Profile and Career Journey of Reality Club, It All Started from a Room

Kapanlagi.com - Written by: Nadia Sabilla Ramadhani

The indie music world must be familiar with the presence of the band Reality Club. This Indonesian band, which dominates its songs in English, has started to go global. Recently, Reality Club embarked on a concert tour in North America and held a concert in Cannington, Australia last Saturday (15/6).

The career of this 4-member band is currently soaring. The career journey that this band has gone through is truly from scratch to international. Many things have been experienced by this indie rock-pop genre band.

Even this band has gone through a period where its members left and now there are 4 people. Want to know how the career journey and the ups and downs experienced by Reality Club? Let's read this news until the end!

1. Formation of Reality Club

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/iqbalanggakusumah)

The band was formed as a result of a playful invitation in 2016. According to idntimes, a group of three young people who wanted to create a band. At that time, it was only them, Fathia Izzati Saripudin/Cia (vocals), Mayo Falmonti (bass), and Era Patigo (drums). Fathia is known as a content creator on her YouTube channel called @kittendust. In her YouTube account, Fathia often covers songs. In fact, one of her earliest videos went viral with 14 million views, uploaded 10 years ago or more precisely on August 31, 2013 until today. In the 5-minute 28-second video, Fathia speaks English using 21 accents. What a talented girl!

After that, there were many cover videos using the ukulele. Starting from the song THE MOON SONG by Karen O, TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME, and many other cover songs. Fathia's talent as a vocalist was highlighted, which led to the formation of Reality Club. Mayo, as a bassist, invited Fathia and Era to form a band.

The formation they created was considered to lack personnel. Eventually, Fathia invited her brother, Faiz Novascotia Saripudin, as a guitarist and vocalist, as well as her former boyfriend, Iqbal Anggakusumah, as a guitarist to join their small band. This 5-person formation formed the music group Reality Club.

2. Everything is Limited

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/realityclub)

Reality Club started everything from scratch. For their music recordings, they didn't rent a music studio due to cost limitations. As reported by LAzone, they recorded through a room that they set up as an impromptu music studio. Not only that, they also bought a sound card for their creative work. According to Kumparan, a sound card is a computer hardware device that functions to play, record, and process data into audible sound.

From the beginning of these limitations, their popularity exploded both domestically and internationally. Reality Club has flourished and developed into an independent pop-rock band in Indonesia recently.

3. Talking about Songs

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/realityclub)

Like the songs that have been produced by this band, they are quite easy to memorize the parts of the song. Moreover, the performance of this song is really cool. The combination of pop and rock music is really touching. If you're feeling down, you will feel even more down when listening to Reality Club's song like the song A SORROWFUL REUNION with the lyrics "The sorrowful reunion was inevitable.." maybe K-Lovers will cry when listening to it. Or if you're really happy, there's AM I BOTHERING YOU?, the music is really good and there's even a dance when it was released.

Reality Club is also inspired by famous foreign bands. According to idntimes, they took inspiration for creating Reality Club from Arctic Monkeys, Two Doors Cinema Club, and Last Dinosaurs. So, it's not surprising that this band has a different style from other pop bands.

4. Tides of Band Members

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/realityclub)

The members of Reality Club initially consisted of 5 people. However, after 6 months of formation, the person who first invited Fathia and Era to form a band, Mayo, reluctantly left the band. Mayo left Reality Club due to personal commitments. As quoted from CNN Indonesia, Mayo is known to have joined another band group and works as a lawyer. There are also other reasons why Mayo left the group, "And at that time, Mayo also wanted to get married. We both understood," said Fathia in an interview with one of the Indonesian media.

Fathia and the other band members continued the name Reality Club with various gig schedules and other ideas to elevate Reality Club. They continued to write lyrics for their new songs. In the end, they invited Nugi Wicaksono to join and collaborate, replacing Mayo as the bassist of Reality Club.

Reality Club made their first works through the singles they released. Quoted from CNN Indonesia, the five singles they released in different years are THE THINGS I DON'T KNOW, FATAL ATTRACTION, IS IT THE ANSWER?, OKAY, and the last one ELASTIC HEART. Indirectly, Reality Club embraces the indie pop genre. Fathia also revealed that "Maybe because it flows, we don't really determine the genre," she said in an interview with CNN Indonesia.

On November 22, 2022, Iqbal Anggakusumah decided to leave Reality Club because he wanted to pursue his solo project. Iqbal wrote on his personal Instagram account (@iqbalanggakusumah) about his farewell from Reality Club. It is known that Reality Club started their first concert outside the city in Malang. And Iqbal also parted ways with the band after performing in Malang. In the end, the remaining members are Fathia Izzati (Cia), Faiz Novascotia, Nugi Wicaksono, and Era Patigo.

5. Relationship Among Band Members

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/realityclub)

Their closeness outside of music is quite close. It started with Fathia Izzati and Faiz Novascotia being siblings. Their last names both use their father's last name, Saripudin. Their music tastes are also not far apart.

Iqbal and Fathia were also in a relationship before eventually leaving Reality Club. However, the vocalist is already married to Randa Trihatmaja in 2021. As quoted from Nakita, Fathia now has a son with a unique name, Tsabit Putih.

6. Reality Club Goes International!

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/realityclub)

The band that started from a bedroom has already ventured abroad! In their recent music concert tour, Reality Club has been to several areas in North America. In addition, Reality Club visited North America for a postponed performance since 2020, namely SXSW, which was finally realized this year. However, due to the SXSW concert, there were allegations of genocide involving the US military as sponsors of the event. As quoted from KapanLagi, Reality Club did not want to be associated with organizations involved in genocide in the event. Despite not participating in the SXSW Music Festival, Reality Club continued their North American Concert Tour.

As reported by LAzone, Reality Club has also penetrated the Japanese music market. It is known that the release of the album NEVER GET BETTER by Reality Club was cooked by the Japanese record label, Inpartment Inc. Not only released in the Land of Sakura, this album has been released in Singapore and Malaysia simultaneously.

And for the latest news, Reality Club held a concert in Australia, precisely in the Annual Charity Festival titled Serenata, along with other bands such as Ten2Five on Saturday (15/6) last week. It's really cool, right KLovers! It all started from a bedroom to overseas!

7. Reality Club Achievements

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/realityclub)

The band group that started from a room has already ventured abroad! In their recent music concert tour, Reality Club has visited several regions in North America. In addition, Reality Club visited North America for a postponed show since 2020, which is SXSW and was finally realized this year. However, due to the issue of genocide involving the US military as a sponsor in the SXSW event, as quoted from KapanLagi, Reality Club does not want to be associated with organizations involved in genocide. Despite not participating in the SXSW Music Festival, Reality Club continues their North American Concert Tour.

As reported by LAzone, Reality Club has also penetrated the Japanese music market. The album release of NEVER GET BETTER by Reality Club was cooked in the Japanese record label, Inpartment Inc. Not only released in Sakura Country, this album has been released in Singapore and Malaysia simultaneously.

And for the latest news, Reality Club held a concert in Australia, precisely in the Annual Charity Festival titled Serenata, along with other band groups, Ten2Five on Saturday (15/6) last week. It's really cool, isn't it KLovers! It all started from a room to overseas!

8. Reality Club Discography

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/@mrizalfrmnsyh_)

This Indonesian band dominates their songs with English language. Therefore, it's not surprising that they have gained recognition abroad. The band's seriousness in expanding their name internationally is proven through their works and every process.

In 2017, Reality Club released an album titled NEVER GET BETTER under the Japanese label Inpartment Inc. They followed it with the album WHAT DO YOU REALLY KNOW? in 2019 and will release the album REALITY CLUB PRESENTS... in 2023. Here are the details of the singles from each album released by Reality Club:

Album NEVER GET BETTER (2017):

• ELASTIC HEARTS
• THINGS I DON'T KNOW
• SHOULDN'T END THIS WAY
• CURSIVE CURSES
• FATAL ATTRACTION
• HESITATION
• OKAY
• MENTORS
• A GRACEFUL RETREAT
• FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD
• IS IT THE ANSWER?
• NEVER GET BETTER
• EPILOGUE

Album WHAT DO YOU REALLY KNOW? (2019):

• PROLOGUE
• SSR
• ALL ALONG ALL THINGS WERE WRONG
• CAUGHT IN A TRAP
• THE RUSH
• VITA O MORTE
• TELENOVIA
• ON MY OWN, AGAIN
• ALEXANDRA
• A SORROWFUL REUNION
• 2112

Album REALITY CLUB PRESENTS... (2023):

• I WISH I WAS YOUR JOKE
• YOU LET HER GO AGAIN
• DANCING IN THE BREEZE ALONE
• TELL ME I'M WRONG
• DESIRE
• ARROWHEAD MAN
• AM I BOTHERING YOU?
• ANYTHING YOU WANT
• FOUR SUMMERS
• LOVE EPIPHANY

9. Reality Club's Career Now

Reality Club (credit: instagram.com/realityclub)

The career journey of Reality Club, starting from the limited space of a makeshift studio in a room to overseas, has not been an easy feat for an independent band without a music label. Reality Club truly proves that they are not just any ordinary indie band. Their biggest achievement is touring and performing abroad. Collaborating and establishing a record label in Japan is also one of the best things about this band.

Until now, Reality Club continues to carve their career both domestically and internationally, happily taking on various jobs from anywhere. They face challenges from high school concerts to overseas performances. Truly salute to this indie band!

(kpl/nyx)