Titanic clash of egos

Last Tuesday evening my friend and I went to Titanic pub in Taman Tun Dr Ismail to wait for his ex-band member from Singapore. He was late and did not turn up till past 11.00pm.

As we entered the pub, I was surprised to see Tengku Mahaleel, ex-CEO of Proton, jamming with the resident band. He was in his elements playing lead as well as rhythm while the bassist was singing. He seemed able to remember chords without any reference to song sheets. A sexy lady in white appeared to be enjoying the music as well as trying to attract his attention by dancing on her own to the music.

Because of the loud music, we moved away from the band stand until we ended up outside the premises so that we could have a good conversation. The 3 ex-band members waiting for Thomas had not seen him for about 20 years! When he arrived, they were so glad to talk of old times. As it was getting late, Thomas suggested that we ask to join them.

Sunny, the rhythmist, who had been expecting us handed his guitar to Thomas. Just a twang and he asked for the volume to be turned higher. Timmy took over the bass guitar from the resident bassist cum vocalist. Tengku M, keyboardist and drummer remained.

Thomas suggested Tequila and almost immediately they started playing. Tom showed his skill in playing lead and it obviously must have been his favourite. It was almost faultless and really outshone earlier performance. Then they proceeded to playing a blues number which went on for some ten minutes and it was time for closing.

Most people would have thought that musicians are easy going and laid back. But from what I have observed, some may be egoistic while others are quite contented in their own comfort zones until someone comes along and upset them.

Tengku M gave me the impression that he had seen enough of good guitarists and he is not one to show admiration for someone who is not really outstanding by his standard. He appeared to put on his usual smile and strummed to the tune effortlessly but he did not bother to look at the lead guitarist! It must have been tortuous for him as I guess it would have been impolite for him to leave yet he had to appear as though he was enjoying the jam session.

Sunny was gesturing to Timmy (bassist) and he thought he played badly and offered the guitar to him to play instead. We are still wondering what he was on about.

The next day Thomas brought along his echo box which he bought from Hank Marvin, to Duta Vista to jam with his ex-band members as well as the resident lead guitarist who happens to be a Shadows fan. He is even thinking of setting up a Shadows club. He showed his skill playing a wide selection of Shadows tunes like Peace Pipe, Savage, Theme for young lovers, Zambesi and so on. Here again, he appeared upset over the introduction of the echo box which by implication meant that what he had been playing was not as close to the original sound as it should be. The truth hurts. In fact we were surprised at the precision required when using the equipment as it has to be set according to a prescribed setting for each tune!

An expensive Korg keyboard was rented for the benefit of their visiting organist. Unfortunately, without chords, he could not join in with the Shadows numbers. In fact, he had been playing piano instead for the past 20 years. He showed them some professional techniques when playing Carole King numbers. He could still remember Whiter Shade of Pale, which has a distinctive tune on organ. They tried out House of Rising Sun, as well as other tunes known to them, to rekindle memories of good old times.

Overall, I find that at our age, we are pretty set in our ways, in terms of choice of songs, the passion (or the lack of) for certain songs, and the unwillingness to learn from others or to accept and try out new equipment.

The arrival of a flamboyant guitarist with a passion for new styles as well as a curious mind in search of the right equipment for a particular sound, and the eagerness to show it, had left behind a trail of bruised egos.