BLAK

Live review from The Medullary Paralysis Live in Hong Kong 2012:

IMG_6022wtmk.jpgThe name of this band is BLAK, but you can also try BLΛK; clearly these are young men playing with words. BLAK is well-known as a two-piece all-electro band but those of you who were at the show witness the rebirth of BLAK in a four piece. Originally, the line up was Jacky (Velvette Vendetta) and Po Kei (most well known being a frontman of Good Fellas). They now have added drummer Marvin (In Love & Pain!) and Angus (also of Good Fellas, but erstwhile of Born To Hula) on bass.

It takes too long to describe the background of a somewhat supergroup. Probably because it’s their first show as a four-piece, they draw the first slot. I personally know the BLAK catalog rather well, and they have completely rewritten the songs for the four piece. We now have Angus on the round bass sound and Marvin with the steady beat. You can almost tell Marvin have to struggle a bit to shed the Animal (of The Muppets) drumming to keep a dance beat (Marvin later on confessed that, yes, he needs to listen to click). It was particularly cute for me that he used a small china (for the ching ching crash sound), and a relief at fills when he could extend a roll over four drums or more! I haven’t seen Angus on bass for some time now; thinking back at one point he was playing a double-bass, too.

While BLAK made a bit of a stir being a rare electro outfit in Hong Kong, they are still not a local sensation yet, and it took the crowd a little while to warm up. Jacky, in his red plait jacket, is certainly a perfect handsome frontman. Po Kei did bring the set to a boil with “Break In” (not a comment about Jacky but that it takes time for even a great band to warm a crowd up). Even line-up vs line-up, BLAK came as a great set-piece against the industrial The Medullary Paralysis but it was, I suppose, still early in the set. Furthermore, I suppose not everyone in attendance was aware of the historical significance that this band just bursted out of their pupa and is soon to be a full blown butterfly, as, if I may say so, when a line up gets so frighteningly strong.

— Bun Ng

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