Biography
History Of His Music
Bondan Rastika have been into music stuffs since junior high school. But back then, being a musician or having a career in musical industry was just one of his dreams. He used to record himself singing and playing guitar over songs from popular bands, like Oasis, Blur, Foo Fighters, and so on. He recorded it using a tape recorder that has a built-in mic on it. And it was pretty messy. Then He started to write his own song back at senior high school. He record them and play it over and over, trying to simulate and act like he was in a band. At college, he tried to record his songs using a desktop computer, and even now, using his notebook.
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Working On The 1st EP
On January 2008, Bondan met IGN Adhitya Utama while he was on a trip to Bali. Adit then introduced Bondan to Rizki HT, and Azmie Kasmy. Adit was the drummer of WRD at that time, and Rizki was the bass player. It was Azmie Kasmy who offered Bondan to re-record his songs at WRD Studio. Together with Rizki, Azmie, and another bass player, Bagus "Bugs" Al-Falah, Bondan re-record 14 songs, and then after undergoing a selection process, he decided to release an EP consist of only 6 tracks. Having difficulties releasing it to the market, on 2009, he finally decided to make the EP download-able, for free. The Hit Single He also uploaded his songs to an online music game called JamLegend, and surprisingly, the number one single called "Not In Love" made a big hit. The listeners came from all around Indonesia, and even all around the world, such as Phillipines, Thailand, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and also from New York, USA. This has made him grow more optimism for his musical career.
After The EP
After the EP was released, Bondan played in some gigs such as Sidewalk Show at Kedai, Champions League Finals and My First Exhibition at Teras Coffee. At that time, he played alone. Then he was invited to play on Sounds of Indonesia at Alun Alun Indonesia, where he asked Andang Sentanu (guitar), Ali Fajar (bass), and Paratmo Anindito (drums) to play with him. This was the first time he performed with a full band set.
The History Of The Trio
Not so long after that, Bondan met Barakalla Robyn and Dado Adi. Bara was a drummer and also cajonero (cajon player), and Dado was a bass player. They form an acoustic set together which is later also known as BR3 (Bondan Rastika Trio) and played on many gigs such as Friday Showcase at Pejaten Village, Panasonic Exhibition at Mal Kelapa Gading, Dapur Fiesta and Dapur in Flames at Fakultas Psikologi UI, Komnite UI Technoture at The Green, British Rock Night, Campus Jamming Night at De Hooi, Media Gathering at Brew House Senayan City, and Stoned College Tour 2010 (Jakarta gig). Later, the hit single Not In Love become frequently requested on Stoned College Web Radio, and is also nominated for Best Newcomer Award on ICEMA (Indonesia Cutting Edge Music Award) 2010, along with Tribute To Delight, Sunset Groove, and the other nominees.
Sharing Stages From Gig To Gig
Bondan Rastika also shared some gig and played on the same stage with other great musicians and bands, such as The Ellise, Delay Monday, Anda and The Joints, Dzeek, Sketsa, The Trees And The Wild, Andre Harihandoyo and Sonic People, Tribute To Delight, The Dying Sirens, Luky Annash, Sunset Groove, The Aftermiles, KarnaTra, Post Blue, Dondon Harrisson, Sunday Sundae, Sunday At Twelve, Lenny The Police, and many more. You can follow his twitter account @bbondann to get to know him in a more personal way, or @bondanrastika for gig info and music updates only.
Welcome To The Real World
His acoustic playing style is very much influenced mostly by John Mayer and Jason Mraz, as he also plays a lot of cover of their songs. And also some influence by Duncan Sheik on the song lyrics he wrote. On mid 2010, Bondan finally decided to continue pursuing his musical career under Jerapah Records. He worked on his 1st album with Andre Harihandoyo as his Executive Producer, Dado Adi on Bass, and Rio Alief on Drums and Percussion, together with other guest musicians, namely Andreas Arianto (Sonic People), Iga Massardi (TTATW) & Gihon Lohanda (Jacket Potato). His 1st album titled "Welcome To The Real World" was released on November 2011.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.