The Rise of After Mdnight - The Pop Punk Band From Malaysia: An Interview

Photo provided by After Mdnight

After Mdnight, a Malaysian-based pop punk band, whose sound is uniquely their own, with audible inspirations from bands like Paramore.

What started as a passion project between musicians with a love for alternative and punk music over four years ago has slowly built momentum. With several songs like “I Hate You” and “CheatHer” finding audiences online, the five-member band has been navigating their album Heartbreak Kit, new music, and their creative process through the waves.

We sat down with the members, Hafiz (leader and guitarist), Arfah (guitarist), Izzah (vocalist), Mamoru (drummer), and Rif (bassist), to talk their rise in online traction, the road to the debut album, and what it means to make pop punk in Malaysia. 

When talking about the slight surge in attention, the band admitted that while some things felt the same, others felt surreal.

“I think there’s something changing, because we get a lot of traction from people,” Izzah explained. “Previously, we had some fans that knew us, but this time it’s like a huge deal for us. It’s something that is very sudden, so we didn’t expect it to blow up.”

The momentum started building through their earlier releases, but accelerated with one track in particular. “‘I Hate You’ was also gaining a lot of traction, but not as much as ‘CheatHer’. So yeah, I think the momentum keeps going, but we’re still kind of in shock,” Izzah added.

“We didn’t expect ‘CheatHer’ to become a hit,” Rif said. “For some reason, it was a very unique song that we made. It’s not our typical sound.”

Despite the surprise, the band has adjusted quickly to the opportunities that have come their way. “We have a lot of amazing support from the band—my bandmates have been great people to deal with,” Izzah continued. “And we have a lot of interviews from our local stations, and also a lot more upcoming gigs and live shows. So we’re looking forward to that.”

When diving deeper into what has changed for them, Izzah shared that “I think it’s slow and progressive. For me, it’s a bit of a shock, but it’s still something that we can handle. It’s not like a big success or anything—it’s just like a smaller success, but it helps us prepare for whatever comes next.”

“The mainstream success is not what we would think about back then, you know, when you become famous and immediately break into the market and become the next big thing,” Rif added. “Now the mainstream market has a lot of other artists.”

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, the band views the gradual growth as a positive. 

“Our entry into the mainstream is a little bit more calm. We got the right people’s attention—the labels, the radio stations, and other artists who want to collaborate. So we’re not really feeling any pressure or stress from that,” Rif shared.

If you ask the band what song is ‘the sound’ of After Mdnight, you would get a slightly different answer across the members.

Izzah shared, “For me, ‘I Hate You’ and maybe some other songs that we haven't released yet.” Arfah thought the track “Till You Bleed” brings “this kind of emotional [feeling] in the lyrics, and once you listen to it, you will feel like, oh my god, this is… this is kind of the heartbreak that you actually feel.”

Mamoru, Rif, and Hafiz all agreed on “I Miss You” as the titular song of the band. “For me, ‘I Miss You’ lah. It sounds more like After Mdnight for me. I mean, that's the first thing that I heard from After Mdnight, which I love,” Mamoru said. Hafiz shared that he feels this is their sound “because this is our first song, and I'm the one who made it.”

Rif added that “‘I Miss You’ definitely is one of the tracks that signifies the After Mdnight sound. It has a nice ballad to it, and then it builds up to the pop-punk sound in the music itself. It has a good balance between the heaviness and also the softness of the song and the entire band.”

When asked about the creation process of their debut album, Heartbreak Kit, the band shared that it was several years in the making, despite it being a recent release.

“Hafiz proposed to me that we need to have an album,” Izzah recalled. “He said, ‘Maybe we can merge all of the new songs together with the old songs and just create an album,’ because we haven’t had some kind of discography for our band.”

The process didn’t move as quickly as they planned. “We actually planned to release the album three years ago,” Hafiz explained. “At that time, we said, okay, we will release it at the end of the year. But when the end of the year came, we only had two songs, so it was not enough. The next year came, and we only had one extra song.”

Eventually, Hafiz proposed committing to the project. “When the third year came, I said, ‘Okay, I think we need to do it seriously,’” Hafiz said. “So we came up with three new songs, and after that, we said enough. If we add another song, maybe the album will come out next year.” 

The long timeline also had another reason. “We had multiple lineup changes that disrupted the flow of the work,” Rif explained. “That’s why it took so long for the album to finally be released.” The final result was an eight-song debut album.

The naming of the album emerged once the songs were complete and Heartbreak Kit’s concept was fully realized. “Most of the songs are heartbreak songs,” Hafiz explained. “After we created all the songs, only then did we come up with the album title… We just realized the theme was already there.”

Mamoru added that “Hafiz kind of gave the idea in the first place, and we all just agreed with it. It made sense.”

When it comes to the actual creative process for the band, it is structured while remaining highly collaborative. 

Mamoru described how songs typically begin: “First, Hafiz sends a demo to each of us. It’s freedom—if I want to add something on the drums, it’s my freedom. So I give an idea, and sometimes we also have references like, okay, maybe I want this kind of drum beat or this kind of build-up.” 

The song evolves from there: “After I finish the drum demo, I give it back to Hafiz. Then maybe Izzah starts with the vocals, the melody, and so on,” Mamoru continued.

Hafiz further explained their workflow. “When we create a song, we don’t stay in one place and do it together like that. First, I draft the guitar parts. Then, I ask Mamoru to do the drum part. Then, I give it to Izzah to create the lyrics and melody. After that, we blend in the second guitar, bass, and synths. Only then it becomes one song.”

“We probably have a rough idea of what kind of music or style we want based on other bands,” Rif said. “So we take inspiration and say, okay, this sounds cool. Let’s make something like this—but without copying it.”

All in all, even with rising success, their creative process hasn’t deviated much from this. 

“I think the process is still the same. Nothing changed in that regard,” Rif said. “We’re definitely thinking about evolving a little bit, but not too far off from what our identity is… If it’s working, why not? Let’s keep going, right?”

That approach has carried into the new work they are creating, however, the band did share that living up to their own music has been the most challenging part.

“The most ‘pressure thing’ is making a new song,” Arfah admitted. “People already say [‘CheatHer’] is the benchmark of After Mdnight. So, how do we beat the benchmark?”

Arfah continued, “If the new song cannot hit like ‘CheatHer,’ that thought makes the process stronger.” The band unanimously agreed that they have become much harder on the decisions they make in their new music creation process. “Because [Izzah]'s the one who writes the lyrics, the burden on her will be more. ‘CheatHer’ is very catchy and all the things that,” Arfah shared.

The band keeps things grounded through that. “It may be stressful, but at the same time, we’re still having fun making music. We just take our chances. Who knows—whatever we make next time, maybe it will hit again,” Rif added.

Being a pop punk band in Malaysia presents its own unique musical environment. “In Malaysia, we have more pop bands, but most of them are still underground,” Hafiz said. “Malaysian audiences mostly like pop songs.”

Due to the prominence of pop, instead of drawing influence from local bands, the group often looks overseas. “We don’t derive influence from Malaysian bands,” Rif said. “We look more towards American or UK bands.”

Even though the band doesn’t feel pressure to represent the Southeast Asian region, “If people think we are a representation of pop-punk in Southeast Asia, then we will be honored,” Izzah stated. 

“We started doing this without any expectations,” Rif added. “Things just fall into our laps, and we just go on the ride. And if people feel like we represent the sound of Southeast Asia, we’re really happy and proud of that.”

When asked about what success looks like in the future for them, the band was focused on longevity. “If all five of us can still play together in the next ten years, I feel that’s already a huge success,” Rif shared. The entire band immediately laughed and agreed, musing on how difficult it can be to maintain a band.

Hafiz added, “Ten years of making music with the same members, playing on big stages together, going around the world… I think that’s success.”

They also brought up some dream milestones, including Coachella, Warped Tour, and the Grammys. And age certainly won’t stop them: “Most of us are in our [20s and] 30s,” Mamoru shared. “As long as the knees and backbone work, we’re still young,” Rif joked.

The band’s TOP8 span across several artists in the alternative and pop spaces.

Rif credits one band in particular. “Bullet For My Valentine. They were my huge inspiration when I was growing up in my teens.”

Mamoru points to a defining pop-punk influence. “For me, it’s Paramore.”

Hafiz names a longtime favorite. “Mayday Parade. It’s my top-tier favorite band.”

For Arfah, the inspiration came from somewhere unexpected: the fictional band Lemonade Mouth. “I don’t know if you know Lemonade Mouth—the Disney movie. Because of that movie, I kept dreaming to have a band, and here I am right now.”

Izzah’s songwriting influences come from outside the genre. “Taylor Swift, because I’m the songwriter,” she said.

The band also rounded out the last three with broader influences shaping their sound, including Avril Lavigne, Hey Monday, and Stand Atlantic.

As Mamoru summarized simply: “We love music.”

TOP8’s Take:

After Mdnight is a fantastic take on the pop punk genre, blending several old and new influences to create their own unique sound. Their debut album, Heartbreak Kit, is only the first step in the direction of what the band may bring to the scene in the future.

You can find After Mdnight on their YouTube, Instagram, or their other socials. The debut album is available now on several streaming platforms.

Spin the record and keep a keen eye out for future upcoming releases from the band.