KBnL: Condemned to the dance floor

"Bring an open mind and go get yourselves high." - KBnL

It’s fascinating how four seemingly harmless alphabets that make absolutely no sense and leave no lasting impression to the uninitiated or unbothered can cause such mayhem.

Yet that’s precisely what KBnL have done. To those who’ve had the (mis)fortune of finding out, those letters form the name of an unholy trinity of DJs who have unleashed dance-floor hell upon Malaysia’s relatively quiet southern town of Johor Bahru. The dangerous three have injected colour and character into a club scene better known for its "ah peks" (read: old uncles) and their papayas (read: well-endowed, young girlfriends); and punters too broke/lazy to travel across borders (i.e. Singapore) to find a decent party can finally say that they have choice–right in their own backyard of the same old, same old.

Dubbing themselves "the world’s laziest hardest working DJs", KBnL are two lawyers (Yi & Loong) and an engineer (Kevin) who were well into the music long before their counterparts in the bigger cities jumped onto the bursting bandwagon that is indie electro. Confining their hard-hitting mixing and beat-bashing skills to DIY parties over the years, they did it more for the fun than the fame–as they still do. But it wasn’t until 2008 that the trio felt the time ripe and minds open enough for rock ‘n’ roll disco to shimmy its way onto the stale JB dance-scape. And since no one else had made the first move, the boys almost reluctantly took the lead.

When they’re not-so-silently "plotting worldwide domination via very, very loud music" with Sea Wong (the owner of their unofficial headquarters, the charming Roost Juice Bar + The Girl Next Door), KBnL silently dream of the kind of superstardom whereby the decks are shared with their "superstar friends" like Justice and Soulwax. Yet already, KBnL’s events often see the town’s Trendy Wendys and indie band members moonlighting as baristas rub sweaty shoulders in a night of footloose and laughter. They’ve also played six havoc-inducing sets with Kuala Lumpur’s Twilight Actiongirl, whom they see both as their support and somewhat-inspiration.

Clearly, their vision is to serve the latest killer tracks and be served the hottest chicks on platters. Yet like many hard-not-to-like acts that promise nothing but a good time, KBnL have mastered the art of never taking themselves too seriously. Not bad for a bunch of slackers who dedicate their cause to making fans out of fashionistas and dancers out of drunks!

WORDS LIN PHOTO SEA WONG


Cutting A Rug
KBnL’s top 5 tracks for the floor
1. Justice - ‘Waters Of Nazareth’
2. LCD Soundsystem - ‘Yeah’
3. Late of the Pier - ‘The Bears Are Coming (Emperor Machine Remix)’
4. Anything by Cut Copy
5. Anything Yi plays ("the others are just there for the chicks!")

*Taken from Junk's April 2009 issue.