words rachel mok

Metal may be savage but that doesn’t make it the music of the devil

Stepping into the rehearsal room cum studio of Evocation in a corner of a floor in a maze-like commercial building, I feel chilled. It is not because of the dark wall and what is on it - a stuffed animal head, a raft of model guns, Japanese swords and robots hand-made from discarded metals. More mundanely, it is the near freezing air-conditioning that nips me to the bone.

Not only will many on the Hong Kong music scene agree that black/death metal doesn’t get much of a look into the Fragrant Harbour’s alternative music scene, most would find it difficult to even name metal bands in this ex-British colony where Brit-pop/guitar rock rules. Would, in fact, Hong Kong’s music fans recognize the list of bands that have influenced Evocation: Dissection and Hypocrisy from Sweden and Norwegian band Emperor to name a few?

The story of Evocation begins in 2004 with the collector of the studio wall’s menacing decorations. Tomy is the band’s guitarist and vocalist when he is not teaching guitar and running his own studio, and, although Evocation’s line-up has changed a few times since he started the band, all the current members were once his customers. Guitarist Tai was his student while drummer BS - which stands for the nickname Banana Skin - and bassist Chung met Tomy when they used his studio for rehearsals while playing in other bands.

To Evocation, metal is both a way of life and an attitude but also simply and purely just music. Tomy admits that long hair makes him feel better while rocking on stage, but it is the melody, the rhythms and the pace that pin him into death metal. In their recently released debut album Take Your Soul, it is not difficult to see the ‘dark side’ of the band. The eponymous title track was written after Tomy and a friend were involved in a discussion about abortion, while 1942 uses war as a metaphor for making - and breaking - promises. As is usual with their songs, 1942 was inspired by daily experience. Tomy uses habitually unpunctual friends - everyone must have at least one - as an example. “Sooner or later you will get fed up with them and want to take revenge by, say, being late with them on purpose,” he says. “And all these ‘wars’ begin simply because someone didn’t keep their word.”

Which might sound a little childish, but then his lyrics are more evil. Tomy views music as a way to balance one’s light and dark sides. “When I am unhappy or angry I write songs, so I am using my dark side to vent my anger or negative feeling,” he explains. “When we write that we want to kill someone, it doesn’t mean we will do it,” BS adds - though Tai teases him with “But you want to, don’t you?” Jokes aside, Tai doesn’t think the band is all about negativity. “Part of us is negative, but that is not the whole picture. If we are completely pessimistic towards life, we won’t even bother to play in a band and put out an album, right?”
However, a few things do raise the band’s hackles. One is the live show culture in our city. The band once played in a show that cost a humiliating $5 a ticket - which included a bottle of water. The band didn’t get paid for playing, but they’d rather the show had been free. “Five dollars for a show! Does that mean we are only worth that much? Actually there were three bands playing, so we were worth less than $5,” Tomy says. But in a way, he thinks, it is Hong Kong bands’ own fault and it’s what they deserve. “I remember when there were still shows in Ko Shan [Theatre], tickets could cost $100 or $200 but it was worth it, because performances from bands like Anodize and Jackal’s Dream are solid,” he says. “But you can easily see some of the bands playing now have not practised at all!”

Amateur concert critics are another annoyance. Frequent visitors to local gigs may be familiar with such people standing with their arms crossed, looking like examination officers monitoring the gig rather than enjoying the music. These stern ‘experts’ sit through a concert and then rush off home to upload harsh and mean reviews onto the internet. “Sometimes you can’t blame them,” says Tomy, “but if they come solely to spot mistakes and then to bitch about everything on the net, I don’t agree with them.” Especially if they write from hard-bitten bias. “For example, when they see a band with heavy make-up they will automatically say the music is bad. But that may not be true!” To which Tai chimes in with some final biting words of advice: “If you are that great, do it yourself. If not, don’t criticize!”

See Evocation on 14 June at Warehouse, the gig starts at 7pm; tickets - $75 on the door.