Tarrkam: Indonesian quintet playing eclectic, energetic ‘egg punk’

Go-kart races with lawnmowers. A notorious spiritual guru and conman. A Japanese comic about depression. There’s only one band out there singing about all these things on the same record: Tarrkam, one of the main protagonists of Indonesia’s current punk rock scene that’s currently rippling with new waves of creativity.

The quintet are known for their tight but reckless, stage dive-inducing live shows, but Tarrkam are not merely about muscle and sweat. With fun, colourful musical bits accompanying what seem like random and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the band are Indonesia’s very own purveyors of ‘egg punk’ – a recent internet-coined genre.

“Egg punk is like geeky, unstereotypical punk rock for people who listen to Devo,” explains bassist Haryo ‘Oyob’ Widi Adhikaputra. “We’re all pretty nerdy, and none of us really dress like punk kids.”

If that’s still hard to grasp, take in Tarrkam’s debut album ‘Fresh Grad’ and its bright, comic-inspired artwork, animated, quirky guitar licks, jumpy rhythm section and ’80s new wave-inspired moments. The band’s penchant for spontaneity is further reflected in their arbitrary lyrical themes, which often cover absurd cultural local phenomena or meta references that only Tarrkam’s members would understand.

“I like spontaneous ideas and I don’t fuss too much when writing lyrics, and somehow they end up being about trivial shit,” singer and lyricist Rahmad “Ape” Sumantri says, laughing. “It doesn’t need to have a message, it’s not something that would make people cry or touched or anything like that, it’s just me ranting.”

And what rants they are. The album’s energetic opener ‘MPRGP’ is a song about Mesin Pemotong Rumput GP, a go-kart community just outside of Jakarta that utilizes lawn-mower machines, while the head-bopping ‘Guru Alip’ refers to the street name of bassist Oyob’s music studio, where the band practice and record their music.

‘Codename DK’ reads like a brochure advertisement for Indonesia’s infamous money-doubling con-man Dimas Kanjeng while the upbeat sax-heavy ska number ‘Kelas Tarrkam’ is literally a song about a martial artist in action. Its lyrics translate as such: “Cast your eyes, get your stance ready / I’m invisible! / Two steps backwards, jump, fly and attack like a condor!”

“We’re all pretty nerdy, and none of us really dress like punk kids”

Tarrkam’s song titles occasionally reference pop culture or Japanese manga, though Ape says it’s more off-the-cuff than a deliberate decision. The album’s closer, ‘Ohayo Pinpin’, plays on Oyasumi Punpun, a well-known Japanese comic about depression.

“That song is about a tragedy, much like the manga, but a lot of times our song titles are just decided impromptu, without much forethought,” Ape says. “Some of them are draft titles that ended up being the final titles.”

Tarrkam know they’re being silly in a genre that’s often known for being serious – especially in a sociopolitical sense. “We don’t avoid those types of lyrics, but we don’t want to write about things we don’t completely understand,” Ape explains. “It’s important that I write about things that I know and feel, so for me, punk doesn’t have to be a certain way. I don’t need to narrow it down like that.”

But ‘Fresh Grad’ is not completely devoid of heart or personal themes, with songs such as the title track ‘Fresh Grad’ and ‘Bicara Masa Depan’ (‘Talk About The Future’) exploring anxiety about entering adulthood. Ape, who was in his mid-20s when he wrote these songs, reveals: “I wasn’t and still am not ready to enter the next phase of life, having to be an adult and think about financial responsibilities and all that. This is expressed quite a bit on the album.”

Tarrkam’s lyrics are 100 percent written by Ape. The rest of the band are clearly comfortable with his judgment, a level of trust that doesn’t come as a surprise considering most of Tarrkam have been friends since high school. In 2015, after seeing Bogor’s herky-jerky punk unit The Kuda, Ape approached guitarist Stefanus ‘Epan’ Yonathan to start a “punk rock band with exotic riffs.” After some personnel changes, drummer Bagas ‘Encek’ Wisnu Wardhana and bassist Oyob completed Tarrkam’s initial line-up. In 2015, they released their first EP, ‘Transcend Massive Culture’.

The band take their name from tarkam, an Indonesian word that literally translates to ‘between villages’ and refers to amateur football matches played between villages or kampung. They are also fully aware of the irony that none of them plays football at all.

“If we want to be philosophical about it, tarkam embodies that no-rule spirit with a little dose of violence, much like the music we play,” Ape says, chuckling.

Despite the laissez-faire persona, Tarrkam take their craft seriously, which is the biggest reason why ‘Fresh Grad’ took six years to finish. During the process, the band kept wanting to change their songs’ arrangements, redoing studio takes because they weren’t satisfied with the results. Oyob, the band’s bassist who was also on duty as sound engineer, got frustrated during mixing and ultimately deferred to someone else to handle the material.

During this time, Ape and synthesizer player Denny ‘Banon’ Aulia started Beta Daemon, a two-man, synth-heavy band. In mid-2022, Tarrkam performed a live collaboration with Beta Daemon, which required a new arrangement of Tarrkam’s songs with Banon’s synthesizer. The band liked it so much that they ended up asking Banon to join permanently and reworked all the material on ‘Fresh Grad’.

“If we want to be philosophical about it, tarkam embodies that no-rule spirit with a little dose of violence, much like the music we play”

Members of Tarrkam are deeply entrenched in Jakarta’s independent music scene, as every member has their own side projects or frequently performs with other bands. In February drummer Bagas even held his own mini music festival featuring all 10 bands he drums for, including indie poppers Bedchamber, post-metal unit Morgensoll and hip-hop experimentalist BAP. Oyob currently also plays bass for the legendary synth-rockers The Upstairs, while Ape recently joined electronic haymakers F00RY.

Ape, who is responsible for every single piece of Tarrkam’s signature collage-style artwork, has also done artwork and animated music videos for punk and hardcore bands, while Oyob, who runs Kandang Studio, has recorded and mixed dozens of records and live performances over the years. It’s no wonder that Tarrkam has gained respect from their contemporaries and listeners alike.

“We’re all pretty active in – I hate using this word – the scene, so a lot of friendships are formed,” Oyob says. “It’s just something that happens organically, because you share a lot of the same interests, and it ends up being a community.”

Another thing that’s happened organically is Tarrkam and ‘Fresh Grad’, one of the most interesting records coming out of the country this year. The band have yet to give it a wide release on streaming services, though they have been planning a cassette release for this year’s Record Store Day. It was their long-awaited debut, but Tarrkam claim to have absolutely no expectations for the album.

“The expectation was just to make music the way we wanted to, so it’s been fulfilled,” Ape says, laughing.

That said, they do have hopes for Tarrkam in the long run.

“I would love to be able to play music with these people for another 30 to 40 years,” Oyob says. “That’s the main goal.”

Tarrkam’s ‘Fresh Grad’ is out now on Lamunai Records. The album will receive a Record Store Day release on May 5

The post Tarrkam: Indonesian quintet playing eclectic, energetic ‘egg punk’ appeared first on NME.