My Blog

January 2007.

Being pidgeon-holed into a certain genre is
maybe every band’s resentment, but nothing is more irritating to this
new-rocking-duo, Cannonball, when they come across people who instantly
say, ‘Hey, you are two people, a White-Stripes wannabee, huh? or
Roxette maybe!’

"You can’t do that! Well, can you believe
that? I mean how many zillions of four-piece or five-piece bands have
there been. They never even heard our tracks in the first place. We
haven’t released our record, yet," rasps singer & guitarist Siska
Salman.

The duo was formed in September 2006 in Yogyakarta,
rounded by Siska Salman (vocals & guitar), — runner up of last
year fabricated-rockstar-finder-competition-program, Reinkarnasi; –an
inevitably failed attempt of copying the Star World’s Rockstar
Supernova program–; in one of leading (Indonesian) national TVs–, and
Kiki Marino (drums).

After Reinkarnasi, it is said that this duo is probably the most anticipated band of Siska Salman.

"Well,
it could be true, because lots of Siska’s fans, people who supported
her during the program, must have been wondering what she would do
after she came out of it, having titled as the runner-up," Marino
confirms.

"My former band (Esnanas, BMG Indonesia) was disbanded
last year, and our sophomore effort "Hello, Japan!!" was not getting
any attention from the label.
So, it shouldn’t take a genius to predict that we will join forces and form this duo."

"Our first gig was in a roof-top party, at REBEL STARS SHOWROOM (ed. Note: a store of apparel owned by Eross Candra of the band Sheila on 7
& Kiki Marino) last September. And that was the only gig we’ve done
so far," says Marino, laughing. "We had to enter the studio right after
to finish this EP, and can’t wait to play on stage again."

Rocking and abusing the stage is certainly nothing new to this duo.

"The
vibe and energy of our music will be delivered much better on stage, in
front of amped-up kids. So we’re anxious to fast forward to that. And
Kiki and I have always been a live-stage-musicians," explains Siska
Salman.

They both have toured with their own previous bands.

Kiki
was the drummer of post-punk-alternative band Esnanas (disbanded), and
Siska was the lead singer of rock & roll act deSisters.

They also toured backing up for Sheila on 7. Kiki was Sheila’s substitute drummer back in 2002, and Siska was the backing-singer for the band in 2004.

For a band who hates being pidgeon-holed, this duo would like to tag their music an ‘Alternative-Soundtrack-Rock’.

Cannonball’s
self-titled debut EP (Supreme Records), consists of 5 biting tracks,
–mostly guitar-driven–, and 1 bonus track, finally comes out at the
beginning of the year (January 2007), executively produced by a French
producer, Dominic C. (Astonvilla, and Next of Kin).

What
brought the duo and the French producer together was when Kiki Marino
did a tour with Next of Kin, an ethnic-psychedelic-rock band from
Yogyakarta. "When I did a show in Singapore with the band, one of the
members told me that Dominic might also want to produce another band,
says Marino. "So, I thought why didn’t I give it a shot by giving
Cannonball’s material to the guy. It happened somehow that some deals
were made, and the EP produced."

"The EP will be
distributed independently, on bootleg-retailers, etc. And see if any
A&R guy from some label will pick our beacon. We’ll see what comes
right after that. Right now is time to do the hard work, and get as
many gigs as possible," says Siska Salman.

"Anyway, we’re just
a duo coming from obscurity," Kiki continues. "While it’s common when
you’re starting to get ubiquitous, it will inevitably foster some
resentment and suspicion in the bands-scene. We’ve so fed up with that
in the past. So, let’s just work hard, and see at what level we’re
standing at."

OUR CANNONS ARE AIMING AT YOU!!

Find Cannonball EP audio CD at the records-store & bootleg-retailers (Indonesia only) near  you, or buy online at:

REBEL STARS INDUSTRIES

or mailto: sales@rebelstars.com