Something about Clapton

How many times have we reminded you the legendary Eric Clapton is coming on January 17? As it is 16 years since his last visit to Hong Kong, here are a few tidbits to refresh your memory about the guitar hero.

His latest album, The Road To Escondido, is a collaboration with blues master J.J. Cale, who wrote After Midnight and Cocaine, which Clapton covered and made famous.

Clapton joined his first band, The Roosters, at 18, and since then has played with the Yardbirds, Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and Derek and the Dominos before he went solo.

He suffered heroin and alcohol addiction in the ’70s. In a recent interview he says he accepts addiction as a disease. “… it is not alcohol. Definitely not the substance, but something that my personality suffers from, and I need to address it on a daily basis.”

His Grammy-winning song, Tears in Heaven, is a tribute to his four-and-a-half-year-old son, Conor, who died in 1991.

He comes in 4th in Rolling Stone’s The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Clapton has received the OBE and CBE, won 16 Grammy awards, and is the first and only Triple Inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Eric Clapton plays on Jan 17 at the Asia World Expo-Arena. Tickets from $388-$1,388 are available at www.hkticketing.com.

Bands  Marathon

Nine shows in one month – 89268 is really on fire. The music label is hosting that many indie band gigs at the intimate venue high in the loft of an industrial building known as Lab Yellow. All shows kick off at 8pm except the finale on January 21 which starts at 4:30pm. Tickets priced at $50 include a bottle of Beck’s beer. (Lab Yellow, Flat A1, 8/F, Yeung Yiu Chung Industrial Building (No. 5), 34 Tai Yip Street, Kowloon Bay)

Dates for the upcoming gigs are:
January
5 The Yours, Downer
6 Dummy, Revolver
7 Hamster, The Pliable
12 False Alarm
13 OLIVER, waa
14 Mazer, Juicy Ling
19 Primary Shapes
20 Unixx, The Swamp
21 Queen Elephantine, S.T.A,
Malfunction, Ghost Style and
The Darlings

One of the bands will be Pliable who share the stage with Hamster on Jan 7. The trio has mixed post-rock, guitar pop, ambient and even synth pop in debut album Parallel, featuring seven original English songs. The band say they will go more electronica in the upcoming gig, and their next project is a second album – which, guitarist Joel says, is what they’re most looking forward to in the new year. Then he told us a bit more about the band:

Favourite song at the moment?
Disney Time by Jarvis Cocker, The Animals Were Gone by Damien Rice and Exitlude by The Killers.
Favourite artist of all time?
Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Tat Ming Pair, Ride, Mogwai, DJ shadow, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Portishead, The Verve, Nirvana.
If only five people could watch you play, they will be…
Brian Eno, Nigel Godrich, John Peel, Anthony Wong and Tats Lau.
Describe Pliable in three words.
Flexible, Dreamy, Atmospheric.

Opera Treat
Imagine Pavarotti with the look of, say, George Clooney, multiply by four, and you may get an idea of operatic supergroup Il Divo. The four are tenors American David Miller, Swiss Urs Buhler and Sebastian Izambard from France and baritone Carlos Marin from Spain. The four-piece’s self-titled debut album hit the No 1 slot in 26 countries and won over 80 gold and platinum awards around the world. David Miller describes their mission in the words, “We are built for singing, that’s what we’re here for, to let our voices out, and let the music ring.” And their music will be ringing at the Asia World Expo-Arena on January 22. Tickets from $280-$1,280 are available from www.hkticketing.com.

Hong Kong Band Show Night Gig 3 @ C-D, 4/F, Lee Ka Industrial Building, Ng Fong St, San Po Kong, January 6, 6:30pm Go for: Hardcore rock bands including Caricature, No Excuse, Bluemoon, Eccentric, Metal Wolf, DSC, Milk Shake7 and Vinegar. Advance tickets are $50 available at ZOO Records (Shop B31, Sino Centre, Mong Kok). Walk-in tickets are $55.

Otomo Yoshihide @ Blue Door (5/F, 37 Cochrane Street, Central), January 5, 10:30pm Go for: Experimental performance by Japanese turntable and guitar player Otomo Yoshihide. The musician first played in Hong Kong in the ‘Best of Indie’ concert in 1991, and this time he is joined by Melbourne-based guitarist and sound artist Tim Catling. Tickets will be sold at the door for $120 with one drink.

Parsons Music Band Show @ Sha Tin Townhall, January 8, 8pm Go for: Checking out various local indie bands plus guest performance by hip hop duo Fama and rock band Rednoon. Tickets are free at Parsons Music outlets. Visit www.parsonsmusic.com for details.

Underground 36 @ The Edge (G/F, 60 Wyndham St, Central), January 12, 8:30pm Go for: Underground sensations including the outrageous So What, guitar-based Bone Table, the punk four-piece ToNick and Tomlee Acoustic Festival winner Natural City. Tickets are priced at $40. For details, go to www.undergroundhk.com/upre.html.