[article] Pop Shuvit big in Japan

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Pop Shuvit big in Japan
-by Terrina Hussein -

LOCAL hip-hop rock band Pop Shuvit, comprising Moots (vocals), Rudy (drums), DJ Uno (turntables), AJ (bass) and JD (guitar), have achieved something that most musicians here can only dream about — a foreign fan base.
“Having a foreign fan base feels great, but at the end of the day, you always want to make it in your own backyard,” Moots said, “but we’re still trying to figure out how to go about that.

“Everything seems to be great, the support from local and foreign media, but local fans seem to be in their own world.

“We need to re-think certain things, like what has worked in Japan might not work in Malaysia. So we’re studying these different markets and tastes.”

Moots said the problem lies with technology and piracy.

“We’re in the age of new media,” he said, “and albums are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Artistes in Malaysia can survive on radio singles and downloads, and they seem to make more money from that than by selling albums.”

“In Japan, they don’t have piracy which badly affects their market. But here, because piracy is rampant, we have technological media (on-line downloads and ring tones) to protect the rights of artistes. They’re our beacon of hope,” he said.

Thus, the reason why the band released their latest album, Amped & Dangerous, in Japan recently whereas the local version will follow before year-end.

“The Japan release is more of a rock album. We wrote 13 tracks with Japan in mind, while the eight other tracks were written with Malaysia in mind. As such, the Malaysian release will be a different album.”

The first single from their Japan release, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, is receiving airplay on radio stations in Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya, while the single’s video (directed by Malaysian producers Alet and Edwin), is receiving heavy rotation on MTV Japan, only a week after its release.

Pop Shuvit have already released four albums in Japan — Take It and Shuv It, Here & Now, Shuvit Remixes and All I Got EP.

“We think of this as more of a business decision than a patriotic one,” Moots said.

“Our local fans have access to us daily, so this is the trade off we’re giving our Japanese fans.”

The band recorded their Malaysian debut album, Take It and Shuv It, in 2001, but did not get the expected attention from local music lovers. It was later picked up by Japanese label S2S.

After their Japan release, it wasn’t long before Pop Shuvit gained a steady fan base, and after the release of their second album, Here & Now, they were invited to perform in Harajuku, Tokyo, and another gig in Shinshaibashi, Osaka.

“It boiled down to one good single, Skaters Anthem, that was it,” Moots said of their Japan fame.

“People still remember us because of that one song, so I guess we broke into Japan based on the popularity of that single.”

Before you could say Malaysia Boleh, Here & Now raced up the Shibuya Tower Records’ New Releases charts (based on album sales), and hit the No 12 spot, outselling international bands like Linkin Park and Franz Ferdinand.

Since then, they’ve also been invited to perform at the Thailand X-Games, and their songs have been played from ESPN (covering US, South America and Thailand), and the Sepang Formula One, where their track, Old Skool Rocka, was last year’s theme song.

They’ve also been nominated at Anugerah ERA 2006 for Best English Artiste, their first ERA nomination.

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