One sweltering afternoon, three restless schoolgirls in Garut, West Java stumbled across their teacher's heavy metal playlist.
"That was when we fell in love with metal music," Marsya, Voice of Baceprot's lead singer, told Vanity Teen. The pounding riffs and eyebrow-melting screeches of System of a Down's Toxicity was love at first sound for Marsya, Widi and Sitti, who would later become Indonesia's first all-female metal band.
Voice of Baceprot (pronounced 'bah-che-prot') was formed in 2014, when the girls were still in junior high school. The word baceprot means "noisy" in Sundanese. Ezra—the girls' drama teacher, whom they affectionately call Abah or "father"—was astonished by their talent and assigned them to play band members in a musical drama. Later, he introduced them to Nadia Yustina, a manager at an Indonesian talent agency.
Since the band's inception, they've attracted more than 219,000 followers on Instagram and 318,000 YouTube subscribers. VOB is known for their searing vocals, catchy drum intros and infectiously groovy riffs. Their biggest influences are System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine, but they all bring their own inspirations and unique sounds to their music — Sitti (drums) is a Gojira enthusiast while Marsya loves heavy metal groups like Lamb Of God, Black Label Society and Led Zeppelin. Widi, the band's bassist, says she's a fan of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Dream Theater.
The trio has faced social and physical backlash along the way, from their school principal openly calling their music "haram" to being pelted with rocks covered in profanities. Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, and the province of West Java in particular is filled with conservative opponents.
When asked how they respond to the hostility within their community, they simply shrugged. "We handle it by continuing to play music and not responding to it at all," Marsya said. "That's enough to distract us from our own fears and we can convert them into energy to create our songs. We know that what they wanted most from us was to stop playing music. We respond by rocking on," she laughs, "and in the end, we are the ones who win."
Their biggest hit, God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music, addresses the enduring religious opposition they've faced as hijab-wearing Muslim women playing metal music. "I'm not the corruptor / I'm not the enemy / I just wanna sing a song to show my soul," Marsya sings.
On July 13, the band released their debut album RETAS. The inspiration for most of their songs is drawn directly from the world around them. The song [NOT] PUBLIC PROPERTY is a show of solidarity with sexual assault survivors in their hometown while School Revolution—an old song they wrote back in high school—laments the rigidity of Indonesia's education system.
"We started recording RETAS five years ago, when we first had the dream of releasing an album," Marysa said. "Retas means 'opening or breaking something.'" It reflects the trio's story, which has "broken down" barriers for Muslim women and girls in the music scene. Marsya's favorite song from the album is What's the Holy (Nobel) Today?, while Widi has a soft spot for God, Allow Me (Please) To Play Music.
Voice of Baceprot toured American in August, hitting major cities like New York, Detroit and Washington D.C. "This is our first time visiting the U.S., and we thought that there would only be three to ten people," Widi laughs. "But there were hundreds of people in the audience, and some of them were even willing to drive us for hours."
But VOB has many more albums and shows to come. On October 26, they released a new live studio recording of their anthem The Other Side of Metalism and, two weeks later, a behind the scenes video. The trio hopes that in the next five or so years, they'll have a proper studio in West Java and will be standing at different levels as independent musicians.
Despite their bubbly personalities, the members of VOB are a fierce, self-possessed group of young women. They want to see teenage girls continue to rock on and transform the metal scene into more than just an old boys' club.
"Girls: it doesn't matter if it's rock, metal, or even pop music," said Marsya. "Music is for everyone. Yes, everyone — including you. Don't let anyone stop your dreams from happening."
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