20 Years On - Don't Look Back in Anger

20 Years ago, I was just a teenager. And Oasis, a Brit-rock band, had just released their stellar album: What's the Story Morning Glory? So this is their song, that was the anthem of that year. I remember my schooling days. I was a nerd in school, glasses perched on my nose, with a bad case of acne. Never popular with the girls. One of my classmates, Syazwan, passed away a few years back. But that's another story...





Then I grew up, went to university, and formed a band called the "Blues Brewers". This song was a staple at our jam sessions. We had four of us: Myself, playing rhythm guitar; Ng Han Lern (Han), playing lead and vocals; Julian Foo (Abracadabra), playing bass guitar; and Damien Loong Tng Ian (Pearlboy), playing drums. Fun fact: We met on IRC. We played at SS2's Jam Studio and Jalan Gasing's Black Widow Studio. We participated in a few BotB competitions -- Battle of the Bands -- but nothing came of it. Maybe it was our blues slant. We played the blues.

Everything quietened down when Han Lern went off to Australia. I didn't even have broadband Internet in those days -- I was on dial-up. TM Net's 1515 was slow-loading and the WWW was known as the World Wide Wait. But the other two guys were based at APIIT (it had broadband) and they kept in touch with him. I met Han a few times after that, at his house in DJ. He got his architectural degree, told me that they loved his "goreng" style over there. And then he got married with a Thai lady architect, and then we lost touch.

Then just about 2 months ago Julian (or Jules, as we used to call him) messaged me out of the blue. Damien had passed away. I could not believe it. I thought that we would get together again someday to play songs. That we'd jam again. Maybe this song. "So, Sally can wait..." Then I saw Damien's Tribute page on Facebook, which his brother had set up. I looked at his FB profile. (I had kept in touch with Julian only.) Damien had become a health freak. Scuba diving. Marathon runner.

I remembered how we used to have tea in the open air square in SS2 after jam sessions. Han with his Dad's big 4WD. How Damien used to furiously break his drumming sticks and Julian tried basslines inspired by U2 and the Police. And Han used to shred the axe in the studio with his "solos" long after the rest of us had gotten ready to move on to the next part of the song. (It was almost like a soliloquy, that guitar and him.)

Here's another Oasis number for you, Damien.

And here's another Oasis number for my former bandmates, Han and Julian. I want to ask them: What's a wonderwall, guys? Twenty years on and nobody's any wiser. But the drone chords sound good, so keep those fingers on G and D and play away. Let the ominous basslines do their work.

And here's a bunch of Oasis songs for old times' sake.