Tell us a bit about your background in the HK music scene - most people reading this probably won't know anything about the good ol' days of Tokyo Sex Whale, That Guy's Belly, etc. What do you remember from those days? (Be nostalgic! :-) talk about xKittenx if you'd like! hahaha...)
Hahaha… in many ways those were fun days, we had lots of shows and we developed our skills technically while playing in bands… my best memories from that time were playing in a show with NT and also with Departing Cross… it was great for me at that age (about 16 or 17) to get to the stage of being able to play with great local bands like that, and also with some foreign bands that came around, like Pridebowl or Fugazi. They were fun days, though as with everything there were definitely problems with the way we went about things…

xKittenx, I think we played one show, right? And we were either the first straight-edge hardcore or the first rap metal band here. Listening to the recording I have now, I think it’s more of the latter! Heh heh. I remember we had a totally ridiculous and funny thug-core song about our bassist getting ‘pummeled by the straight-edge crew’ while we chilled and watched. Amazing!

How do you feel you've changed from those early days of playing music in Hong Kong?

God, I feel like I’ve completely changed! I’m a very, very different person in many ways. To start with the music, well while I was playing with Tokyo Sex Wale, I was basically playing drums for music that other people had written. That’s just the way our songs were done, our singer/guitarist would mostly write them and we would play them. It was fun, but I feel that now I’m much more able to write and contribute to the kind of music that we make, and play music that I REALLY like to listen to and want to make.

Aside from the music, of course, I’ve been through a lot of changes since I was that age… I’m almost 27 now, so I’m sure everyone changes a lot in those years! I sometimes feel like I didn’t start using my brain and trying to think independently until after I was 18 anyway!

Specifically I think what’s changed has a lot to do with the way I relate to this city where I’m from, and am trying to come to terms with the way that I grew up here. I don’t know the experiences of people reading this interview, but essentially for me I went to an international school, and we all grew up in an institution that was basically preparing us for life outside of HK, and during the time I was in such an institution (during the colonial days of HK) it was in many ways what I’d consider a Eurocentric and white-supremacist environment. On the one hand there I was pretty much surrounded by both overt and ‘polite’ racism all the time. On the other hand, we also never had anything to do with HK except in the most superficial sense… we had almost nothing to do with the place where we grew up for 18 years of our lives, not in terms of language, in terms of culture, or in my case in terms of even taking yourself seriously as a non-white person who essentially had no context in any country but the one they were being raised in… which incidentally was one that was furthest removed from them.

I feel I was more or less taught to not see this place as serious, to not see myself and my feelings and thoughts as being serious, to not see that anything that didn’t ape the environment of the institution around me, was worthy of being serious. So it was really a colonial context in a lot of ways, and I’m beginning to realize and try to challenge the effects of that more and more.

I don’t want to whine too much, but this is basically what’s been on my mind for a few years now. The point is that I am here now, and this is where I am from. It’s going to be a struggle to come to terms with the way I was raised, but fuck it. This is where my history is, and this is where I am going to stay. Once that decision is reached, then a lot of practical questions come up, questions of language, of identity and culture, questions of relationships with people and place, questions about the institutional racism in which I was raised. These are things I am slowly dealing with every day.

How do you think Hong Kong has changed since then?
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Back to the band - what does the band's name mean?
The name is actually taken from the name of the main character in the Japanese film ‘Battle Royale’. I liked the name for the sound of it, but also think that the character and that film are very important to me. When I saw that film for the first time I couldn’t get over how right the filmmaker had nailed what I was going through in my head… that when we’re younger, when we’re in school, we make friends, we make relationships, we have ways of relating to each other and figuring out where we are in the world. Then, suddenly, when we leave all that and go into the ‘real world’, we are put in a situation where we have to compete with each other, to essentially kill each other and prove ourselves to be ‘better’ than one another in order to survive. In the movie we see that it’s not something that’s natural or that the students want to do, but they’re told that it’s right and forced to do it by authority, so many just go along with the orders and do it.

Seriously, watch that movie again or for the first time. It tends to be seen as just an action movie, but there are themes in there that speak to a lot of the shit we have to deal with in real life.

With your upcoming record - what do you hope to accomplish with it?

I dunno if we have any real plans to accomplish! We basically wrote over an hour’s worth of material in the first few months we were a band, so I wanted to release some of it before we forgot it all! Hahaha… but seriously, I hope it will encourage other people to record their songs and will show that it’s not so hard or expensive to do that and release a half-decent sounding collection of songs these days. Of course we also would love to tour around China and other countries in Asia some day, so maybe having a recorded sound will also help us share our music with people outside HK.

What was the recording process like having only two members in the band? I presume it was somewhat easier! :-) 
Well, there are less egos than with four or five people! But if you ask Arthur, he’ll probably say that I am kind of an asshole when it comes to this shit, so maybe my attitude makes up for the other two or three people… hahaha. As for recording, Arthur has an eight-track tape player that he bought second hand in Sham Shui Po… we recorded the drums first at Green Studio in Causeway Bay, where we usually practice. Then Arthur recorded the guitars and synths at home on the same machine. Then we did the vocals on top of that. We did it all ourselves, which means that Arthur did it himself, because I don’t know fucking shit about recording or mixing or anything!

I have known you for a few years now - and I have always admired your activist side. It reminds me of what punk/hardcore was all about in the first place. Do you remember what inspired you to get involved with political/social activism?
Honestly I see it as a choice we’re always faced with. We’re all making decisions to get involved in one thing or another, even if we think we’re not. Even if we just decide to spend our lives sitting in front of the TV, we are still making a political decision, the decision to NOT use our energy to change things and to let power run its course. This to me is the important thing… human beings, we have so much potential and so much energy just as individuals, and much more when we get together to do something. There are a lot of pressures and structures stopping us from using this energy positively, but if we want to we can do so much, and if we get our shit together and get organized we can change the fucking world!

For me personally, I first got started doing serious, committed activist stuff when I was in the US, when I was about 19, so around 1999. We had a really great group of people who tried to support and do solidarity work for strikes and walkouts and other labor actions that were going on in the place we lived at that time. There were definitely many cases, particularly one I remember during an industrial laundry strike in Philadelphia in 2000, where such local action and support really helped in the success of grassroots labor campaigns, and had an effect on peoples’ lives. So I’ve tried to do local-based actions and support like that, where we can be very effective, and tie that work into more global, structural and institutional concerns. Since I’ve been back in HK I’ve been working a lot with migrant workers’ groups, trying to support them in similar ways.

Honestly, the world is so, so, so fucked up. And there are a lot of more powerful, more violent people that we can point to and that we can blame for all this shit. And we’d be right to a large extent. But at the end of the day, what have you or what have I done to stop them? If everything that happens is down to human decisions being made, why can’t we change those decisions? What about our own individual decision to say ‘Fuck this shit! No way this shit is going on in my name!’? And organizing that decision, with others, into collective action… That’s basically my motivation.

How do you think activism is connected to music (and punk/hardcore in particular)?
There’s different ways it’s connected, of course. There are some incredible and inspiring examples from history of music and social movements, of music being central to efforts to change the world and make a more humane, just society. The best example I can think of is the folk singer Victor Jara. He was a guitarist and singer from Chile in South America in the 1960s and 70s who started the ‘new song’ movement, attempting to make artists and musicians a much more involved part of the social changes and revolutions that were going on around them. He was eventually tortured and executed by the Pinochet dictatorship, but as a musician and activist he had such an effect on his country and the world during his life, it is incredibly inspiring.

Punk and hardcore… well, I have a lot of problems with both of them as being inherently linked to activism. Sometimes we think that if a band sings about ‘political’ things, and live this kind of ‘alternative’ or ‘punk’ lifestyle they are automatically activists, or they are changing the world. But I really don’t think that’s the case.

I think the important thing is how such bands and the punk or h/c scenes relate to the world outside them. One of the biggest problems I think is that punk/hc is in many places too focused on itself, on creating a ‘scene’ and becoming too introspective and snobbish in that way. (I’m making a general point here, not specifically about any one place or scene). Of course having a community and in some ways having a scene is important, but that shouldn’t mean you don’t give a fuck about anyone outside, or look down on anyone who isn’t into the same kind of scene or music. This kind of attitude, criticizing the world from the comfort of your own ‘underground’ or ‘alternative’ scene, sounds to me like hippies living in communes and thinking they have moral superiority over everyone who doesn’t live like them.

Of course, at the end of the day, the elites and the institutions of power don’t give a fuck if you do this, as it is not a direct challenge to them. You could say that there is space for that kind of thing within the system, and they will probably be happy that people are ‘disappearing’ into their own little scenes and cliques, and not actually confronting the powerful on their shit.

So when punk or hc bands say they are against the ‘mainstream’ for example, what does that mean? I would like to think that means we are against mainstream values and institutions like capitalism, authoritarianism, competition, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., and that we are for a world that is more just and humane for everyone living in it. And then we don’t separate ourselves but actually engage with this world to do something about that!

What are some local political/social organizations you're involved with that you'd like more HK people to know about?
If I can plug a few organizations, then great! DEFINITELY the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union (IMWU). I volunteer with them on Sundays and help with the campaigns that they are running. From their beginnings around 1995, when they were a group of migrant workers in HK who took HUGE personal risks to form the union and get organized, they have grown to be one of the strongest grassroots movements in Hong Kong today. They are ALWAYS looking for supporters and for help, so please contact me if you want to use your skills to help them.

Actually the earthquake in Indonesia this weekend was in an area of the country that many Indonesian migrant workers in HK come from. Many people have lost family members and friends, and the organization is currently asking for donations of various kinds to help the families and friends of its members. If I could put this appeal out through the interview, that would be great… for more info you can contact Ms. Sarti of the IMWU at 95880939.

Otherwise… I am also very close to the people at 8A, or the Social Movements Resource Center (http://www.smrc8a.org). They are a somewhat loose but committed, thoughtful, and friendly group of people who work a lot on local issues. Lately they have been doing a lot of work on housing issues and ‘urban renewal’ in Hong Kong, in the Wan Chai area and elsewhere. They’re also involved in a lot of video activism, cultural actions like the ‘alternative’ June 4 commemoration called dizzidenza, and were all heavily involved in organizing and actions against the WTO ministerial in HK in December 2005. Another organization linked to them is Video Power http://www.videopower.org.hk

Another decent group I think is Globalization Monitor. They are all long time activists and produce some of the only regular Chinese language material against corporate globalization, and have regular discussions about the issues, particularly regarding labor issues in mainland China.

Just a small number of groups that are on the top of my head right now… but yeah, I guess there are quite a lot of campaigns going on in HK, though it might not seem so visible all the time.

Back to music - what types of bands have inspired this particular musical incarnation (i think its best for me to be specific to this band since like me - you've listened to a lot of stuff in your life!)?
Well for this band it’s still too much stuff to list it all! But definitely early thrash metal. Old Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth records are a huge influence. Then definitely the older punk stuff like Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat. Long time thrash bands like Municipal Waste from the US, and doom bands like Cathedral were also an influence. Actually there is this crazy Japanese band called No Rest For the Dead. I dunno if they still exist… but they mixed this really heavy grindcore and death metal with 70s stoner rock and classic rock. Thing is they were totally serious about both those styles, and were not just fucking around trying to be ironic or funny. That was a pretty good influence for sound and attitude!

What local bands have inspired you?
I think HK definitely has some amazing bands, not only now but in the past too. Blackbird, one of the great anarchist folk bands from HK, are one of my personal inspirations. Or Noise Box, a group of musicians that take their music and try to use it as best they can for social change, they are definitely inspirations. Both of those groups were politically active people and bands, not just playing music. Musically I like a lot of bands, I mentioned My Little Airport before, I like Wilson Tsang a lot too. Out of the heavier bands I love Hermetic Silence and Departing Cross.

What type of issues do you address with your music, band and lyrics?
The lyrics themselves I guess are very personal but also political… as you might guess from what I just wrote earlier, it is hard for me to separate the two! Arthur and I write lyrics for different songs, so the content is different. But I try to convey my everyday thoughts and experiences through the lyrics I write. ‘Drowning in Light’ for example, is about how we can be in a crowded city full of lights and life all around us, yet feel so completely alone and alienated. ‘Two Minute Warning’ is about one of the fears I’ve had since I was a kid that has gotten worse as decades have gone by, the fear of nuclear war. The threat of nuclear annihilation is more present than ever in human history right now, so the song is about what if you had missiles coming at you and only 2 minutes left to live for, what would you do? Kind of a stupid question, but it’s more a way of saying hey, let’s stop this shit before it gets to that stage! One of our newer songs ‘Hunted’ is much more pissed off and angry song about me getting stopped by cops one time and having to strip in a public toilet… so I dunno, lots of personal experiences, feelings, and ideas that I think could also apply to some sort of ‘political’ themes too.

What are the top 5 CD's you'd like people to check out?
Oh man… can I cheat and name a few? Heh heh:

1)      Sepultura- anything up to ‘Roots’

2)      New Model Army- No Rest for the Wicked’ or ‘Thunder and Consolation’.

3)      Napalm Death- ‘Scum’

4)      Asian Dub Foundation- “Rafi’s Revenge”.

5)      Victor Jara- ‘Pongo en tus Manos Abiertas’

Arthur has his own favorites, of course!

1). Billy Bragg- ‘Talking to the Taxman About Poetry’

2). Motorhead- ‘Ace of Spades’

3). Discharge- ‘Why?’

4). Poison Idea- ‘Feel the Darkness’

5). Nanahara Shuya- ‘Wild Seven’

Last comments...
Basically that we can have an effect on things, if we sense our own strength. I think it was the US writer Noam Chomsky who said, to paraphrase him, that history isn’t something that we study or observe from a distance, it’s something that we are living in, and that we can change and influence in many, many ways. So I guess what I’m saying is, if you don’t agree with something, do something about it! Be open in your disagreement, get organized in your discontent, and be effective in your opposition, and change things!

ANYWAY: - he's back with a metal band that recently opened up for Disavowed right here in Hong Kong...check out this AWESOME interview and then hit up their myspace to find out more!!!

good luck to you my brother! :-)