words chris ress

They’re the first of their kind in HK, like that’s going to be a problem

Imagine the illegitimate lovechild of Bjork and Goldfrapp as the lead singer of a hopped-up Iron and Wine. Then imagine that hopped-up band collaborates on a single with an acoustic Sufjan Stevens on a happy day. Then The Prodigy get hold of the single and remix it for clubs. Finally MTV does a mash-up of said remix, throwing it in with the theme tune to a Japanese anime, one with robots and sky academies. This is by no means a perfect picture, but it may be the closest you’ll get to relating Violent Jokes’ Past to anything you’ve heard before.

Violent Jokes are hardly a typical local band. They are a trip-hop outfit, of which sampler/programmer Griff says, “There is no scene here.” It is a problem in Hong Kong. So many amateur bands are content to play the same old punk rock, and so much of the crowd is content to listen to it. Violent Jokes could be forgiven for some apprehension about how a live audience would react to their completely different sound. But no forgiveness is necessary. “We’re here to make something new. And if the audience doesn’t get it,” synth and guitar player Claudio lays down vehemently, “well, I don’t care. We’re being fresh and that’s what matters.”

“People [in HK] don’t have the balls to do it,” says Griff, about trip-hop, though that obviously doesn’t apply to the band’s lead singer Shadow, who admits, “I can’t play any instruments, I don’t have much training,” as she exudes the individuality that is so necessary of a lead singer and so inherently lacking in most amateur bands.

Her singing voice has faint Middle-Eastern tones and each syllable hangs in the air longer than you would expect. Although Griff and Claudio keep the beat strong and fast, Shadow lingers, arms extended snake-like, advertising her fetish for wigs by sporting a new one on the night, enticing listeners into the vortex of trip beats Violent Jokes creates. It is then you start to hear Claudio’s lyrics.

“Uncommon nonsense” is a term the Italian uses to describe them. He regularly writes plays and stories in his native tongue but now experiments in English, often coming out with phrases that make no sense on their own but evoke a mood, a feeling, and even their own understanding in the context of the band’s songs: “Come and see, velvet in a saucepan, here you touch, I’m smooth as a girlfriend.”

“He tried to get me to sing backing vocals in Italian,” Griff complains (in jest). And Shadow reminisces, “I had to sing a whole song in Italian, I didn’t know what I was saying – I just tried to remember the pronunciation.”

They played their first gig for a live audience at Underground 49 last November. “It was a trial for us,” says Griff – it was testing the waters, putting their music out there to see if anyone would bite. And they did. “The crowd loved it,” revels Claudio, “they got it. They got that we’re not the same, and they liked that. It was surprising.” The gig was actually supposed to be an all-electric night, a celebration of GarageBand, the Mac software this and many other electric bands use to lay down their samples, beats and loops. “But we were the only trip-hop group who showed,” Griff sighs. “There’s not many of us in HK. I’m sure there are some, but I’ve not heard of any.”

“We’re older than the usual band,” Claudio drops in casually. Consequently, they all have their own lives and dramas and can’t bring themselves to be one of those bands that practices every night until dawn. They meet once a week, if that: studio time is formal practice time and it gets things done. (Cigarettes and beer are reserved for Castro’s Bar down the street.) “Because time is tight, and we’re renting a studio for two or three hours every week or so, we get in and we do it,” says Claudio. And so, although they only formed in August 2007, the band already recorded six songs and had a dozen more in the works by November. “Not bad for four months,” shines a proud Claudio.

They also have the Listen Up! concert in February to look forward to, and Star Crossed Tattoo want to set up an electric gig with them later in the month. Shadow is nursing big dreams too: “Maybe I’ll do a painting on stage, just move to the music; it would be interesting to see what it looks like at the end.” And if you’re wondering if that is her real name: “Yes!” she winks with a cheeky smirk.
“I’m a secret agent.”

www.myspace.com/violentjokeshk