Interview with MIASMA
!!!DOOM DEATH METAL FROM INDONESIA!!!
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
Tell us a few things about MIASMA (Members, Starting Year etc).
Miasma is an unholy boundless metal of doom unit hailing from Yogyakarta, Indonesia .The current line-up are Funeraltaf (Guitar, Vocals) and Death R. (Drums). We tread this sinistral path since MMXXI and forever remains.
You have recently released your demo ''DEMO MMXXIV''. What is the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
At some point, we got the feedback that we deserve. We think we successfully embeeded our vision into the audience’s mind. This is based on our observations from our audience on the live shows and from listener responses on social media, all leading to what we expect. It even surpasses our expectations.
Label or DIY and why?
This demo was released in cassette tape format for Indonesian area in conspiracy with the newcomer Indonesian label called Libation Produktion. The reason we work together is because we have the same vision, especially for the metal scene in Indonesia. But we also look further for the label outside Indonesia.
Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
Nope.
Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
Well, all kinds of formats are fine for us, both analog and digital. As we know, vinyl is known as the best medium but for us personally, we prefer tape and digital format. Tape sacred format for us; we personally spend our childhood with tape, so the essence live in our heart permanently. And digital format is also important things right now, we don't know how far our music can sail across the world.
Your music style is Doom/Death Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
We take influences from everywhere, beyond the limitation of genre. Several names like Bathory, Blue Oyster Cult, Darkthrone, Dissection, Tribulation and Watain. They are really influence us, from our mentality, sonically to visually.
Which things do you think a band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future for your band?
Everything that can be sacrificed. Playing this kind of music is not for material or even a legacy for us. We play this music for our spiritual needs. And we really put the “All or Nothing” mentality in our hearts to fulfill our spiritual needs. Yes, we sacrifice so much to this day for this band, both materially and immaterially.
Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
For the technical aspect, a proper sound is a mandatory. Improper sounds will bother the essence of a live band. And yeah, we already experienced that in our early days. A gig with fukked up amps and improper sound. But we really understand why it’s happened; all the gigs are organized independently and finance is the reason. For the non-technical aspect, the curated live shows. Sometimes we still found uncurated shows with random line-up and unconceptual show. Yeah we also experienced that back then. That makes us more selective to choose the live show, to choose where our podium is and where is not. Because we think an uncurated live show can bother the essence of every band that played. Also, these uncurated and unconcepted shows will confuse the audience. When the right audience comes to the right shows, it is the ideal shows for us.
What attributes do you think that a new Doom Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
Total Soul and take their band seriously, with serious manner and mentality. We really aware that we found so many weak bands in doom metal scene. One of the reasons is they don’t put their own soul into their music, and they don’t have their own attitude to stand on, we know it sounds cliché, but we can feel that. Why Sleep and Electric Wizard can be as great as they are right now? Because they really meld with their music, they have their own attitude. And so many bands, especially in the doom metal scene fail because they try to copy them entirely. They lost their identity, lost their music, lost their soul. They became false and would be split up after 6 shows.
Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Doom Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a band to promote its work?
Yes, of course, we can spread our music to the part of the world that we never touched before. So it's enlarged our opportunity as a band too. The networking is a very important things especially if we live in this underground scene.
Do you see any differences between the Indonesian Metal Market & the EU Metal Market (Labels, Bands, Fans etc)?
We spot some differences between Indonesian metal market and European metal market. Start from the market scale; it’s very clear that Indonesian markets are smaller than EU’s in distribution and royalty. The reach of the Indonesian market is also smaller than EU’s reach the global market. Even for a label that has great attitude, branding, and concept, they still can’t reach the global market optimally, but some of them are quite great in the SEA market. But even for the SEA market, they have to work hard to get optimal results. Our assumption, we think this thing happens because most of these labels are one-man-run labels, and we clearly understand that. About the bands here, we are really glad and proud that so many bands here started to take their band seriously; they started to think about vision for their band. A few years ago, so many bands still though that playing metal band was for fun “literally”. It creates weak bands that would split-up after 6 shows. But here we are with more mature bands now. We are really thankful that natural selection works perfectly here; those who are not worthy are naturally banished. And we assume it’s work in EU too; a bigger market means a bigger player, and among these players, you must have ever seen weak bands there, right? And we are pretty sure that those weak bands will be fukked and forgotten by natural selection. About the listener, they are already aware and know how to support the bands here. They have awareness to buy merch, releases, and show ticket. But of course the purchasing power is not as big as the EU market. And also, because geographically Indonesia is a fragmented nation and each region has its own wage policy, the pricing (especially for show tickets) is different in every region. So there is inequality in the market inside Indonesia.
Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Indonesia (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
The underground metal scene in Indonesia has been tremendously great recently. We have several great bands that released a few years ago, such as Exhumation, TRRRHT, Nokturnal, Incinerated, Demon Sacrifice, Cruze, Ventor, Deathroned, Masakre, Haul, Virulent, Vex, Drain Death, and many more great bands with their remarkable releases. They successfully scorch the pyre of underground metal maniaxe heartfire. We are really thankful that their release is on the same path with our vision in this metal scene. And the listener really knew how to support and appreciate those bands; the scene started to drive to the path that was supposed to be, the left-hand path. And we know so many listeners that held gigs for the band tour in order to support them in their town. And most of them are total maniaxe and worshippers of this path! For the zine/media, there are so many independent media here. But not many of them are curated about specific metal scenes here; most of them are generalists. But we know several media that focused on specific scenes, like Fossorial Kollektiv, who focused on progressive metal music. They become specialists and grab the niche market, and we think that’s great. Because based on our observation, generalist media is not really effective; the audience is not a loyal as specialist media’s audience.
Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
We don’t know much, but we know several great band from Greece like Thy Darkened Shade and Dead Congregation. We really adore their music, both conceptually and sonically.
What are your future plans?
As we know that this demo is just a beginning, we are currently writing our forthcoming first LP materials. We are also planning for a little tour in order to promote our demo, spreading this devilish musikk and delivering it to the right heart.
Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Doomblessed!
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
MIASMA CONTACT:
https://www.instagram.com/unholymiasma/
https://unholymiasma.bandcamp.com/