Eleven Interview

1. First and foremost. Please tell us your name and your role in Eleven?
- My name is Bart. I am the vocalist of Eleven.

2. Tell us a brief of history of Eleven from when you first.

- Eleven was started in the early 2003. Originally formed by Palie, Rush, Ja'a, Hafiz and Man.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, Rush and Hafiz decided to part ways with the band.
Soon later, I took over as vocalist. Man was replaced afterwards, by Chacha on drums.
In the early 2004, Eleven has restructured its line up, Daus as the new bass player. Fast
forward to 2009, our current line up are Bart, Daus, Palie, Atoq & Arafat.

3. "Shattered Hope" is the first EP from Eleven and you guys has been around for ages, more than 5 years i guess, why take so long to release this EP?
- While in the process of releasing the EP , we've made quite number of changes in the music
arrangements to get the desired final product that we wanted. Since, we released our EP with
our own pocket money and due to each individual financial commitments and the process itself
doesn't costs cheap so it got delayed for awhile.

4. You guys have a critical opinion in certain subjects, what is your influence in writing lyrics? And what are the bands that influence you? Do you think that hardcore bands should get political?
- My writing gets easily influenced by everything in general, but i most passionate about stuff that are related mostly to positivity, war, child abuse, drugs. Bands that influenced me the most are Minor Threat, Champion and Verse. Their lyrics have made such an absolute impact that it lingers in your mind. I think everybody has their own views and ideas on politics but i have no right to imposed such idea that all hardcore bands have to be political, its up to the individual.

5. What motivate you guys to stay drug free until today? Why do you choose to be a straight edge band?
- It's the values and principles. Well, it's not that bad, to live a healthy and positive lifestyle. We're not forced to choose what we want to be, instead it is our choice to live drug free.

6. If you are not into the HC/Punk scene. What do you think would have happened to you? Would you say that HC/Punk saved your life?
- I won't die of course. I guess, i would be like one of those people out there who enjoys any
other music like normal folks do. But HC/Punk does helped to distract me from other negative
stuff that happened around me when i was growing up and now, i found a passion for life.

7- What do you like most about the scene today?
- The scene now is much bigger compared to the good ol' days. Plus, we get to see more of
International hardcore bands performed in Malaysia.

8. If someone could get a message from your band, what would you like it to be?
- The choice is yours, it's yours to make it.

9. If you could do a split release with any band that you like, what band would that be?
- Champion.

10. Can you share with us Eleven future plan? Any tour, new records or anything in mind?
- We plan to tour Asia in near future & a 2nd EP wouldn't hurt either. We would love to do a
split with Hold X True someday.

11. Thanks for your time. Any last words for the readers?
- Thank you for interviewing us. Do feel free to check out our band at ELEVEN Myspace.

Kids On The Move Interview

1. For our readers that are unaware, could you give us a brief background on Kids On The Move?
- Kids On The Move is a band based in Klang City, Malaysia. We are five people playing in a hardcore band. The current lineup is Chacha, Wan, Kaza, Syahmi including the one who’s answering this q&a Dean. We’ve been together since 2003 and had a few releases under our belt.

2. Kids On The Move just released your second full-length by CeaseFire Records entitled "Changes". Is there any good story behind the name of the full length?
- Well basically what we are referring to is the changes we had gone through all these years. In general, people change from time to time let it be for good or bad. For this release we were trying to embrace the changes that we all had but at the same time proving that we still have the same values and that we are still the same person.

3. "Changes" completely comes with a different set of sound and energy from Kids On The Move’s previous releases. What the biggest influence in the making of "Changes"?
- For us, complete change to what we were before is something that we weren’t aiming for. We believe that we had grown maturely although we still think that we are not even close to being good, we are constantly trying to improve ourselves, and that’s also a “change”. Everyone listens to a lot of different bands, I won’t be able say on their behalf but for myself I was moved by Have Heart, Miles Away, Verse, Allegiance, Champion and lots more. I prefer modern sound but with classic values.

4. The artwork was amazing. Can you tell the concept behind artwork? Who made the illustration?
- The artwork was made by Bill Hauser who did designs for Energy, Modern Crime, Hirax and etc. We were constantly discussing the theme with Bill Hauser, but at the same time we did it on such a short notice. So we put our trust on him to deliver what we portrayed to him. The people that are rotting/zombie actually mean changes from being alive to the dead. What we meant was that as people we can be alive but sometime they are dead inside and we portrayed them as the living dead constantly trying to feed of their hunger for something like money, a perfect life or anything.

5. What would you say is one of the biggest messages that you guys were trying to covey through the lyrics?
- A big message can be describe in a lot of ways. We weren’t trying to be big, and only talk about what we all have been through personally. I think that the common thing between all the songs I wrote is that we shouldn’t close our hearts for anything, take a risk, give chances, help another, make a wise choice and even if we fail or fall in the middle that is not a reason to give up. It is something practical that we all can relate to.

6. Lyrically, there seems to be a lot of reflection on how things used to be in hardcore. What do you miss most about the days of yesteryear? What do you miss least?
- I would say that I missed the days when I used to know everyone that came to the show (our show or any other’s). I feel closer to everyone and felt more appreciated. But I am not complaining of how things are right now, more kids are coming down to shows. That means we won’t just be shouting the same words to the people who already knew about what we were trying to convey. If I can remember each and everyone that came to support us, I would. But that is just impossible. So I am very grateful for the way things are.

7. The song "Fallen Man and Changes" is one of my favorite songs from your catalog. Just curious if the song was written in response to any particular incident?
- The words are actually quite straight forward that if you read it you can get the gist of it. Both of the songs have a different meaning but at the same time have something to do with another. With “A Fallen Man” I was basically talking about myself or everyone in that matter. Everyone has its ups and downs and we all have tasted defeat but we should never give up easily. And that is where “changes” came in, to move on forward we have to change for the better, although we won’t know if what we changed is the right thing we can only hope that it would make you a better person but at the same time not losing yourself or be led astray.

8. What do you enjoy most about the present day hardcore scene? What do you dislike the most?
- I would say that I enjoyed how the local scene is expanding and more bands like Have Heart and FC Five is coming down to this part of Asia. If there’s anything that I’d dislike the most it would be that people here are still focusing on nonsense that only brings separation in this already small scene.

9. What current bands do you find yourself most consistently being impressed with?
- If by current bands you mean bands that haven’t gone R.I.P. yet, I would say one of them is Have Heart, I just love how they wrote ‘Songs to scream at the sun’, it felt as if it was very vulnerable where they pour their soul in it that I can just drown myself in it, I hope I made sense with that and doesn’t sound wrong hahaha. Other than that I’m totally impressed with more Australian band like BLKOUT, Break Even and etc. I felt like they all gave me something new and old at the same time which is what I love. Of course the local band is showing lots of versatility, we got Burn Out, Eleven, showing that they can surely make something of themselves.

10. Any tour plan in the future and where is the most places do you like to play?
- For now, the only legit plan for touring is Indonesia at the end of this year, but nothing is booked yet. I seriously hope that everything will be book soon so that we can announce it officially and book flight tickets so that we can get cheap fare haha. Other than that we have been planning to hit Australia, I hope that we can get there next year.

Kids On The Move Myspace