Hi Alex – I’ve heard you are busy with your new club on the Mainland. Why would you want to open Rox in Shenzhen?
Because Hong Kong is too small! Clubs over here are so small, and I want to throw bigger parties that can hold at least 1,000 people. I can’t do it here. Also it’s the cops – even if you find a space to open a bigger venue, they will come to inspect every night. It is just annoying. That’s why we chose Shenzhen – convenient for Hong Kong people and with more space. Oh, and the cost as well. It is much lower there.
How low?
Well… Rox has four floors, two floors of club and two for karaoke and is 60,000 sq ft in total. The rent is more or less the same as a 3,000 sq ft venue in Lan Kwai Fong...
Oh my God, that is like 20 times bigger!
Right! I want to invite more international world-class DJs to play in my party, but if the cost is too high not many people can afford it. Say the ticket costs you a few hundred dollars, [add in] the drinks and the transportation [and] it will cost $1,000 dollars for a night at least, and not everyone can do that.
So, what else we should look out for at Rox?
Well, the sound system is designed by the same guy who did Ministry of Sound in the UK, and we have installed a total of 68 amplifiers from Martin Audio. In terms of design, we have tried to create a ‘churchy’ feeling – and so we mixed that old, gothic style with some hi-tech design. I have been to many clubs and have seldom seen any with a special theme – just a bar and a DJ booth and it calls itself a club. So we tried to create something special.
What about the club scene in Shenzhen?
I think the scene on the Mainland is even more mature than that in Hong Kong. In fact a lot of international DJs have chosen to play on the Mainland rather than in the SAR. Here you get to listen to the same kind of music in every club, people just follow the trend so no one stands out. On the Mainland, clubs tend to have their own style in term of both music and design. But then of course, we have more beautiful and cool people over here! Maybe in a few years Hong Kong will catch up though.
It seems you are quite pessimistic about the local scene?
It depends how you see things. I have a feeling that Hong Kong has stopped moving forward. We are not as aggressive as we used to be and we will be easily surpassed by others in the near future.
Your single Bells of Tiananmen is a hit in Europe and the video was actually shot in Beijing too. It sounds quite different.
Yep, I always want to bring an East Asian feeling in my music to the world. I always ask myself ‘Why can’t a song produced by a Chinese become a hit in Europe?’ So when Tiesto played my tune in 16 concerts in a row and people went crazy about it, I was very excited. Actually when we shot the video right in front of Tiananmen Square, the police kept driving us away. But we just left for a while and went back to shooting when they were away.
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