The Beginning Story of The Changcuters, Starting from Friendship During School - Searching for Sponsors Through Auditions

Tria said that initially he and Qibil and Dipa were already friends since 2000, before The Changcuters were born.

"First, the five of us were already good friends before forming The Changcuters, me, Qibil, and Dipa were in the same campus. We have been friends since 2000, just like young college students who love to hang out and always the three of us," said Tria.

"And the most frequent topic we discussed was about music, until finally in 2003 to 2004 we wanted to form a band," he continued.

After that, due to a lack of members, the trio Tria, Dipa, Qibil recruited two people who were long-time friends of Qibil, the guitarist Alda and Erick.

"At first, there were only three of us and we needed more people. Eventually, we recruited Alda, who was a friend from high school with Qibil, and Erik, who was also a friend of Qibil's from middle school. And thus, The Changcuters were formed," he added.

Tria also added that The Changcuters were formed because of a desire to perform at a favorite venue for bands in Bandung.

"There was one favorite venue in Bandung, I forgot the name, that often held small concerts. At first, we just wanted to play there, but eventually we were able to and the rest is history." said Tria.

Tria also mentioned that at first, he was unsure whether The Changcuters could compete and grow in the music industry in Indonesia. Especially since he and his four friends were self-taught musicians who simply loved the world of music.

"At first we were hesitant because we love music but we're not musicians who learned formally, we're all self-taught, that's why we started our career by making our own songs and then looking for auditions. Usually there's a school break and we join auditions and pass, and the fun thing about our auditions back then was that it was like being in a band studio where the judges watched us, but during our time the auditions were in public places with an audience, which opened up bigger opportunities," he explained.

"So in the fourth and fifth auditions there were already sponsors offering us gigs, until eventually we climbed the ladder and became event performers. It's been a continuous process until now," he added.

In addition, according to Tria, developing The Changcuters since its inception was not a difficult task. Everything will feel easy depending on the mindset and enjoyment of working together and going through the process.

"Difficulties depend on mindset, if we look at it logically and from a popularity standpoint, it's actually fate, but what's important is the effort, making the effort is what matters, whether it feels difficult or not depends on whether it aligns with your passion, whether you enjoy doing it or not. And since we've been friends before the band was formed, any disaster that comes our way is not a hindrance," he concluded.