[text by Sam Karugu]

The first time I ever heard about Jogja Noise Bombing was from a Goethe Institute publication flyer or pamphlet or book. I don’t really remember what exactly, but it was for an event they, Goethe, were doing with Nusasonic, an Indonesian experimental music organization. It had all these great pictures of people playing portable noise setups in the streets, and I could hear the glorious sounds from the pictures. Later on I got into Indonesian electronic music through my friend Arlen [Nyege Nyege Tapes.] I would listen to Senyawa and Gabber Modus Operandi and Raja Kirik, and a lot of them were noisy or coming from the noise scene. I loved this music. Eventually, I met Gabber Modus Operandi through my band Duma, and I saw Raja Kirik perform at CTM festival in Berlin, the first festival outside Africa that I ever played. They were amazing live. The members of GMO introduced me to more Southeast Asian noise music, and they made me curious about playing Indonesia, but it all felt far away. They spoke about the festival Jogja Noise Bombing, the same one I’d seen in pictures long ago in the Goethe Institute publication.

Fast forward to late 2023. I’m in Kampala, Uganda and I see an application to play the festival. I think of applying as my new solo project, but it’s still really new, and I don’t have much motivation. My friend Jan Moss asks if I’m going to apply and before I even answer he says, gimme your details, I will apply for you. I don’t really remember where the name Final Rupture of the Varicose Vein came from, but Jan was saying it to another friend in Polish and we kept joking about it and it stuck. We apply using this name, hoping that I can probably fly myself out there thanks to the two gigs I have coming up: one doing sound design for a video game and another doing a sound installation in Glasgow.

Sadly, however, neither gig pans out. Then I go to Nairobi and, due to either a freak skateboard accident or a brush with some violent cops or a really loud metal show, my eardrum ruptures, which I learn when I go to see the ENT doctor. He says I should wait a month to see if it heals or if I’ll need surgery, and he says that if I need surgery I cannot fly. With no gigs and a broken ear, I begin to abandon my Jogja Noise Bombing dream.

After one month I return to the ENT and he says that my eardrum is fully healed, I should just go to Indonesia and play and make that money. I tell him I’m probably not going to make any money and that isn’t the point, but he says a chance to leave this country for a better one should be taken. He also says that I should thank God. Praise Jesus and Allah.

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