Five Favourites
Deng Li Yuan (middle), guitarist and vocalist of Dreamlike

What is your favourite song of all time?
Oh, there are so many. I think Moby’s Love Should is on the top of the list!

What is your favourite band of all time?
Pink Floyd.

Who is your favourite artist?
Wong Ka Kui.

What is your favourite film of all time?
Trainspotting.

What is your favourite city in the world?
Macau

Dreamlike - Johnny Deng Li Yuan (guitar,lead vocals),Wang Zhe (bass,vocals) and Chou Yun (drums) - will play along with A-Day, FBI, Meg Chan, Milk Shake 7, Never N, ZoundZ and Chekz in the Music Gig 4th Anniversary show. The gig will start at 6pm on May 23 at Yo Park (B46-48, Whampoa Garden, Hunghom, Kowloon, 2356 8811). Advance tickets cost $60 from Yo Park, Zoo Records and California Red (Miramar, Windsor Square and Gala Shopping Mall outlets) or $80 at the door.

Buzzing For Honey
Those of you who enjoy live music have probably noticed a lot of bands from China playing in the HKSAR over the last two months, and more look like they’ll be heading our way. All this got us wondering what the indie scene is like on the Mainland, especially since we have seen so many of their exciting bands here recently. And who better to ask than a band which has been hailed as Shanghai’s own Coldplay.

Formed in 1997, The Honeys are Yu Tian on vocals and guitar, guitarist Wang Zhe, bassist Dai Zhe and Zhen Hao on drums. They have played at prestigious events like the Beijing Pop Festival, the Shanghai Rock It! Festival and Musexpo in Los Angeles, as well as touring Germany last September. The Honeys have been active on the music scene for more than 10 years, so we asked them what’s really happening in the indie arena on the mainland…

A lot of bands from China have played in Hong Kong recently –­ for instance, Queen Sea Big Shark, New Pants and Sober. And the records of Muma, Snapline, Car Sick Car, etc have received good responses as well. Does this mean there is a booming indie music scene in China?
Yu Tian: I think it is just a facade. One cannot be too optimistic about China’s music industry. And that’s why good bands need to look for chances outside the Mainland, to explore a new market. It is sad, but idol and talent shows have dominated the space we should have for making music.

It seems a lot of bands prefer to sing in English rather than Chinese. Why?
Wang Zhe: Probably because a lot of us listen to Western music a lot and are influenced by that. At the beginning of the creative process, bands tend to write in English as the lyrics are easier to develop that way.
Yu Tian: I think being natural is the best. Only things written from your heart can come to life.

In the past, indie music in China was often politically oriented. But from what we’ve heard recently, bands now mostly reflect personal emotions or city life.
Yu Tian: We need all kinds of voices in any era. For me, I like experiencing everything life can give us.
Dai Zhe: I think everyone and every band has their own thoughts. For us we only want to reflect on our lives. Politics don’t interest us.

The Honeys have been around for more than a decade. How would you describe the change in the music scene – particularly in Shanghai, as the city has completely changed its face in recent years?
Yu Tian: It is as bad as any music industry in the rest of the world. Internet downloads have adversely affected the sale of CDs, which is what we rely on to make a living. But the good thing is, we get to listen to what we want more easily than at any other time in history. In fact our first album, On The Street, was influenced by Shanghai, though we were actually based in Hangzhou during that time. That’s probably what the proverb ‘Something is good to observe from a distance, but not to play with’ means.

The Honeys are playing at Underground 60 on May 31 with New Zealand rockers Red Rain, quirky indie trio Born To Hula and Mandarin all-girl pop band So What. The show starts at 8pm at Club Cixi and entry costs $100.

Parisian Storm
Franco-Finnish duo The Penelopes are back in the Fragrant Harbour, armed this time around with the re-release of their debut album, The Arrogance Of Simplicity, now with previously unreleased tracks, a live version, remixes and videos. They talk of the recent protests in Paris and what excuse to give your boss the morning after a Thursday gig…

You played in Hong Kong before Christmas last year. How do you find the city?
We had a very good experience in Hong Kong last time. People here are very warm and friendly, especially the staff from Agnes b. We met some interesting people as well and had a few great rooftop parties. We also miss the heat and the ocean in Hong Kong – sometimes Paris is just too cold and grey for us. As a city, we think Hong Kong is very compact and efficient and we were amazed by all the tall, modern buildings. People are more ‘corporate’ compared to Paris but at the same time they are very energetic. We believe there are a lot of opportunities to explore art in Hong Kong, as people are getting more curious and open-minded on the subject – the idea to install the Chanel mobile art gallery for the first time in HK is proof of this effervescence.

How is Paris? Were you affected by the recent protests regarding the Tibet issue?
Though we travel a lot, our band is based in Paris. But we were not disturbed by the protest. We think it is a wake-up call to people on the human right issues in China. And in general we believe it’s good for people to raise their voices and points of view. However, that said, we are not saying it’s a contest of who is better than who. In fact there are serious and sad problems in many other developed countries, including France and the USA.

The Penelopes are very much supported by Agnes b. Does that make you feel big?
We are very happy to be linked to Agnes b because they do more than sponsor us. Agnes herself is very passionate about art and music and therefore we work together very comfortably. We are a relatively new band and certainly don’t feel like big stars. It is true that we’re better known in some cities than others but we don’t really have any strike-out ‘stardom’ moments other than being recognized in the streets, asked for autographs or appearing and being interviewed on TV.

The show will take place on a Thursday night, after a work day. Any suggestions what music we should listen to so as to boost our energy before coming?
That is a hard question, as we have varied tastes. If it’s to boost energy, for rock bands we would suggest Joy Division, Pixies, Devo and Arcade Fire. And for electronic bands we would suggest Vitalic, Rapture and BlackStrobe.

I have a feeling I will be very tired the next morning. What should I tell my boss?
Just tell your boss that after the concert you were ‘kidnapped’ by The Penelopes, two dumb guys who wanted to do a round of the bars of HK with you and thus it is excusable to be a bit tired (wink).

Can you sum up your live show in a few words?
Epic we hope (wink), spontaneous, expressive, sensitive and yet brutal!

The Penelopes are Axel Basquiat and Vincent Tremel. Catch the duo at Backstage on May 15. The show starts at 9:30pm and entry costs $150. Call 2167 8985 or email reservation@backstagelive.hk for tickets.

In the Mood for…
With melodies sweet as candy, lyrics both wicked and miserable and album titles longer than HMV can afford on their price tags (The OK Thing to do on Sunday Afternoon is Toddle in the Zoo, Because I was Too Nervous at That Time and We Can’t Stop Smoking in the Vicious and Blue Summer), cult-duo My Little Airport have established a regular fan base in the indie scene. Their latest tune (and the title of their upcoming concerts), A Certain Romance in Kowloon Tong, was written by P after a personal catastrophe – sleeping with a good friend and not seeing her again afterwards. He wrote the song as a memento of the unfortunate event, sent it to the girl, and will probably invite her to the show.

But that doesn’t mean My Little Airport will behave and stop fooling around. In fact, they are going further from downloading adult videos (I Don’t Know How to Download Good AV Like Iris Does) to the ‘actual thing’ (they have a song pending called Wet Dreams, and have covered Chet Lam’s Love Sea in the Office into their own version of Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus). We ask P to share his musical pleasures during sex.

The foreplay –
Usually I listen to Francoise Hardy, a French pop singer of the ’60s and ’70s. Her music is very poppy and non-aggressive. It makes people more relaxed.

On the move –
I listen to a lot of Bach while doing it. There are no lyrics in classical music, so it’s easier for me to concentrate. (No jazz, no bossa nova?) No, I guess it [sex] is exciting enough! Classical music can calm me down.

The aftertaste –
Usually I play folk songs afterwards. Last time after I finished I listened to Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. Actually it seems irreverent, doesn’t it? He writes about social issues. (Chet Lam maybe?) Nah! I don’t listen to local artists or people I know. It is a complete turn off!

My Little Airport will take over the HK Arts Centre’s Shouson Theatre on May 30 and 31 for their A Certain Romance in Kowloon Tong concerts. 22cats and The Pancakes will be opening acts on the respective nights, singer-songwriter and the show’s producer Chet Lam will also be a guest star. Tickets are $199 and $169 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Magical Prodigy
My initial impression of pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger was that he is a Harry Potter look-alike. Which isn’t too far from the truth: He knows how to make magic, not with a wand but with his fingers. Since winning four prizes at the 2004 Concours International Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud competition at the age of 17, he has played at major festivals around the globe and worked with highly acclaimed orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic. As part of the Le French May programme, he will make his debut performance in the SAR with the HK Sinfonietta playing Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor, Op 22. The programme also includes the ballet suite from Gounod’s Faust and Scheherazade, Op 35, by Rimsky-Korsakov. The one-night-only concert will be staged on May 30 at the HK City Hall’s Concert Hall. It starts at 8pm and tickets are $320, $220 and $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Beijing Calling
The folks at Start From Scratch Records are bringing more heavy sounds to our city these days: This time it is Brain Failure, Beijing’s punk rock four-piece. Heavily influenced by Operation Ivy, Sex Pistols and The Clash, the band’s line-up is Xiao Rong on vocals and guitar, guitarist Wang Jian, bassist Ma Jiliang and Xu Lin on drums. Their latest EP, Beijing Calling, came out last month and includes killer tune A Box on the Broken Ball featuring Chuck D from Public Enemy – can you smell the aggression? For their upcoming show, punk rock bands 218 and Attention to Piss, together with cutie-punk four-piece Superday will be supporting acts. The punk night will smash the Warehouse (116 Aberdeen Main Road, 2873 2244) on May 24. The show starts at 7:30pm and tickets cost $100 at the door or $80 in advance if you call 9343 0457 or 9528 5433.

Click It
Whether you call them a rock band, a boy band or a boy band pretending to be a rock band, Boston five-piece The Click 5’s catchy tunes and pretty faces are doing pretty well in their hometown. Crowned the ‘Outstanding Pop Act of 2007’ at the Boston Music Awards, the band have opened for acts like the Black Eyed Peas and the Backstreet Boys. Now they are landing in Hong Kong on May 20 at HITEC Star Hall. Their concert begins at 8pm. Tickets are $490, $390 and $290 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.

Premier Pianist
He has writing, transcribing and composing credits to his name but Stephen Hough is understandably best known for his bravura piano performances. Described by England’s Daily Telegraph as “by general consent, the finest concert pianist Britain has produced for decades” and TIME as possessing “enough technique for two ordinary pianists”, he also happens to be that rare thing – a classical musician awarded a MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellowship as well as the only soloist to win the Gramophone Awards’ Record of the Year more than once.

A prodigy who started playing the piano when he was five years old and who won the piano section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition at age 17, he has gone on to garner other prestigious awards as an adult, including first prize at New York’s Naumburg International Piano Competition in 1983. He has a prodigious recording output of over 40 CDs, his set of the four Rachmaninov Piano Concertos with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton winning him his seventh and latest Gramophone Award. At the same time, he is also a premier live performer who has graced venues like London’s Wigmore Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall as a recitalist as well as appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s great orchestras.

On Wednesday, May 28, Hough will perform a 10-piece programme, the first part of which is designed as an exploration of the variation form and the second a study of the concert waltz. Stephen Hough in Recital features works by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Weber, Chopin, Saint-Saëns, Chabrier, Debussy and Liszt. The performance in the HK City Hall’s Concert Hall begins at 8pm. Tickets are $360, $240 and $180 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Music for a Cause
Popular in the ’80s, singer-songwriter Lowell Lo has been quiet for some years, running his own green shop. But he is back on the stage this month – for a good cause. The environmentalist’s coming concert is titled Lowell Lo in Concert 2050 – 2050 referring to the year scientists predict will be a critical point in our future. To put it simply, if we are not extinguished by global warming by then, we will be fine for another century. To spread the message, local artists such as George Lam, Justin Lo, A-Day and Farmer, as well as the godfather of the Taiwanese music industry, Jonathan Lee, will be guests. Shows are on May 16 and 17 at the Hong Kong Coliseum starting at 8:15pm. Tickets are $480, $300, $200 and $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Weekend Groove
After a nip and tuck job recently, California is providing a vibrant atmosphere for live-music performances. This month’s line-up comprises diva Michelle Carrillo, South African soul-singer Brigitte Mitchell, jazz sensation Maricel Bedana and America’s one and only Pete Moore. The stage will be theirs by turn every Thursday to Saturday. For enquiries, call 2521 1345.