Bunkface

Bunkface
From left to right: Sam, Youk, Ejam and Paan.
Background information
Origin	Klang, Malaysia
Genres	Pop Punk Punk Rock Alternative Rock
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Bunkface Production
Associated acts	The Azenders Coda(Band) One Buck Short Dichi Michi Robot Asmara
Website	http://bunkface.com.my/v1/
Members	Sam Youk Paan
Past members	Jabar Biak FaEast

Bunkface is a Malaysian Pop Punk band from Klang, Malaysia formed in 2005. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Sam (Shamsul Anuar), bass guitarist and back up vocalist Youk (Farouk Jaafar), Paan (Ahmad Farhan), lead guitarist, and back up vocalist.The name Bunkface originated from an idea by Biak (former drummer) who borrowed the word from one of Sum 41's songs "Crazy Amanda Bunkface". Popular songs by Bunkface include Silly Lily, Situasi, Revolusi, Prom Queen, Through My Window, Ekstravaganza, Soldier, Dunia, Panik and most recently, Jatuh. Their fans are called "Bunkers".^[1]

Biography

Lesson Of The Season

In December 2007, Bunkface released their first EP titled "Lesson Of The Season", featuring 6 English tracks, mixing a pop-punk/rock alternative sound. The hit song "Silly Lily" was number 1 on Hitz.fm’s Malaysian Top Ten for 8 weeks and number 1 on Fly.fm’s Campur Chart for 10 weeks.

Mainstream Success

After their EP "Lesson Of the Season" in 2007, "Bunkface" then released their first Malay single titled "Situasi" in 2008. Originally the song was intended to be recorded in English, But Youk suggested the band to record it in Malay instead. Few months later, Situasi stormed the local Malay radio stations and hit number #1 on FLY FM and steadily stayed at #3 on ERA FM for 3 weeks. Bunkface won the Rockstar, Break Out as well as the Ultimate Shout! Award in the inaugural Shout! Awards which was organized by 8TV and held for the first time at the Stadium Bukit Jalil. Their achievements at the awards drew the interests of the organizers of the One Movement For Music Perth (OMFM), who subsequently invited them to perform at the festival which was held on 16 to 18 October 2009. This marked their first time performing overseas in Australia.^[1] Bunkface performed at Jar Music Live's Showcase @ Monster venue in Kuala Lumpur and were picked by JMG's affiliate Asian A&R's to perform at the Maldives Breakout Festival. The band was on tour in 2010 as part of the Apex Tour, that included dates at the O2 Academy Islington And Liverpool early October in 2010. During their tour in UK, Bunkface were offered record deal by few UK label groups. But the band declined as they felt they need to strengthen their base in the Asean region first.

Through My Window

Bunkface joined the Everyone Connects campaign by TMNet and sung the song Through My Window, which was used in the campaign's television advertisement. The song was first heard over the airwaves when an anonymous CD arrived at radio stations in the country.^[2] This mystery generated an immediate buzz among the public, who wondered who the artists behind the song were. Bunkface's popularity soared when it was revealed they were the artists. Discussed widely throughout Facebook and Twitter, the song was said by many to be viral and infectious. Its fan base so far numbers more than 17,000 and it has garnered more than 3.7 million online mentions and over 6,600 video and audio uploads on Facebook.^[3] The song even attracted a large crowd to a public sing-along at Lorong Cungah Port Klang which also became the largest sing-along event in Malaysia.^[4]

Phobia Phoney

In March 2010, Bunkface released their debut full album, Phobia Phoney. Phobia Phoney is made up of 6 English songs and 4 Malay songs. It is including their hit singles such as "Situasi", "Revolusi", "Ekstravaganza", "Prom Queen", "Soldier", "Escape Dance" and "Dunia".

Side Project

In mid-2010 Sam has formed a side project called The Azenders along with his friends from other bands such as Izal(Bass) from One Buck Short, Ajam(Synth/Strings) from Dichi Michi, and Kudut(Drummer) from Robot Asmara and has released their first single on Facebook, Myspace page called "Ladies & Gentlemen" and is now getting frequent plays on local radio stations. The band also released their 1st Malay single in "Peribadi". The band has also released "Livin Rock and Roll" recently, another single.

Successful Hong Kong trip

On March 23, 2011 the past, Hong Kong, Asia Music Festival (HKAMF) was held at the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Centre, Hong Kong. This festival was organized by the IFPI in Hong Kong and involved six countries from across Asia. Among the countries participating in the inaugural festival is like China, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and the host of Hong Kong. Japan initially expected to participate in the festival by the participants, Ikumi Kumagai forced to resign because of the situation that Japan was still in an unstable condition at present. In preliminary round,Bunkface performed 'Escape Dance' and gave a tough challenge for Wu Qiong, Kewei, and The Boss. Competition was so fierce that goes to all who risked various pop music genres has earned four players from China - Wu Qiong, Singapore - Kewei, The Boss - Korea and Malaysia representing Bunkface itself to the final stage.For this final stage, all selected participants are asked to play any popular song from another artist but by his own choice. Based on the marks given by judges, the four national finalists were given a very stiff competition in terms of scoring.Bunkface performance of 'We Are The Champions' from the Queen has earned Bunkface ranked third overall in scoring for stage performances and vocal performances.From this festival, the group Bunkface successfully placed themselves as one of the artist on par with popular artists from all over Asia. Participation Bunkface was also a surprise to many parties, namely the audience, judges, artists competition, artist, and also invited the IFPI itself. Most of them did not realised that Malaysia has a very talented artist before the festival. They also have made a video clip for their single "Dunia" in the city of Hong Kong. The video clip is still in editing process for the moment.

Second Album and Bunkface in Indonesia

2011 has been a quiet year for Bunkface as they have not released a new single since last year but the wait for a new Bunkace single will end soon as Youk have announced that Bunkface are now gathering new materials for their upcoming album in June. "We will emerge with a new single and a second full album in the near future which is expected to be released in August," he said. Before that, Bunkface had performed in Indonesia's Makassar Fest and had received positive reviews from the Indonesians. The Indonesian Bunkers have also made a Facebook page called "Bunkers Indonesia" to support Bunkface and promote Bunkface all around Indonesia. On 9 September 2011, Bunkface released their new single titled "Panik?". The song was actually written before the released of their first album, "Phobia Phoney". The song was recorded in Jakarta, Indonesia and being produced with high budget. A video clip for the song will be made later.Bunkface successfully performed in Jakarta's Urbanfest 2011 on 20 November 2011 and impressed in their showcase on the next day at Jakarta's Hard Rock Cafe and invited offers from 5 recording labels whose representatives came to the showcase to take them as their artist. Contract talks are still under negotiation and consideration. They received the special honour of being invited to appear on Indonesia's popular talk show Bukan Empat Mata. They performed their biggest hit single "Situasi" on the show. Only Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and Amy Search were the other artists from Malaysia to have appeared on the show. This shows that Indonesia are receiving Bunkface well in their music industry. The band's flight was sponsored by AirAsia along with Jamu Mak Dara as their the other sponsors and helped them brought the local medias to cover their activities in Jakarta. Bunkface has immensely grown their fan base in Indonesia in large numbers during their stay in Jakarta.

Panik, BF Rock Station and Bunk Not Dead

During the end of 2011, a controversial decision made by Malaysian's government radio station "Radio Televisyen Malaysia" (RTM) to ban the new released single "Panik" from being played on their radio. It was reported first that they banned the song because of the word Reformasi,the word that which the political opposition leaders like to use during political campaigns. This had angered Bunkface and their fans. "I do not understand the reason for the song to be banned from airplay. We were only told that the song had the word Reformasi. Is it wrong for us to use the word? There is no bad influence in the song. The Reformasi that i sang in "Panik" is not related at all with the "Gerakan Reformasi" that was frequently used by the opposition leaders",Answered Sam after being asked by the reporter about the issue on the night he had just won The Best Young Composer from the Music Author's Copyright Protection (MACP. RTM's Screening Director released a statement that they did not have a problem with the word Reformasi in the song but have a problem with the Word, Celakamu. She also said that the radio did not ban the song but did not encourage the airplay of the song. RTM will not play the song unless Bunkface released a new version of the song without the word Celakamu which RTM later would eventually still play the song but skipping the banned part of the song.

Meanwhile on 16 January 2012, Bunkface had successfully launched their own jamming studio and merchandise store in the name of "BF ROCKSTATION" which is located in Subang Jaya. It also being used by them as their office and cafe.

Sam has revealed in an interview that the name of their upcoming second album will be "Bunk Not Dead". He also said that the album will include 13 new songs, 9 English songs(including unreleased songs like Bunk Not Dead and More) and 4 Malay songs(including singles Panik?, Kita Perang Kita Menang and Jatuh. According to band, the album will show a more mature side of musi by them where the songs are more heavier and lyrically are darker than they have written before. The album will be scheduled for release in June.

On 17 July 2012, Bunkface launched the second album: 'Bunk Not Dead. Launch of the album I was down in an alley at the Wheel Love, SS15 Subang Jaya.

Bunk is Not Dead album contains 13 songs of which includes four songs Malay and 8 more songs in English. This album took 2 years to be completed.

The first single named "Panik?",was recorded and done completely in Jakarta, Indonesia, and it cost a total of RM 16,000.The remaining songs was recorded in Iseek Music Studio, located in Kota Damansara. Mixing process was sent to Palu Studio, Jakarta, Indonesia. For mastering, Bunkface used the services of Tom Waltz Mastering from USA. Bunkface also made a joint venture with Galaxtar.com to make Bunk Not Dead album as Malaysia's first online sales.

Bunkface also use the services of Warner Music Malaysia for distribution throughout Malaysia.

Style and influences

Bunkface considered their music as Pop Punk, and they have cited Sum 41, Green Day, Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, The Offspring and Nofx as their main influences.

Music Videos

• Silly Lily (2007)
• Bunk Anthem (2008)
• Prom Queen (2009)
• Through My Window (2009)
• Revolusi (2010)
• Situasi (2011)
• Panik (2012)

Band members

Current members

• Sam – lead vocal, Rhythm guitar
• Youk – backing vocal, bass
• Paan - lead guitar

Former members

• Jabar - Bass ( 2005-2006)
• Biak - Drums ( 2005–2008)

Touring & session members

• Ejam Coda - Drums, percussion (2008–present)
• Gjie 6ixth Sense - keyboards.Synths (2009-2011)
• Wawa - Keyboards, Synths (2010–present)
• Wan 6ixth Sense - Drums, percussion (Bunk Not Dead Tour 2013)
• Ajam - Keyboards, Synths (2013–present)

Discography

• Demo (2006)
• Lesson Of The Season[EP] (2007)
• Phobia Phoney [Album] (2010)
• Bunk Not Dead [Album] (2012)

Awards and nominations

• 2009 Shout! Awards: Rockstar Awards, Break Out Award, as well as the The Ultimate Shout! Award.^[5]
• 2009 Anugerah Juara Lagu: Finalist (for the song Situasi)^[6]
• 2009 AVIMA Awards : Best College Act
• 2010 Anugerah Bintang Popular 2009 : Most Popular Duo / Group
• 2010 Anugerah Industri Muzik: Kembara Award & Best Rock Song (for the song Situasi)
• 2010 Shout! Awards : Rockstar Award and Best music video (for the song "Prom Queen")
• 2010 Anugerah Juara Lagu 25 : Finalist (for the song "Ekstravaganza")
• `2011 HK Asia Music Festival : 3rd place^[7]

References

External links

• Bunkface's Official Website @ Myspace
• http://www.bunkfaceband.com/