*The Origins Of Obscure Phionix.

sometimes i wonder...do anyone come to my blog anymore? hey, i was surprised when Ary tagged! Ary you rock bro!

ahah. today The DaVinci Code movie is out. i am going to catch that movie no matter what. and when i was thinking of The DaVinci Code, i thought of how the novel inspired Man and i to come up with Obscure Phionix's name.

but, let's backtrack. from where i started out. before the time of Obscure Phionix. the timeline of my journey in muscianship. may be a little sketchy.

Year 2000
secondary one. i joined the Military Band and got interested in the drums. i played the drums whenever i had the chance to. even though it ended up in brutal punishment. why? because the i'm not in the percussion section. i was in the bass section. that would explain how i got interested in drums. to be more exact the drumset. only know of single bass pedal back then. then, my mom bought me an acoustic guitar (thanks mom). that was the start of my practising on the guitar. first song. Stand By Me. haha! would you believe it. i played anytime i could, brought the guitar to school also. and at that time, most of my friends brought guitars to school to "jam". played slow songs. believe it or not, song from; Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Guns 'N' Roses, Spice Girls, Savage Garden, The Moffats, Joey McIntyre (if i got that right), The Wonders, etc. and further down the year i learned of the drumset's double bass pedal. and more guitar practising down the road. with additions of a new acoustic guitar and my first electric guitar. A TGM Dark Blue Sunburst Classic.

Year 2002
secondary three. my bass section senior and one of my best friends back then, Aiman, asked me if i would be interested in singing for his band, unnamed at first, to compete in my school's Battle Of The Bands. eventually i also played the guitar in the band. Aiman on bass, Zaki (Aiman's best friend) on lead guitar, Ferd (my classmate and close friend) on drums and me singing and playing the rhythm. i jammed in a studio for the first time. that was when i got interested in making a band for myself. for the Battle Of The Bands we named the band WATZ and played The Rock Show by Blink 182. instead of playing guitar as jammed, there was a last minute change and i switched with Aiman and ended up playing the bass and singing instead. the first time i touched a bass. got into it and played more bass. we got second place for the BOTB. and we continued jamming whenever we have the chance to. also, i continued playing my electric and acoustic. later in the year WATZ auditioned for the school's Teacher's Day concert and got a slot playing during the lower secondary. Zaki had to concentrate on his studies and we got Arshad (my classmate and close friend) also known as Gunn to play lead guitars. and we took Liny (Ferd and my close friend) as our second vocals. why? she has a great vocal range. we played Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing. a great song. after that we slacked off jamming. WATZ was a thing of the past. but we still continued being best friends. my musician's motto then was "Live Free Or Die". haha.

Year 2003
not schooling. finished 'O' Levels and waiting to go into ITE. reunited with my father's side cousins (Sha Meow, Yaqin, Iman, Nasrool, Nasrin, Shafiq, Wan and more) during Hari Raya and we met up during my uncle's wedding, i touched-up my guitaring again. i played the guitar and they sang Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply for the wedding. then i solo-ed Creed's One Last Breath. oh, i only saw a glimpse of Man of Obscure Phionix then. i didn't know him. yep, i didn't know him.

Year 2004
first year ITE. joined Liveband and believe it or not, i met Man there. haha. so Man and i decided to form a band together. so, with Muhammad, we got the strings for the band. then Yazid (ex-OPX, my best friend) came into the picture. the band then was named Zero Point One. we took in Sha Meow (she was Man's girlfriend and i didn't know then) cause she's always turning up for our jamming but sit down there looking at us. with Sha Meow in the band i tightened my bond with my father's side cousins. we started off playing Oi and Punkrock. at that time i was listening to Heavy Metal and Visual Kei (also known as heavy J-Rock) then Man introduced us to Avenged Sevenfold. started playing Metalcore. with more Metalcore we became an improving band. Sue (my best friend since secondary one) aided us in media stuff. i created band logos and made a website, she helped film us during jamming sessions. at the end of the year something came up and Muhammad was out of the band. that was the end of Zero Point One. we decided not to use that name anymore.

Year 2005
second half of first year ITE. we searched for a bassist up and down. three months of playing without a bassist. i gotten my B.C. Rich Beast Body Art Collection 2003 Boris then. at that time Man and i were reading Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code. then we got Fiz into our band. we took him in cause he learned seven songs in one week. slowly we played heavier songs and improved more. so, since Man and i were so caught up in The DaVinci Code, we combined a few words to make "Phionix". at first it was "Phion". making up of the Golden Numeral Phi and Sion from The Priory Of Sion. then i opted the addition of "Obscure" to the front. but, to have "Obscure" in the front, we had to change "Phion" to "Phionist" as it depicts a person. then i tried to change "Phionist" to "Phionix" adding Phoenix to the addition of Phi and Sion as a Phoenix shows a rekindling of our band. so our band was named "Obscure Phionix". we were stuck to that name and loved it. our first gig was at Singapore Street Festival 2005. we were still new then and we didn't move much. there's a video for proof. we continued gigging in small events like Dover Liveband events. and continued improving. i narrowed down my guitar equipments from Pickboy picks to ESP picks and Ernie Ball strings to DR strings, my choice equipment for my metal journey. near to the end of the year i gotten my Boss ME-50 Multiple Effect Board. and...i became a devout Metalhead. towards to the end, we played at First Step 2005 and met Mulysa there. and we got to play with Mulysa again during Dover Liveband's Mini Gig.

Year 2006
second half of second year ITE. Yazid quit the band due to some arguement of musical disagreement. at that time, when Yazid was out, we almost disbanded right there and then. but i tried to talk them out of it and searched for a new drummer. Man put an ad on Luther Musicworks' site and on Lee Kwong Seng's noticeboard. we auditioned Nicky and Shah. and we chose Shah. and here we are now. gigging almost every two weeks. the feeling is great. i shall never forget everyone that lead me to this day today.

so, that's my musician's timeline. thanks to all organisers. and thanks to all who help Obscure Phionix. quite a read. so until my next nonsensical blabbering. goodbye and take care.

freakinlyMINE, i love you.

insanely yours,
Qhai.

my history.

GORE.9:47 AM