words rachel mok

For the first time the Asian grand final of the Asian Beat Band Competition will be staged in Hong Kong. Summer Junkiez and GriN will represent our city.

Summer Junkiez
vocals Anthony, drums Keith, guitar James, bass Fat Boy
If you feel the music of Summer Junkiez is on the fringe of the local indie scene, that is probably because all four members live on outlying islands, surrounded by fresh air, sea and sand. And that’s probably also why their song Shine a Light – which scored them the championship at the Asian Beat HK final – has a groovy, carefree reggae/funky feel. Still, Anthony, who took home the Best Vocalist Award on the same night, insists against common opinion that they are not a reggae band. ‘We only have one song that is reggae. Others are more like a rock songs,’ he says. In fact before Summer Junkiez was formed, Anthony and guitarist James had a punk-rock band called YC, and Anthony cites Brit-rock bands like Oasis as their main influence.

Formed last summer, the band have only played a few live gigs – including the Silvermine Bay Music Festival for which vocalist Anthony was one of the organizers. The Asian Beat Band Competition is the band’s first contest, so it is quite an achievement to be representing Hong Kong in the grand final – especially as the omens were not good at the HK final. ‘While we were doing a sound check in the afternoon I found one of the pedals didn’t work,’ recalls guitarist James. ‘I rushed to Tsim Sha Tsui to get a new one and spent a few thousand dollars. It was a bit messy… and everyone was worried about me.’ The band have already recorded five songs – when asked what inspires him to write, Anthony merely says ‘Love.’ The boys exchange glances and laugh.

Shine a Light is an example. ‘I was waiting for a friend in Mong Kok and suddenly the first line “say, you saying it’s too late for knockin’ knockin’ on her front door” just came out,’ says Anthony, who pens all the lyrics for the band. ‘It’s something about a friend and his girlfriend. People break up, make up and then break up again.’ James’ ambition is to carry on creating music that makes them feel good. ‘We don’t fix ourselves to one style. Listening to music is about feeling. We want to play a bit of everything and make music that we feel good playing.’

GriN
vocals Jenny,guitar Vincent, guitar Hei, bass Kenji, drums Wah
GriN’s drummer Wah became a target after winning the Best Drummer Award at the HK Asian Beat Competition Final – the other band members are relentless during the interview. ‘We wrote the song especially aiming at the Best Drummer Award,’ guitarist Hei starts. ‘Yea, even if we don’t win anything on the Asia Final, Wah must win the Best Drummer title,’ bassist Kenji pushes. Wah looks sheepish, unable to fire back. But that fun-loving attitude is what GriN’s music is about – ‘to make music with happiness and make happiness with music’ has been the motto of the band since it formed in 2004. That is also the title of their debut 10-track album released last year.

‘We used to play J-Rock, and then nu-metal. Now we are back on the right track,’ Hei says half-jokingly. ‘Pop people think we are rock and rock people think we are pop. We put ourselves in that grey area so more people will listen to us,’ Jenny butts in. ‘But no one likes us after listening to us.’ Jokes aside, although their songs are noted for a pop sound, the difference between being mainstream and independent means a lot to the band. ‘More people listening to our music will not mean being in the mainstream,’ claims Hei. ‘Even if we go “over ground” in the future we have to stay independent. No one can control our music.’

Nosy, the song they will be playing in the grand final was composed by Hei with lyrics by Kenji. Aimed at the distorted local media (or, more directly, the paparazzi), the song, the band hopes, will remind people to spend time on what’s meaningful and of true importance to them. Included in their album, it will be the only Cantonese song in the competition. ‘It was a lot of hard work for us last year. Making an album is much more difficult than we thought it would be,’ recalls Hei. Live shows can also be exhausting – and last December, for example, the band averaged more than one gig a week. They now feel they have probably been overplaying tracks from the album, and are looking for new excitement in their set. ‘We like covering the music of other local bands. It is more fun than playing our originals now,’ says Wah. ‘We play a lot of ToNick’s tunes!’

Support Summer Junkiez and GriN at the YAMAHA Asian Beat Band Competition 2008-2009 Asia Grand Final on February 28 at the HK Polytechnic University Jockey Club Auditorium. The competition starts at 7:30pm and tickets are $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.