For South Jakarta-based indie rock band Reality Club, performing at festivals in and around Indonesia is nothing new. But performing in New York City is something completely different. The band finished their first-ever North American tour with a show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 22, a homecoming of sorts for Fathia “Chia” Izzati, vocalist and keys, and her brother, Faiz Novascotia Saripudin, guitarist and vocalist, who both attended Forest Hills High School in Queens. The band, which has been together for eight years, consists of the siblings, along with Era Patigo on drums and Nugi Wicaksono on bass. 

Reality Club’s North American Tour began on March 3 with a show in Seattle, where the band started to realize how surreal the experience would be. In the airport, an employee came up to them, asking what they were there for. “Yeah, we’re doing a show right here,” Wicaksono told him, and it began to settle in. 

“It just felt really kind of strange at that time,” he said. “We still don’t believe it, like we’re doing a show in Seattle? Oh my God.” 

The entire band’s tour was a dream come true, something they reiterated during the interview and again during the show. “This whole America tour is like, oh my god, did we manifest this?” said Saripudin. “It takes a bit to remember like guys, this is what we dreamed of, after putting in all the work and everything…This is U S and A. This is real. I get to do shows here?” 

Even though Izzati and Saripudin had gone to high school in New York City, they hadn’t been back in about thirteen years, and both grew emotional as they crossed the bridge into the city. 

Reality Club started in 2016 as a cover band, a side job where Izzati would play at events with Patigo and a previous bassist. All had different influences growing up—Wicaksono credits his brother for showing him the Japanese fusion band Casio Bay, with famous bass player Tetsuo Sakurai getting him “hooked on bass” in middle school. Izzati and Saripudin grew up playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero which planted the seed of performing; both were raised playing instruments (“Asian parents,” Saripudin laughs), and were inspired by bands from their youth like Arctic Monkeys, the Strokes, and the Libertines that influenced the beginnings of their sound. 

Reality Club released their first two albums with these inspirations, each member bringing their favorite styles to the table to nail down their sound. Seven years later, in 2023, the band released “Reality Club Presents…,” their newest and most “experimental” album to date. It was inspired by famous movies the band grew up watching; the album has two “cowboy” songs, a James Bond/007 song, and a tune inspired by “La La Land.” 

All the tracks are love or love-adjacent songs, some about falling in love, some about falling out of love, others about all the in-between feelings of love. Reality Club began working on the album in 2020, with the idea of making a music video for each song. Once COVID-19 hit Indonesia, the album was put on hold, but after the lockdown, they threw themselves wholeheartedly into the project and let go of “any kind of ego and any kind of trying to seem cool. Just like, okay, let’s just really make this sound as good as we can,” remembered Saripudin. 

“We have to let go, we have to throw away all those kind of pretentious things, you know, serve the song,” added Wicaksono. The band worked with the Budapest Orchestra for a few tracks to create a vivid album full of string arrangements, each song sounding like their own soundtrack for a movie. 

At their shows on tour, lyric videos play behind the band as they perform, each one as unique as the song. Concertgoers shout phrases in Indonesian to the band, yelling out names of their favorite members and following the dances Izzati performs while singing. Strong bass solos from Wicaksono (“the grooviest member,” as Izzati introduces him) blend with Saripudin’s vocals, a deep voice balanced by his sister’s lighter one that elevates the songs. Both switch off singing based on the song’s point of view and share instruments. The energy in the room is electric, especially on songs like “Is it the Answer,” a poppy, indie love song where friends jump to the lyrics together in groups, and “Am I Bothering You?,” their most famous song, which Saripudin kicks into, jumping with his guitar while playing. Goddess Rockstars—the name for fans of the band given by Izzati—sway to slower songs, mirroring the band as Saripudin puts his arm around Wicaksono as he sings. 

“Reality Club Presents…” achieved commercial success after its release, and the band won two awards at The Anugerah Musik Indonesia (Indonesian Music Awards) for best alternative group and best alternative album, and the band currently has almost three million monthly listeners on Spotify. Despite this, they say touring in North America has been a reality check. “Back in our home country, we’re actually used to doing three to four shows a week, like big crowds, festivals, thousands of people singing our songs,” says Saripudin. “Coming here has been a humbling experience because we’ve learned to kind of change our mindset and think about it as if we’re a new band again—like of course there’s some spots that maybe aren’t that many people coming to the shows.” The show in Brooklyn was well attended, with a majority Indonesian audience in attendance, including the Indonesian ambassador of New York. 

With their shows on this tour, the band hoped to increase their fanbase of Goddess Rockstars, while also soaking up the experiences of the United States. They joked around onstage together, playing and dancing at their last show of the tour. “This may seem like a regular Friday night for you guys, but this is a dream come true for us,” Saripudin said to the audience at the show. “Thank you for letting us become a part of Brooklyn history!”