make it funky: b-quartet

by Lounge Lizard

Photos Courtesy of Aging Youth

For some folks who scorn at technically proficient musicians, here is a quote from jazz fusion guitar legend, Al Di Meola to put them in their place. "Some people think that you only need 3 notes to fully express yourself. That's true. I can do that. I can also do it with a million notes as well." Chops and feel. B-Quartet delivers them in spades. Aging Youth sits the band down and chats with Bani Haykal (vocals/ bass), Bani Faizal (guitars/ vocals), Bani Raizan (guitars) and Bani Hidir (drums/ vocals) about the importance of family values and their blend of funk, jazz, metal and progressive rock.

How did B-Quartet come about?

Hidir : It was late 99. For a number of weekends we'd been fooling around on instruments and one day, somebody decided to form this band. So we had a video-camera and a tape recorder, played some tunes, and... I don't know, so far that's all that I can remember.

Faizal / Raizan: Four cousins who just happened to jam together one day at our grandmother's place. Felt good doing it, so we carried on till today.

I understand that all members adopted the name Bani. Is there any significance in that name?

Hidir : Yes. It's our surname. Given to us by our grandfather?

Faizal / Raizan: As mentioned, we are four cousins (Faizal and Raizan are brothers. Haykal and Hidir are brothers. All of us are related as cousins) and all of our first names are Bani. Walla! Bani-Quartet!

Haykal : The name's pretty obvious, I guess. We're all Bani. That's our surname. We decided to just put it as there's four Banis in the band. We did have another name in mind which was Freezing Cacophony. We didn't use that and so we got ourselves stuck with B-Quartet till now. Significance? As in meaning to the name Bani? I think it means "the family of" or "family of", I think.

Since you guys are family, does that play an important part in building your tightness as a band?

Hidir : Pretty much, I guess.

Faizal / Raizan: In a way it does. We have mutual respect as brothers/cousins even before we were bandmates. Growing up together actually helps us understand each other's style, behaviour, etc. If there was ever a problem, things will be solved very quickly. No ego clashes or stuff like that. So I guess with that big major part (the conflicts) out of the way, it leaves us more space to just concentrate on the music. Get it? Hahaha, I'm losing myself here!

Haykal : I guess it does. Even before we got together as a band, we all knew each other. I guess that we know what pisses each other off. I guess the sense of understanding is already built.

Has anyone made any Corrs reference yet? Or is it just me?

Hidir : Not that I can recall. I think you are the first.

Faizal / Raizan: Corrs? Haha! It's all JUST you!

Haykal : Haha... not that I know of.

I love the fact that while you guys have all this technical prowess on your instruments, there's the maturity and comprehension of crafting good and soulful melodies. How did you guys decide to move towards this direction?

Hidir : Ultimately, the songs, accompanied by melodies, are provided by Haykal. I'm not even sure why the band took this particular direction, but I love it though.

Faizal / Raizan: We love bands like Toto which have members with tremendous technical abilities. But they put them to good use by NOT overdoing it, balancing between the technical parts and melodic lines. So we basically decided that that idea is good. In the end, we don't want anybody to just say how good an individual is. We are more concerned on getting people to like (or maybe even love) our songs.

Haykal : Hahaha. Honestly, I don't know how to answer this question. We're just doing what we think sounds nice, attempting to do something original as our main priority. That's all.

I love it when Hidir hits the high harmonies, supporting Haykal in the vocals department. How do you guys work out the vocal parts? How does Faizal come in the picture, supporting you two?

Hidir : Well, since both Haykal and I live under one roof, he usually introduces me to the melodies, and we try to come up with various vocal parts. I believe that our lack of a keyboard player or string section or what-not, are replaced by these vocal parts. I mean, that's what I think of it.

Faizal / Raizan: Faizal just sings small certain lines to sort of 'thicken' up Haykal's lines. (He) puts a bit of emphasis on certain parts.

Haykal : The vocal parts and the harmonies are pretty much Hidir's work. He does all that. Simply because he has a way much better ear for that. Faizal comes in to support us. It's sort of like giving more energy to the vocals section of the song. Less is more but since we don't have much stuff to offer, whatever we could do, we'd just try to do it.

From your live shows, I see both Faizal and Raizan taking solos. How do you guys decide who would take the lead on each song?

Hidir : In my ears, and maybe eyes, both Faizal and Raizan are amazing guitar players. Somehow I think we as a band, can differentiate between their styles that they fuse into their licks. I think the composer of a particular piece of music will know who to choose.

Faizal / Raizan: Scissors, paper, stone. Haha…

Haykal : This is quite subjective. Faizal and Raizan know better. But I think sometimes they're both just tired of doing solos so it's either one of them or the other who does it.

Though twin guitar harmonies are very 80's and metal-sounding, what is the appeal to you both? What's the approach like in crafting those harmonies?

Faizal / Raizan: We thought it would look cool! Haha! For our approach, we just have to learn to compromise whose ideas to use and not use. We would both concentrate on the main melody lines for the solo. Once that is done, we both then proceed to work on the harmonies. It helps that both of us are brothers, so it’s easier for the both of us to sit down and whack that solo! Hahaha!

Hidir : (I) totally agree about it being 80's and metal-sounding. Sort of like re-incarnating that image into what we're playing, which is basically rojak (a potpourri), I think. They siao ma (are crazy). Hahaha…

When it comes down to the crunch, which would you guys choose? Technicality or groove?

Hidir : I would choose groove although that is typically the hardest thing for me to achieve.

Faizal / Raizan: Tough one. But we'd go for groove.

Haykal : It'd be groove for me, I guess. But I’d very much like to leave that question open.

Haykal, you play some mean bass and dish out some bass-tapping. How did you come to learn all that technique from?

Hidir : He siao ma (is crazy). Hahaha…

Haykal : It's called "sebat aje". I got influenced by Primus (LesClaypool) for this technique. I’m just whacking away. Honestly, it's not consistent.

Primus is known to have an extremely warped sense of humour in their music. Is that prevalent in your music?

Haykal : It's around, I guess.

Hidir : I'm not very sure. We're all bad at humour, except for Raizan who is constantly cracking us up!

Faizal / Raizan: Hah!

Hidir, being the youngest member of the band and best drummer in the Yamaha Asian Beat band competition in 2002, I believe I say for all of Aging Youth that your ability on the kit is mind-blowing. My friend who is a drummer wants to know: How the hell did you train to be this good?

Hidir : Haha. Thanks. I have no idea. I’ve listened (since I began drumming; I was 13) to artists ranging from Dave Weckl to Yellowjackets, Metallica to Megadeth, radio tunes like Santana to Incubus, Dream Theater, Casiopea (or a lot of Japanese jazz) and now Avril Lavigne and many other pop icons. So it's sort of like training. Or like The Matrix! "I know kung-fu." sort of thing.

Are you taking drum lessons or just trying to absorb everything you hear?

Hidir : I'm just trying to absorb everything I hear.

Faizal / Raizan: Crazy punk ass kid. He practically listens his way through! Grrrrr, I envy you, Hidir!!! Haha!

In terms of songwriting, would it be a group effort or just Haykal bringing in the tune?

Faizal / Raizan: Haykal would bring 99.9% percent of the songs to the jamming studio and the rest of us would chip in with ideas. It’s basically all Haykal.

Haykal : As a group, we’d do the arrangements for the song. ‘Dry Rain’ was a song where all of us put our heads together to come up with it. (It) wasn't easy and a smooth sailing trip, but we got it all done in the end. Most of the other songs I’d come up with the melody and the chords for it. Then comes a major mutation period where everything is dissected and a lot of surgery is involved. Finally, it'll be done.

Hidir : At times, we'd do the Queen thing. Most of the time, Haykal's original pieces that we'd love to play are perfect. Then it'd be up to the rest of us what other minor details we'd suggest to add etc, I guess.

The Queen thing?

Hidir : The Queen thing, loosely defined, means one guy writes the song and the others fiddle with it. I got this from Population 1's interview. Haha! By the way, Population 1 rocks; you should check them out.

What are the common influences for your band? Do you guys use this as a springboard to create your own tunes?

Hidir : Common influences, I guess, would be whatever we've heard recently. No, I don't think we use this as a springboard. And since 99% of the music is Haykal's, I have no ability to continue with the answer.

Faizal / Raizan: There are a lot of common influences actually. Let’s say, if the band is currently listening to Coldplay, then it is very likely that the next song we would do would have a tinge of Coldplay to it. How the tunes would eventually come out actually depend a lot on what kind of songs we are all currently listening to.

Haykal : I think we listen to lots of stuff. Things from Joe Satriani to Jamiroquai, Dave Matthews Band to Phish, stuff like Coldplay to Megadeth and John Meyer to Sting to Bjork. (The influences are used) maybe to a certain extent.

How much of soul and funk music seeps into the songwriting?

Hidir : In my ears, zero. Recently, we've been scrapping most, and maybe all, of that type of music out of the set-list. I believe it must be that it's too boring. We don't want to bore people; we just want to have fun.

Haykal : Umm....not sure about that. As much as I like soul and funk, sometimes I think it's time to progress on. That was back then. And as much as (the music) is good stuff, doing it again is quite... stagnant? Or so to speak. If it's been done before, (there’s) no point doing it again. It’s good stuff. I have nothing against soul and funk. I think it's more of like a genre issue altogether now. I think we sometimes wonder why we're categorized as funk. We’re no where close to doing that stuff. It’s super tough and disciplined. In a way there are little bits and pieces of funk and soul in what we do. But not much. Just a small percentage.Personally I work on a statement I keep telling myself, “if everyone in the world had the same name, it'll be a pretty boring world to live in.” We just want to find this one original source for us to work on. At the same time, I think I get bored easily. So sticking to something a bit too long will bore the hell out of me.

And we were mistaken by that band name! Ha! But you guys are great and a joy to watch live. However, I’d only seen you guys more active in the gig scene for the past 2 years. Why so?

Hidir : Haha, no lah but thanks! 2000 was sort of our freshman year, so we didn't gig often then. Come 2001, we were invited to play in a small amount of gigs. 2002 wasn't a busy year, except for Asian Beat Band Competition. 2003, yeah I guess, was quite a busy year. And now 2004, this is the busiest. But it's fun!

Faizal : First no one invited us in the past two years, which is a blessing in disguise for me. Simply because we had more time to find ourselves and try to come up with something to call our own.

Raizan : We weren't prepared to gig at our early stage as a band. (Not playing many gigs), I think, is a good thing because no one would want to perform at a gig unprepared.

Haykal : In the first 2 years of our infancy period, we did play some gigs here and there. We were very lost with what we were doing then. (We were) not really sure what we wanted as a band. Currently, I see a direction we're all heading for which is a good thing. I guess that's a major cause for a spark in us doing more gigs. We finally found a reason to speak our heads off.

A friend of ours commented that there’s the indie scene, metal scene and the band competition scene in Singapore. What’s your views on this trend?

Hidir : I'm cool with it. I think the metal scene here is totally united, you know. But the indie scene, man I think, there's a lot of bitching around. I'm not so sure about the band competition scene, although I think there really is a very small amount of superbly competitive bands.

Faizal : (It) fascinates me that with such a number of trends, bands in Singapore are STILL ignored. Pity.

Raizan : It's good to have all these scenes going on so that there's numerous ways to showcase that we have a lot of talent out there.

Haykal : Trends come and go. I can't be bothered with people (who are) in it for the sake of trends. To have multiple scenes is a good thing, I guess but why division? I think that with the simple fact of division comes the fact that we're not that united in the scene here altogether. Possibly, maybe.

Being winners of Asian Beat 2002, does it open doors for you guys to obtain gigs or other avenues to take your music a bit further?

Hidir : Actually, I really don't know. Maybe it does, maybe it does not. But I think to a greater extent, yes it does.

Faizal : Yes, it does to a small extent. People started taking note of this bunch of four punk ass kids. Haha! Once the buzz was around, it kinda helps us get gigs. So a ‘thank you’ is appropriate for those making those buzzes! Danke sehr!

Raizan : (As for) gigs, yes. Other avenues would be learning a lot of new things about overcoming our own mental weaknesses and learning more about the live sound of the band. It's basically a whole new good learning experience for all of us.

Haykal : Yes, I guess it does. Further avenues? This is Singapore. How far can't be that far. But it has helped us tremendously no matter how small it is.

I love the track, ‘Walking’ though I barely count in Malay. Why the fusion of both the English and Malay languages into the same song?

Hidir : Gee, I don't know. Haha!

Haykal : There's just some stuff I can't get the words to sound right in English. And I think I like the way it sounds in Malay as compared to English. You want to shout to someone who speaks your language and I think I’ve tried in English. It's time to shout at the person in the native tongue to further bring and highlight the words I want to be heard, in a tongue more familiar to the other party. It’s a whole big tongue thing. Haha!

The Workmen's Tools

Aging Youth talks to the guys behind the B-Quartet wheel and finds out what equipment they use to play their brand of music.

It’s rare to see a drummer carrying more gear than a guitarist to gigs. Could you tell us your typical set-up is like?

Hidir: Well, usually the house set is fine, I guess. Like 2 toms and a floor tom. I usually use my Zildjian A Custom fast crash and mastersound hats. I think the hats are 13" and the crash is 16". And if the house snare is fine, I'll use that.

What is it about the Akira Jimbo snare drum that attracts you?

Hidir: I heard the latest Casiopea live album and saw his demonstration tape "Evolution". It sounded great! That was before the time I was given the opportunity to choose my prize (won in the Asian Beat Band Competition). So it was like, I bought it on impulse. Haha! But really ever since Adam Shah of Tin Pan Alley and Karma Tree had it tuned, I fell in love with it even more! It sounded perfect. I'm not much of a sound guy either.

What type of double pedal you are using?

Hidir: It's by Tama. It's not the Iron Cobra. It's the lower-end but it feels great!

What sticks do you swear by?

Hidir: Wow. Haha! Well I don't know. I'm not a stick person either. But I guess the answer would be pairs of Zildjian's Travis Barker models.

In one of the rare times, we managed to pry the brothers apart to give us their individual answers. I noticed that both of you employ Yamaha guitars. Since you guys won the Asian Beat competition, are you guys endorsed by Yamaha?

Faizal : We wish that WAS the case!! We used the voucher that we won and it so happens we can only use the voucher in the Yamaha Music Plaza shop. And since I don’t own a guitar back then (I’ve been borrowing guitars shamelessly from friends whenever we have gigs! Even in the finals, I was using Irfan’s (Senilysis) guitar, I decided to get my own guitar. Hurray!

Could you tell us more about the Yamahas you are using and why you chose them over other models?

Faizal : I’m currently using a Yamaha RGX Ty Tabor Signature Model. First of all, it looks bloody cool! Second, that guitar has what I need. The S-S-H combination:

Single-Single-Humbucker, 22 frets (I rarely play notes beyond the 20th frets! It doesn’t make sense to be playing something I can’t comprehend!! Haha!), and a uber cool finish to the guitar - majestic red! Woo hoo!

What sorts of effects do you guys run your signal through?

Faizal : From my guitar to my Jim Dunlop Crybaby, to my Digitech Whammy, then to my AX1000G and then to the amp!|

Are there any types of amps you prefer?

Faizal : I would love to get my hands on a Line 6 Spider. But for gigs, anything will do.

What string gauge and picks do you guys prefer?

Faizal : D'Addario .009-.042 and Jazz 2 picks (I think that is medium-hard).

I noticed that both of you employ Yamaha guitars. Since you guys won the Asian Beat competition, are you guys endorsed by Yamaha?

Raizan : Haha, well we wish but no, we're not. We used our Asian Beat voucher to purchase the guitars.

Could you tell us more about the Yamahas you are using and why you chose them over other models?

Raizan : I’m using a Yamaha RGX 420. Basically, I bought this guitar because my uncle recommended it. I trust my uncle's instinct and knowledge on equipment very much. It sounds good and I like it a lot.

What sorts of effects do you guys run your signal through?

Raizan : I use a DS-1 BOSS distortion box, Korg Toneworks AX100G and a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby wah pedal.

Are there any types of amps you prefer?

Raizan : I would have to say the Roland Jazz Chorus. The sound is good.

What string gauge and picks do you prefer?

Raizan : D'Addario size .009 - 0.42 and hard picks work fine for me.

Can you share with us your love of the Fender bass?

Haykal : Actually, I use a Fender Jazz bass and never tried a Precision before. We go way back, my bass and I. I still remember the day I met her. (She was) in the shop at the display case. I walked into the shop without looking at the display outside and saw nothing that interests me. When I left the shop, as though if it was calling my name, I turned and there she was. I melted the day I met her. Took her for a test drive in the shop and that was all there is to it. The rest is history. We got married and went back to the apartment I was living in (yes, we met somewhere else, not here) and made love. Falling in love in a foreign country... romantic yea?

Haykal, you are the second bassist whom we interviewed who refers to the bass as a hot sexy female. Anyway, what is the signal chain like? Or do you go direct to the amp?

Haykal : I've been staring at this question for about 19 minutes now and I still do not know how to answer it. But basically from my bass I run through a Sansamp Bass Driver and then to an amp.

Do you have any preference for any sort of amps?

Haykal : If I'm at a gig, anything goes. I'm quite sure my Sansamp will help me get the sound I need. But I have grown quite attached to my Ampeg bass amplifier. The setting's easy and the sound is good. Quite the perfect combination.

What’s the gauge of strings you use?

Haykal : .40s. I’m very comfortable with that size.