When Day of the band A-dAY started his interactive music website at the time every dotcom business seemed guaranteed success, he wasn’t in it just for fun. He, like others, planned to make a fortune (“$10 million,” he jokes) and, like others, failed. But it led him to heed a different call.

During the set up of the website, he met and befriended various musicians and so, together with long-term ally Angus, decided to develop Hong Kong’s street music culture. “He was teaching midi class at the Federation of Trade Unions and I was one of his students, actually,” chuckles Angus, who now works in a record company. “And he dressed in suits and stuff. I thought he was forty or something.”

The two started Wholala, a gathering of musicians on Stanley Street every weekend. The idea was to perform original songs, but that turned out to be a bit of a disaster when more people watched them set up their equipment than listened to the music. “Once we started playing our songs people walked away,” laughs Day. “So we panicked and asked each other what pop songs we could play.” Finally they compromised and included chart hits in their set – and consequently some of the musicians they played with became pop stars, like Endy Chow and Louis Cheung.
Though Angus and Day were not themselves stars yet, their Stanley Street gig led the tourism board to invite A-dAY to play on Star Avenue, a more difficult proposition. “In Stanley people go to relax for a day, like a weekend picnic,” Angus says. “But Star Avenue is a standard tourist thoroughfare where people just come and go.” The mobility of the audience was a great challenge for the duo, but it taught them how to interact with listeners, keep them interested and even entice them back. After years of live gigs in different corners of the city, they can now boast a solid fan base – though not thanks to some producers.

“It depends how the organizers treat these music events,” Day says. “Some would help promote and set up things properly for us,” Angus adds. “But some just don’t respect performers at all, like they’ll cancel a show the day before.” Nevertheless, it all helped the band grow. Angus confesses he used to get frustrated by people’s criticism or seeing audiences walk away, but realized dealing with hard feelings is one of life’s lessons. And that’s why Dare to Think, a song urging people not to give up their dreams, is the band’s favourite track in their upcoming album.
Deeply influenced by British music like The Beatles and Radiohead, A-dAY’s music is more band-sound oriented, though that doesn’t mean they can’t play a simple acoustic melody as well. One of the songs they played at a tribute to Anita Mui in an upstairs boutique/café last November was the Mui/Leslie Cheung duet Serendipity. “It was a small and casual venue and we were surrounded by the audience,” Angus recalls, noting how warm an experience it was to perform acoustically for a relatively quiet audience. “People paid to watch us play that time, so they really came to listen to our music.” It was their most satisfying performance so far.

But they’ve also had a taste of stardom – in a high school gig where students were passionate about their music. “They cheered and asked for pictures and autographs,” Angus laughs. “We felt like stars there.” But seriously, do A-dAY want to be a super band? Yes. “Many people say they make music for fun,” says Day, “but sometimes I think they are just afraid of losing and don’t dare to step forward.” Which is why A-dAY is striding out with a debut album in May after years of hard work. “We want more people to listen to our music, and to prove that we take music seriously,” he says.