Live Review from Girls with Guitars #8
1. Loyal to Ourselves
2. 留影
3. 逆草同根
4. 後知後覺
5. 花影重來
With regulation heavy rock attire, packing some serious sonic firepower and not cracking a smile, the five members of Dovey looked like they meant business from the get-go. And wow, did they. A huge, buzz saw twin-guitar attack from six-string sirens Ami and Kay and soaring, impassioned vocal from cute bob-haired Sogun made for a massive sound which alternatively pulverised and beguiled a transfixed audience into submission.
Not to be left out, bass player Ting was great, funking and twanging to hold the bottom end together while drummer Renee was also a total star, belying her demure appearance by rocking like a drumming dervish. She also looked like she had just walked off the set of a TVB historical drama. Yum.
After singing the first track partially in English, Sogun announced (in Cantonese) – “we are from Hong Kong, now we sing in Cantonese!” to great applause. To be honest they could have been singing in Serbo-Croat – the language of rock is universal, kids.
Effortlessly maintaining the drama, this was a really excellent performance from an experienced band with more than 100 gigs under their studded musical belts. My only criticism was that with just five tracks, it felt like a short set. Just as I was getting into it! But you know what they say – leave ‘em wanting more. And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one in the audience who could have done with another couple of Dovey doses (does that work?).
A classic Hong Kong rock sound, combined with great looks and strong commercial appeal made Dovey the act of the night for me. Lovey Dovey!
– Dan Creffield
到最後的Dovey，真的是「彈結他的女生」樂隊呢！有三位結他手；一位主唱和一位鼓手。主唱介紹樂隊時說還是自己親自設計樂隊CD封面的。成立數年，經過不同的成員變動，形成現在的 Dovey，還是希望把樂隊音樂延續，光聽著覺得這很值等鼓勵。
主唱聲音很有能量，有實感的嗓音同時又有氣音的運用，聲音的變化收放自如，有時候歌曲開始時主唱在用好像喃喃自語的方式演唱，到中段再慢慢的爆發起來。聽著聽著覺得好像歌詞有種憤世嫉俗的感覺，但也許這不是樂隊想傳達的感覺，負能量不一定是充斥著的。雖談不上是很歡樂的調子，但可能是想表達在不如意、不理想的生長、生活環境中如何求存的掙扎；釋放自己，歌曲的主題也跟「自由」相關，創作風格和表達都很自我，而有意思的創作很值得和再慢慢細聽。 偶爾有 Girls with Guitars 的主題也很不錯， 讓人多了 解和認識會創作；會唱歌；會彈結他的女生！
– Phyllis Lau
Live Review from Girls with Guitars #1:
The next band is called “Dovey”. An all-girl band consisting of Ami & Kay on guitars, Ting on Bass, and Sogun on lead vocals. Their original drummer Mamui was taken over by a male friend of theirs whose name I didn’t quite catch…
I have to say, their first number, although an excellent song, sounded very disjointed, but that’s understandable, it’s the warm up song.
And after the second & third number, I felt like more rehearsal time was in order as, again, they sounded quite disjointed and lacked cohesion. I like their guitar riffs and the melodies of their music, but they’re out of sync at times, which is quite distracting. I wonder if it’s to do with the new drummer??
Don’t get me wrong, I really like their music. Their fifth song is an English one which my Scottish friend “K” says is “reminiscent of THE SLITS in the 80’s but with more guitars, and more rockier than the reggae stuff THE SLITS used to play.” So there.
Dovey is a band with a large sound that rocked the house! I guess I’m just a perfectionist. I think they can do even better!
Joves
Live Review from Underground 65:
Dovey was a bit nervous, that was easy to spot. This all girl band impressed us with professionalism in playing, but they seem to fear looking at the audience or even communicating with them/us. They made very mature music. I had to assume majority of the bands in The Underground already produced mature music, but when you watched their young stage performance, the music was exceptionally mature. Mild-looking lead guitarist Micky could actually lead the sound of the band through her tasteful guitar licks, and when she broke into the finger taps it was a pity the crowd did not go wild, may be because she was being so nonchalant about it that everyone else thought it was “oh nothing, never mind”. Their songs typically had a hard-rock arrangement, just sounding rather pop-rock. This highlighted singer Natalia’s great voice, reminding me of Dolores O’Riodan of The Cranberries. And we all know, this kind of voice can go very far. With this amazing line up, why so shy?
Bun Ng
