Se7en Quickies: Paul MacLean [DP]
What was the last record you bought/downloaded/lagged?
A friend of mine passed heaps of music on to me while I was back home in Canada this summer. There were some JJ Cale, Ry Cooder, Joel Plaskett and Sloan albums that really hit the spot, musically speaking. One album that did come with the batch was from a band called The Sonics, an American garage rock band from the ’60s. They were the band that basically started the Seattle music scene and are often cited as the first punk band. They’re also famous for being the first band to use a Gibson fuzzbox live. Fuzzy. Just the way I like it!

Who has been the greatest influence on your drumming?
It’s pretty hard to narrow it down to just one band or drummer because quite a few over the years have caught my attention. I guess my very first memory of being “influenced” by a drummer would have been back at the age of 10 when I saw Tommy Lee spinning around in that cage in Motley Crue’s video for Wild Side. I can remember sitting in the front of my TV, playing air drums to that song for hours when I was a kid! Now as for Tommy Lee, I wouldn’t list him as my greatest influence or anything – I prefer his movies, actually. If I’d have to pick a drummer who’s still around and who I think is pretty amazing, I’d have to pick Dave Grohl. I’m totally stoked to hear that he just started a new band Them Crooked Vultures with Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. I always regretted not catching Nirvana live ’cause I always wanted to see Dave on drums. Life gives you second chances sometimes... I’m totally catchin’ these guys live!

Best moment of DP so far?
As for best moments so far this year, well, there was the new addition to Dave (Wong)’s family (son, little JB Wong). That was quite awesome. We’re now teaching him how to play bass and drums at the same time so he can start his own one-piece band when he grows up. We’re also training him on how to grow a beard. As for gigs and stuff, touring England last summer was pretty cool. We got to hang out with some great folks and had some amazing times! We’re also off to Australia to play a festival this month, so I’m sure there will be some pretty epic moments on their way!

Guilty pleasure in music?
It’s not really a guilty pleasure, but both Dave and I are pretty big country music fans. Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, and, of course, Mr Johnny Cash. Those are the real bad asses in music! They’re more rock than rock itself!

What are you currently reading?
I just finished The Bird Artist by Howard Norman, and the book is just fine. It was passed over to me by a friend just before I got on a 15-hour flight. Perfect timing! It’s a story based in a province close to where I’m from called Newfoundland, on the north-eastern shores of Canada. The story is a bit crazy, but I think it’s one of the better reads I’ve had in a while. Most of my other reading includes books on teaching Singaporean kids maths. Now there’s some difficult reading. It’s amazing what kids can learn at such a young age!

I’ve heard DP is a monster but if DP was an animal what would it be and why?
We’re monsters? I always thought of us as cute, cuddly teddy bears that you could squeeze when you’re scared. An animal that would best describe DP would most certainly have to be a/an {insert your favourite animal here}. As for the why part of this question... well, let’s also just leave that to the readers while we’re all having fun here…

Describe DP in seven words.
Quarter. Pounders. Large. Fries. And. Diet. Cokes.

Metal duo DP are Dave Wong (bass, vocals) and Paul MacLean (drums). They will be playing at Fringe Club with Sea Monsters and Hard Candy on October 3 with support from Metal Postcard Soundsystem DJs before heading to the Australia for the One Movement Festival later this month. Catch them before they go – doors open at 10pm and tickets are $120 from the Fringe Club box office or $155 at the door, both prices include a drink.

British Invasion
One of the most successful bands from Rouge Trade Records in recent years, Brighton four-piece British Sea Power has written songs about ornithology, Danish physicist Niels Bohr, aviator Charles Lindbergh, Field-Marshall Montgomery and author Fyodor Dostoevsky. In short, the band is as serious as their name suggests. British Sea Power is now about to conquer this former colony for the first time (musically, that is) with an infectious live gig at Grappa’s Cellar. Frontman Scott Wilkinson, more commonly known as Yan, tells us why the band are so serious (though for some unknown reason, he made us laugh…)

Does playing in a former colony of England make this gig a little bit more special for British Sea Power?
In times when mistakes are repeated over and over again, for however little we have helped an interest in history develop for the youth of today – and an understanding of where we all come from – I am glad. Playing Hong Kong seems a ripe scenario for jokes and post imperial irony. Unfortunately it would be funnier if we weren’t still involving ourselves in war and idiocy and inhabiting other people’s countries around the world. Sometimes a band’s name seems a little embarrassing. Luckily I think people won’t hold it against us when they realize we are an entertaining and endearing alternative art rock band and not the vanguard of an invading force.
 
What has been the best festival this summer?
I enjoyed the Green Man Festival [in Wales] and End of the Road [at Dorset, UK]. Both are smaller festivals in beautiful countryside and with lovely local cider. You have the chance of bumping into the same stranger twice and actually striking up a friendship.

In one interview the band said it would like to play the biggest and smallest venues possible – so what are the dream venues for the band to play in?
I think that was perhaps not a literal ambition – although we did do a sort of gig in an elevator to one person, which can’t be far off. I suppose we will never rival the Rolling Stones, although biggest doesn’t mean fullest. I think we will play the rural mountains. Free gig. Large surface area and it doesn’t matter if anyone turns up. Job done.

BSP have played in some very special venues before – which one was the weirdest?
Sea world. A kind of off-shore oil rig with its own support and army that is technically a country in its own right. It has an open deck with no barriers so much of the audience could get lost at sea if the wind picks up. We were actually invited by the Official Monster Raving Loony Party [a political party found by musician David Sutch] once just to add an extra dose of eccentricity.
 
And who would you like to play for?
Maybe to the Taliban. They need softening up and bullets are obviously failing to help the situation. Or a female prison could be interesting.

Do You Like Rock Music? and Man of Aran are more atmospheric than your first two albums. How does that alter the vibe of your live show, and what direction will the band be going in for the next album?
We became more interested in sound not made by instruments. Man of Aran’s main purpose was atmospheric really as it was intended primarily to evoke the feelings of bleakness and brave hope witnessed in the film. We enjoy the point where music meets noise. It could go further: We’re not big fans of standard routines. We’re involved in a new soundtrack, although with less original scoring so far. Film and music is an interesting area. At the moment we are recording our next album proper, so to speak, although we are doing it very DIY in a farmhouse by the South Downs.
 
The band looks, sounds and feels serious – what do you guys do for fun when not playing rock music? Any guilty pleasures in music, for instance?
We have no room for humour at all. We had to get rid of [former keyboardist] Eamon because he was too happy and was several times caught lightening the mood. When not playing music we are likely to be found discussing the pros and cons of works of bleak literature and the relative merits of various cultural climates whilst dressed in grey and black and eating unflavoured food portions. If things become too merry, a little spanking is dispensed by management or even ourselves. There is no such thing as a guilty pleasure to us. Bill Oddie and The Goodies’ Funky Gibbon is a work of art to be compared with Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot.

Okay we get how humourless the band is. So do you guys still give grid references to journalists?
Only incorrect ones to those who look unfit and in need of a walk.

British Sea Power are Yan (vocals, guitar), Hamilton (bass, vocals, guitar), Noble (guitar) and Wood (drums). They will take over Grappa’s Cellar on October 10 with support from The Yours. Doors open at 8pm and tickets are $340 in advance or $380 at the door.

First Decade
As the 2009/2010 season marks the 10th anniversary of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, the orchestra’s founder, artistic director and principal oboist Leanne Nicholls looks back at their first decade and, more importantly, forwards to the next one. During the anniversary season, the orchestra will continue to strike a balance between modern and classical music but to Nicholls, the season’s opener – the 10th anniversary concert featuring Danish recorder player Michala Petri – means something special.

Musically she considers what Petri has done with the recorder – a much underestimated instrument – ground breaking. ‘Who could have thought that someone can build a career like that on the recorder?’ she asks, ‘Considering the recorder has no keys, what she has done with it technically is mind-blowing.’ Petri’s concert 10 years ago is still regarded by many members of the orchestra as one of the most inspiring they have ever been at. For the anniversary celebration, a new work has been commissioned from British composer Richard Harvey and his Concerto Incantato for Recorder will have its world premiere during the concert. Also on the programme are works by Haydn, Sibelius, Vivaldi and Piazzolla. The concert also means so much to Nicholls because the recorder symbolizes the start of her career. ‘I remember when I first picked up a recorder at eight and got so much joy playing it. I remember playing my first song for like 100 times all over the house and from that moment I knew I wanted to be a musician,’ she says.

While she cites concerts with Russian cellist Alexander Rudin and glass harmonica player Thomas Bloch as last season’s most inspiring, this season she is much looking forward to Argentine bandoneon master and composer Daniel Binelli in his Hong Kong debut in January. ‘Binelli is the kind of performer that even in rehearsal you feel he is just playing for you. It makes you shiver down your spine.’ The Tango Passion concert will also feature foremost tango dancers Pilar Alvarez and Claudio Hoffmann. ‘He has followed Piazzolla since a very young age combining tango with classical music – like carrying on the work that Piazzolla started’ she says.

Also worth noting for the coming season is Electric Requiem: God Save the Queen, a cutting-edge multi-media performance marrying electronic sound with a requiem mass in 12 montages, as powered by young composer Samson Young of Contemporary Musiking. English soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, Italian cellist/composer Giovanni Sollima, and Singaporean violinist Loh Jun-hong are among the artists that will collaborate with the chamber orchestra under the baton of conductor Jean Thorel.

Challenging as it is to start and run a chamber orchestra in Hong Kong – Nicholls describes the city as a ‘cultural desert’ when she arrived 20 years ago – she is not surprised that the orchestra has survived to see its 10th anniversary. Developing the chamber group has been a gradual process for her, and right from the beginning she decided that it would be here to stay. ‘Audiences doesn’t want to hear Bach after Bach and Mahler after Mahler. There are audiences that want to hear Haydn or Piazzolla’s tango or Mozart’s overtures.’ Variety, as she says, is the spice of life. ‘And we have concerts constantly which audiences can follow – it is very important for Hong Kong.’ In the next 10 years, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong will start recording and releasing records and even when she finally shelves her oboe for the last time, she expects the orchestra to forge ahead – ‘I hope the orchestra will continue – I hope that the orchestra can sustain itself without me, because when I set it up it was for the long term and so much hard work was put into it.’

The 2009/2010 season of the City Chamber Orchestra will start on October 11 with Michala Petri & CCOHK – 10th Anniversary Concert. The concert commences at 7:30pm at the HK City Hall Concert Hall and tickets are $300, $200 and $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.
For a full programme of the season, visit http://www.ccohk.com

Festivals Return
Two outdoors music festivals cancelled earlier this year are both back this fortnight – pray for good weather. The three-day Silvermine Bay Music Festival 2009 from October 2-4 at Mui Wo, Lantau Island, is, as always, free. Time to start asking around for a couch to crash on – dozens of local bands will be playing for the festival: Gong Wu, In Love and Pain!, Karat, Lazy Susans, Modern Children, Twisterella, Silent Chamber are just a few to tempt you. But more important, you get to enjoy a weekend of sun, sand, food and alcohol in this hectic city we call Hong Kong. The festival will kick off on Friday evening.

The CWS Rockraiser Festival, previously known as Funkraiser, is back with the original headliners, two of Beijing’s best indie acts – the dance-rock glamorous Queens Sea Big Shark and retro-chic ass-kicker New Pants. On the local front, indie-rock favourite Chochukmo, hardcore icon King Ly Chee, electro duo PixelToy and the splendid indiepop five-piece Modern Children will show off some of the many faces of our city’s best independent music. Also playing are PMPS-signed and multi-talented singer-songwriter Jing Wong, My Little Airport’s Ah P, Hei Wong and Dream Girl.

After costs, all proceeds from the festival will be donated to the Child Welfare Scheme, a charity that started back in 1997 when a baby died in Nepal in the arms of Douglas Maclagan. It now works to provide education, healthcare and social opportunities for underprivileged children in the country. Rockraiser kicks into action at the Cyberport Podium at 2pm on October 10 – plenty of beer and food will be available for all you party people. Ticket holders can access the festival with the original tickets; if you want to get yours now they will be $280 from White Noise Record, Zoo Records, the Child Welfare Scheme office and Cyberport customer service counter or $300 at the door.

Family Love
It is no secret that singer-songwriter Chet Lam and at17’s Eman Lam are family – some of you may probably have noticed that they actually sound the same when hitting the high notes. These siblings will be giving their parents the most over-the-top present imaginable for their 35th anniversary – a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum. The duo say recalling the collective memories of Hong Kongers with similar backgrounds to theirs – growing up on a public estate in the ’70s and ’80s – is the key to this concert. They have digitalized cassette tapes of themselves singing child tunes and theme songs to TV dramas their parents recorded when they were 10 and three respectively – a 10-track CD will be on sale during the concert. The family-oriented concert starts at 8:15pm at the HK Coliseum and tickets are $400, $250 and $150 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Translation Lost
Hailing from HaiFeng, Guangdong, the duo Wu Tiao Ren have insisted on writing songs in their local dialect since 2003 on subject matter that usually concerns daily lives in their native town. Although Wu Tiao Ren means “five people”, you will only ever see two on stage – usually a guitarist and an accordionist. Listeners may not understand what the duo are singing but Wu Tiao Ren believe the less you understand, the more fun you will have listening. See it to believe it as Wu Tiao Ren tour Hong Kong this month – they will be playing at Backstage on October 7 at 9pm and Kubrick on October 9 at 11pm. Tickets are $120 at the door. On October 10 they will play at the Fringe Club – the gig starts at 10pm and tickets are $110 in advance from the Fringe Club box office or $125 at the door.

While Wu Tiao Ren represents the folk music of southern China, the music of Low Wormwood comes from the boldness of the northwest of the country. Signed to Maybe Mars, their sound has been compared to the strong and fierce liquor from the region. With a mix of rock and folk and the unusual use of traditional instruments, they released an album curiously titled We Can’t Help Kissing Each Other in 2008. The band is coming to Hong Kong as part of a national tour and on October 8 will perform at Hidden Agenda at 8pm. Local bands Eli and The Grand Experiment support. Entry is $100 at the door.