PHOTO COURTESY OF 'SEVEN' Britain of Raining Buffaloes rips on guitar during a King's Crab gig. The Buffaloes are one of 20 bands promoted by Stanley Productions.

Mixing music styles
a new underground

---

By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

Over the years, Danilo Osit Madeja and Stanley Hardjadinata have nurtured an underground metal scene on late night weekends at the small Waikiki restaurant King's Crab, thanks to owner Hideo Oba. (The location was once the longtime Rose and Crown Pub.)

Now, under the promotion umbrella of Stanley Productions, the two are going the diverse route, gathering not only metal bands, but techno-pop, San Fran-styled rock/blues, punk and alternative bands, numbering close to 20.

The promoters are also expanding their base of operations. "We want people to know that we're exploring other venues as well," Madeja said, commenting on their use of Anna Bannana's.

"What we want to do, starting next month, is to feature on one bill three bands of three different styles, like putting a techno-pop, blues and then a death metal group on the same bill," he said. "When we've done this in the past, people have raved about how cool that was."

As King's Crab's general manager, Madeja has seen the place he clears, sets up and oversees on late Friday and Saturday nights grow from "a first-night crowd of 15 people back in June 2000" to a point "where we're getting 50 to 100 people a night."

Madeja and his metal band Butterfly Knife have also used the restaurant as an off-hours practice room.

The idealistic and philosophical 39-year-old says while all this work is tiring sometimes, it's still exciting and fun. "I totally believe our generation will create a global movement that will abolish all war, poverty and environmental destruction within our lifetime," he said.

Nurturing this kind of live, local music cultural scene is Madeja's first step.

Stanley's Rock 'N' Such Scene At King's Crab, King's Village, 131 Kaiulani Ave., 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.; $4 cover, 21 and over. >> Today: Forensic and Linus >> Tomorrow: Tricomb, Reverse and Apt. 3 At Anna Bannana's, 2440 S. Beretania St., 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. No cover, 21 and over. >> Thursday: Butterfly Knife, Travel Light and Crepidus

Click for online
calendars and events.