Canadian hardcore band Comeback Kid bring their latest tour to Hong Kong on the 15 March at MOM Livehouse.
Formed in 2001 in Winnipeg, the band currently consists of vocalist Andrew Neufeld, guitarists Jeremy Hiebert and Stu Ross, bassist Chase Brenneman and drummer Loren Legare.
Comeback Kid’s mould-breaking second album Wake the Dead (2005) attracted fans across the globe and influenced a new generation of melodic hardcore groups. Their seventh studio album, Heavy Steps, was released in January 2022.
Ahead of their concert to promote their new EP Dust, bc magazine spoke to TYNT‘s Rothchild Wong about the band and their new music.
For those readers who don’t yet know TYNT (why not?), can you introduce the band? Hello! We are a 4 piece music group formed in 2018 and still going strong. Hanz sings beautifully, Bunny plays guitar as Ruff and Steven stroke, twiddle and caress our synthesizers.
Covid has been difficult for Hongkongers, as a band how frustrating has it been not to be able to play live? Being in a band and working in the music scene in general over the last three years has been incredibly frustrating, though it is just one of many industries that have been ruined by the pandemic and lockdown procedures.
While artists have been able to focus on creating their music for a while, the music infrastructure like venues and promoters is still struggling with restrictions. Bigger venues like Macpherson, EMAX and West Kowloon are now able to host covid restricted concerts, but smaller music venues have long been out of work and business since 2020.
As a band, it is definitely frustrating that playing a show is so difficult these days, but in the grand scheme of things we are just one small piece of the whole puzzle.
How did the new EP Dust come about? Why Dust? Dust came about as a natural progression from our first album Symbol (2020). We had a few of these songs down a long time ago even before we completed Symbol, but the entire process got delayed multiple times these past years.
We thought that while these tracks sound like a new direction for us, we also see that the 5 tracks have a lot of our older identity, so we want to release them as an EP; a sort of transition before our next evolved form during the next album.
We came up with the title, because Dust seems to reflect the fleeting nature of time, and is always what is left at the end of the day. We thought this sentiment would fit this EP, which signifies a stage of development for us.
Talk us through the five tracks and the inspiration behind the songs? While our songs are usually developed after a spontaneous process of trial and experimentation, we do retrospectively look back at the work and find some references and inspiration to further complete the picture.
While not specifically referencing any artist in any certain song, we have been exploring more electronic/synth-based tonalities similar to those used by artists like Caribou and Baths.
Dust is a lot less dark/depressing/post-rock compared to Symbol, but it does have some dark and moody elements in Dogeyes and Hurtlocker. While Dai Mond and Freak are tracks where we have begun to experiment and incorporate other elements.
Where can readers buy Dust? Digital copies will be on sale at our TYNT bandcamp page. When the physical copies are ready, they will be available to purchase at most of HK main independent record stores.
Follow our instagram and facebook pages to find out more!
What next for Tynt? Hopefully after the show, we will have some time to work on our new songs. We will have a slot at the Tone Music Festival in October, but looking forward to playing more shows when things hopefully begin to open up even more!
Local band Smoke in Half Note has released a video, produced by 2Hz Resonance, of their recent live session at Cult Key.
Formed in 2014 @smokeinhalfnote are known for their reverb-swamped sometimes twangy experimental sound that paints sonic ‘pictures’ for the audience to enjoy.
If you enjoy the video, the bands first album One to Be Whole is on Apple music and physical copies can be bought at Infree Records.
The organisers of the Tone Online Music Festival – We are All Living Together have released the full video of the 16 January gig on Youtube.
Listen to these local bands: CHANKA 陳嘉 , DJ King, Kendy Suen, King Ly Chee 荔枝王, Luna Is A Bep, R.O.O.T, The Ancient Mental, Triple G, TYNT, 陳健安, 藍奕邦, 麗英@小薯茄
Third Tone Online Music Festival CHANKA 陳嘉 , DJ King, Kendy Suen, King Ly Chee 荔枝王, Luna Is A Bep, R.O.O.T, The Ancient Mental, Triple G, TYNT, 陳健安, 藍奕邦, 麗英@小薯茄 Date: 4:30pm, 16 January 2022 Venue:www.youtube.com/c/TONEMUSICTV Tickets: $2,000, $500, $200
After a couple of singles, local band Streets of Rage have released their debut EP Raw Dog.
The five-song collection is a mix of cynical and optimistic tunes about life in the 2020’s from five dudes who as they describe themselves on Facebook have “No agenda, no negativity, no hate, just a bunch of dudes who love making heavy music”.
Even looking behind the mirror there’s not been much to get excited about for local live music fans over the last 18 months as COVID and government regulations have decimated live music and concert venues.
Sometimes though, behind a cloud there is actually a silver lining as fans of the iconic hardcore band King Ly Chee found earlier this month with the surprise announcement of the band’s first concert in four years.
As resurrections go, this was totally unexpected – seismically similar to the ABBA reunion among pop fans perhaps – as the band’s break-up in 2017 seemed terminal with former members all getting involved in new bands and musical projects.
In 1999 when Pakistani frontman Riz Farooqi returned to his birthplace from New York ‘hardcore’ barely existed in Hong Kong. Riz though was a passionate devote… finding happiness, joy and release/freedom in the music and community.
Finding some like-minded musicians King Ly Chee was born and a generation of HongKongers found their voice and identity in Hong Kong hardcore.
bc magazine spoke with Riz Farooqi ahead of their new concerts:
King Ly Chee live again, honestly didn’t expect to see that to happen – how did it come about? The band ended in 2017. I carried the band through numerous lineup changes which I did because I had made a commitment to myself back when I started the band in 1999 that I would keep it going no matter what. So regardless of who left I just kept it going which is why it ended up feeling like a revolving door of members. But by 2017 I was done looking for new people – it finally came to a point that it just wasn’t right to keep replacing people. That particular lineup that ended in 2017 included a total of 5 people (Myself, Ivan, Brian, Ho, and Joe) who pretty much made the band their lives and dropped everything to be able to honour commitments when it came to shows, touring and recording.
So in 2017 it was done and I was ready to move on with my new band Dagger.
But then Covid came and put a complete stop to Dagger because my drummer, Ivan, lives in Macau. In fact the very last show I’ve played was two years ago when Dagger played at The Wanch in Feb of 2020 which was also the last time I saw Ivan. So it’s been two years of absolutely nothing going on in my life. NOTHING. I even started another band, Regret, in that time trying to get the fire going again. But the drummer of that band, Egas, ALSO lives in Macau.
I started reminiscing and a bunch of old KLC photos and videos kept popping up on my newsfeed. These photos were from an era of the band that was MOST beloved by Hong Kong. That’s not even an understatement…looking at all those photos and videos of people right here in Hong Kong losing their minds to this band was something that really meant a lot to me. Interestingly enough the drummer for that era is an amazing dude named Kevin (out of all the band members I’ve had the honour to play with in KLC, he was always the closest to me – like a full-on brother), just so happened was also missing that era too. I contacted Andy who played guitar back then and the three of us decided to try it out to see how it felt. It was just a quick jam – but we ripped through all those songs as if literally NO time had passed. After the first jam we all kinda sat there smiling from ear to ear.
There have been many members of King Ly Chee since 1999, who will be in the 2021-22 line-up? That’s the thing. When people ask if we’d ever reunite I always say, “which era”? For Hong Kong there was never any doubt that the ‘Stand Strong’ era would be it. So the band that is back together is myself, Kevin, and Andy (Unfortunately Alex is not in Hong Kong so it won’t include him, but our good friend Ho (also an ex-member of KLC) will be on bass).
What has it felt like to prepare for a gig and play the King Ly Chee songs again after such a long time? As mentioned above, it was like literally no time had passed. Kevin, Andy and I got right back into it and the craziest part was that the vibe was exactly the same from back then. People have to understand, we’re talking about something we did almost 20 years ago, and for it to click like the way it did today in 2021 is something none of us envisioned. But it felt right being back in the practice room together and we’re currently gearing up to play the first of our comeback shows. We’re STOKED.
For those who might recognise the name but don’t know the band, can you give us a quick potted history of who are/were King Ly Chee? King Ly Chee is a hardcore band I started back in 1999 as a way to introduce the world of “hardcore” to HKers. I wanted to introduce this underground culture in a language that was more easily digestible to the local population (Cantonese) because it’s what saved my life once (as did metal and punk rock) and I wanted to see if it could help others as well.
Are you going to record/film/live stream the upcoming King Ly Chee shows? The current plan is to film the first show back and then see what happens.
The first show sold out in minutes, the second almost as quickly – is King Ly Chee back as a band? Will there be any new KL songs? We have been totally shocked by how fast both shows sold out!
Yes, we have 2 brand new songs done and will continue to write into the new year. We’ve talked about maybe getting a brand new EP out in 2022 but will see how it goes. The most important thing about getting back together is to just have fun and put zero stress on each other. All of us are married, have full-time jobs, the majority of us have children, we’re just getting back together to have fun, play shows, write music, and use this all to have an excuse to be in the same room together.
Which of the various online music channels can readers buy/stream King Ly Chee? We’re on everything – bandcamp being the best because bands get paid the best on this platform.
Where can people purchase King Ly Chee albums, merchandise? Currently, the only store selling our stuff in Hong Kong is the amazing Infree Records in Mong Kok run by a true HK legend Soni. If you all haven’t visited this store yet, you’re missing out on an absolute cultural event.
As a musician what has been the hardest aspect of life under COVID? Not being able to play shows and tour. I couldn’t care less about recording – I actually HATE recording – being a studio musician/band has never interested me at all. For me the whole point of being in a band is to actually play shows in front of people engaging with music screaming their heads off.
Apart from the King Ly Chee gigs, what’s on the musical horizon for your other bands Dagger and Regret. Nothing else…not until it’s easier for people to travel to Hong Kong.
Apart from writing, singing and performing in three bands Riz Farooqi started and runs the hardcore website UniteAsia which brings together bands and fans of hardcore, punk, metal from across Asia.
