Hong Kong Metal Alliance presents:
Hong Kong Metal Revolution 2012 (香港金屬起義2012)
Date：15/9/2012
Time：7:30pm
Performers: Cadaver, Elysium, Fear Index, Massacre of Mothman, Eve of Sin and Shepherds the Weak
HKD100 (Advance) HKD140 (Walk-in)
地點 Venue：Hidden Agenda
香港牛頭角大業街15-17號永富工業大廈2樓A室
2A, Wing Fu Industrial Bldg, 15-17 Tai Yip Street,
Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Ticket Outlets(Start on 18th AUGUST) :
Hidden Agenda
牛頭角大業街15-17號永富工業大廈2樓A室
2A, Wing Fu Industrial Bldg, 15-17 Tai Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Tel: 9170 6073
Records Rendezvous
新蒲崗大有街35號義發工業大廈14樓1405室
Flat1405, 14/F, Efficiency House, 35 Tai Yau Street, San Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: 2716 9333
弘力樂器 Holiday Music
新蒲崗大有街1號勤達中心地下
G/F, Midas Plaza, 1 Tai Yau Street, San Po Kong
Tel: 2242 2256
Bluesrock Guitar Shop
觀塘工業中心2期地庫F
Unit F, B/F, Ph 2, Kwun Tong Industry Building, Kwun Tong road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: 2622 2881
Battle Stage
觀塘巧明街112號友聯大廈11樓B2室
Unit B2, 11/Fm Union Building, 112 How Ming Street, KKwun Tong
Tel: 2415 2999
Music Life (音樂共和國)
旺角彌敦道582-592號信和中心地庫B38A
B38A, Basement, Sino Centre, 582-592 Nathan Road, Mongkok
Camel Studio
旺角通菜街2A-2P鴻光商場1樓2號
Shop 2,1/F, Hung Kwong Shopping Arcade, 2A – 2P Tung Choi Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: 3421 2587
Music Trio
旺角總統商業大廈1406室
Rm 1406, President Commercial Centre, 608 Nathan Road, Mong Kok
Tel: 2771 5888
Another week has lapsed and I have just returned from Hongkong where I held my talk on how to tour in China at strategic sounds, a cosy place on 10th floor of an industrial warehouse building. I talked amongst others on the experiences other bands have had during their China tours and I presented a list of best practices along with detailed contact information whom to get in touch with.
Ming of the band Ignite the Hope who was formerly in Los en Found talked about his very personal touring experiences he had with the collective Hea9vy and shared his suggestions for other bands.
Organized by Bun Warren and his Voice of Indie organization I hope that my presentation has given enough impetus to bands in Hongkong to take an extra step forward and start touring in the big brother around the corner just behind the border. Bun had also interviewed me for his Underground Battlefield radio show on radiodada.hk talking mostly about Rock in China, our cooperations and recent projects.
The good thing about Hongkong bands is that they have full access to the Internet and can speak very good English, hence the band Papercoin makes fully use of Facebook and Soundcloud. As they describe themselves:
Papercoin is an Electronic/Punk band from Hong Kong, formed in 2009. The principal members of the band are John Strohschein, Sanjay Leese, and Joey Orduna. We are currently unsigned, and all of our songs are self-produced. Our first release was the self-titled ‘Papercoin EP’, which came out in June 2010 and featured songs such as ‘Light A Fire’ and ‘Fallout’. Our second release, a self-produced, full-length album titled ‘The Noise From Insomnia’ was released on December 24, 2010.
Now, don’t expect Joyside, don’t think of P.K. 14 and definitely don’t think of Pet Conspiracy. Papercoin’s music is by far more ambient and pop punky, without any hard political themes or drunken emphasis. Not as energetic as White Eyes or Mix Market from Japan, but still lively enough to serve as more than background music for a relaxing night. Listen to a couple of their songs:
CORE IN CHINA is coming to a closure in submissions and a first roundup of songs and bands brought out a couple of gems in the music scene of China: Why Lazy, Multi-Ego, New Tank, Die In Velvet and Monkey King.
Why Lazy is a metalcore band from Henan and surprised us with a very straight forward song which name I don’t want to give away right now.
Multi-Ego is from the Tongzhou district of Beijing and started 2008, heading straight forward.
New Tank, another representative of Beijing, is focussed on emotional post hardcore and also started in 2008.
Die In Velvet is one of several Hongkong bands that answered our call and submitted a song. They are HC.
Monkey King is a band that originates in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, and moved from screamo to hardcore, something that can still be heard in their music.
Rock in China is still collecting further songs until March 15th and we are looking forward to a number of promising songs that some of the bands are still recording.
Hongkong has a vibrant indie music scene and as mentioned earlier, Victor has been kind enough to capture a number of recent rock and indie shows. The below videos are from the Hungry Ghosts EP2 launch party and feature Hongkong indie band Modern Children. Definitely of a softer kind than the bands featured on CORE IN CHINA, Modern Children combines the poppier indie rock on South China with classical instruments: violin and sometimes also erhu.
Post Hardcore band Mensheng (门生) from Hongkong responded to Rock in China’s call for artists for CORE IN CHINA. Azchael of RiC interviewed them and Joe Wu answered:
Azchael: Can you please introduce yourself and the band?
Joe Wu: Hi there I am Joe and I play guitar for Mensheng. We are a post-hardcore band from Hong Kong.
Azchael: What instruments are you using in the band? Which brand?
Joe Wu: Both Billy and I use ESP guitars. He uses Peavey 6505 guitar amp and I use Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier guitar amp. Our bassist uses Ibanez bass and Genz Benz bass amp. I believe our drummer uses DW snare, Pearl drums and Sabian cymbals.
Azchael: Tell us a little bit about the Hardcore scene in Hongkong? How many bands are there and what are their messages?
Joe Wu: There isn’t much a hardcore scene in Hong Kong. The only active hardcore band is probably King Ly Chee. Though there are good amounts of metalcore, post-hardcore, emocore, screamo bands in Hong Kong right now.
Azchael: You have been in China as early as 2008 and last year (2011) as well. What do you think of the scene in China compared to Hongkong?
Joe Wu: I think in China most venues are bars & clubs, while in Hong Kong, we often played in youth community center. This suggests that heavy music have a market in China. In Hong Kong, there isn’t really a bar or club having gigs daily like Mao (Beijing) or Vox (Wuhan). Another thing I notice is that audience in China are willing to learn more from the bands. When we toured in China, we had audience came to us asking questions regarding our songs’ messages, gears and etc. which I think is cool.
Azchael: Which cities do you like to perform in? And what Chinese bands do you like to play with?
Joe Wu: Guangzhou! We feel like this is our hometown and the crowds never disappointed us. We always have so much fun playing in this city. We love you Guangzhou! In the future I hope to play with The Falling because we have known them for awhile now but we still haven’t got to share the stage with them. The last time when they came to Hong Kong to play in Polymuso, they were supposed to play after Mensheng, but the rain became so heavy that organizer had to stop the outdoor show. What a pity!
Azchael: You have mentioned that you are working on a documentary about the band? Is it finished and where can I get it?
Joe Wu: Yeah it was finished and already shown on RTHK. Here’s the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdG2hTXE0Gw
Azchael: How do you usually promote your music? Do you also promote overseas?
Joe Wu: We promote our music any way we can find. I believe in hardcore and its DIY spirit. I suppose every indie band needs to promote their band themselves. We booked shows, organized our tours ourselves too. This way we have our own control and we can do the way we want! Yeah we also promote our music overseas through the internet. We had people from oversea that have bought our album.
Azchael: What is underground for you? Is Mensheng underground?
Joe Wu: To me underground is something you do without having to compromise. Mensheng is an underground band because we write and talk about whatever we want. We have touched subjects that the Chinese government would abandon. We never care if this band can be commerically successful. We just want to do what we want to do.
Azchael: You have also played on the 2010 Guangzhou I Scream Festival? How was the event and what was the reception of Guangzhou fans to your music?
Joe Wu: It’s one of the biggest festivals in Guangzhou in recent years. We were scheduled to play in the 2nd last spot, right before their hometown hero Yufeimen 与非门. The fans already screamed our band even before we stepped on the stage. We had so much fun because we saw the crowd moshing, dancing like there was no tomorrow. Like I said before the Guangzhou audience always gives Mensheng their biggest support.
Azchael: What do you think of Rock in China?
Joe Wu: I think Rock in China will be a very good platform to promote rock music in China to the rest of the world. It can introduce bands/artists to more people and let them know that there are quality music in China. So good luck to you guys!!!
Azchael: Thanks for the interview!
Joe Wu: Thank you having us here!
Rock in China interviewed Hongkong hardcore band DIE IN VELVET. Azchael from Rock in China and Ian from DIV.
Azchael: Can you introduce yourself and your band? Ian: I am Ian, im 23 yrs old. I live in HK, studying in London. Me and Rabbit started the band back in 2003, but DIV didn’t get to play gigs until like 2006 or 2007 coz there was a major line-up changing for us. It took years for us to find Alex to fill in as a bass player. I define our musical hardcore/punk even though we sound more metal among the genre, but DIV is always stick to the hardcore/punk ideology.
Azchael: Which instruments do you use in the band? Which brand? Ian: We don’t like playing stuffs with too much melody. Therefore, we ve only got 2 guitarists and 1 bass player in the band.Rabbit use various brand of guitars but he usually use the one Fernandes. Gavin is always stick to his ESP. And Alex love using his Fender Mustang bass.
Azchael: Can you tell me a little bit about the hardcore scene in Hongkong? What is the music about? How many people like hardcore? And which are the best venues? Ian: The hardcore scene is not very well developed in HK, but it is constantly growing. I remembered back in 2003 the scene had more hope,different magazines or organisation are always up to putting on shows and stuffs, but at some point, they are just gone and not doing it anymore which is very sad. But personally, i think there are not enough bands playing hardcore, bands are usually have other influences. But fair enough, i think it’s cool tho. I am not saying I’m the master or the authority of hardcore, but i think hardcore is consist of unity, caring and dedication. There is no any definition of what is hardcore but i don’t think hardcore is only about political. I HATE IT, when people judging any bands if they are hardcore enough only focusing on the fact that do they sing or care about the political stuff. I mean, there are many levels of hardcore, please don’t judging by focus on a level.
I have no idea about the numbers of people who love hardcore, probably a few hundreds?
There are not many proper venues in HK unless organiser are up for paying shit loads of money to hire a place, we have played in a gallery before, it has no any audio equipment, organiser has to pay extra money to hire the equipments. But to me, Hidden Agenda is always my personal favourite, they always have nice crowd there.
Azchael: Last year (2011) you recorded a song for the compilation “Knock Out” with the crew “Hea9vy”. Who else is in Hea9vy and where are they from? Ian: We recorded the song “everyday lives everyday dies” in the compilation CD last year with HEA9VY. Basically, it is formed with bunch of my mates from ATP, Hardpack, Embryo, Faceface, Losenfound, and DIV. We are all from HK, we are like a crew. We shared a studio together, we do things together.
Azchael: Having been on two China tours already, where have you toured and what were your experiences in China? Ian: We did a tour in 2007 with Embryo, we went to 8 cities like Guangzhou, Cheung Sa, Wuhan, Beijing. I remembere people were pretty confused with what we were doing. I guess coz there are no bands playing the similar music as we do. But when we went on the tour in 2011, things have changed a bit, the scene in China is clearly getting bigger and bigger, crowds were more active, and they always love interacting with the band, which is very different from my previous experience. i am looking forward to have another tour in China after we recorded our album (or EP) in 2012. I missed those places and the travelling.
Azchael: How many songs do you usually play at a show and which ones you do you want to include on your upcoming record? Ian: We have played 5 songs only in the last tour in 2011, due to the fact that i have been away from the band, so we don’t get to practice a lot as a whole band. But we will definitely playing some old songs (from the last EP) in the future. One of my favourite is “Dogs biting dogs” will definitely be on the upcoming record, it is about the idea of class. Please do check it out.
Azchael: How do you see the scene in China compared to Hongkong? Ian: As i mentioned earlier, i think the crowd in China is more active, the scenes potentially bigger if there are more bands playing in the genre. But after the 2 tour we did, i found that Northern China is a bit different from Southern China, the people from Northern China are less likely to interact whereas the audience in Southern China are more likely to interact with us. But i guess it is because we are all speaking in cantonese.
Azchael: What is underground for you? Are you underground? Ian: For me, underground is where i belong, where i come from. Underground is where i can find myself, people wouldn’t judge you by how you look, they don’t care if you are rich, they don’t care if you are famous. All we want to do is have fun and enjoy ourselves. I am not saying that i hate everything but the underground, i do respect people from all kinds of music, but they are just not my type and thats it.
Well, i think i am pretty underground i guess. i can’t really enjoy a pop concert from the beginning till the end, i need more interact with the band. Plus i love crowd surfing.
Azchael: How do you promote your songs? Have you started overseas promotion? Ian: We don’t promote our songs too much, i mean we are not a full-time band. We all got jobs to maintain our lives, it’s a bit hard for us to promote our songs in our personal time. Therefore, we just promote our music a bit on Facebook, Douban and Weibo that sort of things.
We have not started too much oversea promotion yet. I sing in cantonese, so may be we will, while i ve written my lyrics in English.
Azchael: What do you think of Rock in China? Ian: I think Rock in China is a very good idea. It is the fundamental of the scene. Audience need more access to various artists and Rock in China can be one of their resources. I hope this project can keep going as long as it can. And let the world know more about hardcore in China. It is time for us to show what we can do.
A very good way to have an indepth look into the Hongkong music scene is given to us by Shing Victor and his amazing youtube channel featuring over 3000 (!!!) live videos of excellent quality of various venues all accross Hongkong!
Having had the chance to talk to him this Sunday evening he mentioned that there are still 70 gigs to be uploaded to the channel. 70 (!) gigs (!) with multiple bands and songs! Wow, a great bow towards this young man and his tremendous effort to capture the current state of Hongkong underground music!
Sunday was the day and Sunday the talk “Being an international-aware band” was held at the Fullcupmusic Cafe in Hongkong. As promised earlier, the presentation is online and downloadable for others to have a look at. A youtube version of the presentation will be online later.
Being a very graphic presentation I fear that without explanations the presentation will not make too much sense for those that have not attended, but some speaker notes are available at the Google Documents version.
Summarizing the main points of the presentation:
Bands have to understand in which environment they are (market & competition)
There are two basic effects: PUSH and PULL
PULL equals the band’s message
Successful artists live their message, see examples.
With the PUSH potentials shown bands can promote their music.
Hi everybody. If you are in Hongkong on January 8th, then come around to our first Rock in China talk session. Here is the full detail:
Venue: Fullcup Cafe, 3/F, Hanway Commercial Bldg., 36 Dundas Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Date & Time: January 8th 2011, 7pm – 9pm
PRESENTATION PLUS OPEN DISCUSSIONS 講座／座談會
Speaker: Azchael, aka Max-Leonhard von Schaper, founder of Rock In China http://www.rockinchina.com/
Date: January 8, 2012
Fees: free, but please buy a drink at the venue
Reservation: please see below for reservation
In today’s world everybody has the chance (thanks to the internet) to listen to bands from Iraq, China, the USA, France and Russia within an heartbeat of opening Youtube or Last.fm. The times of regional dominance in the music charts are past, with a certain amount of American music still prevailing. 100 years ago one could only turn around a radius of 50 to 200 kilometers for music. 50 years ago it became a 1000 kilometers and today the globe is just the border. The competition in music has grown so aggressive that competing factors with which one can persuade the listener are music and message.
And how many bands from Hongkong are known to the typical Westerner? Usually: None! Hong Kong, city of Bruce Lee and international finance is a white spot in the map of music so far. That can be changed!
In this talk, Max will use lively example of bands that because successful through clear message and the right marketing approach to achieve success not only locally, but also internationally.
Language: English, but Max can also communicate in Putonghua, oh, and of course, German
RESERVATION : Facebook inbox message!!
e.g :
[ Being an international-aware band x fullcupmusic @ 2012.01.08 ];
natty cheng ; tele : 6279 3650 ; 4 ppl
Organizers: Bun Ng, Kung Chi Shing
Poster designed by Rice Move
