Life on the road for Love Me Butch and Seven Collar T-Shirt

By DARYL GOH

Touring the rock ’n’ roll dream is something Love Me Butch and Seven Collar T-Shirt can take pride in. DARYL GOH spoke to both acts about the highs and lows of their recent sojourn. 

As the saying goes if you want a job done right, sometimes you got to do it yourself (DIY). For Seven Collar T-Shirt and Love Me Butch, two of the nation’s beloved young rock outfits, it was a difficult decision to head out on a nationwide tour – and to handle it on a DIY scale was twice as demanding.  

But when the lights came up at their final show at the Commonwealth Club in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, last Saturday, the mixture of euphoria and relief on the flushed faces of these band members couldn’t betray the story of their struggles on the road and the triumphant homecoming show that ensued. 

The tour made for a lot of rock ’n’ roll drama. The last two months have proved eventful for both bands as they shared resources, rode in vans and embarked on a DIY tour that took them to Ipoh, Johor Baru and Kuala Terengganu, before taking it all back home last week. 

HEART AND SOUL: Seven Collar T-Shirt vocalist Duan raising melancholy levels at the Commonwealth Club in Kuala Lumpur last weekend. – Picture by RICKY LAI

The Sejenak Di Semenanjung 2005 tour, featuring co-headliners Seven Collar T-Shirt and Love Me Butch, wasn’t a picnic. Rife with problems ranging poor turnouts, the Penang leg cancelled and budgets blown, there seemed to be little cheer on the road.  

In a country where local rock DIY tours are extremely rare, Seven Collar T-Shirt and Love Me Butch have virtually revived cross-country gigging culture. Desire and determination overcame the odds to deliver on the rock ’n’ roll word for this tour.  

Backstage after a blistering tour-closing set at the Commonwealth Club, Love Me Butch man main Syarul, 26, reflected on the road episode and summed up the entire experience as a life affirming yet hugely challenging one for both bands.  

“There were disappointments but I’m glad the tour has ended on a high. None of us will regret doing this and we didn’t set out to make life harder for ourselves when we decided this tour was coming out of our own pockets ... but maybe I wished we had a manual earlier warning us about the bumps,” said the smiling Shah Alam-based singer rather wearily.  

Far from the comfort zone of the Klang Valley and no sponsorship banner in sight, these outfits took a risk to get their music across. Despite setbacks, there were positives to take away from this tour – and predictably, Kuala Lumpur was one of them. 

On stage last Saturday, Seven Collar T-Shirt and Love Me Butch rallied their bruised spirits and stepped away from the tour woes with back-to-back sets that brought urgency and infectious passion to the evening.  

Led by frontman Duan, Seven Collar carried a set with lyrical vulnerability and emotional resonance, and held up a mirror to their audience with bittersweet reflections like Faith, War Is Over, and the classic New, that sounded every bit a head-rush as anything expected from one of the nation’s most inventive bands. 

Love Me Butch was not to be outdone. This quartet, enjoying a rebirth and their best year yet with the album This Is The New Pop, practically peeled off the paint at the venue with a fiery romp. Carved out of customary power and boundless energy, the band hit the small stage with huge stadium-sized force. Between Syarul’s raging vocals, the melodic punk-metal guitars and old-school hardcore, many fans by the moshpit were left floored once the last crackle of guitarist Wing Meng’s amp squeezed through.  

In the years to come, both headlining acts and the 300-odd crowd here will no doubt have this storming outing etched in memory as one of the local scene’s unforgettable shows. It was that sort of night when you just knew homespun rock was in safe hands.  

Regardless of whether this Sejenak Di Semenanjung jaunt has effectively turned these rock upstarts into rock grown-ups, but one thing is certain – this tour is something that has brought hard lessons that have been equally humbling and inspiring. 

“On the surface, it sounds rock ’n’ roll. But attempting a DIY tour can be frustrating and fulfilling. Hard as it might be, you just have to maintain the perspective – that we have the ability to engage a crowd anywhere and represent the music the best way possible with quality gear (that we are comfortable with) when playing in new surroundings,” said Winder Singh, Love Me Butch’s drummer. 

On this tour, these bands were involved with every aspect of the mission – marketing the gigs, sourcing equipment (from I Seek Music) and to advancing the notion that live professionalism can exist on the DIY platform.  

“A few years ago, the Butterfingers pulled off a tour like this. It’s not a common thing to have a tour plan with no sponsorship. But we had to make things happen for ourselves – we shared the costs (or losses). We needed to prove ourselves on this level,” he added.  

Both bands formed in the late 1990s are hardly spring chickens in the scene, but the road brought on challenges and surprises no rehearsal room could prepare them for.  

From first-hand experience, Seven Collar T-Shirt guitarist Ham doesn’t underestimate the intensity and discipline involved during the past four touring weeks. Considering both acts had to cart their own equipment, set up the stage and plug in a gig – and return to Kuala Lumpur on the night, it’s been laudable that they have been motivated to finish up this tour.  

“We would start off as early as 6am, packing the gear into the van. Then arrive at noon or earlier to put up the equipment. After some gigs, we found ourselves tired out and huddled up between the amps as the van took us back home. Let’s not even talk about police roadblocks,” recalled Ham with a cringe, before continuing: “Between the eight of us, we also took turns to sell tickets. If Love Me Butch was on stage, then Seven Collar would be at the door. Two fans at the Batu Buruk gig (Terengganu) helped with the tickets. They were honest and made sure the gig takings added up ... maybe, that’s the true spirit of rock ’n’ roll and we found it in Terengganu.”  

Candid conversations about touring aside, these two bands’ dedication to their music, and the newfound joys and demands of life on the road cannot be undermined. The fact that they could trade on a high level of music proficiency (each gig) on this first major tour is an achievement that spoke volumes about the maturity and commitment that has set a new template for others to emulate. 

The contemporary rock music scene might not connect to the DIY ambitions of some bands, considering how corporate entities have packaged and marketed bigger shows across the nation. Seven Collar frontman Duan reckoned that the broader music scene will remain oblivious to such struggles and most non-committal acts would refrain from attempting the road less travelled.  

“It’s hard to survive as a touring band, but we’re happy that we took the time to find out ourselves. There were low points when our shows outside KL did not come through as expected. But we’ve learned a lot, survived the knocks and gained the experience that has made us all the more stronger ... and best of all, we’re already thinking of round two of this tour,” said a confident Duan, who revealed that the bands intend to make up for its Penang disappointment and attempt Sabah and Sarawak soon.  

As evidenced on this tour, a memorable chapter has been written for Seven Collar T-Shirt and Love Me Butch, and in many ways, aren’t we glad that there still exist in our midst, admirable bands that are born to run.  

Browse http://www.scts.tk/ and http://www.lovemebutch.com/ for band updates.

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