In an ever more competitive world market for music, Pop Shuvit has successfully utilized every resource available to promote and market their debut CD, Take it and Shuvit, released through EMI Asia in December of 2002. Their relentless hard work and a multi-award winning product have cast them into the world spotlight as fast rising, hard-hitting super group from Southeast Asia.

Pop Shuvit's drummer, Rudy, originally contacted me in October of 2002, about two months before they released their debut CD. EMI Asia had been cutting bands in an effort to stay afloat during declining CD sales, but our original review sparked enough interest for them to release the CD, which immediately had two number one hits; Jump, a heavy remake of the 90s song by Kris Kros, and Skaters' Anthem, which has gone on to be their trademark song as well as their first number one (and totally self-produced) video on the MTV charts in Asia.  

From here, the story only gets better! I had an online meeting with Moots, the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the group, to discuss the success story to date and their aspirations to break into the United States market.

(see Pop Shuvit's original review http://www.hotbands.com/reviews/20021022review.php and the follow up feature artist of the month for March 2003 at http://www.hotbands.com/reviews/20030301review.php)

Pop Shuvit - Hey Pat!

Hot Bands - Hi Moots! Let's pick up where we left off at our last interview. Since the release of your debut CD, Take it and Shuvit, how has the response been and what events have happened?

Pop Shuvit - Well, the response here in Malaysia has been great. We've had 4 number ones songs on radio since we released our CD.

Hot Bands - EMI released your CD in Malaysia in Dec of 2002... who listens to English speaking radio in Malaysia, and how did you market yourself there?

Pop Shuvit - English speaking, or Urban music only caters for about 20% of the music buying market here in Malaysia. Urban radio also caters to international acts and about 20% of the playlist for urban radio is for local urban artists. We were quite fortunate we were picked up by local radio.

Hot Bands - It wasn't luck or fortune...that's for gamblers. You guys busted your backside to get a lot of things done, self-promotion, relationship with EMI and others, as well as creating two incredible videos.

Pop Shuvit - The market for urban music here is relatively small since the market is dominated by local Malay acts. About 70% of the population is Malay so you can understand how difficult it is for urban acts to make a mark for themselves here. This has always been the reason why we believed that our place was outside (of Malaysia); we wanted to break out. After bustin' our arses off making a name for ourselves here, we concentrated on taking our music abroad. We used the Internet as our distribution channel.

Hot Bands - Once your CD was released, what was the immediate response? Did all four songs go to #1 right away?

Pop Shuvit - The Internet was our guardian angel. Through the net, we made lots of friends and fans and thro our relationship with ESPN (we headlined the Asian X Games here in Malaysia for three years), we managed to get our music to the United States where our video and track for Skaters' Anthem was used at the Los Angeles X Games on the big screens and playlist during the skating events. Response for the CD here has been positive. EMI knew our market was overseas and encouraged us to market abroad in spite of the depression in the music industry. We worked against piracy by using the net to our advantage. Against the advice of EMI, we put our first 2 singles up for free download even before they were released on radio. The free MP3s helped create an avenue for us to promote ourselves when there was a glut in acts pushing tracks through radio. This was what originally built our fan-base and radio eventually picked it up. Interest in Australia, Japan and now, the United States has followed suit...all through Internet promotion/marketing. Our belief in the overseas market came true when the album hit the shelves in Japan and made it to the best sellers list at Tower Records after only three weeks without any promotion whatsoever!

Hot Bands - How long after you released your CD did you make your videos?

Pop Shuvit - The video clips were shot 3 months after release. We shot both together in an indie-guerilla style format. We would just head to the streets without any permits and would just shoot. It was hilarious trying to avoid the authorities while shooting at the same time...especially Skaters' Anthem, where we featured loads of local skaters on the streets of Malaysia. That's why it took a whole month to shoot!

Hot Bands - Around the same time that you released Take it and Shuvit, which branded you as a 'Skater band', United States rap-core bands were just finding out about the Malay market. How has that impacted your popularity, or do you think that your popularity and comparisons to Linkin Park are what helped bring them there?

Pop Shuvit - Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit did create an awareness that opened a lot of doors because people liked them, but I think there were still a lot of differences in our approach that appealed to lot of people. In a time where the world was drifting further apart and world perception of Asians was changing, here we were, a bunch of goofball lunatic musicians having a ball and showing the world that we are all the same when it comes down to music.

Hot Bands - How have your videos done on the charts?

Pop Shuvit - Our video clip for skaters' bagged a silver award at the Malaysian Multimedia awards (multimedia because it was shot on DV) and it was number 1 on the MTV ASIA BOOM CHARTS for 2 weeks. Our second video Slip Away at the time of this interview is currently sitting pretty at number 2 on the MTV ASIA BOOM CHARTS.

Hot Bands - What are the MTV Asia Boom Charts?

Pop Shuvit - MTV ASIA is the regional division of MTV. MTV BOOM is the chart show for regional only acts.

Hot Bands - Your video and music is still at the top of the charts after nearly two years!

Pop Shuvit - YUP! One in 2003 and another in 2004. This is because the band is steadily gaining exposure throughout the region and the regional channels are picking it up. We just received a call to do an interview with a radio station in Mexico City because the DJ heard our music on the website. We have also been featured on Channel V International (similar to VHI here) on their LOCAL VOCAL spots where they feature up and coming acts from around Asia that are noteworthy.

Hot Bands - I know you have been the headlining band for the Asian X Games for the last three years, and have played for some enormous crowds. How have your tours been?

Pop Shuvit - We tour a lot. Whenever and wherever we can. We do a lot of underground gigs here (Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia) together with our peers (other local bands). These shows are mostly organized and promoted by the bands themselves. There is a local rock concert held every year that attracts up to 20,000 called ROCK THE WORLD which we've played for the last three years, and also opened for Incubus in March during their Asian tour. Incubus released that show as a live CD because it was rated as one of the best shows of that tour.

Hot Bands - Will you have any tracks w/them on that CD?

Pop Shuvit - Their CD is just their set.

Hot Bands - But the crowd was all worked up because you opened for them, right?

Pop Shuvit - Actually, the crowd only moshed when we were on. Incubus didn't play their heavy stuff.

Hot Bands - How many people were at that show? Did you get any film of it?

Pop Shuvit - There were about 8,000 at that show but other than some really crappy DV camcorder and VHS camcorder recordings, we couldn't film it because Incubus' management was too strict about recording.

Hot Bands - How many people are currently in your band, and how many other projects do each of you work with?

Pop Shuvit - Five members: DJ, UNO and JD are up and coming producers that are steadily making a name for themselves here in K.L. UNO has arranged tracks for a lot of big name local Malay acts and JD has been producing for a lot of local indie musicians. UNO and JD produced a remix of Skaters' Anthem for our recently released Japan remix album aptly titled The Shuvit Remixes. AJ is a sessionist and Rudy and I basically handle the administrative part of the band since we are self-managed.

Hot Bands - I heard one of your father's is a Malaysian Senator. Is that true?

Pop Shuvit - Yes that is true. That would be my father, but he retired last April. But that don't mean we got it easy...daddy didn't help and nobody knew; in fact nobody knows up until today...the media doesn't even know.

Hot Bands - Aside from producing several other bands and projects, the five of you are writing new songs and are going into the studio to record your second album, correct?

Pop Shuvit - Yup. We are currently in the midst of writing and recording album number 2 scheduled for release in Japan in Jan 05 and Malaysia Feb 05. We collaborated with underground emcees from Canada (Vandal) and the US (ZION-I). ZION-I was featured on Linkin' Parks reanimated. We will also be working with a Japanese hardcore band.

Hot Bands - Why would you release in Japan before Malaysia? Is the Japanese market stronger for your music?

Pop Shuvit - Most definitely! We sold more units in Japan and the response there is very positive; the demand for more new material is tremendous...it moves fast!

Hot Bands - How has radio airplay and interviews been in Malaysia, Japan and elsewhere? Have you had radio interviews yet? I guess it wouldn't make much sense to have one in Japan unless you spoke Japanese.

Pop Shuvit - Radio airplay in Malaysia is very good. In Japan we managed to get our video clips on a couple of radio networks and Japanese music channels like WOWOW have played our clips. We did a couple of Japanese radio interviews in English and we do Malaysian radio interviews all the time. In fact, just last night we played for our local late-night show for television, and did the morning show on national radio last week. We have a very strong and positive relationship with the media here. It took us a few years but after a while they were convinced we weren't another run of the mill band and that we we're here to stay.

Hot Bands - For American readers that don't know geography, Malaysia is the 'Florida' of Asia. What is the market potential to get into the other areas of Asia such as Indonesia, Thailand, China, etc?

Pop Shuvit - Asia is broken down to various regions. Malaysia is in the Southeast, so we're in the region of Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. It's not difficult to break into these markets but they are just as small as Malaysia, so why go for the small fishes when you can reel in a big one like Japan? Japan, Taiwan, India, and China are the biggest markets in Asia but all have one thing in common...typically only local language acts sell, so for an international act like us to make waves in Japan...it's something!

Hot Bands - How are you changing that in Japan?

Pop Shuvit - It's music bro...language is not a barrier.

Hot Bands - Is there potential to do the same for the other countries you mentioned?

Pop Shuvit - Most definitely! Music listeners are very territorial, but when they here something that is good, they won't turn it away.

Hot Bands - What about India and China? I would think that China and India with half of the world's population would be a great target market. Even if 1/100000 of the population bought your CD, you'd be gazillionaires!

Pop Shuvit - India is in a world of its own. Their preferences are about 30 years behind the times, so our type of music, regardless of language, might be difficult to break into the Indian market.

Hot Bands - Your end goal is to get into the USA market, right?

Pop Shuvit - Our end goal is world domination (Bond villain look on my face)! The US is our desired market...our music is ripe for that. We also want to make a difference. To show people that not all Asian Muslims hijack planes! The world is bigger than Kuala Lumpar, bigger than Tokyo and bigger than Los Angeles...we want to be the bridge that connects them together.

Hot Bands - Getting 5 single men on a 1-way ticket to the USA from a Muslim country might be a hard sell even if you tell them you're on tour!

Pop Shuvit - Well, we could get return tickets and come back again after hitting platinum!

Hot Bands - How long until you finish recording your CD?

Pop Shuvit - We expect to complete recording by the end of November and start mixing and mastering in December. The sessions have already started.

Hot Bands - Right on Moots! I look forward to each chapter in your band's career and think your music can be an international example of how to build bridges of friendship through music.

Pop Shuvit - Thanks bro for all the support and hope to hear from you soon! All the best to HotBands!

Hot Bands - Thank you Moots for your time tonight! I'll be talking with you more soon!