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While talking to a band with a name like This is Ammunition, you might uneasily wonder where the artillery is pointing. However, one thing is sure with this relatively new hard-hitting group – no band member will turn the crosshairs on any of the others. Peter Gardiner (vocals), Joe Hastings (drums) and Miroslav “Muerra” Polak (guitar) – Bassist Steve Kovacs being in New York – tell bc why.

On creating the band…
Joe: Hong Kong is a tough place to find people to play with. People come and go all the time and it’s hard to find those who are staying and who you would want to play with.
Peter: I agree, finding people that you actually want to play with is impossible in this place. Most of them are really crap. I’ve tried to form a band many times before and it never worked out – at one point I was really thinking to just quit playing.
J: Peter and I have been friends for a long time, about 12 years. We’ve always known that one day we were going to create a band. We eventually did, even though it took us about 10 years.
P: I’ve always wanted to play in a band with him, and finally we ended up in Hong Kong together. And then we met Muerra. We got to talking and drinking loads of beer and then I saw him play – I was blown away.
Muerra: That was about one and a half years ago. But I have been playing guitar for 17 years.
P: We met Steve and he was like, ‘Hey, I can play the bass!’ So, here we are and. as far as I’m concerned, there will be no changes. No way! First of all it’s already so hard to find people that want to play, but to find people that you actually want to play with is even harder.
J: If I can’t even stand being around them, then I wouldn’t want to be in a band with them. We need to be friends outside and inside the band.

On their music…
J: You can say our genre is hardcore punk.
P: Definitely very heavy, definitely very loud. It’s hard to find one genre to describe us because there are too many labels out there and we don’t fit exactly in any of them. Our style is definitely not like the music trend now.

On their inspirations…
P: In terms of our songs, some of our inspirations are Refused, Death Tones, the Japanese band Envy and the French band Songs of Southern.

On the name This Is Ammunition…
P: First of all, I just think it sounds cool. It sounds corny and cheesy, but the ammunition does not refer to a bullet or a weapon. It’s really for the crowd. We want to give them the energy and the tools to be able to do something, to kick some ass. We want to give the crowd the message that our song is your ammunition, your energy and your inspiration.
J: Food for thought.
P: This is our music, listen to it and if it inspires you, you can use it. You can go out and use it to do something good.

On the Hong Kong music scene…
P: Hong Kong is also a tough place to be musicians. The scene is pretty dire; there is a huge lack of venues to perform songs, and on top of that is a disparity between the local and expat bands.
J: There will always be those two groups. They don’t necessarily go head to head but they just exist with each other. Our biggest fear, however, is falling into the trap of only playing for the expats scene.
M: We are definitely a mixture of both. Joe and Peter have been living in Hong Kong since they were kids, and I have only been here for a couple of years.
J: I’m not saying that we are going to single-handedly change the [disparity], but we are going to play some music and have some fun.

This is Ammunition are performing with four other local bands at The Underground on July 17 from 9:30pm-1:30am at California (30-32 D’Aguilar St, Lan Kwai Fong, Central). Tickets are $100 or $80 for students. Tel: 9486 4648.

Fired Up for Fun
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Shotgun Politics make music for the happy hell of it

It may seem strange to actually chase imperfection but evidently that is what it means to be a party band. Shotgun Politics are a group of musical ‘brothers’ who don’t care much for musical excellence. In fact as guitarist Timmy Ford says, ‘We are not the best musicians there are, but we play with enough heart and that I think makes up for not being the best instrument players.’ They call themselves party rockers and talk about their music as capturing the energy of hard music but with a pop edge. ‘It is the music that you want to hear to have a good time in a bar,’ says Freddy Lindell, the band’s drummer.

The band is a quartet – the other two members are guitarist Niall Polson, also the musical voice of the band, and Jimmy Yuen who plays bass. None of the four are interested in the usual rewards one associates with rock bands – fame, adoration and lots of money. ‘If we want to make money, we wouldn’t be doing this,’ Freddy tells me light-heartedly. ‘Being in this band doesn’t make us any money, it costs us money! But we are doing this to be in the scene.’

In fact, the group go out of their way to point out the futility of wealth and the stress that goes with accumulating it. As Freddy points out, ‘In Hong Kong people work all day and everything is so commercialized. People shop and spend money for leisure. What we are trying to convey in our music is that with simple things you can lead a rich and fun lifestyle.’

And then, startlingly, they quote Johnny Rage, a song dedicated to a friend of Timmy who was kicked out of the country for impulsively burning three golf carts.

‘Of course it is not politically correct to celebrate our friend for getting kicked out of the country for doing something crazy like that,’ Timmy says. ‘But goddamn it, it’s a really good story!’ adds Freddy. ‘We write our songs as we observe the things in our lives.’

And if their life stories are that raw, so is their music. Listen to a studio recording and you would swear they were in live performance. Tell them so, and they take it as a compliment. ‘Our music is to be heard live and not too polished,’ Freddy says. ‘It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes, but you can hear the live element. I want people to hear our excitement. Even though we are all playing in a studio, you can still hear Timmy jumping while playing the guitar or me screaming out loud while hitting the drums!’

I shouldn’t be too surprised then, when they tell me the Foo Fighters and especially David Grohl, the band’s vocalist and guitarist, are a major influence in their music making. Though they also mention Green Day and Jimmy Eat World among others.

Nor should I be surprised that, with their energy for playing on the Hong Kong scene purely for the joy of it, Shotgun Politics are organizing a musical get together for Hong Kong bands, which they are calling kaPow! They’ve invited Chochukmo, Innisfallen and DJ Dank Rock to play with them for a night of pure imperfect, non-moneymaking rock. Surprisingly, all have accepted.

The band are also putting the finishing touches to an album scheduled to be released on July 31 – not that they will be wanting to make anything out of that either, of course. ‘We are making the album not because we want to sell it,’ Timmy says. ‘But because we want to perform.’ Still, called Broadcast EP, this short record of five or six songs will be available in local music stores as well as online. Go on, make their day and buy it – I dare you.

ka-POW will feature Shotgun Politics, Chochukmo and Innisfallen with DJ Dank Rock from Hungry Ghosts, who will be spinning some of the best indie/electro rock tracks today. The musical mayhem will start at 10pm at Backstage, 52-54 Wellington St, Central. Tickets are $85 at the door. 2167 8985.