Introducing Thinking Out Loud
Hi everyone!
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Amazing to believe that since I last wrote here, we’ve had to deal with the Iraq invasion and SARS and Peaceful Protests in Hong Kong….
SARS? Well, I wasn’t having any of that ‘wear a mask’ crap that so many people bought into. You could see people wearing them upside down, pushing them aside to smoke a ciggie and then replacing them over their mouths… hahahahaha
Hong Kong was the first place to bring SARS to the world’s attention, so my band “Thinking Out Loud” had to cancel going to the famous “SpringScream” (an annual 4-day music festival held in the south of Taiwan.) This year we had a prime spot on stage 3 at 10pm on the Saturday night (April 7th). Could we book a hotel room? As soon as they heard we were coming from Hong Kong, they said ‘no rooms available’ – Taiwanese people were advising us not to promote the fact that we are a band from Hong Kong. I ended up being interviewed by the “South China Morning Post” (”I’m a rock star. Not a f****** camper!” (thinkingoutloud.com.hk/newsa.html)
For the Cantonese Guitar Competition, I went onto Pierre Tremblay’s radio show on Radio 3 twice – once to promote the contest and again to announce the winner. The only requirement for the contestants was to make their guitars ‘speak’ in Cantonese – a tonal language which makes it notoriously difficult to duplicate on guitar never mind vocals!… I truly believe all the contestants are winners and outstanding guys to take on this unusual challenge. All songs, information about the judges and interviews (with much laughter) are all available here. (mp3.com/ducttape) The winner? PANick aka Scott Kesson won with his incredibly groovy song called “Never Never Band” PANick really can kick your ass on guitar! hahaha
End of March, SARS had really gripped the public’s attention and the Rolling Stones who were set to play HK and China – cancelled their gigs!?!?! Hard to believe that these rockers who have done every drug imaginable under the sun would be afraid. Yes I had tickets. Rumour is now that they’ll return in September – who knows!?!? I’ll keep you posted!
April rolled in and more gigs were being cancelled left, right and center – Moby, David Gray and Mariah Carey weren’t coming anymore. I wasn’t too upset about Mariah but I hope the others reschedule.
Many people left HK in panic which was to my band’s advantage and we nabbed a few extra gigs. At one of them I decided to do the whole chemical boiler suit thing…… I walked in with my “Hello Kitty” mask on but found it too hard to sing with it……It all got a bit hot for me so I had to strip.
Even Warner Music Hong Kong decided it would be amusing to plug Madonna’s new album with her wearing a mask…..
Then May rolled in and the number of SARS infections continued to, lots of parties were planned and we found ourselves with 5 gigs booked for June.
June 2003 kicked off with “Musicians against SARS” two day festival which was held at 48th Street Chicago Blues and Hard Rock Café over the first weekend of June. We played a laid back afternoon set and were followed by Helter Skelter one of Hong Kong’s best blues band. Hats off to these 2 venues for firing up Hong Kong’s music scene and for donating all profits to SARS orphans.
Then we played our first shopping mall! We had told the organizers that we were a pop band but on arrival at Times Square – we noticed the band before us were playing ‘shopping-mall’ jazz – whoops hahahahaha We were told to ‘play quietly’ so as not to annoy the shop owners – can you believe that?!?! It was actually a great gig. 95% of the audience were local Chinese who were delighted with the Cantonese patter I was giving them in-between songs plus the TOL stickers were a hit! Times Square has 12 floors and 8 of the floors looks down into the Piazza which was where the stage is set up. The acoustics were awesome! Hahahaha
Then we broke the virginity of a hip venue in Lan Kwai Fong* called “Bar George”, we were invited by “Exit” a cool cover band to play with them on a packed Saturday night. A lot of band-bonding happened that night and many a mad photo were taken…. *Lan Kwai Fong – the expensive, trendy (also can be touristy) area on 
Hong Kong island, here you’ll find lots of nightclubs, bars & restaurants.
End of June signaled the now-famous “Wanchai Live” a mini-music festival dedicated to raising awareness & money for KELY charity. In its 8th year and sponsored by The Wanch and Carnegies – 2 venues very close to each other in Wanchai. 40 bands played over the weeked of 28th & 29th of June. From veteran band “The Bastards” (punk) to Boludo, it was a mish-mash of music and both venues were packed out for the weekend. Thinking Out Loud got one of the premium spots – 10pm at Carnegies – I decided to unveil the spikey bra look!
Well last time I wrote, I promised to fill you in on my music publishing company; Shazza Music – I have a few excellent songwriters; of course Sisters of Sharon, Jane Eliz – a fantastic acoustic guitar player with an awesome voice to match and Mike Barrie – who can perform 1000 songs! Shazza Music works with the songwriters on achieving what they want with their musical goals.
On a political note, on 1st July, I joined in the Protest March with 500,000 other Hong Kong people against Article 23. It was an amazing day, we spent 4 hours walking, the atmosphere was calm even though we were all hot and moving slowly. The banners on display were great!! I’ve included a photo of my Mum and myself. The Government was trying to say it wouldn’t make a difference but it did.
OK lastly, I think I’ll leave you a link to “Dummy’s Guide to Taking A Band Photo” hahahahaha
I’m off to Germany this weekend and will have a nose around Berlin and Frankfurt, I’ll tell you more next time I write! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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