Shumo AG isn’t mucking around. At 14 years old, he has already won songwriting trophies, played MTV School Fest for 40,000 people, and will now perform “Iron Veins” with Indonesian pop-rock giants Batas Senja in Jakarta for 50,000 people. It’s a wild leap from Brisbane school gigs.
His writing has shifted since the release of his award-winning "Mom" two years ago. “My songwriting has changed a lot since ‘Mom.’ When I wrote that song, I was 12, so my world was mostly around my family, my home, and the people closest to me. That song came from a very honest place, because I was just writing what I really felt. Now I think my songs go a bit deeper. I still write about real emotions, but now I also write about things like pressure, feeling alone, trying to understand myself, and what people hide inside. I’ve also grown a lot as a guitarist. Before, guitar was more like part of the song, but now I use it to tell the story too. Sometimes the guitar solo can say what I can’t say in words. So I think ‘Mom’ shows who I was before, and the songs I’m writing now show who I’m becoming.”
International praise aside, Brisbane is still his base and keeping it real is the priority. “I don’t really think about how far a song can travel when I’m writing it. Usually, I just focus on making it honest and real first. My writing style is a bit different. I usually create an object or an idea for the song first, like wings in my instrumental song ‘Wings,’ memories in ‘Ripples,’ or deep regret in ‘I Am Sorry.’ It is something that represents the feeling. Then my guitar does a lot of the work. I use it to find the melody, build the mood, and tell the story before I even have the full lyrics. Only after that do I start writing words to match the feeling that the music has already created. So when I’m sitting in Brisbane writing a song, I don’t think, ‘This has to become international.’ I just think, ‘Does this feel true to me?’ Because if it feels true, maybe someone else can feel it too.”
Playing to large crowds in Asia must be an amazing experience for this young Brisbane artist. “Playing overseas in front of a huge crowd is crazy because the energy is so big. When there are 20,000 or 50,000 people, you can almost feel the sound and the crowd coming back at you. It makes you feel like the song is bigger than yourself. Playing on big stages in Asia is especially memorable because the crowds are so engaged. Everyone has phone flashlights, glow sticks, banners, and they react with so much emotion. Even when I’m singing in English, they still connect really strongly to the music. I also always try to prepare my songs for the stage, not just sing them the same way as the recording. I add moments where I can speak to the crowd and ask them to repeat simple lines from the hook or chorus with me before I sing it. When they actually sing it back, it feels so cool and makes the performance feel alive. But playing at home in Brisbane feels different. It feels more personal because this is where I live, go to school, practise, and write a lot of my music. When I play here, it feels like I’m showing people from my own community who I am becoming. So overseas shows feel massive and exciting, but Brisbane feels closer to my heart. Both are special, just in different ways.”
Collaborating with Indonesian band Batas Senja is a huge win for Shumo AG, taking his music to the next level. “The connection with Batas Senja came about because my music started reaching listeners in Indonesia, and that was already very special for me. My online audience became really strong there, and a lot of people in the community started suggesting that Batas Senja and I should connect or work together. That’s actually how it all happened. When Batas Senja heard ‘Iron Veins’ and connected with it, I felt really excited and honestly very lucky. The lyrics, meaning, and melody of the song fit very closely with Batas Senja’s world. Their songs often talk about life, love, struggle, hope, family, and emotional memories, so ‘Iron Veins’ felt like it could naturally live in their style too. What I like most is that ‘Iron Veins’ started as my personal song, but now it has become something bigger. With Batas Senja adding their own emotion, language, and sound, the song feels like it belongs to both Australia and Indonesia. It feels like two worlds meeting through music. I never expected that a song I wrote in Brisbane could travel that far and connect with people in another country.”
Working with such a big band was always going to be a bit daunting. Shumo reckons it was full-on, but worth it. “Yes, it was definitely intimidating at first. Batas Senja is a huge band with many famous songs used in movie soundtracks, so working with them felt like a big step. We worked on the re-arrangement for about three months. At the beginning, it was actually quite painful because the original version was more like a rock ballad, and they suggested changing it into a more unique folk-pop ballad style closer to their audience. I was scared the song would lose the tension-and-release feeling between the guitar and vocals that was built into it from the start. I even cried at one point because it felt like letting go of something very close to me. But when I heard their first demo with the voice of their lead singer, Masitong, I was honestly shocked by how beautiful the new version could be. It still kept the heart and meaning, but it had a new colour and emotion. After that, I recorded my parts again, all the guitar layers and my vocal parts, and then the song kept ‘cooking’ for more than a month. So yes, it was hard, but I learned a lot. I learned a new way of songwriting and arrangement, explored a new style, and experienced the whole process of ‘cooking’ a song with a band that has already touched the hearts and souls of millions of people. I realised that collaboration is about allowing different emotions, ideas, and people to shape the song into something even bigger than it was at the start.”
Shumo's guitar work is a signature and we're looking forward to hearing his work on "Iron Veins". For Shumo, there’s always a reason for each one. “I think guitar solos became part of my songs very naturally because sometimes emotions are hard to explain fully with words. A solo can say something different, almost like another voice inside the song. I honestly don’t remember the very first solo I added, because even when I was younger, I was always experimenting with melodies on guitar while writing. But I remember the feeling. Usually, there is a moment in the song where the emotion becomes too big for lyrics, and that’s when I feel like, ‘Okay... the guitar needs to speak now.’ I also spend a lot of time trying to create a very unique guitar sound for each song. I use advanced guitar processors and sometimes spend days experimenting and engineering the sound until it matches the feeling of the music. Even the way I touch or pick the strings matters. A softer touch, stronger attack, vibrato, or small details in the fingers can completely change the emotion of the guitar. A lot of my solos are not just about playing fast or technical stuff. I try to make them feel emotional and connected to the story. Sometimes the solo becomes the most honest part of the whole song.”
Despite playing on massive stages in Asia, most days for the 14-year-old Queensland school student are fairly typical. “My life is still based around school and Brisbane, but I wouldn’t say it is normal. It's very packed, so I have to be really organised because music takes most of my time. I have guitars in my studio room, but also in my bedroom, so I can practise or work on ideas whenever I have a spark, which is often late at night. I actually don’t have much time to hang out with friends because school and music take up most of my time. But I still try to keep active. I run on the mountain tracks on weekends because we live near Mount Coot-tha, which is a really beautiful and iconic place in Brisbane, and I also do rowing training in my home gym. I also really love fishing. My father and I often travel quite far, like to Noosa Heads or Fraser Island, for one or two-day fishing trips. Fishing helps me relax my mind and switch off from everything for a while. During school holidays, my life becomes more like 50/50. Half of the time I lock myself in my home studio for days writing songs, recording guitar parts, experimenting with sounds, and building ideas. The other half I usually travel around Asia because I’ve been very lucky to receive concert invitations. Brisbane is still home for me though. It’s where I practise, write songs, go to school, and spend most of my everyday life. So even if the music starts reaching other countries, my real life still starts here.”
So, with Jakarta looming in September, the prep isn’t just about hitting the notes. Shumo’s thinking about making the moment matter. “I think the biggest preparation is not only practising the song perfectly, but preparing how to connect with the crowd. When you perform in front of that many people, the performance becomes more than just music. I will have two trips to meet and work with Batas Senja before the concert, one in June and another one about a week before the September performance in front of 50,000 people. We’ll rehearse together and build the stage arrangement for ‘Iron Veins,’ including the crowd interaction moments and how the whole performance should feel live. I’ve already had a lot of live stage performances, so I know that what people remember most is not only the singing or guitar, but the feeling and emotion of the moment. That’s why I spend a lot of time thinking about how to make the audience feel part of the performance. I’ve also started preparing the moments where the crowd can sing parts together with us, and how to make ‘Iron Veins’ feel emotional and powerful live. But what I’m most excited about is standing on stage together with Batas Senja and performing something we built together over many months. I think that moment will feel very special for all of us.”
Shumo AG isn’t planning to slow down either. More collaborations are coming, but the focus is always going to stay on honest songwriting and big emotions. “‘Iron Veins’ is my first real collaboration, so I hope it leaves a strong footprint for me as an artist. I feel very happy that my first collaboration is with such a huge and legendary band like Batas Senja. But the most important thing is that I truly love the song that came out of this collaboration. It is beautiful. It still has the emotion and story I started with, but now it has a bigger sound, a new colour, and a new feeling because of what Batas Senja brought to it. I think I will do more collaborations for my new songs in the future, both internationally and with Australian artists. It really helps build exposure, but more importantly, it is amazing to work with great and famous artists, learn from them, and see how they bring their own world into the music. Next, I want to keep building my sound around emotional storytelling, strong guitar, and songs that can feel personal but still connect with people in different countries. I hope ‘Iron Veins’ shows people a different side of me, not only as a singer or guitarist but also as a songwriter who can work with other artists and explore new styles.”
Pre-save "Iron Veins" by Shumo AG & Batas Senja here - Available on 5th June 2026.
https://found.ee/MO1P57
Learn more about Shumo AG here
https://localsounds.com.au/artist/shumo-ag
SoundVerge Editorial
Independent music journalism
