Woooohoooo! What a great start to 2007!Thanks to everyone who turned up and got treated to five very different sounding bands! “The Underground” is going strong in it’s third year!love Chris B xx
Natural City
It was great to see Jon on stage again. This is the third time I have seen him play live (never with his other half) and part of me thinks I will never think of Natural City as anything but Jon, his harmonica, and his guitar. He really has a rare sweet voice (for a man) reminiscent of Turin Brakes or James. It is a shame most rock shows start off with the acoustic act, but Jon has lots of spirit and it is to his credit that he went on despite the small crowd. Jon manages to get a full sound out of his guitar and does play as if he were backed by a rock band, which creates a nice contrast to his sweet voice.
Tony (dragonradio.hk)
Polymer
Polymer were a tough act for me to put a finger on. I am not familiar with Mansun, but everyone I talked to seemed convinced that at one point this band was a Mansun tribute band. Mostly sung in English, this local band showed lots of energy on stage. There were some great guitar effects and solos, but the songs themselves still need a little work. They need to put a little more emotion in their EMO sound.
Tony (dragonradio.hk)
ToNick
This tight 4 piece smelled like Green Day, but sounded more like local favorites Hard Pack. Really it was just straight ahead punk rock with Cantonese lyrics. The band enthusiastically interacted with the crowd and were quite at ease on stage. I would have to say they were a “happy” punk band, not of the “angry” variety.Tony (dragonradio.hk)
I’ve fallen in love again! Ar Hang on vocals and guitar deserves to have me for his girlfriend. I love the jokes they told but most importantly I love how the songs are so professional with interesting subjects. Sun Hei on drums is cute too and a great drummer, maybe I can be his girlfriend? If Ar Hang and Sun Hei already have girlfriends then maybe Siu Gwai (who is so great on the guitar solo) will like me? But I also like Ryan. I love ToNick!
Daisy
Bone Table
Well! What a surprise it was to see Robert and Bone Table back on stage. I have not seen them live for a while, and what a difference those few months have made. It could have been the sound system, but these days the vocals and the music really come together. I feel their sound is a cross between early Talking Heads and your friendly neighborhood blues band. With vocal leads split between laid back blues delivery (Robert) and aggressive rock delivery (Adrian), the band has the flexibility to be quite creative with their song writing. It was the perfect band to go with my last beer of the night
Tony (dragonradio.hk)
So What
I was told that So What have a message in their music, but since I don’t understand Mandarin (yet), I really missed out on that part. What I can tell you is that this all female unit is very tight and very talented. Basically, a rock band with “shanghai style” Mandarin Chinese vocals; think B52’s fronted by one of the Shanghai Divas. On another note, Rachel the drummer, is really one of the best female drummers in Hong Kong (that I know of).Tony Reno (dragonradio.hk)
First time to watch this band, I thought So What is a three piece all girl band, why are the cute guys not mentioned? Singing Mando-pop, the best part was the saxophone solo and the very last song which is a rocker. The music is good although the band members dont look like they belong together, it would have been so great to see them all in a dress not just the bass player, maybe not the guitarist hehe.
Daisy
Above photos © Copyright 2007 by YanYan Pang
Poster by Sheli