When people say that music is universal and transgresses every language and age, well this Malaysian lad may be the embodiment of that definition.
Meet Zaruf Ezhan, who’s currently residing in Shanghai, China after moving there a few years ago, to pursue a career in writing.
Apart from writing, he’s very enthusiastic when it comes to music – hardcore music, specifically - and that prompted him to join a band called Spill Your Guts as a guitarist.
The band has been around since 2012 which members are made up of expatriates living in China. The band’s vocalist, Dima Bir hails from Russia, their guitarist, Larry Miller is from Scotland, and their drummer and bassist – Tyler Bowa and Ian Tang are from Canada. Zaruf joined the band in 2016.
Spill Your Guts may have been around for a while and has probably played countless of shows, but they could have never anticipated the widespread attention they recently gained after an unofficial video of one of the band’s songs, "Full Blast", went viral.
The video captured the attention of the Chinese youths in Shanghai and has even made its way to a few Malaysian Facebook pages.
“We were shocked to see that it was going viral, although it didn’t come from us. Some guy just took a bunch of videos, shared them on WeChat and just slapped our song on it,” Zaruf told The Star in an interview.
Although Zaruf and his bandmate Larry aren’t very fluent in Mandarin, the other three members can speak very well and are the ones who communicate the most with their fans.
Apart from Russia, the 32-year-old Bangi native didn’t rule out the possibility of coming to Malaysia to perform.
“We talk about playing (in Malaysia) all the time because the guys had such a great time previously. They last played in Kuala Lumpur in 2014, and it was before I joined the band,” he said.
Well, we wish Zaruf all the best and we hope he and his bandmates will come back to his hometown and perform for their local fans.
Meet Zaruf Ezhan, who’s currently residing in Shanghai, China after moving there a few years ago, to pursue a career in writing.
Apart from writing, he’s very enthusiastic when it comes to music – hardcore music, specifically - and that prompted him to join a band called Spill Your Guts as a guitarist.
The band has been around since 2012 which members are made up of expatriates living in China. The band’s vocalist, Dima Bir hails from Russia, their guitarist, Larry Miller is from Scotland, and their drummer and bassist – Tyler Bowa and Ian Tang are from Canada. Zaruf joined the band in 2016.
Spill Your Guts may have been around for a while and has probably played countless of shows, but they could have never anticipated the widespread attention they recently gained after an unofficial video of one of the band’s songs, "Full Blast", went viral.
The video captured the attention of the Chinese youths in Shanghai and has even made its way to a few Malaysian Facebook pages.
“We were shocked to see that it was going viral, although it didn’t come from us. Some guy just took a bunch of videos, shared them on WeChat and just slapped our song on it,” Zaruf told The Star in an interview.
Although Zaruf and his bandmate Larry aren’t very fluent in Mandarin, the other three members can speak very well and are the ones who communicate the most with their fans.
So, what’s next?
The band recently released their full-length album titled Hungry Crows and is preparing to go on tour in Russia soon.Apart from Russia, the 32-year-old Bangi native didn’t rule out the possibility of coming to Malaysia to perform.
“We talk about playing (in Malaysia) all the time because the guys had such a great time previously. They last played in Kuala Lumpur in 2014, and it was before I joined the band,” he said.
Well, we wish Zaruf all the best and we hope he and his bandmates will come back to his hometown and perform for their local fans.
