Date of Birth: November 23, 1975

Best Known For: Owning Indo

Local Spot: Everywhere in Bali

My Crew: Marlon, Lee Wilson, Betet, Pepen Hendrik and all the Bali boyz

Board of Choice: 6'1” x 18.25” x 2.25” swallowtail

Dream Wave: Somewhere by Sumbawa (can’t tell, though) he he heee....

At the scenic fishing village of Medewi in Northwest Bali dozens of groms, who had traveled from all over Bali and Nusa Lembongan, lined up together with the local Medewi groms to sign up and compete in the fifth regional Rip Curl Gromsearch event of  2009.

At the end of the day it was 11-year-old Jeren Kiring from Canggu that claimed victory in the Under 14 division with an impressive display of forehand surfing, throwing out big turns and floating over long sections on his way to racking up big scores.  He was the first surfer of the day to post a 9 point wave during his round 2 heat, but had to fight off the constant charge of Koko Misuantara from Nusa Dua, who put on his own grom clinic with deep bottom turns and aggressive re-entry’s, taking 2nd place.

This win for Jeron is another great result and shows that he is by far the best talent coming up in Bali. Taken in by Rizal, i am sure young Jeron is on the way to making a great go of pro surfing!

-Mitch

In Jogjakarta, beneath the Magelang Street concrete and asphalt, The Soundclash #3 was held in a small underground (read: under-the-ground) club, a location synonymous with the club’s name: Bunker. The ‘soundfest’ kicked off at 8 o’clock with the opening blast by DJ Death Beetle from the Principle Of South collective, combining sets with various elements from kroncong to java street to dub step to hiphop and electro. With the inclusion of some rare poetry samples by the legendary W.S.Hendra and percussion samples from Sujud Sutrisno, he sure knows how to mash-up your feelings like a plate of hot spicy gado-gado!

The night heated up as DJ Holza took over the booth, bustin’ up the scene with his mash-up urban vibe, pounding the dance floor with bouncy hiphop and r’n b and some extra hot reggaeton riddim. The dance floor started crowding and the heat was on when DJ Holza added some scratchin’ to his set. Cold beer was flowin like the Mississippi and the dancing sync-ed with the rhythm. Even the officials enjoyed the performance and decided to let up for a few more minutes of DJ Holza.

Around ten thirty, the tempo was upped even more by one of the Soundboutique warriors: Midijunkie. Pumpin up the blood to even hotter levels with his breakbeat set backed up by MC Dena and crew as dancefloor ‘Provocateurs’ of the night. Even the shyest ladies who stood out the previous sets, got up and ‘shook their thang’ during Midjunkie’s performance.

On the walls above, we were treated to the unique and eye’licious imaginations of VJ Brank Motion the man in charge of blurrin’ and blowin’ the minds of the audience with his visuals.

Meanwhile, the non-stop clashes weren’t about to let up, with DJ Dash on the decks delivering the blows with a mash-up set of organic hiphop that reached a crescendo of drum and bass booms transforming into the most brutal jungle hardcore. Showin’ no mercy, he turned the scene upside down like a rollercoaster… Big up ma selekta! Tell ‘em like it is, DJ Dash!

As predicted, the crowd maxed out at midnite and likewise the bartenders were run off their feet catering to the hoards. Meantime, DJ Tee of Dubyouth Soundsystem took over the booth and began breakin out his ol’ skool jungle set turning up the heat for Dubyouth’s main show. The crowd was goin’ wild! And the main show drove the scene to even crazier heights. With everybody singin’ along to Dubyouth’s massive tunes including ‘bomb da town’ and ‘love 2 c ya dance’, the floor was gettin hotter and hotter with the people sweating up a river; it was hard just to breath. No wonder the officials had prepared oxycans to handle the situation.

Later, the Soundclash night closed with a performance by one of the Principle of South dons… ‘Yeah People, Give it up to DJ Latex!’ Bringing 1000 pounds of heavy mixed dubstep, Miami bass and Baltimore style, no-one was getting’ out of there alive that night! He knocked the hell out of everyone. (Oh and FYI, DJ Latex also provides sound systems for parties and has opened DJ/production classes for electronic music, so if you’re seriously thinking of getting into the scene, you better join up soon.)

Finally at about one am, the Soundclash was over. With hundreds of litres of sweat spilt out on the dancefloor and heaps of empty bottles, there will be a lot of stories told about this night.

Thanx to all of you who came and supported the movement.

See you again at the next Soundclash.

Riz.