Somewhere in mid-December last year, Ali Johan interviewed Joe for a special program on BFM about Brickfields, KL; and we talked about how the area became the home for many of us in the early “Malaysian underground music scene” – touching upon Jalan Scott, the 121-C house, the apartments in Jalan Ang Seng, Dari Jemapoh soundtrack, The Republic of Brickfields, etc. The segment opens with the much loved “Brickfields Nights” by UK punks THE BOYS, and featured many tracks from the Jemapoh soundtrack.

A tweet from the Time Out KL magazine dated 6th Dec pointed us to a web-version of an interview they did with Joe in mid-August. We checked it out and found out the interview had been severely edited, making it feel rather disjointed. It’s prolly a space-saving act for the printed version (which we haven’t seen as yet) but they could have put up the full version for the net version, no? Also, there’s no credit on the picture used; we did asked them to properly credit the pix. Btw, it’s taken by our mate Ady Shutterscream, shot at a show at Seventh Heaven, Tampin a few years ago.

Check the interview here: http://www.timeoutkl.com/music/articles/Backstage-with-Carburetor-Dung

Anyway, someone asked for the full version so here it is, warts and all…

DUNG @ TIME OUT KL MAGAZINE

1. After nearly 22 years of playing music, what keeps you guys soldiering on?

DUNG: Definitely sex, drugs & Rock’n’Roll. Yup, honest! Woefully though, nowadays it’s all about good company, great food, Rock’n’Roll and precious time away from the spouses & children – that doesn’t sound as sexy in’nit? Anyway, the term “soldiering on” makes it sound so terribly laborious. No. We are NOT soldiering on. That would paint us as a bunch of heroic romantics on a 22-year treacherous quest to conquer Mordor. Nope. 

There have been people coming up to us before a show and asking (in all seriousness), “macamana perjuangan DUNG?” and we would roll on the ground laughing.

Gawd forbid, DUNG is NOT a “carma” band (ask Datuk A. Samad Said). We are not signed to any label, any management company nor a publisher. We didn’t surrender our collective liberty and opt for binding contracts, liabilities and the attending cages and charades of the so-called “music industry”. 

Nope, we are not signed to any entity and we don’t want to. DUNG is a DIY punk band, everything is under our very own control; we recorded, pressed and release recordings under our very own label. We have no manager, the band manage itself. The prolonged continuity of the band does not ensure we’ll be able to pay our rent or bring food to the table and that’s how we like it, we don’t rely on the band’s earnings (earnings? what earnings); every single one of us has a professional job we love doing. The band is our creative vehicle; a free-form venture; proudly hi-energy, lo-culture.

So why are we still together after all these years? It’s still helluva fun.
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