KUALA LUMPUR, 17 JUNE 2013 – It’s hard to describe the scene at Heineken Green Room KL Live on 15 June with a music line up that included The Drums, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (TEED), Twilight Actiongirl (TAG), Deer Society and Darren Ashley. Over a thousand of Heineken’s loyal music fans were greeted with a radically different layout to the venue that has been home to Green Room events featuring 2manydjs, The Rapture, Gossip and more. A group of Malaysian visual artists and designers turned KL Live into a series of conceptually themed Green Room spaces.
“Heineken Green Room has always explored the areas where music, design and creative passion collide, bringing together new and uncompromising music and creative art forms in Malaysia,” comments Jessie Chuah, Heineken Marketing Manager. “With Malaysia’s music scene evolving faster than it ever has, tonight’s event meant pushing our own limits to create an experience unique to Heineken Green Room.”
Social Design
On entering Heineken Green Room, music fans were greeted with a new conceptual exhibition called A Social Design, curated by long-time Heineken collaborator and visual artist themancalleduncle. Containing works by four of the country’s leading graphic designers and fine artists, we asked Stephen Lau, Ajim Juxta, the Off-Day and James Ly to explore their passion for music and the influence it has on their work.
The result was a series of collage and graphic pieces that encompassed the timeless quality of music (Stephen Lau’s ‘Back On A Sunday Afternoon in 1968’), the recurring patterns of pop culture (James Ly’s ‘Reciprocal Phantasmagoria’), an imaginary Malaysia visited by Joy Division, David Bowie and more (The Off-Day’s ‘Malaysian Rock History’) and the connections between music and the natural world that define the lives of artists (Ajim Juxta’s ‘Juxtaposed’). Their display area quickly became one of the busiest areas at KL Live, with fans queuing up to have their photos taken in front of the 8’ by 8’ canvases.
A specially invited audience was also treated to an early evening edition of Pecha Kucha, the global design networking and social event founded in Tokyo, which was held in the Green Bar, an area created by architectural design collective Kontak! that created an industrially themed floating park inside KL Live. Hosted by Twilight Actiongirl’s DJ Bunga, and presented in collaboration with British Council, this special music-themed edition featured fast-moving presentations from some of Malaysia’s best-known creative talents. From DJ Blink’s journey through his own musical history to experimental performance art pieces to the fashion-inspired tales of Tongue-in-Chic’s Claudia Low and Main Offender Jiman Casablancas.
Retro Futurism
Bringing Heineken Green Room to life onstage and off it, Twilight Actiongirl opened the proceedings with a set of floor shaking indie anthems that set the tone for what turned out to be a night of good-natured, high energy fun. Celebrating ten years of indie mayhem, the collective of Bunga, Ribut 10:59, ChaseyLain and XU curated an exhibition of some of the highlights of those years, with a collection of flyers and artefacts as well as photos, testimonials and video from some of their most memorable nights. For celebrity-spotters, it was the perfect place to be as it served as a popular chill out area for some of the local music and arts scene’s star faces.
Opening for The Drums with a set of soaring future electro anthems, Heineken Green Room newcomer Darren Ashley wowed the crowd with his vocal range, hitting some incredible high notes along the way. His 30-minute set ably demonstrated why the red-haired songwriter is being tipped as Malaysia’s next major crossover star.
Taking advantage of the good-natured crowd at Heineken Green Room, the members of The Drums seemed happy to take in the sights and sounds of Heineken Green Room, mingling with the crowd on and off throughout the night. So it seemed that there was already a bond between the stars and the crowd as they took to the stage. Live, their tracks gained a power and directness that their records only hint at, propelling Heineken Green Room to a an enormous crescendo as they played hits including Let’s Go Surfing, Money and Days.
With the energy of the pulsing New Yorkers still hanging in the air, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs pushed the tempo further and faster as they aimed for the dancefloor with a set of cosmic disco tunes for its first Heineken Green Room performance. TEED mainman Orlando Higinbottom’s silhouette darted around the console, while his tunes moved the crowd below, mixing up disco, deep house and leftfield tunes to bring Heineken Green Room a taste of the sound that will be dominating this year’s international dance music festivals and destinations like Ibiza.
In between sets and to take a break from the main room action, Heineken’s music fans created their own hangouts in the Green Room spaces around KL Live. Forming freewheeling networks and communities, stamping their identities onto the Aerial Park and all the other spaces, giving each its own vibe and atmosphere in the process. And, as an extension of that community spirit, we encouraged everyone to record and share their Heineken Green Room experience via video sharing app Vine (#GreenRoomKL) to create six-second snapshots of the night.
So, it was into that relaxed atmosphere that The Deer Society stepped up for their Heineken Green Room debut. Taking over where TEED left off, these celebrated party organisers and scene-makers pushed the disco envelope even further, with some twisted deep tunes that had the floor rocking late into the night. To round off the night, they brought a cheer with the classic ‘Changes’ by another Heineken collaborator, the celebrated local producer Haze.
It summed up this Heineken Green Room perfectly: a retro futurist combination of music and collaborations remixed music and pop culture references for a brand new tomorrow.
To be part of Heineken’s exciting calendar of events, stay tuned at our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Heineken) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/Heineken_MY).
