INTERVIEW: Malaysian Hardcore Punk Band Last Minute Release Fullset Live Vid and Interview

We’ve been writing about Malaysian hardcore punk band Last Minute since back in 2015 and actually wrote about them extensively in 2021 (click HERE). In that article, the band even talked to us about their original inception when they started in 2002, the breakup, and their updates.

Fast forward to TODAY and the band has just released an amazingly shot and edited fullset live video of their record release show that took place this weekend. The video isn’t just a simple “fullset” video either. It actually works as a perfect video recap of the entire night of all 6 bands that took part with clips of each of them. Honestly, from all the photos and videos we’ve seen from that night, we even published on our IG stories that we were having some serious FOMO! We’re not from Malaysia (we’re situated here in Hong Kong) so traveling to Malaysia is not something we can just do on a whim. However, for this – we really should’ve made the trip. All the bands that took place are some of Malaysia’s best representatives of the Malaysian hardcore community (of course – there are SO MANY more bands!). But it truly is reassuring to know that the Malaysian community continues to shine brightly partly because of these more established acts like Last Minute and Second Combat (legends), but also because the newer crop of bands (Unseen and Changes) make it so that the future will continue to be dope as fuck.

The band was kind enough to take the time to reflect on the entire event below.

Enjoy!

Photo Credit: https://www.instagram.com/_norzahir/

UA: How was the show? Because your album actually came out last year and then you finally got to release it now. Must’ve felt great!
The show was superb! It was so unexpected to see the crowd that we did that night – the venue Rumah Api was a full house that evening. All the bands that performed with us were so great and we’re so thankful that legendary bands like Sarjan Hassan and Second Combat celebrated with us. And also we were so thankful that newer super energetic bands like Changes, Piri Reis and Unseen also performed reminding us what it felt like 15-20 years ago! It was such a great night even though we were all quite nervous at first but by the end of the show we all had such a great time celebrating together like one big hardcore family. We’re now looking forward to playing again soon!

UA: Since the album actually came out last year, people have now had plenty of time to sit with the record. How has the reception been to the album?
The reception of ‘Amity’ has been quite good with lots of copies of the album sold since day 1. It was co-released with labels like Bollock Records, Hardcore Detonation Records, and Handstoheaven Records and we only have a few copies left on our end. But don’t worry, we’ll still have them available at future shows.

UA: How did you decide on the particular bands opening up?
The decision was made through joint discussions between us and suggestions made by Rumah Api’s main man Man Beranak. So eventually we came to the decision to invite Unseen, Changes, Piri Reis, Second Combat, and Sarjan Hassan. We personally feel that Unseen is one of the hardcore bands that need to be highlighted in the hardcore punk scene because they’re a band that features three talented females.

UA: Again, with time now on your side, which song (songs) got the biggest reaction you think at the record release show?
At the record release show, we played all 16 songs off the album plus 2 cover songs. Usually, when we play, the songs that get the wildest reactions are old songs like Excruciation, Young Spirit, We Don’t Want to Divide, Sex for Fun?, Pergilah Mampos, and Incest. Also, the covers we do – Good Clean Fun’s ‘On the Streets’ and Vitamin X’s ‘Raincoat’.

UA: Out of the whole lineup it’s so sick that almost every band had female members in it. I hope one day it shouldn’t be a big deal, but unfortunately here in 2023 it still seems like this just isn’t often enough. Do you think things are changing in the Malaysian scene? Is there more diversity now especially since you have over 2 decades of experience in the scene?
Our record release show 4 bands out of 6 had female members, including our band. We had a discussion with Man Beranak and decided to invite those bands. Of course, there are lots of super tight bands out there. 2023 is very different from even just 10 years ago because now there are many more women involved with bands. We have more women singing in bands and playing instruments in bands and even helping diversify the sound and genres we see. It’s interesting to see that the difference between mainstream bands and DIY bands is actually very thin because even DIY bands have a very big vision and knowledge in terms of the quality of the recording, live sound, etc. Compared to the ’90s, today we have so many different platforms like bandcamp, spotify, etc that further help people discover new bands and help make the DIY scene so much bigger.

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