KUALA LUMPUR – On a wet Friday evening earlier this month, local psychedelic band Golden Mammoth was on stage making line checks for an upcoming show. The venue was Live Fact, a second-floor gigging hall situated on a dimly-lit shophouse strip in Kota Damansara.
Halfway across the knee-level stage of the L-shaped hall, a sound engineer was tweaking volume levels on a mixer board as venue owner, Mak Wai Ho, looked from behind the set in stoic anticipation of what would hopefully be a rewarding night ahead.
Live Fact can easily house 200 of Klang Valley’s young and hip. But under the realities of the new normal, no one is coming.
Instead, Golden Mammoth and Live Fact are gearing up to have their set live-streamed for the Asean Music Showcase (AMS) festival, a fully online series of performances.
Like many other small businesses, Mak’s live music venue was badly hit by the movement control order (MCO) and subsequent restrictions imposed in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the 49-year-old Mak, Live Fact has resorted to doing some virtual shows to sustain its operations.
Live shows with SOPs but numbers won’t work
Prior to the MCO in March, Live Fact survived solely on ticket and beverage sales but now the venue has pivoted to alternative sources of income, such as video shoots and recordings for bands.
“So far, earnings have not been significant as there are just a few bookings for now. It is, which is not good enough to cover our basic expenses.”
For now Live Fact can only have between 20 and 30 people per session. The business has benefited from rental discounts from the landlord during MCO.
He said the recent extension of the recovery MCO to December 31 will be tough for his business.
In late July, Live Fact hosted a donation drive on the crowdfunding platform PitchIn. The initiative, which featured an online performance from seasoned post-rock quartet Deepset, raised some RM20,000.
The money, Mak said, will help pay rent and other expenses for a few months.
Live Fact had also applied for a special grant from the government-linked Cultural Economy Development Agency.
If given, the grant will help keep Live Fact afloat for another five to six months.
Looming closures
Some 26km east of Live Fact, punk house Rumah Api stands as a hallmark of fringe culture and music of a non-profit, do-it-yourself persuasion.
Situated on the top floor of an 18-storey building in Pandan Indah, Rumah Api is home to an incendiary brand of punk rock, metal, hardcore, grind among other music genres, and plays a pivotal role in Kuala Lumpur’s underground scene since 2011.
For owner Yazman Yahya, 40, the restrictions brought by the pandemic has turned the heat on Rumah Api.
Yazman, affectionately known as Man Beranak, said his operations have to be scaled down to a record store or jamming studio, or even shuttered altogether if the situation does not improve within the coming months.
To operate, he said Rumah Api spends on average RM3,500 per month on rent and other overheads, but since the MCO and RMCO were imposed, the venue barely makes a fraction of that.
Like Live Fact, Rumah Api is looking at alternative arrangements, such as live-streaming and other activities, said Yazman, who is the frontman of thrashcore band Sarjan Hassan.
“During the lockdown, we were severely affected, especially when it came to paying rent,” he said, adding his landlord had been understanding of his woes.
“But we had a GoFundMe campaign launched in the three months of MCO to cover the rent. Since the RMCO is until December, we now don’t know how to generate income”.
In late July, Rumah Api was raided by authorities during a small-scale event that led to the arrests of some 40 patrons for failing to abide by the health SOPs.
“Rumah Api is about punk connections and things related to DIY (culture). It does not make much profit.”
He added it will be sad if Rumah Api has to close as it is one of the only few punk-run venues in Kuala Lumpur, other than Moutou, near Petaling Street, that is facing a similar predicament.
“I hope Rumah Api can remain open. Hopefully, next year we can do more shows.” – The Vibes, September 26, 2020
