Not everyone in the scene has a social media handle as iconic as twinkshoplifter. The username is so memorable that most people call him by it because they’ve probably forgotten he even has a real name. During our interview last month, we were interrupted by a couple of girls coming down the stairs who saw him and said, “Hey, it’s twinkshoplifter!” — fingers pointing at him like some kind of accidental celebrity sighting.

Twinkshoplifter is Danish, a 22-year-old residing at the edge of Shah Alam. You can find Dan at most gigs happening in Klang Valley, but especially ones where his friends are performing. Later, he upgraded his gig-going passion by bringing handycams to gigs to document them, uploading the grainy footage to his Instagram account, twinkshoplifter.mp4, as well as the full sets on YouTube. His current gear includes a Sony DCR-SX65E and a Canon Legria HFS100.

“I really love how taking videos with it feels really different compared to phones,” he told me. 

“The physical act of pressing a button and being able to do things like zooming really close to things. I think it influences my recording style in a way, too.”

Not long after, he took his love for the indie music scene a step further by interning at Tapau Asia, which prompted a series called Dan Goes To Gigs, where he continues documenting gigs with his handycam, with a dash of interviews with artists and attendees. Though his internship ended a couple of months ago, twinkshoplifter.mp4 lives on.

His documentation particularly features newcomers many people may be unaware of — bands like fictions, Solaris and the world ends with you. regularly pop up on his account as well as bigger names like Couple and Sweetass. He’s also snuck his handycam into international concerts, such as Black Country, New Road and Geordie Greep in Singapore. Essentially, if you want to know the latest music the Kuala Lumpur zoomers are listening to, check out what twinkshoplifter has been recording.

We met at a gig back in June. Before we started, I offered Dan a tiny mic to clip on his shirt.

“What if I lose it? I might go into the mosh pit later,” he told me. 

It’s true. Later that night, I watched his towering figure climb onstage, get up close to the frontman, dive into a mosh pit and eventually throw himself into a conga line — all while his handycam never left the palm of his hand. In this interview, Dan shared more on his process, what we missed when we don’t document the scene and many more. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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Farhira: I like how twinkshoplifter is such a memorable username that people actually call you it more than your real name. Do you notice this?

Danish: Some people don’t even know my real name. They ask me, “What do I call you?” And they just call me Twink, or Twinkshoplifter. Everyone has that in their contacts. It’s really funny.

F: So when did you first start to get into the scene?

D: I started literally around after SPM, back in 2022. My first ever gig was SoundCircus Festival, I was a huge fan of Hujan back then. I experienced my first ever mosh pit, which was kind of crazy because I didn’t know what that stuff was like. I was also alone, so it was quite an interesting experience. 

F: I like how your music taste went from Hujan to more underground stuff. How did you develop that taste?

D: I discovered a lot of bands through friends. One of the first local bands I listened to was Ramayan, recommended by a friend from Twitter. I’m also friends with Lisa Fuad from the band Fuad. And because of that, I started knowing the other bands in her circle, like Spooky Wet Dreams.

F: How did you first start documenting gigs?

D: I just started recording, and it became my thing. People already knew me as the guy who goes to a lot of gigs, so I started getting more friends. Back in September 2024, at Keretapi Sarong event, my friend Nadim who’s in a band called Chrysanthemum introduced me to them. That same day we went to Diet Tongtong Fest 2024, which was really fun. I started recording with his handycam, then wanted to buy my own. I bought one in February last year, and the first gig I recorded was the Grrrl Gang gig.

F: Was there a specific moment where you started documenting gigs and felt, “Okay, this is something serious I could do”? Because I know bands hired you to record.

D: The first thing that clicked for me was when the band I Love My Wife hired me. They gave me RM50 to record their set, because they really liked my Forest set. The recording has a less handycam look, more of an HD look, better sound quality and looks more professional.

F: Between the handycam look and the more HD look, what do you feel is missing from the documentation of this scene?

D: I think more people need to document. There’s only really me, consistently, and a guy called Locust Parade. He started documenting before me, back in 2023 or 2024. He’s more into the hardcore scene. I met him two or three weeks ago at Rumah Api, which was really nice. He prefers to stay anonymous. The hardcore scene especially is big on documenting. If you look at scenes in other countries, they document more; they tend to record full shows. Compared to Malaysia, there aren’t many people documenting the scene.

F: Why do you think it’s important to document the scene?

D: One, bands will eventually disband. Two, it’s an important historical archive, because one day people in the future will see this. And other countries can learn about our scene through it. On the disbanding point, one band I’d love to see come back is Killeur Calculateur. I started listening to them after they disbanded. The only way I can experience what their shows were like is through people who documented them back in 2008 to 2010.

F: Has anyone ever thanked you for your documentation, like, “I discovered this band because of you”?

D: Some Americans, surprisingly, discovered fictions, because they have an art rock sound, very Black Country, New Road–esque, and people who listen to that sound easily discover similar-sounding bands from other countries. fictions only has four songs out, so a lot of what they play live is unreleased. That’s why documenting matters. People can hear unreleased songs, see what a band’s energy is like live, what the frontman is like, whether he’s cheesy or whatever.

F: What’s the most memorable gig you’ve documented?

D: Two gigs this year so far, both in February. First was a farewell gig for Vasily of Milo Christ. That gig was really fun, at Motown’s rooftop, which is rare. I’d always wanted to go up there. The second was a week or two later: Circles for a Friend, organized by the people behind Circles and fictions. They had an interesting lineup where two bands played together at the same time. Imagine Solaris and Makhluk Asing playing simultaneously. Amazing bands. One of the best gigs I’ve been to.

F: I noticed you started interviewing people in your videos. When did that start, and how did you decide to do it?

D: It started because I was interning at Tapau. Faris mentioned I go to gigs a lot and should make videos out of it. He pitched it because I record not just the gigs but things before and after, like hanging out with friends, eating at the mamak moments that turn it into a sort of vlog. Faris also suggested I ask people how the gigs were, ask the audience. Back in the day, magazines used to run gig reviews; nowadays people don’t really review gigs, so people don’t know how a band actually is. Are they good only on record, or good live too? How’s the energy, the venue, the whole gig? Interviewing is fun because I get to know people. Later they see the videos and go, “Oh, it’s me.”

F: You go to so many gigs. Do you ever get gig fatigue?

D: Not really. One thing I really like about gigs is getting to meet my friends. We don’t have to set a time or date, we just meet at a gig and have fun. 

F: What do you like about the underground scene right now? 

D: The best thing about gigs right now is the community. If you come into the scene, it’s really easy to get to know everyone. I have friends who started going to gigs because of me, then got to know me, my friends, the whole circle. Everyone’s really helpful and friendly toward each other. Like when our friend Megat from the band Wail, his dad got sick and needed funds, so the people in Circles organized a charity gig for him.

F: But what about the music? What do you think of the music we have now in the underground scene?

D: Some things need improvement. Right now there are too many shoegaze bands, that’s my take. There needs to be more diversity. But what I really like is that bands aren’t just copying other bands, they try to make their own sound. Bands like Solaris, fictions and Cnotsp, they make music for the sake of making art, which I find really beautiful. It pushes me to want to play music too, though I don’t. I’m more of a consumer. But it encourages me to be more creative in other ways.