Burgerkill is a heavy metal band from Bandung, Indonesia. Founded in 1995 they have been touring around the world since then and built up a huge fan community. In this podcast the Burgerkill guitarists Ebenz and Agung talk about the massive corruption in the country, their economical situation, the consequences of digitization and their protest song «House of Greed». A podcast from the Norient exhibition Seismographic Sounds, produced by Rudolf Dethu.

Burgerkill: «House of Greed»

Fifteen years after the fall of dictator Suharto, corruption ourishes like never before in Indonesia. With this video the band raises their voice against the never satis ed and greedy politicians, and stages them as shadowy beasts with snapping mouths. The song title refers to Jakarta’s House of Representatives DPR, which appears towards the end of the clip.

Quotes from the Podcast

«Indonesia is actually a rich country. But due to massive corruption the country becomes economically very bad. People are poor, the food and the basic needs are expensive, the crimes are high, so hard for the artists and the musicians to survive.»

Ebenz

«Money becomes a supercrucial part of everyday life. Money is everything, the situation usually ends up bad. People try everything they can to get money, doesn't matter how.»

Agung

«We had to be very careful using our time. We have to be very efficient spending our time in the studio. We could not afford to spend more money to rent the studio.»

Agung

«In Indonesia, artists and musicians have to compromise their art quality just to survive.»

Ebenz

«The song is like a tribute to the government, the parliament, the people who are supposed to make the country better. They steal the money instead. They are so greedy, they don't care about the people who become so poor because of them. They are so evil. This is Burgerkill fuck you song to the corrupt government.»

Agung

«Same as other parts of the world digital and Internet phenomenon took Indonesia by storm. Digital phenomenon has changed the music industry completely.»

Ebenz

«We can promote ourselves, we can sell our album directly. And for our fans they are so excited to be able to chat in person with the bands. That they love. The bad side of digital trend is piracy. In Indonesia piracy is so bad. Even the police here is taking advantage from piracy, they become the thieves. Almost zero law enforcement for this kind of crime. This situation makes local music industry suffering very badly. Records label are dying, records shops are closing, band member are quitting and transforming into corporate slaves. But this is not the end of the world. Digital phenomenon for us has more positive than negative sides. Digital has helped bands from the remote areas in Indonesia can have pretty much the same chance with bands from big cities.»

Agung

«Digital phenomenon also force us to be more creative.»

Ebenz

«We hope this fuck you song can become a wake-up call to those thieves who knows, they might realize that they have made the people suffering.»

Agung and Ebenz

«We hope ‹House of Greed› can become like an anthem for the kids to fight the corruption, to fight for justice, to walk together and reaching a goal of the new Indonesia. Indonesia without corruption. The wealthy Indonesia and justice for all.»

Agung