Meet Senja, the latest addition to Malaysia’s local indie music scene. Dubbed as the all-girl #Mataharindie band, Senja has only been in the entertainment scene officially since early this year but they’ve been out and about performing for big and small crowds alike. In a predominantly male-only music genre, it is definitely a breath of fresh air to have these gals to switch up the scene a little. Read on to learn more about Senja!
1. Hi Kasih, Myra, and Inarah! Please give us a brief introduction about yourself.
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Hi, we’re Senja! Kasih is the vocalist and occasionally plays the ukulele, Myra is our guitarist, and Inarah plays the keyboard and sometimes the harmonica. We’ve been bros since we were 16, and decided to form Senja in February this year.
2. Senja is such a cool name. Were there a backstory behind why Senja was decided to be THE name for the band to represent the 3 of you?
Thank you! We thought it would make sense to be called Senja because that’s when we would usually start rehearsals. Funnily enough, we weren’t even called Senja at the start. We used to be called “The Pinks and Reds”, but we kept getting confused whether pink or red came first.
3. So, there are 3 of you with some additional members who session at some of your gigs. Was this dynamic intentionally arranged to be this way?
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Nope, it wasn’t. Initially, we wanted to look for other girls who could join us as permanent members. But we soon realize that the chemistry between the three of us would be really hard to match with someone new. It started with our resident drummer, Nazrin Yusnaidi (but we call him Yin), who found us through our poster that we released on our social media while looking for new female members. After playing with him a few times, he became an important part of our Senja Family, not only because of his talents and experience, but because he’s just a wonderful person and a really dear friend to us now. Since Yin was a guy, we established that we don’t really have any preferences when it comes to sessionists. So far, we’ve had a total of 6 sessionists who play with us, both male and female. But we’re not too particular with gender. As long as we can all vibe, it’s good! After a busy 7 months, we’ve decided to welcome Ian Fan as our current resident sessionist on the bass. Both Ian and Yin are wacky people and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
4. Please tell us more about your music, and how is it different from other local indie band out there, taking SOAP for an instance.
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First of all, we love SOAP ? Shoutout to Josh for being here for us since the very beginning! We think what makes our music different is we don’t want genres to define us just yet. We’re heavily influenced by a lot of different things. At first, we thought it was a problem because we couldn’t find our “sound”. But now we’re getting more comfortable with the idea of not getting constrained to a single style of music. What we usually do is write songs that have elements from different genres and give it our own twist. We know that artists stick to a genre maybe to master it, make their songs better in that particular style, or maybe to create a signature sound that’s memorable. Which is totally respectable, but not what we’re going for at the moment. So essentially, we’re creating songs that sound good to us, and as long as it feels right, we like it. And we hope everyone else will like it too! But for the sake of not boring people with this long answer, we usually just tell them our genre is mataharindie.
5. Senja is still relatively a new band in Malaysia. But, as an all-girl Malaysian Indie band, do you think that you had it easier, specifically when it comes to landing gigs than an all-boy band in the local entertainment scene?
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The local indie scene has always been, and is still dominated by men. As for landing gigs, we do feel like we have an advantage since it’s undeniable that there‘s a lack of all-girl bands in the industry (hopefully not for long!) But we wouldn’t like to ride on that fact alone and get too comfortable when we land gigs. Instead, we always try to work our hardest to constantly improve ourselves and we never take the support we get for granted.
6. So, we understand that there are plans to release an EP in the near future. Perhaps you can give us a little teaser on how the song is going to be like, and the release date for your very first EP 🙂
Actually, we’re planning to change our minds on that. We’ve collectively decided that we should take our time and not rush our EP. We’d actually like to release singles instead! We currently have so much material that can still be polished and more songs that are still in the making. Hopefully we’ll have an EP out by next year, but for now, look out for updates on our social media! (also… we still need to save up for money to record).
7. What are the upcoming gigs which we should take note of?
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Senja is currently on a little break after a packed 6 months of non-stop performing. But we’ve gotten a slot for Dekat Sessions at Chap Fan Records! However, the date is yet to be set so again, lookout on our social media for updates! We will also be performing at a supporting event for Urbanscapes for Spooky Wet Dream’s album launch in early November.
8. 3 names (can be anyone) which you’d like to collaborate with?
KASIH: Kinoko Teikoku, Sarah Midori from Kero Kero Bonito and Takahara Suiko.
MYRA: Phum Viphurit, Nai Palm and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
INARAH: Tennyson, The Walters, Suneohair.
9. Who are your all-time music inspirations from the local scene?
KASIH: Mutesite, Fazz and Shhh Diam.
MYRA: Iqbal M., Hujan and P. Ramlee.
INARAH: Hujan, I Lost the Plot and The Peachskins.
10. What are the highlights that you’ve experienced as budding artists so far?
There are so many moments that have been so pivotal to our experience so far but we’re just gonna list down a few. We got McDonald’s ice cream once from a friend who plays in a band called Ayam Hitam. Liyana Fizi watching our cover of Estrella’s Stay at CMF. The time when Inarah lost and tracked down her phone and the guy who bought it off Carousell recognized who we were. Having our own showcase. Making new friends with other creatives in the scene. Being acknowledged when we least expect it. Being able to do chase our dream with the people we love. The list goes on and on and on!
11. Is there anything which you’d like to change about the local music scene?
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Regarding performers and the local indie scene, there’s not much to say. Rather, we wish that there were more secure opportunities for artists to release and profit from their creations safely. We know so many people who have been cheated, financially and intellectually, and we wish it would change. We also hope that the support from Malaysians will continually grow because there are countless talented local acts who deserve an audience that will support them to even greater heights!
12. Where do you see Senja in 2 years’ time?
INARAH: Hopefully performing in front of an audience and be able to hear them sing along to our songs.
MYRA: Getting a healthy number of gigs a month, and we’d all have colourful hair.
KASIH: To go on an Asia tour and be sponsored by McDonalds or Bestari.
13. Any life mottos?
KASIH: “Happiness is never the end goal. All we really need to do is find hope.”
MYRA: “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable!!!”
INARAH: “Jangan bersedih brader.”
14. What are the advices which you can offer to aspiring talents out there who wish to be part of the local entertainment scene?
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Honestly, the key is to just start and don’t wait. Don’t get obsessed with planning because usually, it doesn’t go according to plan. What’s most important is that you constantly remember the purpose of why you want to perform in the first place and never forget to just have fun and go along with the process as it is. Give your all and make friends, because it’s always better to know that you’re not alone in this!
