KUALA LUMPUR: Wings singer Datuk Awie confirmed that he had offered rock group Barbarik by Jo Branko to participate in the Rock Warrior Music Festival (RWMF) at KL Base, Sungai Besi on Nov 23 and 24.
According to Harian Metro, Awie said the offer was made via his Rumah Produksi Merah (RPM) partner, Datuk Eddy Amir Salim.
However, the deal did not materialise after Jo Branko, who is also a former Wings guitarist, allegedly set a high price.
Awie did not disclose the price they offered and the amount that Jo Branko had stipulated.
"He put up a high price. Actually, the amount offered to all the other bands was not low.
"Actually, our first goal was just to make friends. We made the offer to bersilaturahim (make friends) as we did with the others.
"We wanted to get together as a family, attend press conferences, do promotions and so on. That is the law of bersilaturahim (kinship)," he said in a Harian Metro report today.
Awie added that RWMF was actually organised to help friends in the music industry including Jo Branko and his band.
"If there's no give and take and no tolerance there, and so he rejects the law of of bersilaturahim. It's okay then.
"At the same time we are also doing business. We must find something that can bring profit and can get results and can pay all the famous artistes here.
"So that's what we did earlier, to make friends and at the same time to do a show and do business," he said.
Previously, an internal crisis between Awie and Jo Branko saw the rock guitarist no longer being part of Wings since August 2016.
The crisis erupted following allegations that Jo Branko was the reason Wings had to cancel the Konsert 30 Tahun Wings event that was supposed to take place in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on Dec 24, 2016.
It is believed that the problem is also said to be caused initially by a third person which blew up into a more serious issue.
After exiting Wings, Jo Branko founded Prime Domestic, which did not last long, and has now established another band, Barbarik, which consists of singer Muss, bassist Rozaimie and drummer Ainol.
Meanwhile, the inaugural edition of RWMF will kick off with Wings, Search (Kid & Din) and XPDC on Nov 23.
Nov 24 will see May, Spider, Pop Shuvit and ACAB in action on stage.
The Rock Hero Stage will also feature a string of new bands to excite rock music fans.
Meanwhile, Eddy explained that they did not directly refuse Barbarik and have not rejected the possibility of hiring them in the future when their financial position was more stable.