Nobita, the perennial loser. For forty-odd years now, the anime/manga character has been associated with getting beat-up by the school bully, getting a big-fat-zero on your test and getting bested by your environment despite being doted on by a futuristic blue robot cat from the future. And now in our 21st century existence, a chiptune/pop-punk band has joined the fight to prop-up our pathetic protagonist… Never Give Up Nobita!
“As you might know, Nobita is portrayed as stupid, weak and quick to give in […] so we wanted to make music to jump-start Nobita and people like him,” explains Abud (guitar/vox) about the premise of Never Give Up Nobita. And that’s what Abud, Egi (guitar/vox), Ferdi (bass), Zicko (synths) and Dicky (drums/programming) has lived up to using their enthusiastic recorded output and energetic live shows.
Since their inception in 2007, the band has released two freely downloadable hormonally-charged singles. The first of these was a track quizzically, yet deliciously, titled “Quit School To Buy A Doll For Your Valentine”. This sugary cane of a third-generation-emo 8-bit pop-punk track was surprisingly recorded under the modest circumstances in a very short-time. “From 10 am to 10 pm,” elaborated Abud recalling the process of recording the YCMK/Motion City Soundtrack influenced home-made track with Egi and ex-member Adrian.
Now, with a song-in-hand Abud and Egi went out to the major hang-out places in Bandung and proceeded to distribute the song themselves. “Some people actually referred to us as “The Bluetooth Band” confessed Abud referring to the main mode of distribution in the early days of Never Give Up Nobita.
Luckily the song gained traction on their MySpace, and their Bluetooth-heavy salad days are over. And now Abud and Egi was tasked with assembling a stable line-up of musicians to showcase their songs on the Bandung indie circuit (which is made up of high-school and university fairs).
And now after a long time of searching, the line-up was complete. Abud and Egi managed to acquire richly-influenced bassist Ferdi, which jumped ship from L.A. Lights Indiefest finalist Vickyvette citing “bad communication and then musical differences”. Jazz-drummer Dicky, who’s been playing since “third grade of elementary school”, joined afterwards. And finally, amateur synthesizer player Zicko came in, who started out as a fan but somehow found his way into the line-up in a cool act of fanboy ascension.
And with this line-up they went in the studio to record their masterful Taking Back Sunday/T-Pain send-up “High School Wouldn’t Feel Much Better”. Of course the track doesn’t neglect the Never Give Up Nobita trademark: the 8-bit keyboard sounds. Bye this time, the programming torch has passed to…the drummer! “Most of our 8-bit stuff is made by [Dicky],” says Abud. “Yes!” replied Zicko expressing appreciation for the drummer/programmer.
The “High School…” track pretty much embodies the Never Give Up Nobita sound: Abud and Egi’s nasal whine yelping lyrics about the care-free romance of high-school, while a pop-punk rhythm section, held down by Ferdi’s bass, wails on in the background. This bedrock is colored by passages of lyrical synth playing by Zicko interspersed with the bleeps and bloops of Dicky’s programming. It is a sound that is unique and immensely familiar at the same time. Their sound is actually quite similar to another leading synth/pop-punk band. A fact not lost on the members of Never Give Up Nobita.
“Yeah, I think Pee Wee [Gaskins]’ music is good,” said wise Ferdi. “They’re a cool band,” added Abud with a knowing glint. As a matter of fact, only high-strung newbie Zicko has something mildly critical of their contemporary. “Well, they’re kind of arrogant, aren’t they?” said Zicko rhetorically.
Never Give Up Nobita has no choice but to at least respect what Pee Wee Gaskins did for the all-things-synth scene currently enjoying a peak in the Indonesian music scene. But this band doesn’t only wish to be a mid-tier follower…
“Yes, Never Give Up Nobita can be massively successful” said Ferdi. “We got great and unique songs that are solid and so us!” added Zicko. “With hard work,” reminded Dicky. Immediately afterwards Agun exclaimed…
“Never Give Up Nobita is ready to bring the house down!!!” (Ababil Ashari)
download their song here.
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