PETALING JAYA, April 6 ― Musician, writer, journalist, copywriter and now gig organiser. Brian Gomez, 39, is what some would call a Jack-of-all trades. Starting out as a reporter for The New Straits Times in the 1990s, Gomez traded his pen and paper for a job in an advertising agency before quitting in 2005 to travel.
It was on the sandy beaches of Krabi, Thailand that he found the inspiration for his novel Devil's Place which was published in 2008.
After his return, Gomez decided to pursue his first love and passion ― music ― and started performing in pubs and open mic sessions throughout Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. He even found time to record his first-ever rock album called Gun Inside My Brain which was released in September 2012.
But it was his experience of playing music “live” that made Gomez realise that there was an urgent need for musicians like himself to have access to an arts venue, a place where artists can perform original material.
Gomez found that it was difficult to do so in pubs, as people who frequent these establishments want familiarity and to listen to the same covers of Guns N’ Roses' Sweet Child of Mine and guitars solos from Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven.
It wasn't until 2012 that Gomez, together with his wife Melani Delikan, founded Merdekarya, an open space nestled within the suburb of Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya. It is literally located above a mamak restaurant.
For the past one year and four months, Merdekarya has been the epicentre for the local arts scene; young singer-songwriters, poets, bands, writers have been using the place for gigs, book launches and even poetry slams.
What is Merdekarya then? What separates it from other arts venues? What advice does Gomez have for young singer-songwriters or bands just starting out?
In his own words:
It's pronounced Mer-day-kar-ya. Not Merdeka Ria. Or Merdeka Raya. Because that just makes no sense. We sell independent Malaysian books, music and other random cool things. We're also a “live” music and event venue. Someday we'll think of a funny way to end this sentence.
I was driving with my wife one day, and we just happened to see this space for rent. And I didn't think twice. I put in the down payment, and we were set to go.
I don't know if other places do it the same way as us. We promote 100 per cent local art. On any given day, come here and we'll be playing songs from local musicians… there are books by local authors. Other venues do this maybe once a week. For us it’s every day.
We have open mic sessions every day except Monday. We also have featured artists who are hand-picked from the open mic-ers.
We started out with five open mic acts, but on nights with featured acts we have three open mic-ers before the main performance. Featured acts get an hour to perform their material, preferably original compositions. But some covers are welcome, to ease the crowd.
Merdekarya is a place for young artists to carve their skill, to fumble and to make mistakes and most importantly, learn from them.. .in one month, we get anywhere between five to ten brand new acts.
One hour set means one hour straight. No breaks in between. Many first-time performers complain but if you're serious about being a musician, you should be able to do one hour easy. Because if you're good enough, at some point you're going to need to do two-hour shows. And then how?
Many younger musicians mistake YouTube performances for “live” stage ones. It is not the same. When you do a “live” show, you have to engage the audience, interact with them, show them why they should listen to your stuff
The best way to promote your songs/shows has to be, and is still, through word of mouth. That's helped Merdekarya as a venue… and social media has made this easier as well.
The whole “support local music” campaign... I feel that's its actually counter-productive. Why should someone listen to local music? The campaign should instead be “seek out local music,” and there's a good chance you would be able to relate to it more than the Top 40 hits on radio.
An earlier version of this story in Sunday Mail had an error which has since been corrected here.
