Toko Kilat goes on a three-city “tour of fire” with Noh from hit group Hujan
MENTION Toko Kilat, and one may think it is a shop in downtown Jakarta that polishes metallic goods. It is actually a local rock band whose five members have been active in the independent rock scene over the last two decades.
Fans may easily recognise 38-year-old Edwin Raj, the man who fronted They Will Kill Us All, and 39-year-old Irfan Iskandar who is best known as the drummer of The Times and Bittersweet.
Edwin is the band’s main spokesman, composer and lyricist as well as its lead singer, while Irfan is its reserved drummer.
Other members of Toko Kilat, which translates to “shining shop” (toko is more widely used in Indonesia than Malaysia) are Mohamed Redzuan Hussin or Wan on bass, Noor Azhari on the guitar, and Syaiful Taufek or Paul on keyboards.
Although Toko Kilat was formed four years ago, the members have been friends for at least a decade, having played in various bands since 2000. And all of them are part-time musicians and “full-time dads” with day jobs.
Edwin is an event organiser, while Irfan works in an information technology company. Redzuan, 38, from Force Vormit runs a guitar business. Azhari, 40, from Laila’s Lounge, is an administration executive, and Paul, 29, from The Padangs is a graphic designer.
ROCKING GOOD TIME
With the exception of Johoreans Azhari and Wan, the other members were born and bred in Kuala Lumpur.
“Irfan, Wan and I are long-time friends who have always enjoyed having a jamming good time. Later, Wan and Irfan brought in Paul and Azhari, who blended into our company perfectly. A mutual passion for rock music brought us together,” said Edwin
“We’ve already outgrown our teenage dreams of becoming major rock stars. We’re not in music for the fame, money, or glamour any more. We just want to focus on making good music that is appreciated by all, regardless of age,” said Wan.
Their songs are predominantly in the Malay language, though occasionally they come up with English songs.
“I may often converse with my loved ones and colleagues in English but I have always wanted to write songs in Malay, because such songs reach out to the masses,” said Edwin.
The group has one album to date, which was released last year.
Titled Pemacu Api (fire starter), it contains six singles including Ratu Malam, Satu Suara and Pemacu Api, and is the title of the band’s coming, three-city tour which covers George Town in Penang, Iskandar Puteri in Johor, and Petaling Jaya in Selangor.
The Pemacu Api Tour 2019 will visit Loft 29, George Town on Aug 17, Sunway Iskandar in Nusajaya, Iskandar Puteri on Aug 24, and The Gasket Alley in Jalan Universiti, Petaling Jaya on Sept 14.
“Each showcase is 45 minutes, and we’ll perform three new singles for the first time, besides the six which we already have,” said Irfan.
SPECIAL GUESTS
They will also have a co-star in the tour — Hujan lead singer Noh Salleh, who will belt out his own compositions in a 15-minute segment.
Noh is also promoting his latest single titled Debu Bercahaya, which reflects his participation in humanitarian missions in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey over the last two years.
“Noh is our old friend, in fact, Noh and Irfan used to play for a band called Vagabond years ago. It’s our very first team-up with Noh, and we have always had him in mind from the start since he’s full of ideas, jokes and charisma,” said Azhari.
“Every new band needs to start from scratch, but we are fortunate to have had sufficient experience in our respective former bands. So, whenever we are in our studio, we can get things completed rather quickly because of our experience,” said Irfan.
“We want to write music that is both relevant for today and capable of becoming timeless classics. The songs of legendary bands such as Search, Wings and the Alleycats, as well as those of Datuk M. Nasir and Datuk Ramli Sarip, are benchmarks by which we measure ourselves,” said Paul.
The “shining five” bumped into M. Nasir not long after they mastered the songs of their album in the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, the United Kingdom in 2016.
“He’s such a nice man, he wished us all the best with our work, and in return, we told him that we would love to collaborate with him someday,” said Edwin, adding that the “sifu” had always been their dream duet partner.
Toko Kilat, via its engineer Keith Yong, established contact with well-known British mastering engineer Frank Arkwright, who had remastered the entire catalogue of rock bands such as The Smiths and Blur. They also sent their songs for remastering at Sterling Sound in New Jersey, the United States.
“We’re most fortunate to have known Frank. He did an awesome job,” said Wan.
In future, Toko Kilat hopes to record songs with famous bands such as Search, Wings and the Alleycats. “Noh and Hujan are definitely on our list too, since he’s a close friend,” said Edwin, adding that if all goes well, they might perform with Noh in Jakarta, Indonesia next year.
When asked about going on a nationwide tour with Noh or his band Hujan, Toko Kilat’s members are all for it.
“Sharing the stage with Noh in three venues is our first step. The next will be a nationwide tour, and we ideally want to entertain fans in Kuching, Sibu, Labuan and Kota Kinabalu,” said Azhari.
Besides Noh, there will be three guest musicians on board the Pemacu Api Tour. They are guitarist Wing Meng of Love Me Butch, singer Syima of The Other Side Orchestra, and saxophonist Ahmad Jeffny of Komplot.
The Pemacu Api Tour 2019 was recently launched by Toko Kilat and Noh at The Gasket Alley.
Time: 6pm. Tickets: RM30-RM50.
Visit www.tokokilatband.com