Myanmore meets Yangon’s latest indie band on the rise, General Tiger Gun.
Since the indie music scene has begun flowing through the city, Yangonites have become no stranger to the sound of slicing guitar chords and quirky lyrics. General Tiger Gun is a key player to this new-found sound and I caught up with with two of the four members — frontman Banyar Dwe, 25, and guitarist Jue Jue, 26.
Their story began in September 2012 when Jue Jue suggested the idea of forming a band with their bass guitarist Yarzar, 26. Jue Jue, a former member of the metal band Married for the Pain, and Yarzar, the former member of punk-rock band No U Turn, decided to celebrate their diverse music taste in their new project, with the help of drummer CK, 26 and Banyar joined – and this new project was named General Tiger Gun (GTG).
Being passionate about the guitar since Grade 9, Jue Jue was a fan of heavy metal rock music but decided that this new project wouldn’t be so easily defined. “With GTG, we don’t make music under a genre style, we create our independent music as independent artists,” he explains.
As a member of GTG, Jue Jue spoke about his feelings towards this new project compared to his old band. He says he feels more integrated and committed as everyone is working really hard for the band and creating musical arrangements. This focus allows GTG to compose songs about their lives and surrounding incidents, write the lyrics and ultimately perform on stage as unbound, independent artists.
As well as lighting lyrical fires at their resident JAM IT shows, the number of stages they’ve performed is about forty in five years which led Banyar to recall their first ever show in 2014 when he first joined the band and panicked in front of the audience as he was unfamiliar with the lyrics! “But it’s all good now,” he smiles.
“As the indie music scene in Yangon is now growing and we will have to welcome the new generation. This is about the music, not the competition so why not?” they both say. The band released 9’Night Indie Album in March 2018 and Lose Control EP on 12th Jan 2019.
Check out their music and activities on facebook via generaltigergun. Also see their latest music video “Lose Control” below.
