When I did a few CDRs called The Sound of Young Java, I had considered calling the series The Sound of Young Bandung. The impressive amount of quality bands coming from that city in Indonesia has always surprised me. How come they produce that? I must visit Bandung some day. I hope. And try to answer that question.
In the meantime I thought about showcasing a band that deserves more love, Clubwater. When they were around it was way past the days I was releasing CDRs. Also way past the time I was in touch with many people involved in the Indonesian pop scene. So I missed them out. I did write about their self-titled CDR release on Shiny Happy Records back in 2021. This is what I said: “8 poppy songs coming from Bandung, Indonesia. Jangly, Smith-sy, I am enjoying their chiming guitars. The self-titled 8 song album will be out on February 14. It is coming out on tape on the veritable Shiny Happy Records! Three songs are available to preview, “Adult Angst”, “Secret Smile” and “Regret”. Enjoying all three! Looking forward to hearing the rest.”
All songs are available to stream on their label’s Bandcamp these days. The CDR is long sold out. The songs on this release were “Adult Angst”, “Secret Smile”, “Harmony of the Sea”, “Happiness”, “You”, “Regret”, “Lonesome Song” and “Half Hearted”, this last one a cover of the mighty Brighter.
Indeed, the band has been compared to Brighter, to the Field Mice , and other Sarah bands.
The band was formed by Muhammad Febri Hendarsyah on vocals and bass, Rega Zulhan Vocalian on guitar, Sendy Suberkah on guitar and Indra Maryoga on drums. All original songs of the band were written by Febri, with the exception of “Regret” that was penned by both Febri and someone called Ferdical. The songs were recorded by Irsyad Ali Sofi who owns and operates the Teargaslab Studio in Bandung.
The CDR came with liner notes from Tiok from The Sensitive and Heavenpunks. It mentions featuring the band on a fanzine called Letskissasecret. It mentions that he always wanted to compile the bands songs.
I have this feeling this CDR may be a compilation actually of all their records. Why? Because the band released a CDR on Shiny Happy Records (SHR 24) 7 years earlier, in 2014. This CDR was a mini 3″ one. Just like the ones I used to release. It included the songs “Happiness” and “You”. So to me, it makes sense the band was active during that time, in the mid 2010s and not in the 2020s.
Searching for more info, there’s a Soundcloud by the band, but only two songs are online, the same ones as their first release. They date from 12 years ago.
More recently Chaotic Pop Records from Tangerang, Indonesian, decided to include the song “Secret Smile” on a compilation CDR called “A Chaotic Pop Records Compilation – I Know It’s Only a CDr Release, But I Love It!” (Chaotic 6). This one came out in 2023 and featured many great Indonesian bands.
And then I notice the band has two different Instagram accounts. The newest one says the band is still active. That they have signed to Untune Record. I check. I see then that the band released a cassette last year, 2025. It has 10 songs: “Adult Angst”, “Secret Smile (Extended Version)”, “Harmony of the Seas”, “Happiness”, “You”, “Regret”, “Lonesome Song Feat. Candissa”, “Half Hearted (Brighter)”. “You (Single version)” and “Something Good (Bonus Track)”.
It says that this release is a reissue album actually with extra songs. Different artwork too.
Looking at this account I notice the band played a few weeks ago, on June 13, the Jakarta Popfest 2026.
So yea, the band is back. And I’m writing them a post about their story. And clearly this time around the story is not fully written. There are more pages to be written.
I would still love to learn more about Clubwater. Their music is fantastic, and I’d definitely would love more information about them, their band members, their songs, their gigs and more.
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Listen
Clubwater – Happiness
