[中文訪問於下半頁]
Interview by Becky Wong and Vivian Yeung
With all the talk lately of a shoegaze revival, you’d think that Hong Kong didn’t already have a flourishing shoegaze scene – but she does, and the scene has always existed despite being overlooked by the mainstream. From Slowdive to Dinosaur Jr. to The Jesus and Mary Chain, indie promoter Songs for Children has brought countless shoegaze and indie pop acts to the Hong Kong stage and even started their own record label. Vivian and Becky were intrigued by the people who were bringing their favorite bands to Hong Kong, so they spoke to Jane from Songs for Children to find out how the shows are put together, what they think of the local indie scene, and their future plans for the record label.
Q: Why did you first start Songs for Children?
Jane: Mike and I moved from London to Hong Kong almost seven years ago, and everywhere I went I couldn’t find music that I liked or much of an alternative scene. So I decided to put on an indie night, play music and promote it, and Mike would do the advertising and design. We were so surprised that 200 people turned up on the first night – it was really busy, and we found all these people, all these misfits and weirdos who were into the same stuff as us, who crawled out of the woodworks.
Q: What was your first impression of music in Hong Kong?
Jane: We were living in the Sheung Wan area and we’d go to the usual places like Soho but it was hard to find the indie scene. I think there was a vibrant scene there but it was more underground.
Q: There aren’t many indie clubs in Hong Kong.
Jane: That’s the thing we were thinking – where are the indie clubs? Where are the indie people? I ended up meeting a lot of people from doing the indie night, who were also into DJ-ing and indie music. It was just really fun. We hadn’t expected it to be so busy, so it just kind of snowballed from there.
Q: You’ve brought a lot of indie pop and shoegaze bands here. In addition to a liking for the music, was there any reason why you chose those bands and why you thought they might work in HK?
Jane: We’d never done it for the money, we kind of just chose bands that we loved and could invite here and not lose money. When we started there were bands we definitely really wanted to bring – The Drums, Jesus and Mary Chain, Dinosaur Jr., Slowdive, Craft Spells, Yuck. And we knew there was a shoegaze scene here, and it’s fun to see all the young people influenced by these bands.
Q: Have you ever been surprised by the size or demographic of the audience at your shows?
Jane: We were really surprised about the Jesus and Mary Chain – it was a young local audience and the band absolutely loved it. It was like the 80s again. It got really crazy and we had a lot of security that night – the moshpit got so crazy when the band was doing the Psychocandy encore.
Q: What’s the biggest difference between shows in Scotland and in Hong Kong?
Jane: I’m from Edinburgh, and there’a s huge indie scene in Scotland. Like Hong Kong, it’s small, but it’s got an infrastructure of indie cafes, gigs and labels, there’s so much going on. In Hong Kong it’s hard to find that kind of mid-sized venue, whereas in Scotland they have lots of converted cinemas, churches, random places turned into venues where they can get a licence for a bar so that they can make money. The UK indie scene is also linked to the club scene. It’s just harder to get an entertainment or drinks licence here, and there are concerns about noise. There’s definitely more stuff happening now, like vinyl fairs, but many venues here aren’t really set up for indie rock bands and we’re not really into big stadiums.
Q: The upcoming Yuck show on 1st April will be held at the Hangout. How do you decide on which venue to showcase which band?
Jane: Capacity; some venues hold more people and are more expensive than others. There’s the band’s fee, their setup (shoegaze bands need bigger setups), the backline, how many people they’re bringing along. Then there’s transport, PAs, lighting, hotels, visas, etc. There’s always a risk; we need to think about how to breakeven.
Q: What do you think of the increasing number of shows here?
Jane: I think it’s reached the saturation point in Hong Kong. It’s always been expensive to put on bands here because of the venues, but back then there were fewer shows. Now people really have to make decisions about which bands to see, and they end up picking the big shows so the smaller shows suffer. Like when bands come to Asia for festivals like Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic, they do their Asian tours around the same time so they might all play in Hong Kong a few nights in a row. It’s getting harder for the smaller shows to survive.
Thud, first band on SFC’s record label.
Q: You recently launched SFC management and record label, with Thud as your first band. What are you trying to achieve with the label?
Jane: Now that we’ve been in Hong Kong longer and understand the local band scene better, I think it’s the right time to help local bands go overseas. All these years bringing international bands to Hong Kong – now I’ve seen a lot of local bands that I love, and I want to introduce Thud to overseas audiences.
Q: Has there been a surge of overseas interest in Hong Kong music?
Jane: Things like the Umbrella Revolution have highlighted Hong Kong – back home Scotland is trying to gain independence, and there’s a lot more interest in Hong Kong. People know there’s a shoegaze scene here; there are a lot more younger bands coming out here, it’s all very exciting.
Q: What’s the “Hong Kong sound” to you?
Jane: Hong Kong shoegaze has a shoegaze element to it, but it’s also quite post-punky as well. I’m not really too worried about genres, though the shoegaze label is sometimes overused, I understand it’s a way of promoting and introducing themselves to people. It’s good to stick to what you’re good at and not be a band that sticks to one genre. All the great bands are like that – if you hear them on the radio, you’ll instantly know it’s them.
The first band on SFC’s record label, Thud, will be opening for Yuck this Wednesday, 8pm at The Hangout. If you missed Yuck the first time round, don’t make the same mistake; if you saw them back in 2012, well, then you already know they’re a great live band and should see them again.
採訪：Becky Wong, Vivian Yeung
近年瞪鞋風潮漸漸復興，你或許以為香港瞪鞋圈子仍然沉寂－事實上於主流而言十分陌生的瞪鞋已在本地漸冒頭角。由Slowdive、Dinosaur Jr.至The Jesus and Mary Chain，獨立音樂推廣團體Songs for Children (SFC)一直致力為本地樂迷帶來海外瞪鞋及indie pop樂隊演出，最近更宣佈設立自己的唱片廠牌。今次我們很高興找來Songs for Children負責人Jane，暢談籌組演出的背後故事、對本地獨立樂界的看法及SFC未來的發展方向。
問：成立Songs for Children的契機是？
Jane：7年前我和Mike一同由倫敦來到香港，當時去了很多地方也找不到合乎口味的音樂。於是我決定嘗試辦一個indie night，一手一腳去籌組、宣傳，Mike負責設計宣傳物品。當晚有差不多200人入場，人數之多我們感到頗驚訝。整晚都十分忙碌，遇見了很多怪人、奇人，發現了大家的音樂品味相近，觀眾好像突然蹦出來的，一下子凝聚了一大撮人群。
問：對香港音樂的第一印象？
Jane：我們住在上環，去過大部分人會去的地區，例如Soho等，要在這些地方找到獨立音樂的蹤影十分困難。但我相信獨立音樂是存在的，只是都藏起來了，需要慢慢去發掘。
問：香港的indie clubs不多。
Jane：這正是當初令我感到疑惑的地方－indie clubs都去哪了？獨立樂迷在哪？透過舉辦indie night，我認識了很多朋友，他們都十分沉迷DJ及獨立音樂，實在有趣極了。我們完全沒有預計會如此忙碌，就像滾雪球般越滾越大。
問：你為本地樂迷帶來很多indie pop及瞪鞋樂隊，除了個人喜好外，有什麼因素令你決定邀請樂隊，為何覺得適合本地樂迷？
Jane：我們舉辦演出從來都不是為了賺錢。我們選擇喜愛的樂隊，衡量過邀請他們來港演出，能達至收支平衡後便會實行。剛開始時有一個樂隊名單－The Drums、Jesus and Mary Chain、Dinosaur Jr.、Slowdive、Craft Spells、Yuck，是我們絕對想帶來香港的樂隊。香港的瞪鞋樂界的確存在，我們亦樂見這些樂隊為年輕人帶來正面影響。
問：舉辦演出時，有為觀眾數目及年齡層感到驚訝的時候嗎？
Jane：Jesus and Mary Chain演出現場的確令我們十分驚訝－入場觀賞的年輕樂迷為數不少，樂隊亦十分享受與樂迷的互動，有如回到八十年代。當晚非常瘋狂，我們請來了不少保安－終曲Psychocandy時台下的moshpit的瘋狂程度實在難得一見。
問：你認為蘇格蘭與香港的演出最大分別在於？
Jane：我長於愛丁堡，當地的獨立樂圈十分蓬勃。與香港一樣，地方細少，但不同的是當地有許多獨立音樂演出場地、indie cafes、演出、唱片廠牌等。反觀香港，要找到同類中型演出場地殊不容易。在蘇格蘭只要領取牌照便可將戲院、教堂、其他地方變成演出場地，透過演出賺錢亦不困難。再且，英國獨立樂界與clubbing景象有著密不可分的關係。在香港你很難取得娛樂及酒精牌照，噪音也是一大問題。雖然現在多了與音樂相關的活動，例如黑膠聚會等，但大部份的演出場地並非為獨立音樂而設，大型場館亦不是理想的地方。
問：4月1日即將來港演出的Yuck選址蒲吧。你是怎樣決定不同樂隊的演出場地？
Jane：可容納人數。有些場地可容納更多觀眾，場租當然會更貴。然後是樂隊演出費用、器材設置（瞪鞋樂隊一般需要較大空間設置器材）、音響、吸引觀眾數目等。運輸、燈光、音效、住宿、簽證等都是籌組海外樂隊演出的經費。當然會遇到危機，所以我們要經常預備應變計劃。
問：近年本港演出增多，對此有何看法？
Jane：我覺得差不多到了飽和點。即使幾年前演出較少，因場租問題要舉辦一場演出仍然所費不菲。現在演出數目增多，觀眾自然會更認真選擇想看的樂隊；往往較知名的樂隊會更受歡迎，而規模稍細的則無可避免受到影響。例如樂隊到亞洲地區出席Fuji Rock、Summer Sonic等大型音樂節，他們會順道來港作巡迴演出，結果幾晚內可能會有幾個知名樂隊訪港，小型演出自然較難生存。
Thud － SFC廠牌首隊樂隊。
問：聽聞最近開始設立SFC經紀及唱片廠牌，Thud為期下首隊樂隊。成立廠牌有何目標？
Jane：我們在香港已有一段時間，對本地樂界亦有一定認識。我覺得現在正是時候幫助本地樂隊向外發展。SFC幾年來一直為本地觀眾引入海外樂隊演出，我亦從中認識了許多本地樂隊，因此透過成立廠牌，希望向海外觀眾介紹他們，而Thud正是SFC的第一次。
問：海外樂迷對香港音樂的觀感是？
Jane：去年的雨傘革命令香港受到重視－蘇格蘭正努力爭取獨立，人們開始關注香港的情況。當地樂迷亦知道香港瞪鞋漸漸發展，越來越多年輕樂隊出現，這是十分令人振奮的現象。
問：對你而言，什麼是 “香港聲音”？
Jane：本地的瞪鞋除了有傳統瞪鞋元素外，亦帶有一點後龐克的因子。我個人其實不太注重音樂類型，雖然有時瞪鞋標籤會被濫用，但我明白樂種對宣傳及介紹樂隊十分重要。更緊要是堅持自己擅長的東西，不要過份執著於界定樂隊曲風。所有精彩的樂隊都是如此－當你打開收音機，一聽便知道這就是他們。
SFC期下首隊樂隊Thud，將為星期三晚上八時蒲吧舉行的Yuck作開幕演出。如你錯過了第一次的Yuck，今次絕對要看；如你已看過他們2012年的演出，你一定知道現場情況必定精彩，值得一再入場觀賞。
