AS last year’s seasonal floods were not as devastating to the Klang Valley as in the year before, people were able to usher in 2023 with events and festivities across the greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area.

Since my experience of the 2021 floods, I have become anxious whenever I see heavy clouds in the sky. I was among the many who were stranded in Shah Alam on December 18 that year.

I was there for a wedding and a show but couldn’t leave Shah Alam for 24 hours. Meanwhile, I found shelter on the rooftop carpark of the Shah Alam Aeon mall. This gave me an almost 360-degree vantage view of the floodwaters surrounding the area.

In 2022, I had a New Year’s Eve show at an underground gig in Malacca but that was postponed at the eleventh hour when the organisers realised that there was a another similar performance in town.

This is how the community works and I wholeheartedly agree with the decision.

Since that gig was postponed to Saturday, I messaged a friend from another great band called On A Trip who had invited me and my band to play with him. 

The band he had invited to play in our stead couldn’t make it so I said, “Count us in!”

I fulfilled my desire at last to play at Live Fact, at the “New Year New Me” gig (check out the photos of the show by MY Indie Music) in Kota Damansara.

However, my bandmate Krist, who plays bass, couldn’t join us so we soldiered on as a trio after Hwang – a co-owner of the venue and a soundman – figured out how to give my guitar a heavier bass tone.

Away from all the fireworks and boozy traditions of New Year’s Eve events, the New Year New Me was as great community affair. We caught up with fellow musician friends, some whom I haven’t met since before the pandemic; some had even brought their kids along which made the meet-up even more meaningful.

Oh yes, the post-gig hangout (which is usually followed by a trip to the mamak) is an important ritual for any live musician.

If anything, I managed to end the year on a higher note than expected and give closure to what happened 12 months ago. I hope you, dear reader, have achieved that too.

If not, fear not, because in a multicultural country like ours, we have many New Years. Here’s to the next one coming up – Chinese New Year!

Hope you have a safe and sane year ahead. God bless. – January 6, 2023.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.