Front man J.A. Verdijantoro aka Otong wows Bandung fans last week.

For a rock band, throwing away almost all of your electric equipment is a form of rebellion. But last weekend, Koil just did that in their home city of Bandung.

Koil represents one of the changes in Indonesia’s music industry brought about by the 1990s independent wave. The band recently laid on a two-hour long acoustic set to around 2,000 fans in Bandung, but lacing their sound with an acoustic feel had never previously occurred to them.

For years, Koil was widely known for its unique style of music. Since their early days in early 1990s, the band was always different. Its music and lyrics evolved with time; once filled with the angst of youth, then moving into the existence of God and now being happily apathetic.

The band’s rough cut rock music has drawn massive attention. Since their first album in 1996, thousands have considered themselves followers. Technically, they mix digital manipulation, instruments, signature vocals and lyrics into good tunes.

These past few years, Koil has been living on its own brotherhood, running the business from their small empire on Jl. Sultan Agung, Bandung.

The band has released three full lengths album; Koil in 1996, Megaloblast in 2001 and Blacklight Shines On in 2007.

Bassist Adam VladvampBesides J.A. Verdijantoro aka Otong (the band’s front man), Koil now comprises his brother Donijantoro on guitar, Adam Vladvamp on bass and Leon Ray Legoh on drums. On Jl. Sultan Agung, their business empire consists of a merchandise store and clothing line together with Leon Ray’s restaurant.

From their point of view, rock is packed with tons of gimmicks. Otong on stage represents another form of entertainment. His words are like utterances from the holy land, sometimes making people laugh out loud or wonder about the relevance of the words for their own lives.

He doesn’t sing well, most probably out of tune, but the signature voice is there. That makes him special. And that night, he opened the set with a classy bow to the crowd. He barely could speak two days prior to the gig. For three weeks, his voice was gone with the wind with a mysterious illness visiting.

“Hi! I’m very sorry if the ticket price is a bit high. We did it so that not many people would come,” said Otong plainly, inviting laughter from the audience.

Koil opened the gig with two songs from Blacklight Shines On: “Nyanyikan Lagu Perang” (Sing the War Song) and “Sistem Kepemilikan” (Ownership System).

“Can you guys hear my voice? It just came back two days ago. Prior to that I was on mute mode for three weeks. It’s a shame but thank God I am here now. I have a better voice than Glenn Fredly, you know?” said Otong, citing the name of a Indonesian popular singer.

The band then played “Dosa Ini Tak Akan Berhenti” (The Sin Won’t Stop), their single from Megaloblast.

The crowd, the majority of which were wearing Koil T-shirts, cheered him again. People have come to expect witty remarks from Otong. All these years, he has been a superb entertainer on stage.

After that came another old song from the Megaloblast era, “Rasa Takut Adalah Seni” (Fear is Art). Otong performed his magic again. “This is taken from Megaloblast. We released this six years ago when we were still in high school. It’s a youth song, so it’s a bit negative. Pardon us if we’re so negative in this song, we were still young,” he said to the crowd.

Drummer Leon Ray Legoh“Rasa Takut adalah Seni” is a memorable track for some old fans. Peter Koswara, who lives in Jakarta and decided to come to the gig at the last minute, said that Megaloblast was the soundtrack of his youth, especially the song in question.

“The song is the last track on the first side of the record. It gave me guidance at the time to think that everything would be ok. It’s one of my favorite Koil tracks,” said Peter.

The best memento of the night was when the only two songs from their self titled album were performed. “Lagu Hujan” (Rain Song), arguably the band’s sweetest song was started with a failure. It was something the crowd was okay with, because they knew the band was far from perfect.

When the band started the intro, Leon Ray sent a message to Otong not to sing because it wasn’t the right moment. Otong went ahead, but after only few seconds he decided to call it off.

Take two turned into something really sweet for the night. A few people hugged their loved ones. It simply underlined the cutting edge, romantic moment that Koil could deliver.

Another talking point was “Murka” (Outburst). The opening track of the band’s 1996 album changed its face from fuel soaked, rough distortion music to a jazz composition with slower tempo.

Donijantoro, who takes responsibility for musical arrangement, did a brilliant job with reworking “Murka”. Otong, who at that moment, was starting to lose his voice again, didn’t have to hit the high pitch notes that existed in the original version.

“It was the best composition for this acoustic set,” said Anwar Perdana, a fan who has been listening to Koil since the 1990s. “I never expected them to play ‘Murka’ in a jazzy style.”

Both Peter and Anwar agreed that the acoustic set was something special. It’s something that they probably wouldn’t see often.

“This one was a top performance from Koil,” said Peter. While Anwar thought that during his entire experience of Koil, this acoustic set was one of the most memorable gigs he’d seen the band play. “I never thought I’d see Koil play an acoustic set. This won’t be forgotten,” he said.

Otong, on the other hand, said clearly to the crowd that such things wouldn’t be a regular occurence. “We will only do this once, unless the offer next is big. Our idealism is equal to a particular amount,” he joked.

The gig ended well. The band hung out with fans until midnight, with everybody having fun.

— Photos courtesy of Satria Ramadhan