Add a touch of bossa nova to some happy rock tunes and a few summer junkies and it must mean the sun is back! In April’s bc unplugged, Motion Fades, Loudspeaker and Summer Junkiez welcome in the hot season. Entry is free to The Wanch on April 15 when the gig starts at 9:30pm.

Loudspeaker

Tell us something about the new album.
Well, we spent about three years to finish it, yet some of the songs were written long before that. We think [the album’s] songs summarize what we have done and what we wanted to achieve in the last 10 years. It’s our dream, so we named it It’s Time to Dream. This is also our debut album and we encountered many problems during the production but fortunately we finally solved them with the help of our friends. It’s been a really funny experience.

What are your music and the coming set about?
We’re now jamming a new song but are still in the preliminary stages. I think the people and events in our daily lives make up our content – such as a funny conversation on a bus or the story of a friend. Sometimes reading fiction and watching movies also helps.

Name some of your favourite unplugged albums.
Nirvana Unplugged, Eric Clapton Unplugged and Bon Jovi’s This Left Feels Right.

The comic characters and animation MVs for the band look great. What’s the idea behind them?
The idea of the four characters in the animation comes from the specialties of the four [band members]. By using animation, we can achieve many things we couldn’t in the real world, and we can better bring our ideas out with our music.

The band has been around for more than a decade. Can you sum up the last 10 years in just five words?
May the force be with you. Sorry, one extra word, but I couldn’t help but think about it.

Motion Fade

He is known as Mike Orange in the pinky Chochukmo but when he is alone, call him Motion Fades - an acoustic project of Mike’s solo attempt to turn his everyday feelings into lyrics and melodies.

I heard that during Chochukmo’s recent tour in Manila, you all came down with food poisoning.
Yeah, nearly all of us got food poisoning, probably because of the fresh oysters we had. The morning after I started to have serious pains in my stomach and I fainted. The rest of the Chochukmo got me into hospital. As our last gig was that night we had to go on and we successfully persuaded the doctor to let me go – I did the last gig with the armband from hospital still on my left arm. The next morning it was their turn, they were vomiting everywhere in the room.

Is there a story behind your ‘low-priced Takamine acoustic guitar’?
That guitar doesn’t belong to me, but to one of my best friends, Hohji. I’ve never owned an acoustic guitar – shame on me as a guitarist – and when I told him I decided to play solo, he showed his full support by lending me his only acoustic guitar. That’s the instrument I always describe as the low-priced Takamine acoustic guitar.

Can you tell us about a few songs from the coming set?
Mama, obviously, is a song I wrote to my mum during one Mother’s Day. I played it to her in one of my gigs with my face blushing during the whole song. Enough, Enough Now was inspired by a scene in Love Actually in which a guy confesses his love to his best friend’s wife at Christmas. I was totally touched by that scene. The girl kissed him lightly and I still remember the moment when the guy said, ‘Enough, enough now!’ – that was already the best Christmas gift for him. The song is in a relaxing bossa nova mood, as for a long time I’ve been obsessed by the unique mood bossa nova delivers.

Summer Junkiez

Summer Junkiez may have taken home the HK championship at the Asian Beat Band Competition and later a Best Vocalist award at the grand final but Anthony (vocals), Jamez (guitar), Fatboy (bass) and Keith (drums) say they are still in it for the laughs.

How would you describe the music of Summer Junkiez?
Our music can be described by our five songs: different. All of us prefer a different style of music. I [Anthony] like rock ’n’ roll, Jamez and Keith like American punk rock and Fatboy likes his funk and groove. Shine a Light is a fine example: It’s a cool reggae song with a bit of rock thrown in.

Any key songs in the coming set?
Come and Run is a cool song for me because of the driving rhythm behind it. As I’ve mentioned before, we’re all about having a laugh. But there’s a time for messing about and there’s a time for taking things seriously, and this song is about doing the things you have to before it’s too late.

Well done for the Asian Beat – what do you think made the band stand out in the competition?
The only thing that stands out about us is the music. Luckily, the four of us mix well together – most of the time (grins). It’s great to win an award because of the publicity you get from it. A lot more people became interested in who we are and what we’re about.

Do you look up to any particular singers?
I wouldn’t say I look up to any vocalists but I like Liam Gallagher, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Jason Mraz, the Beatles – I can go on. Just listening to all of them and singing along to their songs determined the kind of voice I have today.