| Love Me Butch | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia |
| Genres | Post-hardcore |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | One Armed Production |
| Website | http://www.lovemebutch.com/ |
| Members | |
| Wing Meng Kevin Kong Syarul Reza Jana Nair |
|
Love Me Butch is a Malaysian post-hardcore band.
Contents |
Love Me Butch was formed in 1997 in Shah Alam, Selangor.
In 1998, they started to write original songs and released their first demo EP, Psychedelic Relic and toured the whole of Malaysia, gathering fan base in the underground scene.
In 2000, the band was featured in a local compilation released by Posse Records entitled Family Day with their first single "Freefall". The debut album, Enter Posthuman was released in November 2001. Five months later, they became the first independent band in Malaysia to receive an award in the Anugerah Industri Muzik (Malaysian Music Awards). They were the Best New English Artiste of 2002 and the album was also nominated for the Best Produced English Album and Best Engineered Album categories.
In July 2002 issue of TONE magazine, Love Me Butch was voted third in the TONE Urban Top 20 list.
They formed their own indie label, One Armed Productions, in 2003 to continue their musical careers. It took them about a year and a half to create the songs that would be featured on This Is The New Pop which was produced by Love Me Butch themselves, and recorded at 101 Studios between November 2004 and February 2005. This Is The New Pop was released on April 2005.
Apart from the Malaysian release, they had secured international distribution in Singapore (Voideck Music), Japan (CR Japan), Thailand (IndyPop Records) and the Philippines (MCA/UNIVERSAL MUSIC), being the first Malaysian rock band to have penetrated the Asian music scene.
The song, Hollywood Holiday, is on the Malaysian Top Ten Charts for more than 4 months in one of the biggest radio station in Malaysia, Hitz.FM as well as received high airplays on X-Fresh FM and Red FM.
The band also released 2 music videos for the singles, “Reconcile” and “Hollywood Holiday”. The video for “Hollywood Holiday” was nominated at Anugerah Industri Muzik 2006 (AIM Awards) in the Best Music Video Category.
It is currently on rotation on MTV Asia which is broadcasted to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand as well as local TV stations such as Hitz.TV, 8TV and TV3. It also debuted in the top 30 of the MTV Thailand International charts. As quoted by MTV Asia and 8TV, this video is the best music video ever produced in Malaysia. The video has started to receive airplays on MTV Japan since July 2006.
Love Me Butch was also on the number 1 spot for 7 weeks in one of Japan’s largest indie music website, www.audioleaf.com, something reminiscent to myspace.com and purevolume.com.
They organized their own tour, Sejenak Di Semenanjung Tour 05 throughout major cities in Malaysia to support of the album release.
They have toured in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Philippines playing to a crowd of 500 to 25 000 people. The band also opened for Simple Plan when they came to Kuala Lumpur for their tour, and had been featured in more high profile shows such as the annual Rock The World concert (they were featured in RTW2, 3, 4, 5,7), ESPN X-Games, The Quiksilver Revolution Tour, Blast Off Finals, Homegrown Finale Concert, The Rottwailers’ Convention, Lucky Strike F1 Street Party, Malaysian Independence Celebrations, New Year Countdown Celebrations, and numerous radios & magazines sponsored events throughout Malaysia. LMB was also featured at the FC Five Tour in Malaysia, playing 2 dates back to back with the hardcore punk band from Japan.
In October 2005, Love Me Butch toured across the city of Bangkok, playing 3 dates in Suansunanda University, The Rock Pub and Immortal Bar with Thai bands such as Brand New Sunset, Late, Housetrap, Outro and more. A few months later in March 2006, they were invited to play in Thailand again. This time at the Grand Pattaya International Music Festival playing at the MTV stage with Thai and international bands alike such as Sek Loso, Futon, Modern Dog, Rivermaya, 4gotten and Thaitanium. Then in May 2006, they played in Thailand again in an unplugged show, organised by their Thai fans. They attended the MTV Asia Awards show and after party, and played an opening set for Rivermaya at Cosmic Café, R.C.A.
The band had also appeared three times consecutively at Baybeats 2004, 2005 & 2006 (South East Asia answer to Big Day Out) alongside bands such as Brandtson, Copeland, The Posies, Angelas Dish, Blue Line Medic, Last Days of April and Buddhiston held in Singapore as well as co-headline the Asian Youth and Music Festival with Baroque from Japan at the Singapore's Youth Park.
In October 2006, Love Me Butch was signed by MCA/Universal in the Philippines and toured the country to support the release of This Is The New Pop with Philippines’ bands, Chicosci, Urbandub, Faspitch, Valley of Chrome and Bad Burns. They performed at 6underground, Janero Bar, rock radio station NU107FM, SM Lipa Mall, Music One in store show, Breakfast Morning Show@ Studio 23 and appeared on local TV stations such as MYX and MTV Philippines. LMB was also featured as the only international band at the MTV Staying Alive Music Summit for HIV/AIDS held at The Fort, Taguig, Metro Manila on Dec 5. They also played at this year’s biggest rock festival, Summerslam 7 in April, rocking out the stage with 50 other Philippines acts and Death Angel from USA to a crowd of 50 000.
Love Me Butch has just completed the INVASIA 2007 Tour whereby they toured Manila, Bangkok, KL and Singapore non-stop with Furcurve (Australia), Brand New Sunset (Thailand), A Vacant Affair (Singapore), Faspitch (Philippines) and Chicosci (Philippines).
ROTTW Magazine-Album Terbaik Tempatan-3.5/5 "This Is The New Pop seolah-olah sebuah album benchmark baru arena muzik rock Inggeris tempatan. Perlu diakui, memang muzik mereka berevolusi, yang dimaksudkan adalah dari aspek permainan dan garapan penulisan lagu-lagu baru ini secara keseluruhannya."
The Star -Recommended "This is the New Pop marks an evolution of sound for the band. The new LMB is all about brazenly big choruses. The aggressive streak is largely intact but refined with a melodic edge that could well cut the band a large slice of radio pie."
KLUE Magazine- Pick Of The Month(June) "This Is The New Pop reveals a band that perhaps on a certain level would like to challenge the expectations of their audience and show that they're capable of rewriting the rule book."
THINK Magazine Online- 9/10 Its hard to believe that This is the New Pop is only Love Me Butchs second album. Loaded with international potential, this sparkling Malaysian production will have listeners in breathless awe and eager anticipation. And that's just the cover art.
Smashing Mag (Japanese online magazine) In short, Love Me Butch's focused procession of channeled aggression and steely resolve holds you firmly in their grasp that surely only intensifies in its live format. Reza's ability to scream and howl with the finest in addition to lightly glide in the various time-changing moments, allows breathing room for Meng's guitar to cut effectively as Kong's bass and Singh's drums anchor it all without restraint as can be felt particularly between the seamless link of "Dream Of My Own" and "Fortress Of A Million." The final turn and lap into the reflective, self-disclosing jangling quiet closer of "Living In Disguise" gives further proof that Love Me Butch are keen to reveal themselves, determined to boldly travel the world.
AgingYouth.com Love Me Butch have technical ability, and they release their chops with full force on this release as tight as any other emo band from the depressed states of America (Ed.: They're Malaysian, by the way.), with the requisite hooks and riffs to prove their worth.
ALBUM
released: 2001 ; produced: Posse Records
released: 2005 ; produced: One Armed Productions
released: 2007 ; produced: One Armed Productions