How Two Drummers Built GreenRoom, KL’s New Home For The Weird And Wonderful

By Ben Liew • 02 Oct 2026 in Features

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It started with a failed band, a random phone call, and two drummers who apparently prefer being the backbone of something rather than standing in the spotlight.

Today, GreenRoom is an evolving event series bringing together music, art, markets, workshops, and different corners of Malaysia’s creative community. But its origins are considerably more accidental.

For Rakesh, who has spent more than a decade in the music and events industry, GreenRoom grew out of leaving a band he had invested 10 years into. For Jo, whose journey into music began as a gig-goer before she became a drummer and event organiser, it came from wanting to create something different from a gig.

Somehow, those two paths collided.

From A Broken Band To A New Beginning

Leaving his band left Rakesh feeling lost and directionless, but a series of what he calls “self discovery side quests” eventually pulled him back into music.

One was a stage management role at one of Malaysia’s biggest music festivals. It made him realise that, throughout his time as a musician, the part he enjoyed most was actually creating the show itself.

“So after that, one night I asked myself. What would be the one thing that I could see myself doing that I would be really happy doing for the rest of my life. A music festival.”

He went down a rabbit hole reading about Coachella founder Paul Tollett, and the idea began to feel like a possible future. Then came a more spontaneous moment: Rakesh called Johanna, or Jo, whom he had met through a small gig he organised at an art gallery.

“‘Let’s work something together’. ‘Sure’.”

Jo had already been building her own path. She started going to gigs in 2018, joined her first band in 2022, and has since played in five bands as a drummer. In 2023, she helped start Rawspirit after her band and her friends’ band struggled to get booked.

“We figured the best way to do it was to do it ourselves.”

By the end of 2024, Jo wanted something beyond the conventional gig format, something that could bring together different parts of the music and art communities.

“Honestly, GreenRoom came out of nowhere.”

There is something fitting about the fact that both founders are drummers.

“Its funny that both Rakesh and I are drummers,” says Jo. “I think there might be something to say there about enjoying being ‘behind the scenes’, maybe its also our issue with fearing the spotlight but also a testament to how we enjoy being the backbone of something special.”

It’s A GreenRoom, Not Just Another Gig

The name came together surprisingly quickly. Rakesh, Jo, and Vasily had cleared an entire day to brainstorm, only to land on GreenRoom within 30 minutes. Rakesh even timed it.

A greenroom is where artists and creatives gather before a show, where ideas are exchanged and collaborations can begin.

“A greenroom in general is a space where artists and creatives hangout before a show and it’s where somehow important collaborations and exchanging of ideas takes place.”

That became the blueprint: a space where creativity could thrive across disciplines, bringing communities that might otherwise remain separate into the same room.

For Jo, the guiding principle is simpler: play.

The project’s @greenroomisfun handle reflects its aim to create a space where people can let loose while celebrating local art, music, stories, and more. The team also finds education important, and hopes workshops and discussions will get conversations going so people connect, collaborate, and join in.

That ambition has already pushed GreenRoom beyond the conventional live-music event. Its editions are built around two main pillars, the market and the live show, while the team continues to experiment with how the two can work together.

That was evident in GreenRoom Sidequest, which took place at Pejabat Pos Besar Lama at Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad on Malaysia Day. Rather than another conventional gig, it brought the GreenRoom ethos into a historic space, with the creative community taking over a setting more commonly associated with KL’s architectural and cultural heritage.

GreenRoom Appeals To People Who Are Kinda Weird

There is no shortage of events happening around KL every weekend, and GreenRoom is still figuring out exactly where it fits.

Rakesh is reluctant to pretend they have cracked the formula. The project is still young, and he believes the challenge is creating something that can survive beyond whatever happens to be trending.

For Jo, the answer is perhaps less complicated.

“I think a lot of the time GreenRoom appeals to people who are kinda weird.”

It’s a throwaway line, but it gets close to what makes GreenRoom distinctive. Rather than trying to make every creative scene fit neatly into the same box, the team is interested in the overlaps between them.

That thinking extends into the programming. Each GreenRoom has its own story and objectives, while the lineup is constructed to avoid simply repeating what is already being done. Jo enjoys bringing artists from completely different scenes together, while mixing established acts with newer artists.

“I know so many phenomenally talented artists who haven’t gotten the attention they deserve, and we hope GreenRoom can put them in the spotlight and give them more opportunities.”

Community, Without Turning It Into A Buzzword

GreenRoom is careful about the word “community”.

Rakesh argues that the concept has become increasingly commodified. GreenRoom, he says, isn’t interested in claiming it has manufactured a community from scratch, but in creating spaces where existing communities can reconnect and exchange ideas.

For Jo, community is more personal. She found hers through playing in bands, supporting friends’ shows, organising smaller gigs, and repeatedly showing up in the same spaces.

“To me, being a part of a community is being exposed to other people who have the same passions, interests and beliefs, and in turn the benefits of showing up to be a part of said community is the belief that anything is possible, and people will support you no matter what.”

That philosophy has already found its way into GreenRoom’s programming. For GreenRoom VOL3, the “5th Band Campaign” invited people to submit videos for the chance to become the fifth act on the GreenRoom stage.

The point was not simply to find another performer, but to encourage people to put themselves out there and create something from within the community itself.

Building Something Sustainable From Ground Zero

Behind the colourful programming is a less glamorous reality: independent events still need to pay the bills.

GreenRoom began without financial backing. In Rakesh’s eyes, that forced the team to figure out how to build a self-sustaining event without compromising its vision. “The growth will be extremely linear, nothing exponential, and painfully long. But, it’ll be sustainable, I hope.”

Programmes, grants, and sponsors like these make a real difference, and more of them are needed if grassroots creative communities like GreenRoom are going to keep growing. “Along the way, support has come at key moments from sponsors like Martian Backline and Avokindo, and we are very grateful for them,” says Jo.

After three editions, the team is still gathering feedback and working out how to develop its market and live-show components.

“We have a lot of things to learn and unlearn.”

Yet there are already signs that something is working. One of Rakesh’s favourite GreenRoom moments came from hearing band frontmen express surprise at seeing people from different demographics mosh and jump together to their music.

For Jo, it is hearing stories about people meeting their current partners or creative collaborators at GreenRoom.

Those moments point towards what GreenRoom ultimately wants to be: not just a place where people watch something, but somewhere things happen.

Making Space For What Comes Next

GreenRoom’s view of Malaysia’s independent music ecosystem is similarly complicated.

The talent, Jo argues, is very much there. What is less accessible is the infrastructure around it: grants and funding, sponsorship, royalties, copyright, management, marketing, distribution, and the knowledge of who to approach for help.

For GreenRoom, creating those bridges is part of the longer-term picture. It is why the project continues to move between music, art, education, markets, and community. The goal isn’t necessarily to make every artist more commercial, but to give them more options.

The GreenRoom team. (image: Provided to JUICE)

Every edition is treated as a project in its own right. Rakesh says the team approaches each one as though it might be their last, pouring all their creative energy into the moment rather than designing solely around some imagined future.

For a project that is barely a year and a half old, that uncertainty is part of the appeal. GreenRoom is still learning what it wants to be, who it wants to bring together, and what can happen when those people are given the space to experiment.

For two drummers who started out simply trying to create something of their own, perhaps that is the most interesting thing about GreenRoom.

They haven’t figured it all out yet.

And they don’t seem particularly interested in pretending they have.

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