Left to right: Johan, Ahmad Izham Omar, Dato' Johan Jaaffar, Eddy, M. Zulkifli, Azhar Borhan
'KECHEWAS was an idea toyed by Ahmad Izham Omar ("Izham"), a musician who thinks he can run 5km run alongside DJ Seelan Paul. Izham had an idea of forming a band of musicians who did not end up becoming musicians in life but still holds the passion for music - hence "D'Kechewas" which means "The Disappointed". It's a "dream finally reached" kind of feel, well, short of being perceived as "midlife crisis". No, no, don't be negative - It is a "dream finally reached" for me at least. Izham is a musician but most of the time, he is (was) a CEO of 8TV. So if you want to say that he is not a musician per se, you can,... but then again, he just won the best album of the year 2009 under Anugerah Industri Muzik for Faizal Tahir's Adrenalin. Let's just assume that he spends 90% of his time as a CEO rather than a music composer - so ya, Izham in not a musician - I must be stupid to say this when he was the founder of Positive Tone.
Azhar Borhan is an Otai. Very experienced in the entertainment industry involving music but not quite a musician by profession himself. He is the GM for Content Development in Malaysia's largest TV content creation company, Primeworks Studios. He may have been one of the main man behind introducing Sheila Majid to the world but yah, "per se", again, let's just assume he is not a musician coz I see him in his office most of the time browsing thru his Mac.
M. Zulkifli has one confused career path history. This dude started of as a magistrate kicking asses into jails and what not and suddenly, like Moses after the burning fire of bushes, changes everything. He became editor for FHM, Malay Mail and some other publication, and later appears at 7am on TV as the host for Malaysia Hari Ini ("MHI"). MHI is just a cover up,.. actually, he is a nerd in the office doing whatever it is he does as the GM for Content for tonton.com.my and gua.com.my,..... and the soon to come, guava.com.my
Eddy is an arty farty guy... never heard him fart before but yeahh, he is an arts guy. As the Director of Arts, he produces images, adverts, whatever it is that you may call artistic or aesthetic (or at least in his mind) for clients of TV3, TV9, 8TV and ntv7. I heard a rumour that he does have a blues band performing in some bar but all I can remember about him is "the guy who creates TV advertisements". He even decided to advertise some products on his skin in a tatoo format. Cool guy.
Then there is me, Johan. As briefly described earlier, Izham, M. Zul, Azhar and Eddy do have some significant touch in their life that relates to music,.. but me, hmmmm, what can I say? I'm a bloody accountant for the past 14 years and will continue to be so for the next 14 years before someone manages to convince me to earn money via Network 21 of Amway. The one proud thing I can say is, as the GM of Finance Media Prima, I look after the money from the businesses that Izham, Azhar, M. Zul and Eddy manages.
There is another person, Iesta. A guest member who proved himself worthy of being called musician when he started to yell to the top of his lungs at Hard Rock Cafe Penang gig. This dude is the GM of Corporate Affairs for Primework Studios. Not sure whether he manages the "affairs" in the office but he is (well he thinks it's a "was" rather than "is") a bloody accountant as well.
So Izham had all these dudes, including him, to start jamming at various studios, mostly being Black Brown Blue Studio (not sure the arrangement of which colour comes first or next but it's BBB basically) in Hartamas and Akarkarya Studio (Acis-Sheila's) at Uptown Damansara. We were destined to perform at a Media Appreciation Night attended by all sorts of media people (Media "characters" more like it) as well as for an internal function for Media Prima at Hard Rock Cafe Penang. To date, I have not managed to get the video for the Media Appreciation Night but I did get some shots for the Hard Rock Cafe Penang gig as documented in my blog post D'Kechewas mustanged the night at Hard Rock Cafe
Yeahh, so that is D'Kechewas with the latest line up as below (This line up is not the original, there were some dudes who left earlier):
Keyboards: Izham (Captain)
Vocals and Guitar: M. Zul
Guest Vocals: Iesta
Lead Guitar: Azhar
Drums: Eddy
Bass: Johan
For a while we were quite frequent in these jamming sessions but it has since slowed down. I had a quick chat with Izham last night after buka puasa and we will, soon, re-commence, this "finally reached dream" - for a start, we can always do the usuals first before trying new songs - just to kick start the engines - our usuals are as listed below:
When I Come Around - Greenday
21 Guns - Greenday
Kiss - Prince
Rozana - Search
I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles
Every Breath You Take - The Police
With or Without You - U2
Mustang Sally - Wilson Picket
It is quite an experience to be back in jamming mood and mode. The last time I really had a jam streak was probably 14 years ago when I was in a Malaysian student band performing for the Malam Merdekas type functions in Melbourne Australia. So now, I have also started to jam with my long lost Australian band members as listed in my blog post Prelude. D'Kechewas is not meant to be a recording band but it allows people like me to live (or re-live) my passion in life. As a result, I have enrolled myself for guitar solo classes that I go every Sunday morning under the guidance of the #20 ranking guitar teacher in Malaysia, Saudara Rockers Hasnol (not sure which band he comes from).
I must thank my fellow D'Kechewas for having the trust in me playing the bass guitar although I am the most inexperienced of the lot. Somehow Izham felt that I am worthy of it - Thanks Boss. Also special thanks to Seelan Paul for promoting us at Hard Rock Cafe Penang and also to Datuk Kamal and Eliza who were the backup vocals at Hard Rock Cafe. To close this post, I would also like to thank The Edge for covering D'Kechewas,... well they didn't really covered D'Kechewas,.. it was actually covering Ahmad Izham Omar but Izham decided to revolve the interview around D'Kechewas given that the title of the article is "after hours" as extracted below:
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