One Buck Short

Brief Bio

In 2008, One Buck Short (affectionately known as OBS) released their debut album “Halal & Loving It”, it produced hits like ‘Fast Times’, ‘Kelibat Korupsi’ and ‘Khayalan Masa’ to name but a few. With producer/arranger Greg Henderson at the helm, it was hailed by many as one of the best locally produced Malaysian rock albums ever. The band went on to open for acts like Fall Out Boy (in Singapore), Panic! At the Disco, My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte. The band was the only Malaysian act billed for the inaugural SingFest in 2007 and also performed at the very first MTV Asia Awards held in Malaysia. With its high energy shows, it was not long before the band brought their sound to Australia, the Philippines and even China and Macau.

In January 2012, the band released their long-awaited second album entitled “Kampong Glam”, their sophomore release was their first full Malay album, with first single ‘Carilah Duit’ leading the charge and offering listeners a taste of what to expect. The 7-track album saw a new-found maturity in their signature punk-rock sound.

After a long hiatus, the band announced their return to the scene earlier this year as well as the comeback of Rockaway Festival, the local rock festival the band founded and has been hosting since 2009.

History and Releases and Rockaway

The band was founded by Hafiz and Rahul back when they met in high school. Hafiz and Rahul started out by jamming after school to bands like The Ataris and Blink 182 while gaining exposure playing events at their schools and college's. It was in college where Rahul met Mooky and where Hafiz met Imran. As both their college's were close by (Rahul and Mooky went to APIIT while Imran and Hafiz went to HELP) the guys ended up rehearsing and hanging out quite a bit, Not long after, the guys started getting themselves onto "battle of the bands" competitions before starting to tour in the local scene and all over Malaysia.

In 2003, One Buck Short released their debut EP, "Where's The Mouse?!" via FYI Entertainment, a local underground and independent label whom the band later had a falling out with. The EP was recorded, mixed and mastered at the now defunct Syncrosound Studios in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Their debut single, "That Day" from their EP "Where Is The Mouse?!", broke into the Malaysian Top 10 charts on the Hitz.fm radio station and eventually became one of the most popular local releases on Malaysian radio that year. The band was also nominated for the Best Newcomer artist award at the first ever Hitz.FM Malaysian English Top 10 awards in 2004. One Buck Short rounded up 2004 by being one of the standout acts and performers for one of the longest running rock festivals in Malaysia, "Rock The World IV", the band has since been a familiar headliner for "Rock The World" series.

It was at Syncrosound Studios where the band ended up meeting and eventually working with their longtime friend and collaborator Greg Henderson (ARIA & AIM award-winning producer & sound engineer). The first project Greg and One Buck Short worked together on was a single for a charity Christmas album compilation (A MusicCanteen Christmas) called 'Christmas Morning' which also ended up getting heavy air play Malaysian radio. The band, having enjoyed working with Greg previously decided to start work on their debut album, 'Halal & Loving It' with him not long after. Throughout this period, One Buck Short continued to play shows across Asia while the band wrote and recorded the album, not long after, buzz of the bands live and energetic shows started attracting attention from promoters across Asia and Australia which put them in a position to be handpicked by a long list of international touring bands, including Fall Out Boy in Singapore and Good Charlotte, Panic! at the Disco, My Chemical Romance and Sum 41 in Kuala Lumpur. On top of supporting many artists on their tours in Asia, OBS was also featured in prominent music festivals in the region. In 2006, the band was nominated for Best Rock and Best Live Act for the Malaysian English Top 10 Awards held on December 10, 2006.

With constant label changes and issues releasing the album, "Halal & Loving It" was finally released in 2008 via Homegrown Records and Universal Music Malaysia. The release got a regional push and marketing campaign and propelled the band into one of South East Asia's largest rock acts.

One Buck Short had a number of hit singles from Halal & Loving It, including "Fast Times", "Kelibat Korupsi" - a song in the bands native language about the rampant corruption the country faced, "10:04" - a track influenced by the bands favorite movie, Back To The Future and "Khayalan Masa"

Not long after, OBS signed on an endorsement deal with a potato chip brand which ended in them conceptualizing and producing the band's very own music festival - Rockaway . One Buck Short became the first band in Asia to successfully own, operate and produce their own music festival. The first edition of the festival saw over 15,000 people pack the heart of city in Kuala Lumpur and featured many of the bands friends. In conjunction with Rockaway 2009, the band released a single titled "Wait For It (Revolution)" produced by Luke Mason.

// the story continues soon //

Billing and Key Shows

Been billed alongside:

Fall Out Boy

Good Charlotte

Panic At The Disco

My Chemical Romance

Sum 41

MXPX

Mayday Parade

The Used

Paramore

Dashboard Confessional

Cobra Starship

Notable Shows:

Summersonic Festival 2014, Tokyo, Japan

Malaysia Youth Festival (Hari Belia) 2014, Putrajaya, Malaysia

Smash Project 2012, Manila, Philippines

Rockaway 2009, 2011, 2012, Malaysia

Music Matters Asia 2011, Singapore

Nanjing Rock Festival 2011, China

The World Expo 2010, Shanghai, China

One Movement Music Festival 2009, Australia

Hennesey Artistry 2009, Malaysia

Urbanscapes 2008, Malaysia

Nokia Artist Club for Music Matters After Party 2008, Hong Kong

Rock The World 4,5,8,9,10, Malaysia

MTV ASIA Awards 2008, Malaysia

Hush Rock Festival 2007, Macau

Baybeats 2006, 2007, Singapore

Singfest 2007, Singapore

Official Links