Riding At High Speeds, The Ayayay's 2nd Mini Album About The Working Class

The Ayayay (Experience)

JAKARTA – Blue collar class or the working class is a topic raised by the indie band Brit Rock, The Ayayay in their second mini album entitled Melaju di Speed Tinggi, which will be launched in Jakarta on August 6.

The second mini album, The Ayayay, consists of five songs, namely: Melaju at High Speed, Jakarta Rock City, What Do You Want, Belaga Gila, and Suratbuat Bangsat. Previously, The Ayayay had released their first mini-album with the title Ada Apa Dunia in 2020.

With four members, The Ayayay was founded in 2019. Starting with brothers Edo Margorevan (bass) and Andika Patria (guitar, vocals), the two then recruited Ahmad Vino Maulana (drums) and Aries Wijaksena (guitar). Originally the band was called Pantomime, but by Andika it was replaced by The Ayayay. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Indonesia, the band went into hiatus, but this condition made them more productive in creating songs.

"It's a meaningless name. Let it be unique and different. I also got that name from a dream, because in one dream I was like screaming incoherently ay…ay…ay. I told my brother Edo that the name should be used instead of Pantomime. Well, he agreed," said Andika, the bespectacled vocalist, to VOI at Padepokan Karya, Kemang, South Jakarta, Tuesday 2 August 2022.

The topic of The Ayayay's songs, which smells like working class language, is because the four personnel are workers. Andika is a manager at a beer company, Edo works in engineering, Vino is an employee at a cigarette company, while Aries is a journalist who posts daily at Polda Metro Jaya to cover urban news.

“They are very productive in their work, especially in the last two years during the pandemic. At least there are currently 50 songs owned by The Ayayay. They want to keep making songs, but I ask them to hold back a little so they don't run out of ideas," said Herman Relani, manager of The Ayayay.

Performing in Music Curation

Prior to the release of the mini album Melaju at High Speed, The Ayayay first appeared in the Music Curation event. This forum contains four music curators: Ully Dalimunthe, Seno M. Hardjo, Bugi Putranto, and Salman Aristo. They provide advice and assessment of new bands or musicians who are planning to launch an album, or appear more broadly to the public.

Since its establishment in 2020, Kurasi Musik has curated 200 new bands and singers in 15 cities in Indonesia. This forum was founded because there were requests from several record producers, film and soap opera production houses, and music players who had difficulty getting new talents to fill out soundtracks, commercial jingles, or create new bands.

The Music Curation event is held once a month, and this time a live performance was held at Padepokan Karya, Kemang. The Ayayay was one of the performers at Tuesday night's curation event.

"I feel relieved. It turns out that in Indonesia there is a new band with explosive energy, namely The Ayayay. The Ayayay's performance was able to inspire the audience who witnessed it. I welcome the presence of The Ayayay. The band's name is also unique and has already sold," said Seno M. Hardjo, former Board of Director of the Anugerah Musik Indonesia Foundation who was once a producer for Heidi Yunus, Dian Pramana Poetra, Malyda, and several other Indonesian musicians.

According to Ully Dalimunthe, who was once the producer of the bands Naff and Seventeen, The Ayayay has its own color.

“I thought this was a band that carries the color of punk music, because the name is strange. It turns out that The Ayayay is able to unite various colors. And, the most important thing is that The Ayayay is able to be themselves,” said Ully.

Like the title of their latest mini album, The Ayayay is ready to go fast on the Indonesian music scene.