks me out,” he quipped.

During a recent recording session for the album, Amy revealed how the band arrived at the current crossroads.

“As opposed to how we’ve worked in the past, this time around, we wanted to do a concert first and then release an album. But since we completed our Revolusi tour two years ago, we’ve only finally gotten around to doing this album,” he said.

One burning issue that’s being hotly debated among Search fans is the departure of guitarist brothers Kidd and Din. Both men seemed to have unceremoniously left the fold but Amy says there is a perfectly logical explanation.

“We were experiencing internal differences. Kidd was just losing the passion to do this. Like with a big company, when there are problems, there is a need for reshuffling. It was a difficult decision and we laboured over it, but this is about the band, and not any single individual. We just couldn’t hang around to see Search’s legacy fall apart.”

Production duties this time around have fallen once again to M. Nasir, who produced a few songs, and the remainder by Edry Hashim.

“We have a good working relation with Edry and there is a certain chemistry between us and
him,” explained Amy.

Rock has always strived to be vicious and in your face, and Gotik Malam Edan sees no change in that paradigm. “We’ve always gone for a big sound. On this album though, we tried to meld some of the newer rock flavours with our signature sound,” he added.

Outside the upcoming Search album, Amy features on pop rock singer Saleem’s new album Epigoni (with the track Sesat Di Kuala Lumpur).

The atmosphere in the local rock circle is certainly charged with news of Search’s new album and fans are waiting to hear what this legendary band has to offer 25 years after its inception. Ying and Yang, the new single, is expected to be out sometime next month as well.

“The album is gonna blow their minds away. We’d like to look at this album as a piece of work that fans would proudly have on their shelves. We no longer need to prove ourselves, especially not to the fans because they’ve been there with us and this album is for them.”

The band looks set to pick up momentum with the album launch and an imminent tour. “It’ll be a nationwide tour and we definitely want to take the show to Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei.”

Originally, the band had targeted a large-scale show in celebration of its 25th anniversary sometime in late July, but Amy says a more realistic date looks forthcoming in August.

“This anniversary concert is so important. It has to be something bigger than our last major show. That’s the only way it’ll work. ”

Also in the pipeline is a pictorial book highlighting Search’s career through the years and a box set featuring the band’s music, concert footage and karaoke versions of chosen band nuggets.

Amy stresses that the importance of the Internet is not to be ignored. In fact, promotion for the new album will be heavily generated by the band’s official website (www.duniasearch.com). But are Search fans ready for this ascent into cyber space?

“When the word spreads, people should get into it. We want to be the first Malaysian act to be successful on this new platform,” he said.

The buzz within the band has been nothing short of positive and Amy is quick to concur: “Everything has been running smoothly. We’ve had no issues. The problems we had 20 years ago no longer exist.” It’s obvious that time has chiselled away some of the negative aspects of the band’s chemistry, assuring us that Search will be around for a long time to come.