Booze Ride
Joyside’s way to find joy isn’t too difficult to figure out. Since forming in 2001 in a dusky basement north of the country’s capital, the punk four-piece have released three albums, Drunk is Beautiful (2004), Bitch Of Rock’n’Roll (2005) and last year’s Booze At Neptune’s Dawn. Booze, girls and rock’n’roll are the three things to look out for at their upcoming gig in Hong Kong.

Led by the charismatic Xinjiang native Bian Yuan, Joyside played simple three-chord punk in their early days and have slowly evolved to garage and melodic blues rock. But for Bain, the core of their music stays the same. “We have always been trying to find our own way to express what’s in our hearts,” he says, convinced they have finally found that way since drummer Guan-zheng and guitarist Red joined the band in 2006. “We will even dig deeper to what’s in us in future.” Bassist Liu-hao agrees, saying truthfulness, wilfulness and sensitivity are what the band have in common and those have stayed unchanged. “The only change is that we work harder and more efficiently now,” he says.

The band’s current tour is to promote a new EP due at the end of the year. According to Red, the band have spent a year producing the EP and the sound will be explosive. “It contains some fantasies we have with our city, girls and daily lives. It is an explicit statement of our attitude.”
Obsessed with the likes of Dead Boys, New York Dolls, Sex Pistols and the Stooges, Joyside have assumed a decadent bad boys image that has charmed fans on the Mainland. Partying hard is essential to Joyside, though the label ‘drunkard’ is a bit too heavy for Bian Yuan. “We just like drinking when we see friends, when we are happy or unhappy,” explains the 31-year-old. “We must drink before we go on stage. We take whatever we see – beer, rum, gin… Our performing style depends on what we have drunk.” The four rock rebels agree alcohol provides inspiration (and is especially helpful in communicating with girls, confides Bian) though overindulgence has led to problems.

“I don’t like getting too drunk before going on stage now, but sometimes I can’t control myself. When I am too happy or too upset I drink a lot,” says Liu-hao, and tells of a concert in which, after the band had finished playing, angry audience members came up and asked if they had paid just to see the band getting drunk. “And I said, ‘Sorry, you have come to the wrong place.’”

Catch Joyside on October 10 at Fringe Club Fringe Gallery. The show starts at 10:30pm and advance tickets are $160 from Fringe Club, White Noise and Zoo Records or $180 at door (includes one drink).

Beatbox Horizon
Search for Greg Pattillo on YouTube and you’ll quickly find out whyhe has been called a ‘YouTube star’ as the 31-year-old classically trained flutist beatbox’s tunes like Super Mario Brothers, Inspector Gadget andPeter and the Wolf. The Cleveland Institute of Music graduatehas even appeared on BBC 3 to give Lily Allen and Louis Walsh a beatbox lesson and play the songs of Westlife, Girls Aloud and Boyzone.
But Pattillo has always been a classic rock lover worshipping the likes of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead and Jethro Tull, and more recently jazz greats like Thelonious Monk and Eric Dolphy. Original music, jazz, classical, world, rock, bluegrass, improvised and hip-hop are all on the menu of his concert with PROJECT – a collaboration with cellist Eric Stephenson and bassist Peter Seymour. Pattillo talks to bc of his beatbox flute.

How did the idea of ‘beatbox flute’ come about?
I had been a classical flutist for many years, getting a masters degree in flute performance and finding work subbing in various orchestras and teaching extensively in the Cleveland Ohio area. After a brief stint playing in an orchestra in Guangzhou, I moved to San Francisco to mix things up. I started performing with a beatnik poetry/music/performing troupe comprised of musicians, poets, MC’s, rappers and freestylers. I had the opportunity to apply beats and rhythms to a cappella poems with my flute, and the response was very encouraging. I have been deeply interested in blending the two sounds, beatbox and flute, ever since. After moving to New York City, I found an outlet by playing in the subways as a street musician. This ultimately led to the YouTube videos.

How long did it take from the day you decided on beatbox flute to the day you were confident enough to perform?
After initially understanding the beatbox rhythms, I was pretty quick including them in my act and performances. A little can go a long way and so only one beatbox sound can really elevate a tune. All in all, I have been thinking about beatbox proper for over six years now, and I am always learning new sounds and rhythms.

What are the most difficult things involve in the process?
Making diverse numbers into beatbox sounds and articulations are the hardest part. Also, keeping the different rhythms of the flute and beats happening at the same time can be quite challenging.

You have performed in subways and on the streets. I imagine people giving you strange looks, having no clue about what you are doing.
Most people just assumed I was playing with a backing track. It’s actually because of the street, park and subway playing that I play the tunes I do. Video-game music just worked really well at getting young people to stop and listen; classical music melodies with beats got the older, well-off crowd to stop; and cartoon music made the kids and their folks stop. These tunes just paid well, and were well recognized by each different group of people standing around.

Is that how you get kids into classical music? I know PROJECT is very engaged in music education for youth and you created a hip-hop guide to classical music.
I have found that once you get kids ‘on your side’, you can get them to listen to anything. The reason classical music has been around so long is because it is incredible music. But few people listen to this music growing up, and so it becomes hard to relate to and understand classical music styles and idioms. With beatboxing and hip-hop/pop idioms, you can easily get kids to listen and be into the music, as that is what most kids are familiar with. Once they know they are having a good time, you can drop some real quiet introspective music on them and they are very eager to listen.

People who see you play will say what you are doing is ‘cool’. What is your definition of cool?
Cool is finding your own ‘voice’ or ‘style’ and sticking to it, living by it every day.

Catch Greg Pattillo & PROJECT on October 6 at Tsuen Wan Town Hall Auditorium. The show starts at 8pm and tickets are $250, $200 and $150 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Five Favourites: Hei Wong

Hei Wong is a local singer-songwriter, whose second album, Time Machine, was released in March 2008.

What is your favourite album of 2008?
Taiwanese singer-songwriter Crowd Lu’s debut album 100 Lives. I listen to it every day.
Favourite local artist of all time?
Beyond – without a doubt!
What is your favourite venue to play at?
Lab Yellow – there is no place like home.
What is your favourite film?
There are too many because watching movies is one of the things I do most besides music. But there is one that is above all others – I am a big Star Wars fan.
What is your favourite city?
Sydney. I really love the pace there, and the environment is so green and relaxing. For places I haven’t been to it would be Vienna. I am still waiting to visit it someday.

Catch Hei Wong and his stories at Kubrick Friday Live on October 3. The gig will start at 11pm at Kubrick (Shop H2, Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square St, Yau Ma Tei, 2384 8929) and admission is $100 at the door including one drink. Or you can book your ticket at www.kubrick.com.hk/live.

Coming Soon
And the tough gets going – the unbeatable Kylie Minogue’s X2008 tour has been hailed as a pop perfection by much of the international media since kicking off in Paris in May, and now the diva and her larger-than-life Jean Paul Gaultier wardrobe will land at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Arena on November 27. Glamour comes with a price – tickets to the concert are priced at $1,880, $1,280, $980, $680 and $380 from hkticketing, 31 288 288.

Japanese rock legend X Japan will hold a reunion gig in Hong Kong on January 17, 2009. Ticket details to be announced towards the end of the month.

The Manic Street Preachers will play at Star Hall on November 26. Stay tuned for ticket details.

Metal Invasion
Metal music is certainly not one of this city’s mainstream cultures but this month we have two metal festivals on the same night. On Hong Kong side, the Extreme Metal Festival by the Hong Kong Extreme Metal Organization will feature two metal bands from Japan - Tokyo’s Defiled, famous for touring with Norwegian black metal legend Mayhem in 2004, will share the stage with Rest in Gore, a Tokyo trio that describe their music as “sick and brutal”. Local bands playing are Hyponic, Evocation and Adversary. The show is on October 11 at Warehouse Teenage Club (116 Aberdeen Main Road, 9361 3003). The gig starts at 7pm and advance tickets are $80 from Shop B27, Basement, Sino Centre, Mongkok or $100 at the door.

On the Kowloon side, Trinity Music presents Tomahawk Metal Fest also with two Japanese headliners. Local headbangers may know that the Mongkok-based Trinity Records is one of the hottest hubs for metal music in our city but may not realise this festival will be the first event the label cum store has put out in 2008. To make up for this tardiness, they are bringing in grinding death metal trio Hydrophobia, who released their debut album Human Shredder nine ­years after the band formed, and trash metal five-piece Bassaium. The show will also see the debut performance of local death metal trio Elysium, Megadeth-addicted five-piece Sixxpounder covering classics of the legendary American heavy-metal band, and nu-metal veteran ZoundZ, who’s debut album MantiZexism is due out this month. The show will start at 8pm at YO Park (B46-B48 Treasure World, Wonder Worlds of Whampoa, Hunghom) and advance tickets are $120 from Trinity Records (108 Richmond Shopping Center, 109 Argyle Street, Mongkok, 9867 5737) or $140 at the door.

Friday Jazz
Get yourself some free jazz on Friday evening if you happen to be at Island East: Friday Fest’ returns to Tong Chong Street at TaiKoo Place with the music starting at 6pm. On October 3, Australian vocalist Pete Moore will take the stage with musical friends, while drummer Lawrence Tsui will play on October 10.

Fast Hands
What can one do in 60 seconds? Nicolas Cage can steal a car and be gone in a minute and American drummer Mike Mangini can go for a single roll with 1,247 strokes in the same amount of time. It is official – Mangini set the world’s fastest drummer record in 2005. The now full-time professor at Berklee will be playing one show at Drum Extravaganza 2008 with guest performer JunkArt led by Jung Kung on October 13. Then on October 14, Germany-born Marco Minnemann will play with local indie four-piece Dear Jane as part of the extravaganza. Both shows will start at 7pm and tickets are $90 from Tom Lee Music Centres.

Quiet Underground
It is easy to figure out why Underground 69 needs a bit of ‘foreplay’ – Underground 68 1/2 sees the series move to a new venue. The Melting Pot (1-5 Elgin St, Central, 2559 2777) will stage Underground for the first time and offer a lighter touch to the event, with an acoustic line-up of Ricemagnet, Supper Moment, Clementine is My Sunshine and Slash!Sakura!Slash with Motionfades. Check out the new vibe on October 11 when the gig will start at 8pm. Entry is $100.