Orang Planet is a Malaysian post-punk / psychedelic band from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Formed in 2008, the lineup consists of of i.d. saffiq (vocals / guitars), Faress (drums), Rodney (guitars / synth / backing vocals) and Reena (bass).
We recently wrote about “Luz”, their latest EP, their third release since coming out with “This Is Orang Planet” in 2015. Read on to find out more about this band from the land below the wind, and the tinge of darkness that you can hear in their music.
Note: The first Orang Planet video comes out on 19th April 2019. Second video will be released on Monday (22nd April). And the final video on Wednesday (24th April). All at 3pm!
Orang Planet: the sound.
We don’t often come across bands with a sound like Orang Planet’s. So we asked them to describe in their own words about their brand of music.
We’ve got a diverse range of influences.. from The Cure to Magazine and Joy Division.
That early-80’s post-punk sound – inspired by those seminal bands – does come through in their songs. Orang Planet has been known to infuse psychedelic elements into their music in the past. However, the band admits their current style is what they’ve been searching for all this while.
There’s definitely a sonic coherency in their “Luz” EP – and in their performances here on The Wknd Sessions. Many bands struggle to achieve this; the ones that do tend to go a bit further than the rest.
A certain… darkness
The band’s music has a hint of darkness to it, and we asked them to talk a bit about that vibe.
“Recently, we’ve been listening to some of the more ‘dark wave’ bands,” says i.d. “Things like Bauhaus, She Passed Away and Soviet Soviet.” It boils down to the kind of music that the four gravitates towards.
The band admits one thing, though:
You can’t find that kind of music in Kota Kinabalu.
In a way, it’s easy to stand out when you’re doing something different. In fact, Orang Planet is a sort of middle ground to the Kota Kinabalu scene – with metal and punk bands on one end and indie/pop bands on the other.
The KK scene.
We asked the band to comment on the music scene in Kota Kinabalu.
“It’s growing – more bands are appearing, and more bands have the opportunity to play outside of Kota Kinabalu.” – i.d.
Shows are happening frequently, too. The band singled out MARS – just started in 2018 – as one of the venues that has gigs and shows almost every weekend. And venues like these are can only serve to encourage the growth of the scene.
But Faress did point out that there’s a lack of organizers in Sabah. “These organizers are important, as they can help keep the scene growing like what is happening this year.”
Watch our exclusive interview with Orang Planet, and find out what’s in store in their near future:
You can check out the band on Spotify, iTunes, Deezer and other digital channels – just search for The Wknd Sessions Ep. 113 on your favorite stores!
