Artist Info
MARCH
Genre : Alternative/Rock | |
Performances : | |
About This Act : |
MARCH formed in the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta, in 2005. It was Faddy Alkatiri (ex-the Side Project, MARCH 2005-present, Electron 45), the vocalist, who brought the initial formation together and auditioned some earlier personnel such as Afif on guitar (MARCH 2005-2006), Erpe on bass (MARCH 2005-2007 ) and Erixon on drums (MARCH 2005-present). Faddy, at that time was an ex-frontman of a Screamo / Post-hardcore veteran band from Jakarta, The Side Project, along with other personnel in that band including Dochi Sadega (Pee Wee Gaskin, Bla bla blast). Resigned from the underground music scene in Jakarta did not made Faddy stop pursuing his interest to play musics, his willingness to create a metal music and take his brand new music to the underground scene in Jakarta, leads Faddy, Afif and Erpe who was a childhood friend began to form MARCH. MARCH was finally established and so they start to fill the high rotation of gigs and school parties in Jakarta scene, along with bands like Seringai, Fall, Stepforward, Killed By Butterfly, Siksa Kubur, Nostoc, Accidental Hero, and Straight Out. The presence of new bands from Faddy (ex-voc The Side Project) has caught the attention of the scenes, with early songs from MARCH which were distributed free and hand-to-hand, the songs spreads in most of scene and school kid`s Ipod, those songs were like "Adore", "Pain", "Romance Before March "and" In My Apologize ". Even the single "Adore" at the time it lasts in no.1 "Cutting Edge - Weekly Chart Indie Tunes" At 101.4 Fm trax for more than 6 weeks. In 2006 Kemal Maharsa (Guitar player for the Afghan, Marcell) were asked to fill in on a demo track from MARCH singles those song are "Batas Nalar" and "In My Apologize", feeling matched and companied Kemal were finally signed in to the bands. MARCH musicality was changing direction ever since, all riffs and arrangements that was tend to be more metal / hardcore, now flows to the direction of power metal/heavy metal, accompanied with a signature solo on every song. At the same year Afif were resigned from MARCH. Then Ryan (MARCH, 2006-present) were auditioned and asked to fill the vacant position. Changes occur again, this time in term of musicality, with Ryan`s influences who more to be thrash and progressive metal, has brought MARCH with a new concept of "dual-lead guitar harmonised" a la Iron Maiden, Helloween and Megadeth. The rotation of stages and gigs were increasing abundantly, and MARCH had enough courage to steal the attention of Jakarta scene with covering some up-to-date metal core acts such as Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold. This in turn, makes MARCH become identically related with those bands mentioned before. In a small gigs in Jakarta, MARCH play their esteemed songs and some of the audience there were like frontman of the Hardcore bands Fall, Arian13 and music director of a reputable radio station in Jakarta, came to our manager Marsha Suryawinata and give some compliment like "Awesome", "Heavy" and "Rough material, just to say how great the performance was in that night. In 2007 Kemal resigned, MARCH conducted another auditions and vacant positions on the guitar was completed by Rian Hamzah (MARCH 2007, Omelette) for several months. After all Rian Hamzah chose to pursue his career with his family band Omlette, guitar position was soon replaced by Lale (2007-present, Maliq and D'essentials) jazz based guitarist who at the time was a session player band, with RAN. Lale at that time who have never played any metal genre at all has the capability to quickly adapt to the bands and provide a new colour in MARCH music. The biggest changes was happening here, the combination of the new personnel is one of the best combinations ever in MARCH, the concept of "dual-lead guitar-harmonised" became more mature and revamped. In this year began MARCH to collect their materials for their upcoming debut album and finally enter the recording studio Massive in Bandung, produced by Yayat Achdiyat (Burgerkill) and Budi Badot (The SIGIT). In 2008, MARCH chosen as the opening act for power metal band veterans "Helloween - Hellish Rock World Tour 2008" in Jakarta. In the middle of moment of recording the debut album, Erpe the bassist decided to resign from MARCH to pursue his education. Bassist position was vacant and filled by a few additional players up to now like Jmono (ALEXA) and Gogo Aditya (Killed By Butterfly, Silent Farewell). In the middle of 2008, a recording master plate of their debut album, "POLYMATH" were wrapped. Then MARCH then started making video clips from their single "TEORI KONSPIRASI" with clip director Joshua Sutojo and Clement from Mindworks studio (clip director of The SIGIT, Sore, Tika, etc.). MARCH record label, management and distribution at that time were under courtesy of Andreas Wullur (High Octane Rock Management, SERINGAI). Somewhere in the year, Ryan one of the guitarist decided to continued his medical education in Melbourne, Australia. It forces MARCH in hibernating state, the release of POLYMATH album was also delayed one year later. In 2009, in the middle of band hibernation state, MARCH personnel began to look for side-projects to fill their empty slots of times. Lale, were asked to join and became the official guitarist for renowned Jazz/Pop band Maliq and D'essentials, replaced their previous guitarist, Satrio, who later formed ALEXA. Faddy Alkatiri at that time were under the auspices of Millionaires Club Management and 1945mf, eventually became the frontman of Electron 45, Indonesian supergroups Electronic/Rock band. At the end of the year, Ryan has finally comeback from his education in Melbourne and the release of the POLYMATH album were started to be worked again. In 2010, the debut album from MARCH "POLYMATH" released under MARCHmusic records, with a single "TEORI KONSPIRASI". The album got some positive reviews and criticism from known journalists in Indonesian music magazine, some of them likes, Adhib Hidayat (Managing Editor, Rolling Stone Magazine Indonesia) who said ".. this album sound like a mixture of Burgerkill album 'Beyond Coma and Despair' and Edane album '170 volts'. Single "TEORI KONSPIRASI" also get the accolade as The BIG FIVE winner in the category "Favorite Metal Songs" in ICEMA 2010 (Indonesia Cutting Edge Music Awards), along with known national metal bands such as Dead Squad, Siksa Kubur, Komunal and Nemesis. The distribution of POLYMATH album were starting to break out to some big cities in Australia under the auspices of MARCHmusic records, including Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. The release of POLYMATH to Australian markets marked with "POLYMATH Melbourne campaign 2010". The following year 2011, MARCH has released a reality show series called "MARCH TV" which consist of five episodes from the first session. This show was broadcasted through Youtube services and features upclose session of MARCH life activities, also included are the instruments lesson from various songs from the POLYMATH album. The show has gained stellar reputation from MARCHfamilia (fanatics of MARCH) and was planned to launch the second session on 2013. This year also remarkable as MARCH invited to play at the most anticipated Rock events in Indonesia: Javarockin Land, and got a good receptives from the audiences. During the mid-year, the official second single from POLYMATH album "Konfrontasi" were released with the special campaign using QR codes guerilla marketing. Through out 2012, MARCH entered studio again to produce the brand new concept for the 2nd album, many songs with fresh tunes are produced. They wanted to do something completely differently without leaving the original formula. To date around 10 fresh song are available for production and set to release on 2014 These are including the remarkable cover version of "Pelangi" from Indonesian rock legend Boomerang. More collaboration with great musician are expected to be seen on the 2nd release MARCH Another milestones reached, 2013 is the year when Jmono (Alexa 2005-2012, Parkdrive 2002-2006, Neurotic 2012-present) is officially become the member of MARCH. The longstanding friendship between Jmono and the MARCH personnel has fueled the new age of MARCH genre, expect fresh tunes from this controversial bass player and musician. The photoshoot for the new formation were undertaken and set to be released in the mid of 2013. With the new formation and songs ready to be recorded, MARCH will set 2014 as the year for releasing their 2nd album and those year shall become the new history of Indonesia rock/metal music scene. |