Thanks to Red Rain & The Honeys coming from their respective cities to perform at Underground 60. I know the audience & I had a whale of a time and it was funny to have a dance competition but lets not talk about my performance during that…. The new layout at Club Cixi is more ‘band-friendly’ and we look forward to many more Underground shows there.
love Chris B xx
BORN TO HULA
Born to Hula is a 3 piece outfit comprising of a lead/rhythm guitar, drums, and, unusually, in the land of small flats and narrow streets, a double bass. The music was dark and rhythmic, and in a melting pot of styles ranging from the 60s to grunge. The songs are interestingly crafted with some great hooks but yet the band seemed disconnected from the audience (us!). Sure there wasn’t that many people there, but weren’t those of us who turned up worth entertaining? I like the double bass playing and the girl drummer is cute, really cute AND she really can drum and sing. Lead vocalist (Harry?) is charismatic enough to front the band. The overall consensus is that they are punky and funny.
Kennie Triad
SO WHAT
They’ve got a very nice guitarist and pianist supporting them tonight and it’s also the singing debut of their bassist Shirley. The guitarist Chris was so amazing, the sound he made matched other sounds in the band beautifully; you can feel the emotions vibrating from the strings and also the confidence. The drummer (Rani aka Rachel) is a very competent at her job but seems a bit nervous, or uncomfortable with playing with the band despite all her best efforts. It was only by their last song that they really seemed to be enjoying themselves. The outcome of the whole band is nice and they can improve by getting more experience on stage.
Kennie Triad
RED RAIN (New Zealand 新西蘭)
As soon as this band started playing, they made the whole of Club Cixi sit up. This is the difference between HK bands and international bands. Not only great musicians, but they know how to perform and entertain. They created rapport with the audience with words, looks, smiles and action. Their music is more traditional rock with crunchy chords and big drums, somewhat reminiscent of early U2 but it works really well for them and its easy for the audience to dance to. When they announced there are currently on an 8 month world tour with 130 shows on this tour, you cant help but wonder if any of our wonderful HK bands will ever gig that many times in their entire lives… This is what Red Rain does. With AIAIAI being the product sponsor of the evening, Michael (lead vocalist) managed to organise a dancing competition which had the whole club cheering and laughing. What pros. I had not heard any of their songs before watching them and at the end I was so disappointed that they had no CDs for sale (probably the most unpro like thing of them to do!).
Kennie Triad
THE HONEYS (Shanghai 上海)
Worth the wait. They created an amazing atmosphere with their multi-layered sounds. The drum and bassist are so solid and the whole band is incredibly tight. With the delay guitar effect, the guitarist created a very important layer to make the songs more beautiful and enhancing the feel. The two guest performers together with The Honeys made the style of their songs more unique and possibly even more cultural by adding traditional Chinese sounds which helped to differentiate the band from bands with similar style such as, say Crowded House. The vocalist oozes personality and a sexy air about him. The whole band seemed to be enjoying themselves and its great to see a drummer who so delights in performing with his band. They are real pros, The Honeys, the instruments are perfectly balanced and despite not knowing their songs my friends and I really grooved with this band. Too bad they couldnt play even one encore.
Kennie Triad
