Project Perfect: Andra and The Backbone have found their own spine

Like it or not, rock ‘n’ roll is an ego game. That’s probably the only explanation why there will always be side projects. And more often than not these projects are not as commercially successful as the main bands of the people who form these projects, as those who form them usually have a more artistically challenging approach, together with the knowledge that they can always go back to the main bands to earn their living.

This makes the Andra and The Backbone story that much more interesting. Initially formed as a solo venture of Andra Ramadhan, the guitarist of Indonesian mega band Dewa 19, this is a project with a decidedly more modest artistic pursuit. With Dewa being renowned for their bombastic song arrangements and a penchant towards complex chord progressions, Andra and The Backbone sees Andra pursuing his love of heavier pop rock bands like the Foo Fighters and The Ataris, resulting in simpler and more direct songs, albeit with a lot of distortion–a sound that is not too common in Indonesia’s more ballad-friendly, mid-tempo musical climate.

After the huge success of their single ‘Sempurna’ in 2007 (which culminated in the band picking up the Junksounds Song Of The Year award), the band returned a year later with a new album called Season 2. Chatting with the band after their sound check at the Livesounds concert series recently organised in Kuala Lumpur, I had to ask: why such a short gap between the two albums? “We’re not young anymore,” replied Andra matter-of-factly. “So [we] might as well do as much as we can in as short a time as we possibly have.”

With the band’s popularity steadily rising in their country and abroad, one might expect some crazy schedules, especially with both Dewa 19 and Andra and The Backbone sharing guitarists and drummers. But once again, it’s not the case. “We share a lot of bills together with Dewa, so we’ve managed to avoid a lot of headaches that way,” says Andra. “Plus at the moment, Dewa is sort of resting, so there isn’t much of a clash of schedules happening so far. Being in Dewa also means that I’ll know the future plans, so I schedule Andra and The Backbone around that.”

The band might be named after Andra, but it’s Dedy Lisan who handles the band’s vocals. The two already knew of each other, but Andra ended up asking Dedy to join the band after hearing him do some guide vocals for former Dewa frontman Ari Lasso. The debut came out in 2007, and soon ‘Sempurna’ would send them sky high. Yet it wasn’t even their first single (that was ‘Musnah’). “We just wanted to make a different first impression, so we decided to not make the first single a ballad, as is often the case with most bands,” says Andra.

One of the most common observations about ‘Sempurna’ is its similarities with the song ‘Dust In The Wind’ by Kansas. Andra chuckles at that comparison, then points towards their guitarist Stevie Item (or Tepi, as he’s called). “Ask him,” he laughs. “He’s the one who did the music!” Tepi’s reply is rather nonchalant. “Maybe it’s just the genre as it’s a ballad with finger-picking guitar parts, and Kansas has their fair share of songs like that,” he says. “But personally I’ve never heard of that particular Kansas song and being from a younger generation, what I was aiming for was the kind of arrangement that the Smashing Pumpkins did for their cover of ‘Landslide’, itself a ballad by Fleetwood Mac.”

With the second album, the band has once again opted for something heavier, as evidenced by the first single ‘Kepayang’. The song and album have been well-received, and all this rapid, unexpected success has surprised even Andra. Yet with two albums here, none of the band members dare to compare the rise of Andra and The Backbone to Dewa’s long history of success. All of them choose to remain focused on making music that they themselves would want to buy if it were made by someone else.

“It’s not right to compare the two bands as they’re both very different creatures,” says Andra. But if he had to make a choice between the two? “Dewa, of course,” he laughs. “The money’s still way too good!”

Words Aidil
www.andrathebackbone.com

*Taken from JUNK's February 2009 issue