Butterfingers (Malaysian band)

Band members

History

In 1991, a group of students at Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK), which included Loque, Kadak and Kalai (who joined the band soon after their drummer left), formed a band called Loque's Tail. Producing their own material, the band was heavily influenced by Metallica. Later, the grunge genre was making waves in Malaysia and Loque's Tail decided to have a change in their musical direction from metal to grunge and punk.

During a school break in 1993, Loque frequently visits a jamming studio named the Black Widow Studios in Petaling Jaya. During one of his visits he bumped into Emmett, who was there jamming with his own band at the time, Grunge Dayz. Impressed with the band's cover of "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, and then he show his skills on "I Could Have Lied" to Emmett. Loque approached him to form a new band, which they finally settled on Butterfingers for the band's name. Not long after, Butterfingers was a hit in the local underground scene, playing in packed gigs.

Butterfingers produced their first pair of demos in 1994, "Girl Friday"(Butterfingers first song) and When You're Addicted (later renamed to "Nicc o'Tynne"), which were first performed at the Cobra Club House, somewhere between late 1994 and early 1995. With the positive feedback and confidence received from the gig, they decided to record more songs.

12 goats, 6 oranges and 2 angles was their first demo, which came from a live session at FM Studio on the 10th of January 1995. The demo displayed the raw energy they were known for, and heavily influenced by grunge with Emmett's vocals being presented in the same fashion as Kurt Cobain's. Many of the locals had the impression that their demo was an unreleased Nirvana album. Later on, Butterfingers became a staple name in underground scene, along with other bands such as OAG, The Splatters and Spiral Kinetic Circus. They then released further demo tapes such as Butter Couldn't Melt, and Dragon.

Rise To Fame (1996–1999)

Butterfingers then released their debut album, 1.2 Miligrams (1996) after signing with EMI Malaysia. The album is quoted to have been "...laced with Nirvana-esque tunes, much like Mudhoney's early albums...". The album went on to achieve the local Gold status for sales of over 15,000 units. They went on to release their second album Butter Worth Pushful (1997) with a much more matured sound which debuted at number six on the Malaysian International RIM Charts, a first ever for a local band. The album continued to propel Butterfingers to a higher level of local fame, earning them their second consecutive Gold status (with an estimated total of over 18000 units sold), and it also gave them their first AIM (Anugerah Industri Muzik or Music Industry Award) nominations for 'Best Engineered Album' and 'Best English Album'.

In March 1999, Transcendence (1999) debuted at the number three on the RIM International Charts was released and sold over 60,000 units, which was considered to be Butterfinger's best work. The album went on to earn Butterfingers their first Double Platinum Award. This album also contains their most well-known song, "The Chemistry (Between Us)".

2000–2009 and break-up

After the success of Transcendence and the release of Butter Late Than Never (2000), a collection of old live tracks and outtakes with some previously unreleased songs from earlier demos, Butterfingers released Malayneum (2001) to critical acclaim, despite the mixed reaction from fans who still wanted a more 'grunge-y' sound the band was known for. After the release of a greatest hits album The Best is Yet to Come (2003), the band started working on their next album which would eventually become their first album that was sung in the Malay Language, entitled Selamat Tinggal Dunia (2005).

In 2003, Emmett had left to pursue his studies in Canada, leaving the rest of the band to release and promote Selamat Tinggal Dunia without him. Loque later left for Berkley College in Boston in 2006.

Butterfingers ended their hiatus with another Malay album which would also be their last album together, Kembali (2008). The album was well received by fans and critics alike.

On 29 March 2009, they performed their farewell show at the Sunburst Music Festival. Butterfingers performed with Greg Henderson (who had replaced Loque, who was back in Boston).

2009-present

After returning from Boston, Loque started a new project called monoloQue. Recently, Emmett has returned to Malaysia and performed at the Petronas Technology University on July 31, 2015. Loque was reported to have said that he has no interest reforming Butterfingers in a recent interview:

“To me there’s no point in repeating myself. I’m not trying to be Metallica here, or Wings, or Search. To gather old fans and play the old songs. I don’t really mind it. I need to progress. As a composer, as an artist I really need to try new things. There’s always a stigma with Butterfingers. I’ve accepted it. That’s why I don’t do 'Butterfingers X' or 'Real Butterfingers'. monoloQue is a different entity entirely. Even though my element will always be 'Butters'. The sound is me, I’m 'Butters'. No matter how you take me out of the equation. Apart from the songs and the sound, it’s me, Emmett, Kadak and Loko. So when you say Butterfingers, it has to be all of us because people want to hear Emmett, they want to hear Kadak’s sound, and Loko. Up until Malayneum (2001) the Butterfingers thing was going smoothly; up to Selamat Tinggal Dunia (2005), it had already gone into a writer’s block phase for me. And I don’t know how I came up with those songs. That’s what makes the album special to me. 'Butters' will always be inside me, I started it all and it’s my baby. So when fans cannot accept things as they have gone now, I just feel they need to move on as well. They cannot be selfish to ask me to play Butterfingers again. It’s not because I don’t want to because of monoloQue, I did monoloQue because I already made an oath to myself – I’d rather sell 10 records loving what I’m playing than selling 100,000 copies and waiting before, with limitations and obligations towards other people. I don’t think I’ll be doing scoring if I had stuck with Butterfingers, all the opportunities I can tell you came from my ideas with monoloQue. Thankfully, I’m happier now and can put food on the table with monoloQue.”

Musical style

Butterfingers music is often characterised under the genre of Grunge. As time went on, they have evolved with a more matured sound, progressing with multiple influence variations including alternative rock, post-grunge, classic rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock and traditional/folk. During their English language era, the band's primary lyricist was Emmett, while Loque was the primary songwriter throughout the band's conception. Often attributed for their live performances, the band rarely perform in large venues such as arenas and amphitheaters. Instead, they regularly plays smaller venues. Loque once said in an interview, "We're definitely a live band. That's what it's all about for us. We make records so we can go out and play for the people."

1994 – 2 tracks untitled recording (Demo)

1995 – goats, 6 oranges and 2 angels (Demo)

1996 – Butter Couldn't Melt (Demo)

1996 – 1.2 Milligrams (Butterworld/EMI)

1997 – Butter Worth Pushful (Butterworld/EMI)

1999 – Transcendence (Butterworld/EMI)

2000 – Butter Late Than Never (unreleased tracks, live and rarities) (Butterworld/EMI)

2001 – Malayneum (Butterworld/EMI)

2003 – The Best is Yet to Come 1994-20XX (Butterworld/EMI)

2005 – Selamat Tinggal Dunia (Butterworld/EMI)

2008 – Kembali (Butterworld)

VCD

Special Release/Live album

Music Videos

Hit Songs