By SAMUEL LEE
alltherage@thestar.com.my
FORMER Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan once said, “Sports is a universal language that can bring people together, no matter what their origin, background, religious beliefs or economic status.”
This is true for Jumero, a local boy-band which performed at Urbanscapes after winning the R.AGE Open Mic competition in 2012.
The band of three consists brothers Jared, 24, and Michael Lim, 20, together with their neighbour Ryan Gomes, 22, who met while playing football in their neighbourhood. This eventually led to frequent jamming sessions at their homes.
“Funny thing that a sport would bring a band together,” said Gomes.
Just two months before the R.AGE Open Mic competition in 2012, the trio came up with Jumero as their band name. But believe it or not, the name was originally coined for a bus stop which they had named after themselves many years ago.
“We decided to take the first letter of our names and chose a vowel that we liked.
“So a couple of years later when we were thinking of a band name, we remembered the bus stop,” bassist Michael recalls.
As young talents in the industry, band percussionist Gomes acknowledges the difficulties in making a mark in the ever-changing musical landscape. He said, “It wasn’t an easy jump,” referring to the band’s success at the R.AGE Open Mic competition.
“You just have to make sure you don’t lose sight of what you want to get done. That means if you want to do music and if you really think you should go for it, then by all means, go for it.
“If you’re going to go for it, then just go all the way,” said Gomes.
Left to right: Michael, Ryan and Jared in their studio.
“What we learned is, use technology to your advantage,” said Michael, who also believes that there are no limits to the number of people one can reach in the online world.
Since performing at Urbanscapes, the band has been actively performing locally elsewhere, such as Penang, Pulau Redang and Kuala Lumpur.
“2013 was good for us and since exposure-wise we were getting different venues and meeting people, a lot of them were requesting for material,” said Jared.
This led the trio to decide that they needed to raise themselves to the next level and launch an extended play which is expected to be released in April. An extended play or EP is a musical recording that contains more music than a single but is too short to be considered an album on its own.
Lead vocalist and songwriter Jared explains that most of the songs are about life and how a young person is pressured into fitting the mould set by society.
His peers had motivated him to write songs about the struggles in their youth.
Jumero is currently recording their EP which includes five of their own original songs a studio in Kuala Lumpur.
“We couldn’t ask for a better place and person,” said Michael, commenting on the studio’s owner, Alex Tan who recorded and edited their songs.
For more information, check out their official website at jumeromusic.bandpage.com or listen to their songs at soundcloud.com/jaredino.
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