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Tokyoâs #1 House Party crew, the Boogie Night Crew, took the time to get on this journey to educate the people of Hong Kong, what Full Entertainment is. 10 members of the crew, including the 3 sexy Boogie Ladies, the 4 Boogie DJs who play insane sets, flew in just to provide a night for us with the most outrageous performances! When two of Asiaâs busiest cities meet, we here as the host, should be polite enough to thank them with this - âArigatouâ!!
A: Alyson
Y: DJ Yan
D: DJ Daruma
H: Hidehisa Hara (Organizer)
A: Welcome to Hong Kong, are you all doing?
All: Yeah!!
A: I need you to correct me if Iâm wrong⦠Konichiwa!!
All: Right right⦠Konichiwa!!
A: So what do you think of Hong Kong so far? You been here before?
D: No no no⦠first timeâ¦
A: First time? Dâya like it?
D: Yeah yeah!
A: What can we expect from the Boogie Night event? I know youâre playingâ¦
D: Ehhh⦠(Our) style is house music, but not just house music, we like funky bass-line, (but we have 4 DJs, so we have different stylesâ¦) Like Daruma, me, my house style is not just funky house, (thereâs) hip-hop flavor, electro flavor, and Rockân Roll flavor, so thatâs my house style.
Y: My style, basically French House, Rockân Roll⦠and Romantic!!
A: Romantic?
All: (LOL)
A: That sounds like 3 different things? How do you mix them all together??
A: If you can play anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?
D: I went to Korea last Christmas, and I need to go to Europeâ¦
A: Cool. Before you come to Hong Kong, what did you expect?
H: I think⦠of course this is the first time for us, I think Hong Kong is a very exciting city, we love European culture, and Hong Kong has many many English culture, I think England, Chinese culture mix, very interesting⦠and exciting city⦠and the town is very very beautiful, and people are so hot, and I think the music is very hotâ¦
We came to Hong Kong this time with 10 people, so all the Boogie Night staff are here together, we want to tell HK people, our flavor, Tokyo #1 house party flavor, want to know if we feel the same thing together!
A: Compare Hong Kong to Tokyo, is it still very crazy and busy?
All: Yeah!
Y: People!
A: The people⦠yeah, people never walk, they run!
All: Yeah yeah yeah!!
A: Now, I have never been to Tokyo, what would you tell me to make me wanna go to Tokyo even more?
D: Tokyo is a mixing culture of two, American and European, and Japan. But this is the original Tokyo flavor. Tokyoâs crowd scene is so big, so many crowds in Tokyo, big crowds and small crowds, everybody likes night clubbing, so young culture of night clubbing, and everybody DJs! There are so many record shops, everybody goes to record shops and (look for records)!
A: How did the whole Boogie Night idea come together?
D: Boogie Night started since last year, and we like hip-hop style in Tokyo, but hip-hop is very (commercialized) in Tokyo, we like danceable music, in the world, maybe last year, the mainstream was dance music, maybe funky house style, we like funky bass-line music, so we went to many kind of crowds in Tokyo, house music, techno music, and the good (feedback) is funky house, is ours!! Sorry⦠Iâm not speaking very good Englishâ¦
A: So what would you like to bring back to Japan from Hong Kong? It can be just an object, or it can be very spiritualâ¦
H: Especially, tonightâs party is very cool and beautiful⦠so many beautiful people will come, clubber people, we are the people of Tokyo club people, and every weekend we go clubbing⦠stylish clubs, French clubs⦠I wanna know the worldwide people, the clubber people, the stylish people, I wanna know the culture, the club culture in HK, and maybe we can see the very good culture of Hong Kong clubbers!
D: (Taking his camera out)
H: The people are very kind, I think the town is very exciting!
A: I hope you would enjoy your stay in Hong Kong, and good luck with the show~!
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Just like the Boogie Night Crew, this is the first time for Andre to leave his hometown of Paris for the beautiful city of ours. Apart from buying mobile phones, watches and crazy stuff, Andre bought the peopleâs love by his cute graffiti of Mr. A!! Here, we bring you the interview with this smooth criminal who would go to court, just to declare his love on the walls!
Alyson: Hey Andre, how you doing?
Andre: Good, ready for tonight!
Alyson: So youâve just arrived, or have you been here for a few days?
Andre: Oh I arrived 4 days before, first time here, Iâm so happy, Iâve just discovered the city, I really felt in love with HK.
Alyson: Tell me where you went!
Andre: Like⦠not really far from here, Mongkokâ¦
Alyson: Oh! Youâve probably went to the street market!
Andre: Yeah, I went to that park thatâs errr⦠all the fake stuff, thatâs too much for tourists⦠I didnât care about that⦠Nah I went to all the small malls⦠where all the young people from Hong Kong go to⦠those small shop, very specialized shopsâ¦
Alyson: Before you arrived, what did you expect?
Andre: Something like this⦠but not as crazy, I like thereâs a kind of mix between like⦠modern things⦠old things⦠for me itâs kinda like the future will be like in Hong Kong.
Alyson: I know youâre really good at what you do, which is graffiti arts, how did it all started?
Andre: Oh it started when I was like about 13-years-old, was like the middle of the 80âs, I was just a kid you know, I had some spray cans and some markers, I used to walk around in Paris, and draw on the walls, just draw my name! And it was kind of a game, just write my name everywhere, in most places I could get.
Alyson: Wow! Did you get caught for it??
Andre: Ahhh⦠yeah, many times, was in court, I tried not to get caught, but sometimes, it happens.
Alyson: Well, what motivates you to stick to this?
Andre: I donât know! You know, the 1st day I just draw on the wall, I felt something like.. I donât know⦠itâs about freedom or something very powerful, I couldnât really explain but I just had to do it. Even today, 20 years later, Iâm still doing that, Iâm still drawing on the walls outside at night, you know⦠itâs part of my life, I need it, itâs my energy!
Alyson: Tell us whatâs your trademark!
Andre: Yeah, I have my icon itâs called Mr. A, who I usually draw a lot on the walls⦠but I also have many different work!
Alyson: Iâm looking at this gallery book of yours, every one is so different, and itâs all like names!
Andre: Yeah, it was a project I called âLove Graffitiâ, and I used to be like⦠a public writer, and people can order from me to write the name of their lover, so I used to go and draw the name of the girl or the guy, just nearby where they live, so when they get up in the morning, theyâre up in their window, and they saw their name, in huge brightful colored letters, and that was a kind of declaration of love, and that was doing part of all the projects I made, I made about more than 100 different names, and that was a work!
Alyson: Now with all your experiences, thereâs gotta be one or two pieces of work from yourself which you can just not forget, or you can just take that one out and be proud of!
Andre: Yeah⦠Iâm proud of about everything I make⦠thatâs good, yeah!! I make some crazy things, I made like⦠I painted the wall, that was like 400 sq meters big, all by myself, it took more than one monthâ¦
Alyson: Wow!
Andre: I KNOW! And I made a Mr. A giant! Was like one the building, and (that) was like more than 20 floors high⦠in Paris⦠all illegal⦠(giggle) thatâs doing part of graffiti, I have a few⦠different things like this that are quite bigâ¦
Alyson: Youâve done crazy things like these, do you have anything in mind that you still havenât done, but youâd die to do it!
Andre: Yeah! Paint a plane, up-going⦠that would be one of the great things I would love to do, I would also love to paint a really really big wall on a really high building. Thatâs gonna be somethingâ¦
Alyson: I see youâve been doing a lot live events, which combines your graffiti to music.
Andre: Yeah, I do that sometimes, I made it for HK, I used to do it when I was much younger, nowadays, I donât always have the time, but for this occasion, Iâm good to do something special.
Alyson: Speaking of music events, do you like music?
Andre: Yeah, actually I produce some music in Paris, and itâs part of my life, graffiti is always about music, dance, itâs about todayâs life, itâs not just one thing, itâs not just art, or drawings, itâs just a complete universe.
Alyson: Itâs like a whole culture.
Alyson: Now, before I let you go, everybody from our website theyâve all been waiting for this moment, they all want me to ask you to do something for our HKClubbing Radio⦠would that be ok??
Andre: Of course! I can do a small drawing for you!
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Whence He Came Interview
One of the most recognizable bands in Hong Kong, Whence He Came, is releasing a brand new album, âThe Shorter Storyâ. As we talk to lead singer Joshua and lead guitarist Ephraim, to catch up with what theyâve been doing through the years, and their advice on young-hopefuls in Hong Kong. Read more...The people in the Interview room are as follows:
A: Alyson (HKClubbing.com/CityVibe)
J: Joshua (Whence He Came)
E: Ephraim (Whence He Came)
A:I remember the last time I saw was at the Starsailor concert, but the last time I talked to you was when you were promoting âStill Amidst The Trafficââ¦
J:Wow! 3 years ago!
A:What have you been doing for the past 3 years?
E:Recording this record⦠(giggled) I guess like playing shows and stuffâ¦weâve done a couple of tours outside of Hong Kongâ¦
J:Done lots and lots of shows⦠we started recording the new album last September⦠and yeah, itâs coming out next month!
A:So where did you guys go for the last couple of tours?
J:We toured Japan twice, and weâve done Singapore a couple of times, but Japanâs been the biggest for us, every single time weâve gone over, weâve got more and more⦠like bigger and bigger response. We donât even understand why people like us, because bands over there are so goodâ¦
A: So what do you think of the fans in Japan?
J: People that come to our shows are really really supportive. I mean itâs just really amazing playing for Japanese people, coz theyâre really appreciative, except, in between songs itâs dead silenceâ¦
A:Really?
J:Yeah⦠at the Japanese shows⦠I mean itâs loud and crazy, and then they applause, and then if you have too much of a gap in between, then itâs complete silence, nobody says a thingâ¦
E:I donât know if thatâs such a respect thing, or⦠just that⦠they probably donât like us⦠(LOL)
A: Tell us about the new album!
J:Itâs called the âShorter Storyâ, it will be available in stores starting from the 1st of May.
E:It runs for about 40 minutes, and songs that weâve been playing them through our shows in Hong Kong for about 2 years now. Most of them are new songs⦠I guess itâs a lot of big stuff compared to âStill Amidst The Trafficâ, coz weâve progressed a lot. Like weâve got 2 new members for the band. And yeah⦠so much better than the first one!
J:We were able to get a really amazing producer from Holland, his name is Martin Groeneveld. And heâs worked with bands like This Beautiful Mess, and The Spirit That Guides Us⦠some incredible Dutch bands and European bands, so he flew over here and produced the album, and we mixed and mastered it in Holland. So⦠itâs an amazing experience.
A:Do you feel like sometimes itâs hard to put your own experience into the songs?
J:Yeah, totally! In fact, I havenât written a single song for Whence He Came which used the word I in it, coz I just feel really weird writing about myself or writing about me.. so I usually try tot make all the songs stories of somebody else, maybe me, or may not be me⦠at least it doesnât sound like Iâm arrogant and writing about myself.
A: How would you encourage people, especially young people to stand up and do their thing like you did?
J:Phew⦠thatâs an interesting questionâ¦
E:Go for it! I guess⦠do it while youâre still young⦠and just grown you get old, and you have a family⦠how much of a choice of doing it coz youâll have to sacrifice a lotâ¦
J:Like you said were still young, we still live with our family, we donât really have⦠you know, not really have entered the whole real worldâ¦
E: We donât have mortgage and rent and all that stuffâ¦
J:Just go for it⦠if you enjoy music, do it. If you enjoy art, do it. Hong Kong is pretty hard if youâre doing art stuff, but as long as you enjoy it, then just do it.
A: Have you ever got to a point where youâll go, âUh, I regret doing thisâ¦â?
J: To be honest? Not really.
E:No, never.
J:I can say firstly itâs been the biggest step in my life, the most life changing experience, like starting a band and getting elsewhere and stuff. I never really pictured myself when I was 18, like⦠you know⦠touring places and playing shows and playing for fantastic people. Iâve been having the ride of my life.
E: Yeah!
J:I think one thing that Iâll say to most kids is that, figure out what you really love in it. And if you really love it, then give everything for it!
The new album is in stores from the 31st May, while the band will be doing more touring in Europe later this year.
Check out their website at:
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Candi Staton on the KKK, Studio 54 & End Time: The Signs Are Everywhere. "Picking cotton was very physical work, thats one of the reasons I wanted to sing, I thought âthereâs got to be a better way. You'd be in the hot sunshine all day long filling a sack on your back and once it was full of cotton, youâd go back, empty it then start all over again. Read more...Your back would be breaking and all the time Iâd be thinking âGod, Iâve got to get out of this country; Iâve got to do something else, because this is not me.
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Seb Fontaine: Leaving Radio 1 Is Like Leaving A Girlfriend
Seb Fontaine chatted to Skrufff this week about his impending departure from Radio 1 and compared the experience to a mutual break up of a long-term romance.
âI must admit I am a little bit sad about it and thereâs certainly a lump in my throat, but weâve also parted on really good terms, thereâs no animosity or bitterness,â said Seb.
âIt isnât a case of âyouâve been sacked, fuck offâ, in fact, Iâm still going to be doing Ibiza for them as well as various other projects later on. Itâs sad but sad in a good way.â
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There are not to many live music venue options in Hong Kong, for small to medium sized shows. But the ones that are used do often have local and international shows.
