By NASA MARIA ENTABAN
Pictures by ELLIS KHAN

ENERGETIC is an understatement when it comes to describing a Far East Movement show – the Asian-American hip-hop quartet showed their Malaysian friends how hard they can party.

True to the party themes they rap and sing about in their music, members Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura), Prohgress (James Roh), J-Splif (Jae Choung), and DJ Virman (Virman Coquia) put on an excellent show for a rather lukewarm crowd at KL Live in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

Their set was part of the Moovment 2011 show that also featured the popular DJ Earworm from the United States, Taiwan’s DJ Junior and DJ Crystal, as well as DJ Ken and Jakeman from Malaysia.

After a very long delay, Far East Movement finally appeared on stage at close to midnight with If I Was You (OMG), So What and their latest single Jello, with Kev clapping, bouncing and jumping all around, trying to get the crowd to dance.

Prohgress (left) and Kev Nish performing at KL Live

Dancing around in skinny jeans, shirts and shades, the foursome’s energy proved infectious and the seemingly young (the age limit was 18 and above) audience eventually began dancing and grooving to the tunes.

The group followed their first few numbers with the slower Fighting For Air, She Owns The Night and 2gether before taking it up a notch with a heavy drum-based version of Girls On The Dance Floor.

Performing songs from their latest album Free Wired, as well as a few numbers from albums Folk Music and Animal, the guys were in top form the entire 80 minutes they performed.

For White Flag, the group brought out guest performer, Australian Catherine Mary, to sing the female vocals on the song, as well as on Like A G6, Far East Movement’s biggest hit to date.

Kev interacted with the crowd throughout the show, thanking everyone for waiting so many hours and expressing how grateful and lucky they were to be performing in Malaysia.

“To all the dreamers in the house, sometimes people will tell you you’re not good enough, you don’t fit the description, you should give up, but don’t listen to them – you should never give up on your dreams,” said Kev before leading the group into Rocketeer.

Far East Movement put on a great show for KL fans

After a quick break, the boys were back for their encore with Show Me Love and Party Don’t Stop, before letting DJ Earworm take over with club hits and dance-worthy tunes until 2am.

In an interview held earlier in the day, the boys didn’t come off as the hard-partying, womanising types they rap about in their music. They are business-like, pleasant and even “proper”, which is a complete opposite to the characters they made up in their songs.

After more than seven years in the business, the boys remain grounded about their success, and are thankful for every moment.

“We remember growing up in LA. We were those crazy delusional guys who went around passing out CDs, who were like ‘listen to our music, here, buy a T-shirt, go online, listen to our music!’,” recalled Kev, the chatty one in the group.

“Going from that, to actually being in a pressroom in Malaysia, this year has been incredible. And we’re using our experiences as an inspiration to fuel the new album Dirty Bass.

“It’s gonna be a fun album, same collaborative approach, not only just the Stereotypes (a music production team), but we got in with David Guetta, RedOne, Pitbull and a bunch of other amazing artistes and producers,” said Kev.

The one thing that keeps them grounded is each other – Kev, Prohgress and J-Splif are still the same “lunch table crew” from high school and have been writing music together ever since.

“It has to do with respect, we grew up together. If anyone of us got into trouble, we’d have each others back, we’re like a band of brothers,” said Prohgress.
Where songwriting is concerned, inspiration for their songs can hit them anytime, anywhere.

“The usual process always starts from a napkin in a club or restaurant or anywhere, every day in LA,” said Kev.

“An idea pops in, maybe you hear a song playing in the bathroom stall or elevator and you dwell on that, drive to the studio, sit with the crew and start building the beat together. Once the drums start taking shape,then we’ll start writing to it, and that’s when the brainstorming sessions come.”

The group’s new album, Dirty Bass, is expected to hit record stores in early 2012.