On A High Note: Rendra Zawawi

Rendra Zawawi might be a name you’ve only just recently heard around Malaysia’s gigging circuit, but in truth Rendra has plied his self-described brand of “folk rock with an emo twist” as a singer-songwriter for three years now. It’s just that now he’s finished his studies in the UK and has decided to give being a full-time artist a shot. For a year, at least. Junk caught hold of the acoustic troubadour for a tête-à-tête at a recent U.O.X. Play event and found out his plans for 2009.

Who are your musical influences?
People like Damien Rice, Ray LaMontagne and Kings of Convenience. Before I went to the UK, my music was more upbeat…very happy-go-lucky kinda songs. Those influences I owe to people like Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz. Back then I would say I was more folk rock. But in the UK it's all very mellow because of the weather and I’ll feel very sentimental, so that's when all of my darker songs come. Now there's a bit of a mix–very emo kinda rock and now with the band, very sentimental kinda rock.

Where do you get your emo side–besides from the UK weather?
I really like my emo side. Most of the melodies I write, for some reason, tend to go to the dark side. I find I write better dark melodies. I probably owe it to my childhood experience as a video gamer!

Er, aren't video games supposed to be happy?
No. I was an RPG gamer playing games like Final Fantasy and the Japanese soundtracks tend to be very melodious. As a child I was always playing those games, and I think it got instilled into me and I got really inspired. So I owe my emo influence to the Japanese gaming companies. Now I'm waiting for Final Fantasy 13.

What other music styles do you get into?
I'm a universalist; I can listen to almost everything!

So what's the most hardcore act that you can appreciate?
Apocalyptica. I've seen them perform live once with all the headbangers. Oh my god, it was crazy. Because I like to do all these dark melodies, I find it easier to arrange my music with violins and string instruments. So a lot of my songs have a lot of violin twists.

Who do you dig in the Malaysian scene?
I really like Pete Teo and Rafique Rashid. Besides my English songs, I also have my Malay outlet. And all my Malay stuff is isolated from my English ones. All my Malay stuff is very quirky and folky. I tell stories, and in that sense I can relate to Rafique Rashid. Oh man, he's so good. I feel inspired by Rafique. He and Pete Teo are so amazing. I have Pete Teo's whole album on my iPod playlist. And Amir Yusof’s. Amir Yusof is a great guy.

What’s your favourite song of all-time?
‘The Blower's Daughter’ by Damien Rice. I love that song. I used to play that at all my gigs to the point that I got sick of it. So I kinda stopped for a while and switched to ‘Cannonball’ [also by Damien Rice]. Now I'm sick of ‘Cannonball’ so I'm back to ‘The Blower's Daughter’. But recently I've developed a liking for Feist.

WORDS APRIL PHOTO RENDRA ZAWAWI
www.myspace.com/rendrazawawi

*Taken from Junk’s March 2009 issue.

Rendra Zawawi will be playing at KLue Urbanscapes 2009! Click HERE for more info!