Dedication, effort, passion and determination? Pick Pak reveal the lighter side of walking away victors in an Asian band competition.

It is a Sunday evening in a rehearsal room. Hot and very stuffy. Pick Pak are practising the song Without Him which brought them the HK championship of the Yamaha Asian Beat Competition last December, and will lead them to compete against six bands in the Asian final at Kuala Lumpur on March 10. But the funk-rock-bit-of-blues song must have been the result of some very fast finger-work, considering the current band line-up was only confirmed two days before the competition’s application deadline.

The melding also produced more than just a win in a band competition – these guys are so at ease with each other, trying to get them to introduce themselves is to navigate a minefield of mockery and laughter. I manage to find out vocalist Angel is an HKU student majoring in BBA before “And a minor in going off-key,” keyboarder Nick teases. He’s a full-time composer and was winner of Best Keyboard Player in the Asia Beat competition. Drummer Lin, currently a player with four local bands, jammed with Pick Pak for the first time only after they had signed up for the contest. He works full time for a major telecom corporation – installing telephones. “That’s how he got his Afro head,” laughs Angel. “He got an electric shock.” Bassist Mo is a student at the Institute of Vocational Education. “The chairman of the student union… un-elected,” Floating Cloud mocks. “And it is Floating Cloud, not Cloud Floating or Cloud is Floating,” says he, about a name totally unrelated to himself.

It’s part of the ethos of being unpredictable: he also creates a different version of why he called the band Pick Pak every time he is asked. The story of the day is that a colleague asked him not to call the band Pick Pak, and, au contraire, that’s why he did. I am getting to the point of thinking it impossible to get anything serious out of this band, when Floating Cloud settles on a question about rehearsing. He says the band only manages to practise together once a week – and I am expecting a jibe about Angel’s weekly descent from heavenly realms – but, quite po-faced, he says everyone is expected to practise every day at home. Lin chimes in “When we come for rehearsal, we play as a band. Others should not have to look at you practising your part during rehearsal.” So there is something serious about this group…

But not that it comes out on stage. Angel may have won a number of awards in various singing competitions, and has even performed at the Coliseum, but she still cannot help bursting into laughter sometimes during performances. She recalls her most embarrassing moment when singing Faye Wong’s Commandment of Love with the band. “When I go to karaoke, I sing to Faye Wong’s version only. I didn’t know the song had been rearranged and there should be a long pause between lines,” the cheerful girl says. “So I suddenly had to sustain the last note for a while…” “That showed how good a singer you are,” Nick giggles.

Which leads Floating Cloud to reveal something even the others in the band didn’t know. He asked musician Jason, one of the judges in the Asian Beat final, why the band could win the contest. “He said because we have a pretty vocalist...” “Oh, then I should pose more during the Asia final,” the vocalist shoots back, as she parodies Madonna.

But to get down to real business, do the band think their blues element is what captures the judges’ hearts? “Maybe, because few bands in Hong Kong play like this. Or maybe it just happened that the judges liked us,” the confident and gentle keyboardist answers. He may be the most serious member of the band: admitting that he did expect to win something when entering the competition, he has already looked at performances of his upcoming rivals on YouTube. “They play instrumental music and they are pretty good,” he admits.

Talking about the competition, Floating Cloud looks as though he also has something serious to say. “The organizer now provides us with the rehearsal room and musical instruments for preparation,” he reveals. And then asks slyly, “Do you think they can they give us the instruments for free after the competition?” “Ask after you have won the title,” Lin laughs.

Asian Beat Grand Final 2006, March 10, 7pm Sunway Lagoon, Kuala Lumpur