Home / News / Malaysian Hardcore and Punk Rock Join Forces On Cover Song – What Song? Unite Asia

Malaysian Hardcore and Punk Rock Join Forces On Cover Song – What Song? Unite Asia

By on April 24, 2021

This seriously came out of nowhere…last night a video popped up across all our socials with very familiar names – King Ly Chee and Unite Asia. That’s our old band and the song that we wrote back in 2006 when King Ly Chee was announced to be the opening band on NOFX’s Asian tour. Because we were going to be traveling with them around Asia we got pumped to write a song that showed just how we felt about where we’re from.

15 years later, it’s so cool to see that Zul, vocalist of Malaysian hardcore band Sekam joined forces with the man behind Malaysian punk rock band TIM to record a special cover version of the song.

When we asked them what was the inspiration for this, the answer was pretty dope.

“First of all, it’s because of the band King Ly Chee. I know that the first time the band played in KL was somewhere in Jalan Petaling Street. Since then I liked KLC and I realized that the band was very close friends with the Malaysian, Singapore, and Indonesian scenes as well. Back then very few overseas bands were touring to KL to play.”

That’s true – the first time King Ly Chee played anywhere in Southeast Asia was in 2004 (or 2003) in Kuala Lumpur with bands like Cassandra, Second Combat, opening at a venue called Blue Planet. Our entire LIVES was completely transformed after that particular show and the experiences of hanging out with Malaysian hardcore kids who took us in like we were family. Sitting here in Hong Kong now many MANY years later, that experience is still unforgettable.

“I chose to cover this particular song because ‘Unite Asia’ represents the people of Asia. When the website first launched I actually don’t think a lot of people knew about the song, especially the re-recorded version that came out in 2015 featuring vocalists of hardcore bands from all over Asia. I noticed that a lot of people, especially the younger generation of hardcore kids, didn’t know about this song. I actually was considering covering songs by Terror, Madball, Strife, or any of those bands, but I thought that none of these bands really care about Asian bands, why don’t I cover something that truly represents where we’re from?”

“I actually was considering covering songs by Terror, Madball, Strife, or any of those bands, but I thought that none of these bands really care about Asian bands, why don’t I cover something that truly represents where we’re from?”

Unite Asia was re-recorded in 2015 featuring vocalists of bands from all over Asia including Kids On the Move, 13 Steps, King Ly Chee, Badburn, Final Attack, Unregenerate Blood, Overthrown.

“But ultimately, I wanted to show my gratitude and respect to Unite Asia for all the effort that you put into the website. ”

Told you his explanation was DOPE…

The coolest part is also that Xul added Malay lyrics at the very end! We asked him what the lyrics were:

“The Malay lyrics are:

‘satu asia kini bergema” (One Asia is now echoing/explode )
laung semangat terus bersama (scream out our spirit, we always still together)
berjuang terus, jangan mengalah (keep fighting not to give up)
bersatu asia di mata dunia (to Unite Asia, in the eyes of the world)

I wrote these lyrics in Malay especially for our friends and scenes in Malaysia and Indonesia. Lastly, thank YOU for inspiring me.”

Go blast their version of the song – and then further below check out links to where you can grab the song for free AND check out a SUPER old and DIY video we had released for that song that features footage from our NOFX tour.

Thank you to Sekam and Tim for this…you don’t even know how touched I am…

UniteAsia.org is an underground Asian music news website created for the sole purpose of supporting our own world. We support all bands and genres HOWEVER we do not support nor have any sympathy for homophobic, racist, sexist rhetoric in lyrical content or band material. UNITE ASIA!
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