Ahead of this Friday's Good Times: The HidZ FM Edition Vol. 2, we at Bandwagon decided that it would be prudent of us to interview the guy who curated its lineup, Hidzir Junaini (otherwise known as that weird guy on the poster), to find out more about the event, its DJs and the Good Times vibe in general. To do so, we sent out our intrepid staff writer, Hidzir Junaini, to track down and interrogate the notoriously elusive Hidzir Junaini. Read on to see how this not-at-all-wanky conversation unfolded.
Hi Hidzir!
Hey Hidzir! Really nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you.
All good things I hope! Before we proceed, do you feel that this interview presents any conflicts of interest?
Not at all! Don't be silly!
Phew! Okay first things first. How did The HidZ FM Edition happen? Why would anybody bother to throw a party for you?
Beats me. This all started exactly two years ago in October 2013, the month that I left my job as the music editor of JUICE Singapore. The guys at Good Times liked me I guess so they decided to hold a "retirement" party in my honour, with a specially curated lineup of some of my favourite local DJs - namely Jaydah, Heizenberg, William J and Gema. It turned out to be a pretty fun night!
Photo Credit: Ungku Ibrahim
So why do another one - two whole years later?
I don't know really. Maybe this can be a biennial event. But honestly there's a nice symmetry to this because back in 2013 I was sure that I was done with music journalism. I kind of got sick of the life for a variety of reasons. But after spending a couple years writing about other things, I slowly grew to miss it. Writing about music is my first love, I think. So eventually, I got back into the swing of things when Clarence Chan graciously offered me a job at Bandwagon. So I guess, while that party celebrated me walking away, this one commemorates my return to music journalism. The next one in 2017 will probably celebrate me getting out of rehab or something.
But aren't you kind of part of Good Times? Isn't it self-serving to use your own crew to throw a party for yourself? That'd be like using a publication you work for to interview yourself.
Woah, easy there Edward R. Murrow. First off, Good Times is more like a community than a crew. Syafii Ghazali and Eric Foenander are its founders and principal players. They function like the night's parents - they make sure we have a roof over our heads and they set the rules. But from time to time, the Good Times community helps run or put together these events. It's a large family, spanning nearly every underground electronic collective in Singapore, and I'm just one small part of that family.
Good Times founders, Syafii Ghazali and Eric Foenander
Photo Credit: Joe Kiflie / Straatosphere
Cool. So who's playing for this edition of HidZ FM?
I got William J and Gema to return because those are two of my favourite DJs ever. Their sets are wide-ranging, but they are essentially the pure distillation of all the things I love in electronic music. Young Spice is new to the game, but if you bother to check out their SoundCloud you know their beats are next level. And I don't really need to introduce Intriguant, do I? The guy's playing Laneway next year for heaven's sake. He's big time. But the common thread is that they're all good friends. I like to party with good friends.
Alright that'll do it. Any parting words?
I'd like to use this space to further shamelessly self-promote by giving a shout out to the DUNCE collective. I'm glad to be a part of this amazing crew of artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers and writers. We'll be doing more events soon, and some of them will probably tie up with Good Times! In the meantime check out our Facebook page for updates.
See you on Friday!
Good Times: The HidZ FM Edition Vol. 2
Date: Friday, 2 October 2015
Venue: Blu Jaz Cafe
BANDWAGON TV
Time: 9pm to 3am
Price: $5
For more info, check out the event page here.
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