| Mocca
 After
listening to their monthly podcast (you can download it from
the band's website upon registration) we were left with very
little curiosities about Mocca: they sure don't hide anything
to their fans, telling every detail about playing in a band,
touring life and similar chatting. That's how they are: lovable
and friendly, and building a considerable fan base outside
their homeland in Indonesia on the strenght of their music
and their sympathy. Still, there's an even better news: their
wonderful first album "My Diary" has been reissued
by an equally wonderful label from Singapore (Fruit Records)
in deluxe packaging and with bonus tracks and can finally
reach the wider audience irt deserves (if you want to order
the record see label page for details). With the help of Isman
from Fuit Records we took this occasion to ask Arina, Riko,
Indra and Toma about their influences and background, their
songs and the places and people they sing about, as well as
the double role as rising popstars in Indonesia and indiepop
darlings all over the rest of the world. Here's Mocca for
you.
Can you describe a typical day in the life of Mocca?
We just listen to music, write songs, practising our instruments,
visiting our label (Fast Forward Records) just to hang out
or check if there's any progress out there..sometimes we go
out to watch gigs in our hometown: Bandung, 'cause there's
really plenty of talented musicians here..
For me (Arina) personaly, I'm a bit addicted to computer games,
so whenever there's a spare time I just sit down for hours
just to make sure no one beat my highscores, hahaha!!
You have remarked the importance of story telling in your
music, and your songs describe many different sentimental
situations from a girl's point of view. Where do you get inspiration
for the lyrics? Are they all fantasy stories?
Well, Riko, the guitar player, he liked to sit on a bench
in our campus (by the way, we all went to the same college),
he doesn't speak much, but lots of people just sat next to
him, and they started to talk to get things out of their chests
and relieve themselves from their own personal problems.So...that's
why he's got lots of stories to tell and they became Mocca's
lyrical inspirations. So, most of Mocca's stories are real,
and most of the songs are dedicated to our friends, that's
why our 2nd album was entitled 'Friends', because it's all
about them.
Your music shows many different influences, but it's always
very immediate and melodic: is this the kind of music you
have grown up listening to? What are your favourite melodies?
Arina: My big brother usually played 'Queen' for me since
I was about 4 years old, and I used to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
in my own kiddie language. It's fun to listen to them, it's
complex in arrangements, I just call them as super great music!
One of my big sister is a classical piano player, so I also
listen to Tchaikovsky, Bach, Mozart, Debussy. But there's
one album that I listen to even until now, it's 'Song for
the Children' by Nikka Costa, all the songs in the album inspired
me a lot. And last but not least, Jim Henson's "Muppet Show"
really helped me to develop my musical abillity, and.of course
to help me speak English pretty well..hahaha!!
Indra: I grew up listening to The Beatles, and two local legendary
artists, Vina Panduwinata and Chrisye. But when I reach junior
high, I started to listen to Sex Pistol, Metallica and all
the rock stuff!
Toma: I was listening to Michael Jackson (Album: Of The Wall),
Michael Frank, Phil Collins.
Riko: The Beatles, Elvis Presley, but when I was in junior
high school, I also started to listen to Guns & Roses, Metallica,
Extreme..'cause during those years they are the music heroes!
When you're writing what comes first? The music or the
lyrics?
Most of the time the lyrics come first but sometimes it's
just come together all at the same time.
 Your
second album "Friends" seems more confident, more complex
in terms of arrangements and instrumentation, and also the
songs are more "classic" pop than in your debut. What has
changed from 'my diary' to 'friends'? did you use a full orchestra
for 'friends'?
Well, 'My Diary' sounds a bit raw and simple. 'Friends' it's
always been our dream album, this is actually the kind of
album that we've tried to accomplish in 'My Diary', but back
then we were not experienced enough. Probably we just become
more mature, (in life and also in music) that's why everything
just became more complex than 'My Diary'. Actually it's not
a full orchestra, it was only a couple of additional musicians
and because of the 'magic' of recording sessions, everything
just sounds like an orchestra. We only used one additional
musician to record a 'fake' chamber orchestra, one person
to play saxophone, one trumpet player, one trombone player,
and my clarinet teacher also played on the song 'Buddy Zeus'.
Can you describe the indonesian music environment for us?
What kind of music gets into the underground and mainstream
scene? What bands should we look out for?
Hmm..probably it's just as typical as other countries around
the world. The music scene here is divided into three big
parts: 1. Mainstream Music (mostly ruled by Major label musicians).
2. Underground music (Usually from the independent movement)
3. Traditional Music (This is a very non commercial kind of
music, but most of them are doing collaborations with Jazz/world
music artist). In Mainstream scene, bands with power ballads
songs usually (always!) become a big hit. In Underground scene
there are lots of variety, there are hard rock, heavy metal,
pop, rock n roll, electronic music, etc. We recommend that
you should check The Super Insurgent Group of Intemperance
Talent (The SIGIT), but they're not indiepop at all.they are
rock n roll musicians, but their stuff is so cool.
Has it been difficult to make people accept you were singing
in english? Was it a surprise for you to break into mainstream
in Indonesia?
Yes, actually it is very hard. Only people in big cities could
really listen to our music, (probably because they have a
higher education level than people in small towns) But we
don't really care, haha! We just love doing our music, and
we just feel happy if there's anyone out there that feel the
same. Yes, it is a pleasant surprise! Because we don't really
expect people to listen to our music, and suddenly we are
nominated for MTV Indonesia and MTV Asia Awards for Best New
Artist..it's f***ing nuts! Hahaha!
 Before
the reissue by fruit records your CDs weren't widely available
but Mocca was quite known in Europe by word of mouth. Beside
being big in your home country, do you feel you're a part
of a world wide indiepop community?
Really? We are so surprised to hear that. It is so overwhelming!
We don't really think we're that 'big', hahaha! After we played
in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Thailand, we discover that
there are a lot of indiepop communities out there. We met
so many new friends from the indie scene, and all of them
have been very helpful. We get so many e-mails and support
from all over the world. We even got an opportunity to do
a collaboration with Karoline Komstedt of Club 8.Yes! We do
feel that we are a part of a world wide indiepop community.
Do you think you could have been happy doing something
other than playing?
Probably..but..not as happy as we are now!
You seem to play lots of gigs: is there a country outside
Indonesia where you are most happy to play in? and somewhere
you've never played but would like to?
All of them are memorable to us! Singapore is the first country
outside Indonesia that we ever visited. It was the first time
for each of us (..ever!) to go abroad. The sound technicians,
crews, they're all very professional! And the crowd was also
very supportive. Okinawa (Japan) is the first time we ever
played in front of 10.000 people! It is the biggest venue
we ever played in! It was in Onayama Base ball stadium, and
the crowd was really great! Even in Indonesia, the largest
crowd we've ever face is just about 400-2000 people. We always
dream to play in Europe!
What comes next for Mocca? Is the Mini Album out yet? What's
it called?
Hopefully we are going to release our third album at the end
of this year...(maybe..!!). Our mini album was already out
on October 3rd 2005, it's entitled "Sunday Afternoon"-Music
inspired by the movie "Untuk Rena".
Time for the most original question ever: why the name
Mocca?
Well.it was our first gig in our campus back in November 9th
2001. We have practiced for two years and we haven't named
ourselves yet. Riko was the one who came up with the name,
'cause it's easy to pronounce in Indonesian and English...actually
after the gig we were planning to look for other names...
but I guess we're just too lazy.hahaha!
Salvatore
many thanks to Isman@Fruit Records
Links:
Mocca official site: www.mymocca.com
Mocca-monografy (in italian): mocca_mono.htm
Fruit Records: www.fruitrecords.com
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