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Tourism Malaysia

Mystical Eve Interview: Joe Flizzow

December 24, 2011 at 5:30 pm

The Malaysia.com team sat down with Joe Flizzow, Malaysian rap artiste and formerly part of Too Phat recently at the Mystical Eve Countdown Party press conference. He was game enough to share with us his thoughts about New Years.

M.com: How does it feel to be invited to perform at the Mystical Eve Countdown Party at Encorp Strand?
Joe: I feel blessed… and really excited because I feel that there is something special about The Strand. The place looks like it’s built for community based and family oriented outings, so I hope that we can provide sort of entertainment for those who are coming. It feels good to be performing on stage with Mizz Nina and Pop Shuvit.

Joe Flizzow formerly of Too Phat might not believe in resolutions, but he loves to party on New Years!

M.com: Do you routinely do countdown parties?
Joe: I have been doing New Year’s eve parties for the past 15 years, so I think I’m pretty experienced in that sense.

M.com: What are your New Year’s resolutions? Or do you not believe in it?
Joe: Yeah, I do not believe in New Year’s resolutions actually. For me, I feel that you do not have to wait for new year to start something. It could be March and if you feel like you want to pick up a new sport, you do not have to wait until New Year’s to do it. Though I do not believe in resolutions per se, I do believe in the symbolism of the new year, like the marking of a new beginning. It is like you are keeping time, but at the same time you want to constantly do better than what you did last year. That for me is what New Year’s is all about. If you speak about New Year’s resolutions, that will always be my resolution every year – that is to do better than before and do big things in the coming years.

M.com: That sounds very good. So do you have any plans in store for the coming year? Professionally, that is.
Joe:: Oh, we got a lot of big plans. I just released a new single with another singer, Rosa. That song is climbing up the charts in Indonesia, so I guess I will be going back there a lot.

M.com: Will Malaysian fans get to hear it here?
Joe: It will be released here soon. I think it’s already online, so you guys can check it out there. It is called ‘One Night Lover’, Rosa featuring Joe Flizzow. Indonesia is a big market that we are looking at to penetrate actually. We have had some success with Indonesia with Too Phat before this, so that is a good thing.

M.com: Do you prefer to perform in English or Bahasa Malaysia?Or you are comfortable with a mix?
Joe: Actually English is my first language for me as I grew up abroad. My family speaks English at home. I am also equally comfortable speaking in Bahasa Malaysia. In fact, my whole next album is actually in Bahasa Malaysia and the album is called ‘Untukmu’. You will be surprised because most people know Joe Flizzow as an artist who started out with Too Phat and sang a lot of English songs.

M.com: Since you said you grew up abroad, how was New Year’s celebration for you when you were younger?
Joe: Ah, I was too young to remember much when I lived in England. Actually, as a kid, New Year’s do not really register much because as a kid, you tend to get excited over Christmas. Christmas was good because my dad used to put up the trees and the presents when I was sleeping, so by the time I wake up in the morning it will all be there. When you are a kid and when you are still playing with the toys you got for Christmas, New Year’s seems like another ordinary day.

M.com: What about New Year’s celebration during your teenage years or during college years?
Joe: When you are in college, you get permission to do things that college kids get to do. New Year’s is always good because I grew up in Subang, a place where it felt like it was 1Malaysia even before the 1Malaysia concept was created. New Year’s was good fun because it was the one time where you get to spend time with your friends.

M.com: So do you miss that kind of New Year compared with the type of New Year that you are going through now?
Joe: There have been a lot of New Years that I have to missed out because I have been performing recently, especially when friends go for vacations or travel. I am still in contact with the same friends that I grew up with since when I was in school. It is not like I have a different set of friends now that I am a rapper. I do have more friends, but I still have the people that I started out and I am still close to the people that were close to me 15 years ago. Actually, this kind of friendship is hard to find.

M.com: Since you were saying that you have been performing for the last 15 years, do you remember any memorable or outstanding New Year’s eve performances?
Joe: I won’t say every year… it’s more like on and off… maybe out of 15 years, it was like 8 or 9 years. I remember one performance with Too Phat at Menara Kuala Lumpur. They booked up the whole place and we had the whole crew there, the break-dancers and others. That was early 2000… somewhere like 2002… 10 years ago. It was good because that was the first time that they booked a rap group to be the main act. Prior to that, we were trying to come up in the underground and prove ourselves. Being invited felt like we were finally getting our recognition. For us, that New Year’s was big.

Want to see Joe Flizzow rapping? Then be at ENCORP Strand this New Year’s Eve!

M.com: How has this year been for you? Was it good?
Joe: 2011 is a good year. I learned that sometimes you cannot do things alone. As much as I want to micro-manage things, I’ve learnt to trust my team. I’ve learnt to trust the younger generation and to empower the youth because I believe that the youth have got good ideas and can do something. Sometimes they just need a bit of confidence for them to shine. That has been 2011 for me.

M.com: So it is like you are mellowing, and taking a lot of mentor roles…
Joe: I won’t say mellowing, but yeah.. in a lot of ways. When it comes down to working as a team, while it is important to be a good leader, it is also important that the leader learns to trust the people that is working under him.

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Mystical Eve Interview: Pop Shuvit

December 23, 2011 at 2:00 pm

Two members of Pop Shuvit were spotted at the Mystical Eve Countdown Party press conference recently. AJ and JD were kind enough to answer the questions we lined up for them. Enjoy!

M.com: How does it feel to be invited to perform at the Mystical Eve Countdown Party?
JD: Definitely excited. I am really excited because we have never played here before in a new environment. Usually, New Year’s eve parties are always held at the usual places, so this year it is going to be different and better!

AJ: It is also going to be our 11th year playing together as a group. I’m happy that we are still being invited to play for New Year’s eve after so long!

Pop Shuvit, the great Malaysian indie band is set to perform during Mystical Eve at ENCORP Strand

M.com: What are your New Year’s resolutions?
JD: The million dollar question…
AJ: For Pop Shuvit, it would probably to get a Grammy, as we have always been aiming for one. We aim big, so every year we try to get closer and closer to that.
JD: So we probably set one huge and unrealistic goal, but along the way we probably set smaller goals. So every year we set those little goals which brings us closer to our big goal of winning a Grammy.

M.com: Do you have any personal goals or any personal resolutions?
JD: *Jokes* I want to be a solo singer-writer like Reza Salleh! Or maybe I want to do a K-Pop album and sell millions! *laughs at his comment*

M.com: Or maybe you do not believe in resolutions?
AJ: Personally I don’t, but it is good to have something like that. Like in my case, me and my wife are expecting our baby in 3 months’ time, so I want to be a good daddy and provide for him as much as I can.

M.com: Based on your experience, has any of your New Year’s resolutions came true in the past?

JD: Hmm… normally by January 31st I will be like, ‘What did I put as my resolutions this year?’. *laughs*

M.com: Any plans in store for the coming year? As the group Pop Shuvit?
JD: Despite all personal stuff, for the group we plan to take our music and expand it internationally. Our brand new album is out, it’s called Cherry Blossom Love Affair, so we will try to promote and get it distributed by some of the regional factories in Indonesia and the Philippines. We also hope to secure a lot more tours in United States and Europe as well.


M.com: If Pop Shuvit fans in Malaysia would like to get their hands on your latest album, where can they go to get it?

JD: The album is currently being sold in any major record stores like Rock Corner or Speedy Video. It is retailing for RM29 at the moment and there are 12 songs in the album.

M.com: Before your Pop Shuvit days, how did you spend your New Year’s eve? And are you guys usually busy performing during New Year’s eve?
JD: For the past 10 years at least, we have been busy doing a show almost every New Year’s eve. That is basically our memory of New Year’s eve, performing on stage and doing the countdown with the band mates, who are like our family.
AJ: At least they become our ‘brothers’ on the 31st of December every year… *laughs*

M.com: You mentioned that you did a lot of performances during the New Year’s eve. What would be your most memorable New Year’s eve performance?
AJ: Our first performance actually…
JD: Where was it? Was that the first New Year’s eve performance? I don’t remember…

M.com: Tell us about the one that you remember the most…
AJ: I remember one time, during one of our earlier performances and it was held at Bukit Bintang. There was this HUGE crowd from the front of Starhill where we were playing right up to the end of Jalan Alor! It felt so cool to finally play for such a big crowd, for all our Malaysian fans.

M.com: Was that the biggest turnout that you guys have played to so far?
AJ: There were bigger crowds after that, but that was the one that left the biggest impression. We stopped Bukit Bintang from operating their normal business hours.

M.com: How has the year been for Pop Shuvit?
JD: This year has been really really good. We had a wonderful first half of the year because we started recording our album since middle of last year and we managed to finish it in the first quarter of 2011. The album was released in middle of this year. Running up to that, we also had a very big show this year which was the MTV World Stage that was held at I-City in Shah Alam. That was a massive show where we got a full on set and played with big names like Thirty Seconds to Mars, Neon Trees and Beast. The biggest thing was that the performance was that it was broadcast to about 60 million households. It was really huge publicity for the group. So that made 2011 a good year for us.
AJ: And that also kind of put Malaysian music on the world map.

M.com: We agree. Pop Shuvit has contributed a lot to the Malaysian indie music scene over the years…
JD: We are probably one of the first independent groups to made it.
AJ: We took it and did it ourselves and made our name.
JD: Before there was an Indie explosion in the Malaysia music industry…
AJ: Yeah, before Indie music became cool!

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Mystical Eve Interview: Reza Salleh

December 22, 2011 at 2:51 pm

The Malaysia.com team was lucky enough to spot Reza Salleh during the Mystical Eve Countdown Party press conference recently so we asked him a couple of questions. Here is what he has to say about New Year:

M.com: How does it feel to be invited to perform at the Mystical Eve Countdown Party?
Reza: I feel very honoured that they like my music and want to include me in this and I’m very excited. New Year’s Eve shows are a lot of fun and I love fun gigs.

Rexa Salleh is performing on Mystical Eve at ENCORP Strand

M.com: What are your New Year’s resolutions?
Reza: My New Year’s resolutions are to work on the next album and to learn another language, preferably Japanese.

M.com: Any other languages other than Japanese?
Reza: I think one language at the time is enough for the moment. Maybe tfor he year after 2012 I’ll think of another language to learn.

M.com: Did any of your New Year’s resolutions came true?
Reza: You know, the funny thing about these resolutions is that I don’t remember them, so I wouldn’t be able to answer that. I don’t know if they did, so maybe they didn’t. I’d like to think that they did though. *laughs*

M.com: Any plans in store for the coming year, you know… career wise, other than the new album?Or maybe you can tell us more about the new album?
Reza: Oh… the new album is kind of sitting on the shelf at the moment. I have the materials for it, but it’s just a matter of getting the right resources together to pull it off as well as the planning involved in producing an album. These are the things that I am working on at the moment. Also, I am thinking of expanding my music to the regional level, something that I have taken a lot of interest recently. Playing in other countries is a lot of fun! I am looking to playing more shows in Bandung, Japan and Korea.

M.com: How was the reception there in Japan and Korea?
Reza: It was excellent! They didn’t know who I was and I think they didn’t understand what I was singing, but I was very touched with their warm response in both countries.

M.com: When you were younger, how did you spend your New Year’s eve? Like during your teenage years, or maybe even college years… Any memorable stuff that comes to your mind?
Reza: The only thing that comes to mind about New Year’s eve is being stuck in the jam. *Laughs out loud* I remember one year, I did the countdown in the car. You know how when you were younger, you would like to go out and party or something, so and when everybody is going out at the same time, it causes a really bad jam. But thankfully in recent years I have opted for a more low key, chilled out kind of celebration.

M.com: Other than being caught in the jam, do you remember any memorable New Year’s eve? celebrations? Something that is nice and sweet… which you will still talk about till this day.
Reza: At the end of the day, it really is spending time with friends that matter. When I have that kind of quiet time, that really makes my my year worthwhile. At the end of the day, these are the things that are important to me – my music, my family, my friends and my loved ones.

M.com: One last question before we let you go! Was 2011 a very memorable year for you?
Reza: Absolutely!! It’s an insane year because I launched my album in November 2010, which was the end of last year. So this whole year has been crazy for me, as I was promoting my album on top of playing at five different festivals as well as doing performances in Singapore, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. I thought December may have been a quiet month, but it turned out to be otherwise. It’s still an awesome experience.

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