White Shoes & The Couples Company: Power Couples

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  13 Jan 2012 in Interview

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In Malaysia it’s hard for indie bands to survive, what’s it like in Indonesia?
Rio You have to have your own strategy, promotion-wise you can’t just follow the mainstream’s way of doing things.
Mela We do other activities too.

You mean you guys do other things too besides music?
Rio Freelancer.
Ricky I teach. Music theory, karate, music scoring.
John Photography, as a hobby. I’m a music teacher too, drums! I have a business enterprise, but I won’t tell you what.
Mela I’m a housewife.
Sari I’m a freelance graphic designer and illustrator.
Saleh Illustrator, drawing, painting, mural, fine art basically. For both the industry and myself.

When did people really take notice of you guys internationally?
Rio Initially no. We got the international exposure because of Myspace, which resulted in the Rolling Stone award. Then we got a good review from All Music Guide. We realised we have to maintain this relationship with other records from outside of Indonesia, we have to do a lot of networking. As an indie band we need to build relationships.

How did you get approached by the labels? Did you come to them or they come to you?
Rio They came to us. They found us and they just sent an email saying they liked our music, we told them we’re under Aksara and then they just called Aksara and told em they want to release our album.

What do you enjoy the most about making and performing your music?
Ricky It’s fun! You can travel. Making music is the most honest job I do. We make good and pure music, there’s no corruption to it and we get money from doing the thing we like. Also, it makes people happy!
Rio Look at politics, they get money from being corrupted.

You guys are really big on the struggles of being independent! Give our indie bands a bit of an advice.
Ricky First, make your own music. Second, please network with all Malaysian musicians. There won’t be a good thing if there were a gap between Malaysian bands. It has happened in Indonesia back in the 90s.
Saleh Genre elitism. We only play grunge, we only punk, we only play metal.
Ricky Now we are together as one, we help each other.
Sari If some indie pop make an event, the publication that would cover it is punk rock. It’s very common in Indonesia now.
Ricky There’s no more gap. All of us are the Sons of Adam.
Everyone (laughs)

Obligatory question when a neighbouring act comes to Malaysia, what bands from here are you fans of?
Ricky Couple, Laila’s Lounge, Liyana Fizi, Hujan, Jayzuan. We network, we should know.

That you do!

Check out retro chic music at whiteshoesandthecouplescompany.org.