Music
5 Malaysian bands that Rock(ed) the World
Yep, the Rock the World festival has been around long enough to witness the rise of these local bands.
This year marks the 17th year of one of Malaysia’s longest-running music festivals, Rock the World. Debuting to their starting hype at the open air carpark in One Utama back in 2000, the festival has gone on to become one of the country’s most consistent music festival tickets over the years; with fans often flocking by the thousands to catch their favorite local bands on the big stage.
One of the key things that makes Rock the World so unique is that it has built its success by featuring mostly local talent. This year’s edition will feature established festival faces such as Bunkface, Massacre Conspiracy and Seven Collar T-Shirt, to experienced veterans such as Roots N Boots and Gerhana Ska Cinta; to upstarts such as the very meteoric Masdo and Iqbal M.
We thought it would be fun to just take a look back at some of the bands that have since established themselves after the festival came to be.
1. Bunkface
After countless appearances by the band on the Rock the World stage, the band returns yet again to headline it this time around. The band just celebrated their 10-year anniversary last year and a lot of their longevity can be attributed to them being able to hold their own on a large stage like Rock the World. The band has gone through a metamorphosis, from three-chord punk to one of the biggest purveyors of pop rock these days.
2. Bittersweet
Ipoh’s finest Britpop merchants may be flying the flag high in recent years with stints at Japanese music festival Summer Sonic in 2016 but the band has also graced the stages of Rock the World over the years, most notably in 2009, in one of current frontman Fizan’s debut shows, which heralded the beginning of sorts of this iteration of the band.
3. Kyoto Protocol
It seems an age ago that Kyoto Protocol made its debut on the Rock the World stage in 2011. The band has gone from unknown upstarts to festival headliners in just a matter of years. These days, the band can be seen headlining some of the biggest shows in these parts and even playing support to bands such as The Killers, MGMT and We The Kings.
4. Pop Shuvit
Post-dating Rock the World by just a year, one of Malaysian music’s longest-lasting bands has made it a bit of a habit of giving a large crowd a rollicking good time. The band has supported My Chemical Romance on the Asian leg of their Black Parade tour, MTV World Stage Live 2011 and has played at some of the largest stages regionally. Their own Project E.A.R. music project has also been a success, which is basically a collaboration between them and bands/acts such as Slapshock (Philippines) and Thaitanium (Thailand) around the region.
5. One Buck Short
Making their debut at the festival more than 14 years ago, the band has since gone on to become not only one of the more prominent bands in these parts but they did it largely without trading away their signature pop punk sound.The band has since gone on to play support to a host of international acts such as My Chemical Romance, Sum 41 and Fall Out Boy.
