Popup or go home

This month we are talking with Massto from the band Popout who played last month at The Beat Room and will again play this month with more guests. So, since they are so beatroom we thought it must be time to catch up a little with the boys. Unfortunately one of the members of the band, Ario tragically passed away in February. But the show must go on and we speak to Massto about what’s now and what’s next.

Tell me briefly about the band. How long have you been together and who are the members. Massto: The band has existed since 2012. Popout is a two piece band. I’m the vocalist and music programmer, and Ario Bayu Putro, was the guitarist and music programmer. We were old friends since we were neighbors being born at Jalan Potlot, Jakarta. We were also well known in the musicians community in 90’s. Tragically Ario died on Feb 13, 2015, the same day our single was released on 70 radio stations.

I’m sorry to hear that. What did he die from? He died from minor surgery but he had a high blood sugar level condition, where he shouldn’t have been operated on, then his liver was infected where he actually had an illness for quite a long time.

Damn. Now that Ario is no longer here what is the next step for Popout? We already made plans that the beat room to be the first performance after we released the single. So I will be with my friends, musician friends and the producer created a theme ‘The party must go on’. I have many friends in the Potlot community. We are already jamming and have created music together for a long time. I will do this with them with their support for the performance on Feb 26 at Fez Dungeon.

For the uninitiated, what kind of music does Popout play? The music is electronic pop rock or some say alternative dance.

So you have a new single, what’s that about? Who wrote the song and is it part of an album? Yes the title is ‘Tanpamu Aku Halu’ (without you I’m hallucinating). I wrote it with music by Ario. It’s about club hoppers. It will be in the album.

Do you like dance music? How much does it affect your music? Yes, both me and Ario liked it. It does really affect us as we love many dance music bands. Such as Stereo MC’s, Depeche Mode, EMF, Passion Pit.

What other musical influences have you had? The Rolling Stones, U2 and Slank.

Have you had any dance remixes of your tracks? Not yet, but plan to.

When is the album scheduled to be released? And has the single been getting airplay? On Feb 26 we will distribute a limited edition, four songs from the album. For the full album we plan to release that at end of March and it will contain 13 songs. As I said, the single was played on 70 radio stations around Indonesia on Feb 13, the same day Ario died.

That’s uncanny. Besides playing another show at the beat room this March 26, what other shows do you plan on doing soon? We are finding dates with Hang Over in Kemang and plan for 10 cities in April opening for Slank.

I see you have quite a strong connection with Slank, how did that come about? I’m the younger brother of Bimbim, Slank’s drummer.

Ha, well that’s a connection Yes

Off the record, or on the record, are you now looking for a new partner/guitarist? Or just cruising along? On the record, yes I need a new guitarist male or female Because it’s a duo musical concept, a singer with a guitarist that rock

Source http://beatmag.com/jakarta/features/popup-or-go-home.html