Recreating With The Alter Ego

JAKARTA - Every musician usually has an alter ego in the form of creative ideas that cannot be fully incorporated into their band. For that, not a few who later made side projects (side projects). Some were only in the form of stage projections, there were also those who made albums until they finally transformed into a music group that was even more successful than the main band.

Which can be called the newest, The Otherside. Commanded by Adhitya Pratama - guitarist for the multiplatinum pop band Tanah Air Element - the rock band released their second single, Hitori Janai on November 19, as a follow-up to their previous single, Sebelah Nyawa, which was released last January.

Initially named Adhitya Pratama & The Otherside, the band is complemented by talents from several bands produced by Adhit. Among others, Cas (vocalist of The JumperFi), Naufal (MRLVCK drummer), Achmad 'Ais' Haris (Follow Band bassist), Filipus Jonatan (Follow Band saxophonist), and Jones Roma Teppy (guitarist and mixing engineer from Erwin Gutawa).

Apart from The Otherside, there are still many Indonesian musician side projects that have successfully attracted the attention of the Indonesian music audience. Here are a few of them.

Devildice

This band is a place for Jerinx's creative ideas that were not accommodated by the band Superman Is Dead (SID). In contrast to his role at SID, at Devildice Jerinx is a guitarist as well as a vocalist. Nevertheless, this drummer still shows his dark side through the lines of works painted in the album In The Arms Of The Angels (2004), Army Of The Black Rose (2012), and the single Left My Heart In Jogja (2017). Devildice was formed in Bali in 1997, two years after the birth of SID. The band, which is one of the front lines against Benoa Bay Reclamation, was formed after Jerinx became infatuated with the works of Social Distortion.

The Dance Company

The band with the formation of Aryo Wahab (vocals), Baim (guitar), Nugie (drums) and Ponky Barata (bass) is a super side project that can be supported by a long term project but stands on the slogan 'don't chase the target'. You see, each personnel is still busier and chooses to focus on their main projects. Uniquely, at The Dance Company, the four personnel tend to put aside their real identities and try to play with their new identities. The strength of this band is that it is like KISS, where all the members can sing. The works that he has produced include the albums The Dance Company (2009), Anak Indonesia (2010), and Happy Together (2014).

Jikunsprain

Since its formation in 2006, guitarist / rif's side project, Jikun, has released three full-length albums labeled self-titled (2008), Sprained (2009) and Bertuhan dengan Marah (2017). On his debut album, Jikun was accompanied by Daeng Oktav (bass), Andre Chilling (drums), and Pongki Barata (vocals). While on his second album, Jikun recruited Bima (drums) and Megadalle (vocals) to replace Chilling and Pongki, who at that time chose to return to focus on his main bands, Chameleon and Jikustik. In his last album, apart from still being accompanied by bassist Daeng Oktav, Jikun now has Sasongko from Umbra Mortis as a vocalist and Reza as a drummer.

Conspiracy

Guitarist for the alternative pop rock band, Cokelat, Edwin Marshal Syarif also has a vehicle to shed his hidden idealism through a band called Konspirasi. In this grunge genre band that was formed in 2009, Edwin was accompanied by a line of other classy rock musicians such as; Marcell Siahaan (drums), Che 'Cupumanik' (vocals), and Romy Sophiaan (bass). Conspiracy has released conspiracy theory albums in 2011 and singles Provocation Mantra (2017) and Tragedy Play (2019). Now, they are preparing for their new album.

Toxic Team

This is a side band of J-Rocks guitarist Sony Ismail which he formed with drummer Axel Andaviar, son of guitarist / rif, Ovy. Together with the Toxic Team, Sony does not play Japanese-Japanese music, but carries out electronic music mixed with fresh rock elements. The band was originally a father-son duo project; Ovy and Axel named Toxic Twins. Having previously been complemented by former Zigaz vocalist Zian, the Toxic Team recruited Melody as vocalist - who was later married to Axel - and Ijash on drums. The band has released a collaborative single with Divide called Anti Haters-Haters Club! two years ago.

The Sidhartas

This band is more deserving of being called a project like-like Because combining two uncles and two nephews from Potlot in one container; Bimbim (Slank) and Massto (Kidnap Katrina) and Crew and Firas. Although initially it was just a prank inspired by a foreign band, LMFAO, which also consisted of uncles and nephews, the band finally released their first self-titled album in 2016. The Sidhartas is a vehicle to relieve the fatigue of a Bimbim. Together with The Sidhartas, the leader of the legendary rock band Slank does not play drums. But served as a vocalist and guitarist.

Andra And The Backbone

Initially formed as an interlude of Andra Ramadhan outside of his main band, Dewa 19. But the band's popularity, which was founded in 2007, skyrocketed, even parallel to the main band. Together with Andra And The Backbone (AATB), Andra seemed free to pour his alter ego with guitarist Stevi Item and vocalist Dedy Lisan. Uniquely, Stevi also has a side project outside AATB, namely Deadsquad, which is a death metal genre. One thing that is no less important. Andra seemed to have prepared the AATB as a lifeboat since long ago. Yes, since Ahmad Dhani retired Dewa 19 in 2011 and only joined this band as a 'nostalgic band' that only performed occasionally, Andra no longer needed to be confused about looking for an escape.

Then, which side project band is the most classy? Of course it can't be smacked flat. Because each side project must have different goals and directions. But if the size is a recorded work, hits and a gig schedule, then of course it will converge on one name. Some say, the existence of a band can be seen on the third album. This means, if on their third album they are able to produce hits like the first and second albums, then the band can be said to be successful.

Among the bands listed above, AATB has represented the 'successful' category in its true sense. Besides having produced five albums, they were also able to produce hits on each of their albums. And even though in the last five years they only produced three singles, namely Panah Takdir (2017), Deja Vu (2018), and Song For You (2019) but they still have a fairly busy show schedule.

When viewed from the hit songs, it is actually very kind of one another. But when it comes to character, they have clearly found their own character. And if Andra and the Backbone still deserve to be called a side project, considering that Dewa 19's existence is now very limited, then this is a successful side project!