Put on your suit jacket and grab a coffee...it's morning

Hong Kong

Loads of people think that Hong Kong's music scene is just about Canto-pop. Actually, sometimes it's annoying how people diss canto-pop even though they haven't heard of it before. I don't like canto-pop but then at least I know what it's about...and don't just diss it for the sake of it. ANYWAYS...I realised the greater side of Hong Kong's music scene late this year (WHEEE It's half an hour until 2004!!)...and I owe it all to...MY FAVOURITE HONG KONG BAND > UNCLE JOE!! Getting to know Uncle Joe made me realise that there IS music in Hong Kong. Lame lame lame...[Silence is easy//It just becomes me//You don't even know me//You all lie about me] I have info on my few favourite Local bands below!! You can also find a Band Show Calendar on this page...so you can plan to go as many shows as possible :D

Uncle Joe // Whence He Came // Audio Traffic // The Academy // Garoupa

Monthly Band Show Calendar || Past Shows worth Mentioning

First Step - Thank you Milk Farm

My first ever real live band show (Not canto-pop) was this year. The Milk Farm festival Live Band show. Went to watch Uncle Joe for the first time (wohohoho and talked to them for the first time, got their CD off Andrew and got them to autograph it ahhaha...so sad). Literally blown away by the music (The speakers were AMAZINGLY loud and we were standing right next to them). They were amazing. I love Milk Farm (I also got my funki wallet there...for $10!!).

Second Step - Rockit Festival

This year, Hong Kong had its very first REAL outdoor Rock festival. The line-up we had was amazing. Apart from the various local acts, we had Supergrass (next to my heart...[Can you hear us pumping on your stereo]), Goldrush, The Feelers, Electric Eel Shock, DJ Marky, Buddhiston, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra (The guys who did the "Sex and the City" theme) and loads more other guys. We (Karen and I) joined the street team for Rockit (That's why we were handing out Rockit flyers and pinning up posters and all that) and so we got free crew passes (which was waaay funki because we got real close to the performers...HELLO - EES were packing their stuff next to my bag!! AND I TALKED TO THE DRUMMER - GIAN!!!) Anyways, it was all great. We had fun trying to find the Rockit headquarters (which was Amnesia in Central...which is sooooooo nice), we had fun getting lost while trying to find Tom's (from Uncle Joe) office to pick up some flyers. It was all fun. Supergrass couldn't make it at the last minute but the thing itself was great. Not only did we get a chance to watch Electric Eel Shock LIVE, I also got to know more Local bands. Uncle Joe's show was great (DU-UH) and I also caught AudioTraffic, The Academy and Garoupa. Actually being involved with Rockit was great. Most fun I've had in ages :D especially walking around Central trying to find Tom and Justin hahaha...looked so "yeung siu"

Random Steps - Buying CD's, Buying Tees

My recent love has been CD shopping. Since it's impossible to shop in HMV (Although I have to admit, I DID get my Whence he Came album from HMV), I've been checking out some other CD shops in Hong Kong (Check my Shop List for info). I went up to "The Panic" (Mong Kok) which I officially love. They have loads of Bowie, Strokes, Beatles and Stones Tees and loads of local band CD's as well. I got my "Stockbroker's" album and "Arcadia" album from The Panic. During Rockit, I also got a nice blue Uncle Joe Tee (which I got them to autograph :D hehe), their EP "Send home to Victoria" and I also got a Buddhiston Tee (which is one of my favourite tees in my t-shirt collection).

Knowing the Band Scene

Firstly, most Hong Kong people don't actually realise that most of these bands exist - they're two busy with the canto-pop stars (don't get me wrong...some canto-pop songs are actually nice and I LOVE Sammi but then it's people like Twins and Boy'z that I have a problem with...no talent at all...and they're the ones that caused Swing to disband...poor Swing). So it's not easy trying to get info about these bands unless you go look for it. The Panic in Mong Kok (check shop list) has regular band shows so that's a good place to start. They also have loads of local band CD's. If you go to my "Links" page, you'll see some sites about the Local band scene so take a look at those. "48 Chicago Blues" is another Band Show place. I haven't been there myself but loads of bands have played there before. The Fringe Club also offers live music but they're usually more suited for older people even though I really want to catch Thinking Out Loud sometime at the Fringe. Regular bands at the Fringe (in Central) include Thinking Out Loud, Don't Panic, Hei Sha, Papa Jack and several jazz bands. The local magazine "MCB bi-weekly" is a great source to the local music scene as well. So's Milk Magazine. Milk's really involved with the band scene so sometimes, they put stuff in there about it. It's not a lot but sometimes they have some stuff. (Mr Wheeler's pic was in Milk once hahaha...for Don't Panic).