PETALING JAYA, Jan 27 — Like an old friend, the crazy crunk of Kajang’s K-town Clan is returning to the Malaysian music landscape after years of hiatus.

Despite preparing to put out only their second album Crunk Cowboys and the Moonshine Music seven years after award-winning debut Playground, the hard work never stopped behind the scenes, said Roshan Nair, better known by stage name Roshan Jamrock.

He said they have only improved with time spent growing their personal lives.

“We’ve learnt and experienced plenty in that gap. Some are fathers, some married, some went on to an international platform and some opened new businesses, but together we matured,” he said of the no-rush approach.

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“K-town Clan is an independent group and we do almost everything on our own. We took our time and now our album is ready.”

The one making the most out of the hiatus was Roshan, who propelled into the Kollywood scene, working alongside megastar Rajinikanth.

The rapper and producer featured on two original tracks from The Boss’ 159th film Kabali in 2016, that was mostly shot here and in Singapore.

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Just like the Indian superstar, Roshan’s mission in music is one of longevity.

He anticipates his latest work is some of his best.

“Doing music professionally for a little over 10 years now has taught me to not let anything get to your head, always stay grounded and humble.

“I have so much more to achieve but the ultimate goal is to last the test of time. Life hasn’t really changed but Kabali has helped me get closer to my end game.”

Details on the launch of the digital album is being kept under wraps by the Clan.

Other members are schoolmates Vidyasager Pillay, aka Dravid, and Ganesh Kumar, aka Big Bo.

For now, it is snippets and teasers.

There are 13 tracks that boast an array of Malaysian talent throughout, including storytelling musician Paula Shelton, Beatburns vocalist Maruxa Lynd, Menaga Dolmayan, Alex Subryn, Blister guitarist Ramon Singho, SHO the beatboxer and Tamil singer Precious Michael.

Moonshine was recorded over a four-year period between two studios, Platinum Studios in Kelana Jaya now known as Arrowhead Records, and Roshan’s co-owned Rocsho Music in TTDI.

The album was arranged, composed and produced by Roshan with several mixing engineers.

It includes two singles that surfaced from the band in 2016, #KawKaw and Local Legend, released around Malaysia Day, in-part dedicated to Paralympic gold medalist Ridzuan Puzi.

Don’t Get Me Started, released in December, almost achieved chart-topping status on local radio stations.

Fans who pre-order the album “stand a chance to be surprised”, according to the band’s website.

Roshan hinted, true to the Clan’s notoriety for unconventional high energy events, a party is in the works.

“All we can say is this time, K-town Clan is doing everything differently,” he said.

“The usual way is to have a launch and make the album official. Our way is to reward those that supported us by getting the album and inviting them to an exclusive celebration ― a party like no other.”

Roshan (centre) says the hiatus allow the three of them to growing as individuals. — Picture courtesy of K-town Clan
Roshan (centre) says the hiatus allow the three of them to growing as individuals. — Picture courtesy of K-town Clan

The Clan have never lost sight of their place in the local music scene.

Their supercharged nucleus that made them one of the most exciting artists around with hits Give Em The Ugh! and Party Animal in 2011 remains firmly intact.

“We’ve grown from crunk and coined our own genre ‘twisted crunk’. We’re still playing around the sounds and don’t want to be restricted,” Roshan said.

“Nothing’s changed really — still making ‘jump off your seat music’ since we won Blast Off in 2005.”

He conceded regardless of a steady reputation, both for recording value and live performances, the Clan don’t feel they have an upper hand on English-language acts.

K-town too have experienced songs that were rejected or never took off how they planned: “That’s part and parcel of the business — you never know what’s going to blow up.”

With ambition for Moonshine to reach 10,000 sales, they are referring to the motto that has brought them this far, #DefyTheOdds, down to a number of experiences.

He proceeded to listed his examples of #DefyTheOdds for the band:

► In Blast Off they lost by votes but were crowned Grand Champions because the judges felt it was well-deserved.

► Being No. 1 on radio among international artists Beyonce, The Chainsmokers, David Guetta, Taylor Swift and 40 others.

► They were the first to do music videos that had controversial content in Malaysia, instead of putting on a squeaky clean image.

► Roshan cannot speak Tamil yet wrote and performed songs for Rajinikanth’s Kabali and Vijay’s Bairavaa.

Crunk Cowboys and the Moonshine Music is expected to be released on Jan 31 and is available for pre-order at ktownkings.com.