ARIAN 13
Arian Arifin a.k.a Arian 13 is an illustrator, Seringai's vocalist & sometimes a DJ. Resides in Jakarta, Indonesia.
ARIAN 13: “I'm always fascinated by death. I think about death a lot.”
[interview.ak / artwork."war" by arian / December 2011]
What's Your opinion on the so-called “metalheads” who doesn't listen to Slayer? HAHA
Not only Slayer. Anyone who does not listen to Slayer AND Black Sabbath should reconsider Him/Herself as a metalhead. It’s the roots of all evil, man!
You're also a member of “Record collectors are pretentious assholes” group on Facebook. What do You collect nowadays?
Still the same. Trying to collect some ‘90s hardcore/punk/sludge metal/shoegaze/indie pop releases that I haven’t get the chance to collect in the ‘90s. There are priorites, since there’s a lot that I want to get, so I guess those subgenres that I said before are the ones. Readers: if you have any titles I might interested in, let me know. :D
Other than vinyls, I also collect silkscreened posters. Now I need to collect walls so I can hang all of my posters.
I saw lots of skulls in Your drawings. You must get this question a lot, but really, what's with Your fascination about skulls? We really dig Your animal skulls by the way.
I'm always fascinated by death, actually. I think about death a lot. The skull, is just the symbol, of what was once before, of life. That, and since I was a small kid fascinated by the coolness of skulls in comics and rock/metal band covers. Some people thinks I cannot draw anything else besides skull, which is not true. Thanks, yeah I am starting to draw more animal skulls, and collecting them as well.
Any shout outs to great local illustrators who draws reallly good skulls?
There are some great skull illustrators from Jogja, but their name escapes me now. Sorry. I guess Jogja is skull city today!
Favorite local photographers, designer and illustrators?
I like this young fashion photographer, Andra Alodita. Very beautiful pics. For music photographer, I like Dinda Advena for her high energy, small shows photography. Lionindra Harviana pics are awesome as well. Illustrators, check out Ykha Amelz artwork, stunning. Morrg would be my favorite skull painter/illustrator, for dark or psychedelic themes. I don’t know about local designers.. Oh! Maybe Herry Sutresna a.k.a. Ucokdesigns. Also Anindita Saryuf designs. Well, she is actually a fashion stylist, but the way She handles fashion pages in magazines, design it.. Totally awesome.
So what's going on with Your band, Seringai, recently? How's the recording process going? Tell Us about it.
We are recording a new album that takes time since most of us are working day jobs or having a family. We need to record the last 4-5 songs and then mix them. Should be done by the end of this month.
Do You guys drink or smoke some joint before recording?
I guess for some people substance works. For Seringai, I don’t know, we don’t really think about it. I mean, when we are high or drunk, it’s a rare thing that we are together. Usually we are with Our other friends.
You have to ask Khemod, Our drummer, for that. Me, I just drank some beers but not that much because I want to keep control when recording. It suits me the best. When I’m high, I'd rather watch comedy or horror movies or sleep, instead of writing songs. Probably because I can’t play any instrument, too.
How's the songwriting process in Seringai, Is it differs a lot with Your old band (Puppen)? Do You guys jam a lot or is there some guy who dictates how the song should work?
Most of the songs in Seringai are more into jamming. Which I don’t really enjoy actually, because I can’t play an instrument. So.. I wait a lot, and gave ideas. Don’t You hate waiting? I wish someone step in and play an almost done song so it’s faster. Well sometimes I have these riffs in my head, then if I don’t forgot it I will ‘sing’ it to the boys, and they transferred into real music. We argue a lot as well, as in positive way, so We really have a democracy going on.
With Puppen, it’s not really jamming but everytime We are in the rehearsal studio someone brought a riff, or a simple structured song. We'll rearranged it together then.
Top 5 songs when cruising on a motorbike...
For now, it would be these songs:
- Black Sabbath “Hole In The Sky”
- SubRosa “Borrowed Times, Borrowed Eyes”
- Acid King “Free”
- Thou “Well Fed Fuck” [Born Against cover]
- Nada Surf “Ice On The Wing”
Top 5 Beers...
- Erdinger
- Three Floyds
- Trappistes Rochefort
- Bintang [probably it’s because I’m use to this, ha!]
- El Diablo [a new local one!]
