Underground 81

It was great to be back at The Melting Pot and to watch some new (at least to The Underground) bands doing their thing. 滾友 were being compared to Pink Floyd, The Corners exceeded all expectations, Bodytoning were naughty and played too many covers but we forgave them cause their love of music and performing was so obvious (plus their originals were great!) and then one of our favourite bands in HK, Transnoodle came and played their set to everyone’s delight! I was in indie music heaven. Thank you to the musicians who created these bands, thank you to the fans who came to watch, drink Asahi beer and dance, thank you to Zane for the great sound and of course thanks to The Underground team who make every show possible.

love Chris B xx

滾友

I was told that the Melting Pot is a venue for the softer side of the Underground, a perfect place to relax my soul. However, I soon realized that it was wrong when the four boys from 滾友 kicked off the show with a piece of instrumental progressive metal music. Their vocal Karen joined them in the second song and added one more layer to their music. The maturity and complexity of their songs were very impressive, not something that anyone would expect from a group of young people like them. In my opinion, they can add more lo-mids to the guitar tone so as to thicken it up and cut through better. I am sure many people are looking forward to their next performance at the Underground.

Click here to see them playing their original song: 欺人太甚(That’s Enough) at Underground 81!

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The Corners

The second band The Corners attracted a big crowd of audience when the four big boys went on stage. They started off with a mid-tempo, a somewhat Britpop piece of music, which helped cooling down my raging blood after listening to 滾友’s heavy metal set. Clement’s crystal-clear guitar lead tone always caught my ears’ attention and it kept ringing in my head song after song. For more than one time, they reminded me of my favorite British band, The Verve. They gradually put more and more energy into their music. To the end of their set, they are definitely more ROCK than pop.

Click here to see them playing their original song: ‘Fire’ at Underground 81!

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Bodytoning

It was the first appearance of this four-piece grunge band, Bodytoning, at the Underground. I could feel the rawness of their music in every single note that they played. The singer and guitarist Anthony had contributed a lot in delivering the creating the grunge feeling. I was amazed when their drummer Kenny left the drum set and became the lead vocal in a soft, soulful piece of music, it was my favorite song of them. The band has excellent stage performance, and you can tell from their faces that they were really enjoying themselves on stage, sharing with the audience the joy of having the freedom of playing music that they like.

Click here to see them playing their original song: ‘She Loves Me’ at Underground 81!

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Transnoodle

I Only three bands have performed 7 times at the Underground (Correct me if I am wrong :p) and the ska band Transnoodle is one of them. It was my third time to watch them at the UG and it is not difficult to understand why are they being invited back so often. Once they started playing, no one can stop tapping their feet. Even shy people like me wanted to dance along with the songs too. In fact, I was so into their music and did not even have time to write down anything for their review. Their performance is energetic, with high ‘dancibility’. I am not an expert in classifying music into different categories, so you can check out other reviews or the best way is to go to one of the shows.

Click here to see them playing their original song: ‘Port Royal’ at Underground 81!

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