The boys of fledgling alt-rock quartet Loko aspire to follow their musical calling to see where their merry melodies take them
THEIRS is a common origin story. Friends since secondary school days in Seksyen 9, Shah Alam, they started jamming together in the studio playing cover songs as a hobby. After finishing school, the four musical brothers had a growing passion and decided to get serious and write their own songs.
Relying on the do-it-yourself approach, the alternative indie rock quartet known as Loko came to life in 2017.
Currently making a name for themselves on the indie music scene, they released their first single, the catchy guitar-driven ditty, Pujaan Hati, late last year. Accompanying the track is a simple yet wacky music video on YouTube that features lanky vocalist Ashrafiqal Areef Noor Aswad exorcising his dance demons by frenetically strutting his stuff in various locales around Kuala Lumpur.
The attention-grabbing video certainly got them noticed and the band, completed by guitarist Aliff Omar Khairil Annuar, bassist Ahmad Aiman Aminuddin and drummer Nik Muhamad Aqil Kamarudin, is now on a roll.
Produced by Afiq PB and mixed by JD Wong (of Pop Shuvit fame), Pujaan Hati was recorded at 21:05 Studio in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
“We got a good deal to record there so we saved up a bit and invested in the single with the aim of testing the market. It’s quite a commercial tune and we decided to shoot our own video.
It wasn’t planned at all, so that’s how the goofy dance came about, and since then people have started to slowly pay attention to us,” Aliff related, when met with the rest of the band recently in Bangsar.
The band’s sound and music are an amalgamation of their various musical tastes, from grunge and Britpop to hard rock, progressive and experimental ensembles.
All four, who are in their early twenties, are in unison when they reveal their most loved local band is Hujan. “We’re definitely Raingers (Hujan fans) and the group’s members are role models. We’re proud of their achievements, they’re an inspiration,” said Aiman.
“We’ve met everyone except for (singer) Noh. (Guitarist) AG Coco is very humble and doesn’t talk a lot but he’s a nice guy and gave us tips and advice when we met him,” added Nik.
A REFLECTIVE DEBUT
The band, who started out as Metro 98 before changing it to Lokomotive, and then shortening that to Loko, rolled out a second single, Untuk Dia, early this year.
“We’ve no plans to sign on to a label at the moment,” Nik revealed.
But for Untuk Dia, the group put in more effort and their money for the endeavour. Produced by Ully and recorded at Kamar Seni Studio in Cheras, the boys decided to record more songs as well for the band’s debut album.
“Even the music video for Untuk Dia has a more professional approach since we needed the second single to be better than the first,” Aliff pointed out.
Their debut album will be titled Mata Kaca, which will contain the first two singles as well as four new songs, and is expected to be released soon.
Aliff explained: “We finished recording it in early February and the album is basically a reflection of us. The songs, written over a span of two years, tells the story of the different phases of our lives.”
THE GOOD GIG
Aiman is currently studying audio engineering while Ashrafiqal is pursuing a diploma in music at UiTM. Future quantity surveyor Aliff is enrolled at UTM KL, while Nik is pursuing a degree in business and finance at the Heriot-Watt University in Putrajaya.
With the future looking bright for the quartet, the boys hope that they can step things up and make an impact with their music.
“Sure, we had to persuade our parents to take us seriously with regards to our music. But when they saw that we had the drive and were putting in a lot of effort that got us results, they began to support us,” said Nik.
The boys are happy as they’ve been getting a lot of gigs this year. “It really picked up this year. After January, we’ve had about six shows a month and a whopping 11 last month, ...sometimes its three gigs in a row,” beamed Aliff.
The band has also been plying the University gig circuit and the indie scene around the Klang Valley, as well as at other venues in Johor, Perak and Melaka. These include the Kembara Orkes Tour last year, the Kyoto Protocol Tour and Kick Start Rock Night Melaka.
“We’ve got quite a number of shows coming up all the way till December,” adds Aliff.
SHOWS
The band will be performing at the Api-Api Music Festival in September, but fans and those who are curious can also catch the boys in action at The Culture 2019, which happens at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium from July 5-7 (Visit www.facebook.com/theculture.my or www.theculture.my for details).
Loko’s singles can be heard on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, KKBox and YouTube. Also check them out on Sound Cloud (soundcloud.com/lokoband), Facebook (www.facebook.com/lokoband), Instagram (www.instagram.com/lokoband) and Twitter (twitter.com/loko_band)