Dragon Red

Dragon Red was the mastermind of Landslyde, of the former Poetic Ammo fame, which started out at the end of 2001 with the guitarist Amil Khan and the vocalist Adam Lobo and subsequently to evolutionary changes in the composition, currently features Manshaan Singh on the drums and Kamarul on bass.^[1]

The name

The name Dragon Red was chosen because according to Chinese scripture, the dragon represents strength and courage and the color red represents power and passion which are the elements needed to succeed in the local music industry. The Band's logo was obtained from a Balinese carving of a sea dragon.

2001 - 2003

The Band started out playing both the underground and commercial scenes where they managed to land some high profile gigs which included the Asian X-Games tour as well as the ESPNSTAR KL XTOUR and the Peter Stuyvesant Breakaway Party. But staying through to their roots, the majority of their gigs reflect in the underground scenes where the Band was promoted and publicized in the local underground scene by local gig organizers and more notably FYI Entertainment which not only organizes the majority of gigs in the local underground circuit but also became close friends with Dragon Red.

The next break of good fortune came in 2003 when the Band was offered an endorsement deal by an apparel conglomerate whereby they toured with them all across the nation (Malacca, Penang , Johor Bahru, Sarawak ) in commemoration with its annual Streetball Challenge. It was here that Dragon Red started making a name for themselves outside the Klang Valley Area and a slew of gigs started coming their way. Slowly, the idea of releasing a single materialized and at the end of 2003, they together with Nick Lee of Sonique Productions (who at that time was an unknown Producer in the local scene) came out with the Band's first Single which consisted of their first hit Fade Away and a Malay track “Terpedaya”.

2004 - 2005

In 2004, the Band started to attract media frenzy where they were being covered by the local papers such as NSTP and the Star as well as local magazines like Dragon magazine, KLUE and ROTTW. They also debuted on national TV with 8TV on its home produced late night show Latte @ 8. They were also featured in RTM's Rentak Juara where they managed to get to the SMS round. In the month of May, their hit single “Fade Away” managed to stay at number 1 slot on the Hitz.FM English top 10 for one Month. Still going strong gigging the local underground and commercial scenes, the Band decided to also start recording their first album together with Nick Lee of Sonique Productions. It was at this time that Pan Global Insurance Berhad came out with Music Canteen and Dragon Red became Music Canteen's artist and together with Sychrosound Studio recorded “Rudolf Red” which was featured in Music Canteen's “It's a Music Canteen Christmas Album”. They also recorded their first music video which was Rudolf Red in collaboration with Hitz.TV. They then finally performed their biggest gig yet in front of 20,000 people at Stadium Merdeka in Rock The World 5.

In 2005 the band spent the majority of the year in the studio to focus on recording and finishing the first Album. It was in the first quarter of this year that the Band was nominated for two Awards, Best Rock and Best New Act in Hitz.FM's MET 10 Awards. The Band then started doing more shows with Music Canteen and started touring the nation again together with them. They were also voted to perform in Hitz.TV's Amplified via SMS where they played an entire set of 12 songs. Towards the end of the year, the band also performed for 8TV's Homegrown and also headlined the HITZ.TV's Street Party at Berjaya Times Square. Finally the Album “Holocaust” was launched in the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre fully sponsored by Pan Global Insurance Berhad and simultaneously the first Single of the new Album “Childs Play” was released.

2006 - 2008

In 2006, the Band focused all their efforts in promoting their self released album and garnered good response from the public as well as the local recording labels and with a stroke of good luck, managed to land a distribution deal with a major distribution company called Universal Music. The Band also toured across the nation again ( Penang, Kuantan, Johor and KL) together with the Sepang F1 Roadshow. The Band also released their second music video “Childs Play” which hit the number 1 spot and constantly on the HITZ.TV's playlist. Their first single mentioned above which included the Malay song “Kehendak Naluri” debuted at number 4 and soon reached the number 2 spot on X-Fresh FM's carta jom dengar.

In 2007, Dragon Red continued to push the limits as the band continued to tour together with the Petronas F1 Roadshow where they conquered the stage again in Penang, Johor and KL. The band also won the AIM award for Best New Artiste and continues being a force to be reckoned with by being tied with 8TV in their “Campus Tour”showcase. The second single “Holocaust” has regular airplay on the airwaves and has been number one on the HITZ.FM’s Malaysian top ten for 5 weeks.

As the band approaches the year 2008, Dragon Red plans to release their last single "Wicked Queen" for the debut album "Holocaust" and with being the Top 10 Finalist of this years IKON programme, Dragon Red expands its wings to further places and plans to go in the studio middle this year for the recording of their next album

Currently, in the year 2009, the band is in the midst of recording their 2nd album and videos of the recording sessions and new songs has been posted on their official website. Some of the songs in the next album are, "Keliru", "Tiada Disisimu" among others.

References

1. ^ Dragon Red Official Website

External links

• http://www.dragonred.com/