Reality Club: Playing Singapore, nearly dying in a moshpit, and their upcoming “flex album”
Words: J-min Wong
Photography: Lynn (@headnospace)
As Reality Club plays Aliwal Urban Art Centre earlier in January – their first show in Singapore since 2019 – Big Duck caught up with the Indonesian indie rock stars on what we’ve missed over the pandemic and more.
I meet Reality Club a day before their gig at the Aliwal Urban Arts Centre. Waiting for the band at their hotel lobby just a short walk away from the venue, we began our conversation as we walked back to the hotel, just as half the band returned from the 7-Eleven from across the road, fresh off the heels of another interview. There’s something to be understated about how casual the encounter is. Just a day later, a quick glimpse at their show reveals the Indonesian indie rockers’ eminent stardom: the room is packed with fans screaming to every lyric, with half of this author’s class in attendance.
Reality Club – Fathia Izzati (vocals), Faiz Novascotia (guitar, vocals), Nugi Wicaksono (bass) and Era Patigo (drums) – is a band defined by youthfulness, and their legions of adoring fans prove that appeal. The members themselves are late millennials, springboarding off an early 2010s indie rock sound, and adding a delightful yet delicate layer of sentimentality into their music. They’re performers with conviction, and the kids in the audience are reciprocating their energy: a couple near me in the pit are both dancing wildly to the music; during Telenovia, a teen girl standing behind me is wailing its Spanish lines as if it were her last words in the world, as Fathia and Faiz shine under the glossy blue lights, magnetic and adored. The queue for the post-show meet-and-greet stretches across the whole alleyway behind Aliwal and past the graffiti artists spraying away nonchalantly.
For the band, the January date marks the beginning of a hopeful year after a long period of uncertainty. Introducing themselves with their jangly, bright, and rough-around-the-edges debut Never Get Better in 2017 and 2019’s What Do You Really Know?, their mature, melodramatic, and moving follow-up, the band originally had big plans: bookings at SXSW, and even a North American tour in the works. But all that changed after the pandemic – which affected the band much like the rest of the world.
“It was horrible,” Izzati says of the time. “We were supposed to raise our rates,” Novascotia sighs. Being an artist in the pandemic is tough, a fact well espoused – but Reality Club kept the lights online as they waited: while they waited for the green light, the four “hosted online classes”, performed virtually, and – in Faiz’s case – even “became Twitch streamers”.
But that’s still nothing like the real thing. The last time Reality Club was in Singapore, they performed at 2019’s edition of Baybeats – drawing a packed audience that gathered themselves on the concrete steps outside the Esplanade. With their reflective lyrics and bright melodies catching the attention of the Teenager, the band’s legion of adoring fans across the region remained their stronghold.
Eventually, the gigs restarted in late 2022 – as they slowly re-emerged from the pandemic pandemic halted their productive streak of releases. A string of singles followed in 2021, teasing the band’s third album, Reality Club Presents…, which they had recorded and kept ready to go during the pandemic. Now, as the band gears up towards their upcoming tour marking the record, we got a little time to catch up for a quick chat with Reality Club on what it’s like to be back, and what they have up in store.
Wow! Were you surprised to see this crowd?
Fathia Izzati: Oh my god, yeah. I can’t believe it.
I guess it’s no surprise how you’ve been calling your fanbase “Goddess Rockstars…” but where does the name come from? What is a “goddess rockstar” to each of you?
Faiz Novascotia: Goddess Rockstar came from our song Alexandra, which is a love song about someone you know you’re never going to get, someone that’s out of your league. The song has a lot of hyperbole, taking it to the max. And I saw this person in my life as a goddess rock star, which is someone that's, like, so freaking cool, so unattainable, so amazing. And she wasn't literally a rock star in a musical sense, but she's a rock star at what she does, if you know what I mean. And a goddess, just like, oh, like, it's like someone you admire.
FI: Like an idol.
FN: Yeah, it's not like someone that's like, oh, I can probably get with her. No, it's like the “I'll never be able to be with her” that kind of vibe.
Nugi Wicaksono: We’ve all been there.
Let’s talk a little about your last few singles – “Tell Me I’m Wrong” seems to take a new dramatic, serious, and expressive direction, while “Anything You Want” seemed to keep on with the melodic-guitary “Reality Club” sound, even with the romantic strings behind it. Are the strings coming back even stronger for RC3?
FI: Yes, definitely expect lots of drama with an underline, bold, exclamation mark, drama!
FN: Drama!
NW: Drama!
FI: And expect a lot of strings because for the James Bond song (“Tell Me I’m Wrong”) we worked with the Budapest Orchestra. And that was our first time working with an actual orchestra, with a full ensemble of musicians.
Era Patigo: Budapest Orchestra also has a really nice portfolio.
FN: Very extensive. They do game soundtracks, they do [TV] series, they do movies. They did Parasite apparently. Now, we have the budget to play around with that. We just wanted to level up in terms of musicality and everything. And I think this album is definitely like – a flex album. We just want to flex our musical muscles and show how wide and far we can go with our music, so don't expect something like before. It’s totally different; it’s more…
FI: Produced.
NW: It’s produced!
There seem to be a lot of observations and experiences about love in Reality Club’s music. Would you say that you are all very romantic people?
FI: I think the majority of us are hopeless romantics… I don't know about Era.
EP: In my own way, okay.
FI: Yeah, we're like hopeless romantics. We love love. Love writing about love, singing about love, celebrating love. Love plays a huge part in our lives.
FN: In everyone's lives. To be honest, it can ruin your day, it can make your day. And I think it's what gives us this gasoline to keep being creative, I think.
Do you think love can be found on dating apps?
EP: My first-time experience [on the apps] – it was great!
FN: I’ve never tried dating apps ever. Have you tried? She’s [Fathia] never tried. [to Nugi] You’ve never tried, right? But Era here has been like the number one ambassador of dating apps. He's like, Yo, you should get on it. You should get on it. And Era here has a successful relationship from a dating app. So he has found love.
EP: Three days into Bumble, and I’m 10 months in [my relationship]!
Speaking of love, what is it about teen romance that captures your attention?
FN: I think that's when we were our most vulnerable. And that's maybe our first foray into romance. You know, that's when you either get your first heartbreak or your first love. Yeah. And it's so pure. It's so fragile. And it's so pristine that you can write about it, and it will relate to anybody. Yeah, even when you write the song and somebody who's sixty years old hears it, they'll recall their memories when they first fell in love. And that's why teen love is just so…
FI: It just shapes you to become the person that you are, kind of. People like to romanticize a lot, right? Especially their memories of the past. I feel like even though maybe their first love didn't go smoothly, but somehow in their memories, like, you just have some kind of sentimental feeling towards it – even though maybe it was bad. That's why I feel like teen romance is such a big thing. Yeah.
Looking back at your past and at album 1 and album 2, do you think you’ve changed as musicians? Or have you largely retained the essence of your beginnings?
NW: The approach that we take in songwriting, and arranging our songs are completely different because we've gained so much from the learning curve we did back then. With the second album's experience, the producer and us give each other feedback about what to do and what not to do, what's best and what's not. And everything in those experiences changes you as a musician, and the approach that we take.
FN: There are so many improvements, you know – not just that, but we also changed in the way (how) we view things. Our first album was made when we’d just graduated from college, so we still had this positive outlook, almost naivete. We're still not – I wouldn't say naive – but it's pure, you know what I mean? And then the second album, we kind of came into young adulthood, and there were a lot more issues, a lot more heartbreaks, and then it kind of changed things to be a bit more darker and mature song-wise. And then we also improved quality wise like, we look back on our older albums and we’re horrified. “Oh my god, this is like… this isn't supposed to be lo-fi!” When I look back, it's almost like I can't believe this is where we're at right now. Thank god.
Let’s talk more about that! Given that Reality Club began from playing in college bands, what would you say was the best part of being a nobody in a school band?
FI: It’s like, you just sang because you wanted to. You didn’t try to impress people that much…
FN: It’s just pure expression. And I feel like we’re still doing that to some extent. But it’s like…
FI: Now people know what to expect.
FN: Yeah, they give feedback. But like back then, you just wrote it. And if nobody cared, nobody cared – we cared and that's all that mattered, you know. But now it's like, we try not to let people's words still affect us. But sometimes they still do. Like me personally. Sometimes when I feel like, well, [vague ambivalent noise].
FI: But the best thing about being a nobody – you can sing like anything.
FN: Yeah, literally. What do you mean by that? I think we still do sing anything.
FI: No, we sing our own songs!
FN: Oh, you mean that we did covers a lot back then? Yeah, that was fun.
Now, do you consider yourselves realists or idealists?
FN: I definitely think I'm a fantasizer. I'm an optimist. One of the reasons we are called Reality Club was the fact that it sounded cool. Also, I was so irked at people saying they were realists, but actually, they're actually pessimists. And it felt like such an acute excuse to view things negatively by saying, “oh, no, I'm just being realistic”. “Oh, this is just how it is like – this is the reality”. But reality isn't always bleak. It isn't always negative, it's neutral, so that you don't forget the positive part of it. And that's why the first album’s positivity, bubblegum pink and blue, like, we want it to bring that positivity back, because like it just felt like everyone was such a pessimist. So I think I'm an optimist, a fantasizer, a head in the clouds kind of dude. And I think you got to do that to be a songwriter, in a way.
FI: I feel like I've changed. Like, I used to be such a pessimist until the baby and I got married. And I know like so many things happen honestly, like in the past two years, personally, but I used to be such a pessimist. But no, I think um…
FN: Oh, I thought it was going to be the other way around!
FI: Oh, naur, the baby gave me optimism!
FN: Maybe we should all have babies…
NW: [coyly] That was very close to my mouth. Actually… I don't know. For me, I think I'm still a pessimist. I have quite a bit of a bias [that comes from] my educational background. I entered law school. You got to think of the bad stuff and all of the bad implications. Both a pessimist and a contextualist – it depends on the context. So, I think I'm still a pessimist. But when you look at life, you try to see both sides, and you try to judge what you're going to do upon it.
FN: [to Era] How about you, sir?
EP: I think I'm a little bit of both, it depends on my mood, actually. [laughter] Because I don't think there's anything wrong with being a realist. There's nothing wrong with being a fantasiser. When I'm [realistic], I'm just being logical. But when I’m [fantasising] like, okay, let's, let's take some risks. Like, go crazy about that. Let's go have fun. Right. So it depends.
Are you guys very critical of your own work, then?
NW: Oh, we're definitely, at least for me, personally, I think we're definitely very very critical, we try to make the best of our work. And we tried to think twice, thrice, four times, right? How many times… thrice? We'd sleep on it, we sleep on our ideas, and we took it to the next day and if it still fits, then I think we should go with it. And if it doesn't fit, okay, what's the alternative? What are the options? And we weigh on that options, we think about it more times we sleep on it more times.
FN: Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. We're very critical of ourselves. And there are a lot of things that people don't know behind the scenes of how much time actually goes into the song that we produce until it gets released. And the time that even when it's done, we review it again, we make changes. And that's the thing is when it's released, it's as best as we can make it at the time with our knowledge. But of course, maybe five years later, we look back and like, oh, my god that was trash. You know, I mean, so it's like, it's always a learning process, and you always get better. And I think that's how it goes for anyone really, even like your favorite bands for your performance. I'm pretty sure Beyonce – like she makes the best thing right now for her. But then maybe in five years, like, Oh, that's not the best thing I can do. Do you know what I mean?
FI: Yeah, but she’s always been…
FN: She slays, we get it. She's always been on it. I said the wrong thing. I apologize. But you know what I mean? Like, yeah, a musician is always – a person is always evolving.
When you released your first album and shot into the view of a lot of people, it must have felt weird and you had to adjust. And in recent months, gearing up to play for actual audiences, the new schedule, is that the same feeling? (Especially for Fathia, who just had her baby a while back?)
FI: Especially like during the first few months of like, this whole gig thing getting back. And because I didn't have a babysitter. So it was so tough. It was so tough because I would have to ask my husband if he could be with the baby while I go to perform, or I have to ask my sister and it's so hard. I'm not only that, there's this – people don't really talk about it much. But like, mom guilt, like it's real, even though you don't want to feel it obviously. Like it's from inside you like you just have that mom guilt lingering. Like what are you doing? Why aren't you with your baby?
FN: Oh, that! [teasingly to Fathia] Why aren’t you with your baby?
FI: Shut up! I can’t bring the baby on tour, obviously, it's not safe for him. But again, I got better, especially now that I have a nanny and everything.
FN: I have no baby, so my schedule was very free. So when I start again, it's like, let’s freaking go! I think it's the same for you guys.
NW: We're just being grateful for the red-eye flights and whatnot. We actually, we missed it a lot during COVID times.
FN: We missed airports.
NW: We missed airports. We missed the airport food. Even if it's fast food. We missed the red-eye flight. We missed the waiting room. We missed the jokes when we get together.
Let’s switch gears. What’s the greatest gig you’ve ever been to?
FN: You guys already know my answer. Let’s just say it – 1, 2, 3!
All: [in unison] Arctic Monkeys.
FN: That’s my answer. I’ve seen them so many times. We’ve got tickets for the upcoming tour!
Oh, that’s so lucky. It sold out very fast here. Everyone’s coming to Asia right now; AM, Phoebe Bridgers.
FN: Phoenix is also coming, but I don’t know if they’re coming to Singapore.
NW: Freakin’ Harry Styles! Red Hot Chilli Peppers are performing on the Friday or the Thursday, and it’s Harry Styles on the very next day.
FN: It’s all in March!
People actually draw comparisons between your music and Arctic Monkeys. Is that something that you embrace, or wished you can move away from?
FI: Oh, yeah.
FN: We're like, huge Arctic Monkeys fans? I think it's, it depends on the comparisons they make and their outlook on it. We embrace it when they look at it in a positive way. You know, like, hey, this sounds like monkeys. I love it. But when they start, like hating on us, it does make us kind of want to like, eurgh, you know what I mean? Like when they're like, Oh, you guys are two monkeys, you guys are rip-offs, or like, they discredit us as copycats. Like they discredit our song, even though maybe like, a few seconds sounds like it, but the rest of it and the lyrics definitely aren't taking anything from them. So, you know, like, it's my own story or her own story, or it's like all our own stories, and we put our heart into it.
FI: Like, people just like to hear the vibe of a song and like, oh, this vibe is like an Arctic Monkeys vibe. And then they like, Oh, you're copying him! But like, they don't know, there's a lot of work that goes into that song. And yeah, well, at the end of the day, we can't really control people's emotions towards us.
FN: I’d kind of take it as a compliment. Really – like, wow, like they think we're like them. Like, oh my god, really? Oh my god. Thank you. Embrace it, I guess.
This is so funny. I wrote down a question about Arctic Monkeys – are you guys beating the AM allegations?
FN: I’m gonna let my lawyer speak. [to FI] But what’s your most mindblowing gig? Probably the one where you pass out. [NW breaks into raucous laughter]
FI: Oh my gosh. It’s so funny. There's this yearly festival in Jakarta called Love Garage back then. The two times I went there, I fainted both times. The first time was when I watched Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the second time was when I watched Phoenix. Both times I try to go to the front – and like not even 10 minutes in, I’ve fainted. I always kind of want to be in front, right – but I'm short and it was raining and I couldn't really breathe. And so I'm just like, watching and then I pass out, but the feeling of passing out is so good.
FN: What? No, I don't. I don't agree because I've almost passed out.
FI: It feels good.
FN: No, no, I don’t want to die.
FI: Well, mine was euphoric, so.
FN: Did you wake up crowd surfing? Did you?
FI: I did! And… I peed.
[raucous laughter]
FN: Yo, that’s an embarrassing story. But okay, I didn’t know you were so open about it.
FI: Very unhinged. It was raining, chaotic, chaotic energy.
FN: Oh, you peed because you're passed out, you couldn’t control your body?
FI: Yeah! But it was also raining, so no one realised.
FN: Oh, okay, okay! That’s wild… I thought the Yeah Yeah Yeahs one was because you saw Karen O and passed out. She’s a huge fan of Karen O. What about you guys? Did you guys pass out and pee?
NW: I almost fainted. I nearly died.
FN: Oh yeah, that’s not fun, that’s not fun.
NW: I was at the Foo Fighters concert here in the Singapore Indoor Stadium. And I didn't realize that there's many people, and they started moshing near me. So I got pushed around and everything. I got suffocated and I just looked up and tried breathing for air. I literally gasped. “All My Life” is playing and I’m like –
FN: Oh my god.
NW: [singing] “All my life I've been searching for something so good!” And I was just there in the crowd like – [mimes gasping for breath]
FN: What if it just looked like you were singing to Dave Grohl?
NW: No, Dave Grohl was like [impression of Grohl] ARE YOUU OKAAAY?!?!? ARE YOU OKAY!??! I wanted to shout back “I’m not okay! Get me out of here!”. So I think that’s my mind-blowing experience. I cried during several songs.
EP: I'd say when I watched The 1975 in 2018. In Singapore too. It was really good. It was really tight. The dynamic of the show. It's amazing. It was a spectacle. With all the lighting and stuff!
FN: Like the big LCD screens?
Do you ever feel like stealing some of those staging ideas?
FI: Oh, hell yeah. All the time. We love going to shows because we get inspired. And not only from concerts, per se, but anything – even just like art shows or watching movies, but especially going to a concert. We have a lot of musician friends, so we go to their shows and we’re like, “Hmm, let's see what they're doing. What stage act are they doing?” And we try to incorporate it in our way.
NW: For learning. Not as copying!
FN: Yeah – ‘cos that'd be stupid if we literally just took it, like we stole it. Maybe they’d use props, and we’d be like, Oh, should we use props too? Do you guys know DPR Live? I went to their concert and I was trying to enjoy myself, right? I was like, I don't think I'm gonna take a lot of videos. But then they had a crazy show. So I kept taking videos but not for my enjoyment. I was like, I got to tell the bed about this. Like, look at that, they have a huge astronaut balloon coming out. They got a big ass – they got Victoria's Secret wings? Like it was weird. But yeah, that was a crazy show. Now we go to shows for research.
FI: It's hard to enjoy (ourselves) sometimes. Because like, then because now that we're like …
FN: That's our job.
FI: Yeah, they're not that it's our job. It's like we analyze things in a way that is different than when we were just a music enjoyer.
NW: Maybe I just see it as a different approach to enjoying music right now. Because when you listen to music, right now, we analyze things like – oh, how do they make that sound? That's in the context of recording, but in the context of live performances, we think about: how the fuck do they do that? And how the lighting or how the sounds are mixed and everything. For me personally, it's a fun thing to know and to kind of pick apart.
So back then, it was just going to the front row and passing out?
FI: Oh, I haven’t passed out since.
FN: Don’t! Remind me not to crowdsurf you if you pass out.
Is there a lot of crowdsurfing at your shows?
FI: I totally love it when people crowdsurf. It’s so cute – because our songs aren't very crowd surf-y! But they're upbeat, like they're energetic – but it's maybe, I don't know, not many people crowdsurf, but when they do, it's like, hey, we see you, you know? Like, like, maybe we've had it five times… ten times?
FN: Just don’t pass out!
FI: And maybe it’s because as a member none of us have crowdsurfed (at) [our own show].
NW: Would they want to crowdsurf me?
FI: You could try!
FN: I do want to try but I'm also nervous. Yeah, I'll be a bit terrified of getting into it. Especially from a stage just – bwoogh! And that's scary. Because like, what if I accidentally fall into the pit where it's all like small people? And it's like, oh, crap. Also when I see people crowdsurfing, I get mixed feelings. Because I'm also concerned. The people that are lifting them up? Are they comfortable doing that? And like because sometimes their legs are in an odd place and some like there's a girl in a hijab, just like, what the hell? Like, oh my god!
FN: [translating EP speaking in Bahasa] We had a show in Bali once and someone crowdsurfed and then I think they hit somebody and then they fought. So that's why I'm always a bit nervous.
Any final parting wishes for fans in Singapore or in the region?
FN: Even before the pandemic, we've already had an Asia tour planned. I think we're trying to, think about the spots where we wanted to have the tour – and yeah, it didn't happen. So this time, things are back in full force. We're gonna make sure we make that happen. And with this upcoming album, we just hope you enjoy it. I think it's as simple as that. In whatever form however it touches you, we just hope you enjoy it.
NW: We hope for you to relate to it as well.
The interview has been edited for clarity.
