Well, it’s certainly the first time The Jazz Trio (now commonly known as Sunny Side Up) has performed at an outdoor wedding. We were playing just in front of the children’s swimming pool, which was shaped in such a way that it looked like a beach with the water gently lapping just behind us.

Yes, Scully’s shoes did get a bit wet from the ripples of the water, since the feet of his drum stool was kinda in the water

This was quite a nice gig we had. Good wedding, good company, good food, and of course - wickedly good music!

Also, the band’s thanks goes out to our new found friend Vincent Ramesh who supplied us nice gear, which included a Made in Japan Yamaha Stage Custom drum kit (almost impossible to find these days, since the company moved their manufacturing operations for this model to Indonesia) and a US made 200W Peavey TNT 115 bass amp, as well as the standard keyboards and keyboard amps.

Posted on July 3rd, 2008 by Jon
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It’s been awhile since I’ve been back to the jungles to escape the madness of the city, so a couple of buddies of mine recently decided to have a little get together at the Teluk Bahang National Park.

I’ve always liked the serenity of the jungle, and since it was pretty last minute, I decided what the heck - just do it lah…

Usually, I’d just thrown on my sandals and hike to the campsite along Monkey Beach, but this time around, Chris Katan managed to rope in another friend who owned a boat to whisk us off the Teluk Bahang jetty.

Approaching the site…

Looking for our tent…

Yum yum - lala freshly harvested from the our beach front stir-fried with soy sauce, ginger and onions. I dunno, food cooked outdoors seems to taste better somehow…

And there was a seemingly uninterrupted flow of drinks to liven things up a bit…

Watching some wildlife…

Boat at rest…

Yup, lots of beer that night…

Wilson on the way home…

Thanks Chris, for the invite!!!

And thanks Wilson for taking the photos!!!

Posted on June 17th, 2008 by Jon
Filed under: Food, Jon's News | 3 Comments »

so many things happening at once… school, pocket money, gigs, teaching, whoaaaaa… but it’s all good

Posted on June 11th, 2008 by Jon
Filed under: Jon's News | 1 Comment »

Many of you might be wondering what has become of Ocean of Fire since we haven’t been seen performing in the Penang underground scene in recent months.

Well, that’s because Kel, Chiat, Scully and myself have been up to our necks being involved with other musical endeavours, be it teaching, sessioning, as well as working on a whole lot of new material in the woodshed.

Suffice to say, if you haven’t been seeing us around, it’s because we’re busy coming up with new stuff in our tiny studio somewhere on the island.

Yes folks, this is all leading up to the recording and production of our second album, cos knowing us, it’s hard to keep still when it comes to music making.

One can expect the new album to maintain OOF’s signature sounds, without much deviation from progressive rock concepts, but it’s safe to say that what’s in store will be something more fusion-ny compared to our previous album.

The music is going to feature more collaborative work with other new found talents, but I can’t let the cat out of the bag just yet.

All I can say is that all will be revealed in due time.

Just to let you know what’s been going on…

…it does take quite a bit of effort to screen through thousands of patches in search for that suitable sound…

…and after that, there’s the task of getting the amp to work with you and for you…

…then we have to screen through sound clips for reediting or for some repair work on the tracks…

Well, that’s a typical day’s work for Kel, Chiat and me. Scully however, spends most of his free time expanding his drum kit, hahaha…

Yeah, his kit has somehow taken up half the space of our studio compared to just a third when we first moved in last year…

Posted on June 11th, 2008 by Jon
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Being the impulsive character that I am, I went for a trip up to Camerons again for another getaway (and a breath of fresh air) from Penang. So there I was driving up and down the streets of Tanah Rata looking for a place to crash, when I came across a nice looking inn which kinda looked cosy inviting.

However, when I entered the place, I was greeted with what i think was a drunk innkeeper who didn’t seem to be interested that he had customers. I mean, he was literally sprawled on a bed which was set up smack in the middle of the lobby and was speaking to me in a freaken prone position. And no, NO service with a smile there folks.

So I asked how much for a room, and he mumbles something like RM50, yada yada yada. I say, ok that’s fine, I just wanna see the place and he’s like yeah whatever, hands me the key and freaken goes back to sleep!

Ohhhh kayyyyyyyy… I check out the room and am in there barely for 5 minutes before I decide that it’s just a shitty room for me to be paying 50 bucks for. I come downstairs to return the key and say no thank you and he gets up and yells to me “YOU GILA KAH? MASUK SINI MAU GUNA TANDAS AH? @#$%^&*” (are you mad? coming in here to use the toilet @#$%^^)

In all my life I’ve never come across such a fuck head. I dunno, maybe he had a bad day or something - but that rudeness was almost spoilt my whole trip. I didn’t bother answering him but threw the key into his face and slammed the door on my way out.

Well anyway, it takes more than a stupid freak to ruin one my getaway trips and eventually I found a nicer place, albeit a little bit more expensive to put up for the night and indulge in much needed R&R after quite a stressful period in Penang.

If you’re in the area I recommend staying at the Casa de la Rosa slightly further up from Tanah Rata heading towards Brinchang. Complete with antique-styled furnishings, good views of the mountain range an awesome bed and a nice bathtub thrown in together with a full sized breakfast, which is absolutely wicked on a cold morning.

And yeah, nice friendly staff who do not address you lying down.

Posted on April 30th, 2008 by Jon
Filed under: Jon's News | 7 Comments »

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by BBB
Filed under: Events | No Comments »

Posted on April 21st, 2008 by BBB
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Thanks everyone for coming to watch us play at our first FSI event last Sunday. We really appreciate it, especially those who came all the way from Penang to lend a hand with equipment and the sound checks. We really had fun and hope you all did too!

Yeah, the gig comprised Ocean of Fire, Psycho Anthem, Inertia X. Three bands, three guitar shredders, all fired up to rip out fretboards in the peaceful town of Ipoh. Most of the time, we were ferrying between Kampar and Ipoh, with lots of unexpected stops in between.

Anyhow, our first stop was Psycho Anthem frontman Mario’s jamming studio aptly named Studio Rockstar.

After rehearsing a bit, Mario said it was time to go off to Ipoh, about 45 mins drive away. We were all nicely driving along when Mario suddenly turned into this obscure, single lane kampung road.

We all thought that this was some kinda shortcut to Ipoh, bypassing all the major roads leading there. But no, we ended up in Jeram Studio…

…where we were to pick up four Marshall half stacks for the show that night.

… and stuff them into Mario’s car…

By the end of it all, we were like wow… Even the top studios in Penang weren’t decked out with such high-end equipment such as the half stacks. We thought that the music scene in Kampar must be really through the roof. I mean, each half stack could have easily blasted anyone’s eardrums right out of their ears. Imagine four all lined up in a row, hahaha… Anyhow, later we found out the equipment was used by a band who played dangdut numbers at wedding functions. I was like “WHAT???” All that power, for dangdut music? Oh well… fast forward to the show:

Alas, all good things had to come to an end… Somehow, we had difficulty stuffing all the amps and stacks back into the car - but in the end it was all ok lah.

Posted on April 8th, 2008 by Jon
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Apr 6 - Kampar

Apr 19 - St Xaviers, Penang

May 1 - Ipoh

May 4 - Johor Baru

May 24 - Ipoh

June 22 - Kampar

Aug 8 - USM, Penang

Posted on April 4th, 2008 by Jon
Filed under: Events, Jon's News, Ocean Of Fire News | 2 Comments »

Well, it’s been some time since I’ve posted something up here. Was on a month long break, traveling back and forth between Penang, Cameron Highlands and Malacca just to chill out and for once, sit back and do absolutely nothing - but hey it’s good to be back now.

While I was in Malacca, I was driving through town on a dull Sunday afternoon and passed my primary school which I haven’t stepped foot in for ages. I thought it’d be cool to drop by and see how the place was doing.

To tell you the truth, the place ain’t changed much since I left in 1993. Damn, that’s quite awhile ago… and yeah - the merdeka banner is still standing tall even now.

Man, the sign tells how old this school is. And yeah, this music room was the place where I spent most of my time in… Brings back good memories

While exploring the place further, I stumbled on some photos of my former teachers…

Man, this photo was probably taken when I was still a todler, but I did recognise a few faces:

1. Mr Long Chai Kok - who was the longest serving discipline master there, and I was privileged to receive three of the best from him. I mean, the guy was feared by all… I think. Even now, he’s still a legend amongst those who passed through the gates of SRK Bandar Hilir up till the early 1990s.

2. Mr Ng Swee Kee - who was my class teacher in Standard 4. Can’t really remember what he taught me, but he was a cool dude who lived somewhere next to my taman. I do remember that he drove this really beat up 1970s Toyota station wagon to school, which looked more like a tank than anything else.

3. Mr Ng Ah Lok - who was my Pendidikan Moral teacher in Standard 6. This dude had a reputation for slapping kids, no joke. And it wasn’t just the “slap on the wrist” kinda thing. No, it was the full on “forehand/backhand tennis swing” slap style. And I remember he wore those huge jade stone rings on one of his fingers of the slapping hand. Whoa, terror man… I was fortunate enough never to on the receiving end of those power slaps. I still wonder how I got away from not doing any moral homework at all during those days. Oh well…

Also, back in Standard 4, I was appointed to be one of the prefects. Till this day, I wonder what my teachers saw in me that warranted prefectship.

Anyway, having the mindset that being a prefect was equivalent to being a tai kor, I managed to persuade one of my buddies to hand over a can of fart-spray, the ones that are used to trick people. So I went along happily spraying fart everywhere in the school. Fate had it that I was to bump into Mr Long at the peak of my fart spraying escapade. The rest is history.

Looking back, I do kinda miss my primary school days. Wouldn’t even trade a day of it for a new five string Warwick bass.

Posted on April 4th, 2008 by Jon
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