Camp Symmetry may be over, but November holds another exciting music festival for us across our borders - Urbanscapes 2013 in Selangor, Malaysia! In our weekly Urbanscapes Special, we interview the regional bands to find out what they're up to and let them run wild with their responses. This week, we're featuring three alternative rock outfits: Kyoto Protocol, Pitahati and They Will Kill Us All - read on! 

Kyoto Protocol

Which day are you playing on?
We’re not sure yet haha, Urbanscapes hasn’t told us yet. But for sure, it’s either 23 or 24th :P

*Note from Urbanscapes PR: Kyoto Protocol will be playing on Saturday 23 November at The Commons Stage.

How are you preparing for Urbanscapes 2013?
We are preparing by spending more time in the studio, more time creating and less time gigging. Urbanscapes is arguably one of the biggest dates a musician could book in Malaysia so we’re giving it due respect by allocating ample preparation. We want to elevate our performance to the next level and I hope we’ll be able to achieve that with the combination of new material and focus on the performance aspect itself. A few of us are starting to take our fitness a bit more seriously… it’s no fun to be out of breath 3 songs into your set. Less McDonalds and more of that healthy stuff! We also organise regular touch rugby sessions, which are sure to take the wind out of you. 

What are you personally looking forward to at Urbanscapes?
We’re looking forward to seeing Khottal play for the first time in a looonngg time. It would also be cool if we got to meet Two Door Cinema Club before we see them again in Bangkok the week after! (We’re opening for them in Bangkok on 28 Nov for the Godung Festival as well). Last but not least, we’re all psyched to see Franz Ferdinand, one of our biggest influences!

Tell us about your most memorable moment from a music festival.
The first big festival that we got booked for was Rock the World 10 (in 2011 I think). We made the roster only as a wildcard pick in a battle of the bands competition in which the prize would be a slot at Rock the World. So here we are in our first festival by the skin of our teeth, over the moon/elated/etc when suddenly we were told that we were picked to kickstart the festivities sharp at noon. When you put it that way it sounds glamorous doesn’t it? But in reality, the Malaysian sun at noon dissuades many festival goers. Hey, we get the sun all the time so it’s not really a big whoop to Malaysians. We don’t “miss” the sun because we don’t have seasons and don’t have to suffer through winters. We learnt this the hard way.

What can people expect from your Urbanscapes set?
Our fans can expect to hear a more complete version of what we’re about. Throughout the rest of the year, most of our appearances are short sets in the region of 15-30 mins in which we feel we don’t have enough time to tell the whole story. We had a great chance to see if we could pull off a full 45-minute set at Good Vibes now that we have enough material to fill up the time. Also I think there are now enough people genuinely interested in hearing us explore the depths of our musical frontiers, which gives us more confidence to do so. Perhaps people have this idea that Kyoto Protocol is constantly playing high-octane music, but we hope we get the opportunity to showcase a bit of range and depth in our Urbanscapes set.

List five songs you'd put inside a "Festival Songs" Mixtape!
In no particular order:
Best Coast - The Only Place
M83 - Midnight City (never goes stale and memories of the perfect closing act at Laneway’12)
Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine? (favourite song at the moment)
Shinichi Osawa - Star Guitar (super feel good EDM track)
Arcade Fire - No Cars Go (this is the kind of song that makes you want to run towards it if you heard it in the distance)

Pitahati

Which day are you playing on?
We will be playing on the second day, 24th November 2013.

*Note from Urbanscapes PR: Pitahati will be playing at The End Of The Road Stage.

How are you preparing for Urbanscapes 2013?
Band practice, band practice, band practice, R&R and band practice.

What are you personally looking forward to at Urbanscapes?
The experience and atmosphere, plus looking forward to witnessing the prowess of local bands vs. the popularity of international acts.

Tell us about your most memorable moment from a music festival.
Sound checks.

What can people expect from your Urbanscapes set?
They can expect a lot of “bunyi-bunyian” (sounds).

List five songs you'd put inside a "Festival Songs" Mixtape!
Great Glass City – They Will Kill Us All
Seriputih – Oh Chentaku
Kognitif – Akta Angkasa
Jelita – Kyoto Protocol
Inderaloka – Monoloque
Kotor - Salammusik
The Woo Song – Khottal

…That’s five, right??

They Will Kill Us All

Which day are you playing on?
As of now, we don’t have a clue which day we will be playing. We hope to play on the same day as Franz Ferdinand tho.

*Note from Urbanscapes PR: They Will Kill Us All will be playing on Sunday 24 November at The Commons Stage.

How are you preparing for Urbanscapes 2013?
We are really pumping up our fitness for the show. We’ve been playing basketball and Edwin has been running every other day to up is stamina. Ihsan rides his bike on weekends. Wandi is playing ping-pong; apparently it’s good for his keyboard hands.

What are you personally looking forward to at Urbanscapes?
Two things: good food, good music, good buys. OK, make that three things!

Tell us about your most memorable moment from a music festival.
We’ve been fortunate enough to play two festivals where fireworks exploded at the exact same time we were playing. Extra boost all over seeing that, especially when it’s not planned at all. 

What can people expect from your Urbanscapes set?
Live pumping music. Energy, smiles and great vibes. Different kind of fireworks, maybe?

List five songs you'd put inside a "Festival Songs" Mixtape!
1. Any Daft Punk Song
2. Killers - ‘Mr Brightside’
3. Arcade Fire - ‘Ready To Start’
4. Blur - ‘Tender’
5. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - ‘Californication’

Urbanscapes 2013
MAEPS, Serdang
Get your tickets now!