Korean American rock band Royal Pirates visited Kuala Lumpur for the first time on 3rd May 2015 for their <Love Toxic> Promotional Tour! The band consisting of guitarist-vocalist Moon Chul, drummer Soo Yoon and bassist James greeted the members of media in Malay at a press conference held in DalKomm Café, Damansara Utama branch.
They shared some of their experiences in Kota Kinabalu as they kick started their promo tour in Sabah before headed down to Kuala Lumpur. The band went to the Mari Mari Cultural Village in Kota Kinabalu during their stay and it seemed like they had picked up some good survival skills. Moon Chul got praised for his warrior spirit and they jokingly said he would survive the longest if they were all thrown into the jungle. It was funny when James said he got slightly confused that he had to speak Korean to the press when English is his mother-tongue and he could communicate with us in English instead.
The band members got really excited when discussing about Malaysian food with the media. James revealed that the first local delicacy they tried once they touched down was laksa! Moon really wanted to try nasi lemak and he even had 12 sticks of satay on flight when heading to Malaysia from South Korea. Things got a little more interesting when a member of media asked them who would be the first member to get married. James said it wouldn’t be Moon but Soo Yoon thought it would be Moon because he once told him that he wanted to get married before 36.
‘What is the song/singer most listened by the members recently?’, we threw this question to the band. Moon answered ‘I’m kinda into old school music lately, I’ve been listening to 2Pac and Lil’ Kim.’ Rage Against the Machine is the band’s all-time favourite because their music pumps them up, shared by James. James also added that the band sometimes listens to Electronic Dance Music (EDM).
When being questioned which Avengers character they would want to play, Moon Chul held no hesitance and answered Iron Man. Reason is because ‘Chul’ means iron in Korean. James chuckled while saying that he would like to be Captain America, or maybe Captain Korea. Given the reason that he’s very slim, Soo Yoon said he wanted to become Hulk as the character is really muscular and big in size. They were also asked by the media, if they weren’t members of Royal Pirates what would they be doing for living? James said he would become a professor lecturing in university while Moon shared that he would be venturing into the field of art as both his parents majored in art. But he also mentioned he would like to pick up psychology. Being a foodie who loves delicious food, Soo Yoon said he would want to become a chef and learn how to cook Malaysian food. The first surprise dropped on the band when the person-in-charge of Universal Music Malaysia gifted them a durian cake at the end of the press conference. Moon thought it was a real durian, he got really shocked when he found out that it was just a cake.
Later that evening, Royal Pirates held the <Love Toxic> Showcase in Malaysia 2015 at Bentley Music Auditorium. The band rocked the stage by performing hits from their latest single – Love Toxic. ‘Shout Out’ was the first song of the night, following by ‘Seoul Hillbilly’ known as Soo Yoon’s favourite track in <Love Toxic>. After the performance of ‘Haru’, a Q&A session with the fans took place. Selected fans had the opportunity to ask the members a question personally. The trio had fun answering the fans’ questions and it was also revealed by the members that Royal Pirates is a very peaceful group especially when they have Moon as the peacemaker.
The rock band continued burning the hype of the audiences by performing ‘On My Mind’, ‘Super Natural’, ‘Love Toxic’ and the English version of ‘Drawing The Line’. Highlight of the evening would be the birthday surprise given to James by the Malaysian fans and the event organizer – Universal Music Malaysia. We could definitely tell from James’ face how surprised and touched he was. He thanked the fans for making the trip to Malaysia extra memorable and also claimed that 3rd of May will be his birthday in Malaysia (as his actual birthday is on 9th June, we gave him an early surprise). And it was also the second surprise given to the band on that day. The showcase ended wonderfully with encore performance of ‘You’.
Royal Pirates “Love Toxic” first showcase in Malaysia’s song list:
- Shout Out
- Seoul Hillbilly
- Haru
- On My Mind
- Super Natural
- Love Toxic
- Drawing The Line (English Version)
Encore
- You
P/S: Thank you Universal Music Malaysia and Hotlink for inviting us to such an awesome event.
For more photos, you may click HERE.
