You see, I wasn’t planning on going to this show, I mean, I just covered them in May! But then, The Maine had never played The Mod Club in the eight or so times they have played in Toronto, and I love The Mod Club (which has become the Virgin Mobile Mod Club, oh)! A friend later told me that the band is actually playing their new album from start to finish and there is no opening band. And I thought, “seriously?! I have to go to that!”

And so there I was.

Counting my fingers, it was my sixth time seeing The Maine. It is a great experience to witness how far a band has come in the last few years. And the main goal of the Pioneer tour is to recognize that achievement as well as the fans that have been there. The Pioneer tour was all about The Maine and the fans. Halfway through the first part of the night, where The Maine performs track-by-track from their new record Pioneer, lead singer John O’Callaghan explained their purpose for the special tour, that they have put a lot of effort into the new album and the band is really proud of it, and that it really means a lot to “know people still give a shit (about the band)”. Considering how often a band puts out a new album only to have fans saying how the older material sounds better and/or wishing the band plays more oldies at the show, The Maine certainly took a big risk with the tour. Luckily, it was well received as they played a sold out show in Toronto. The band also took some time to talk about the songs, for example, O’Callaghan said that “Jenny” was about his mother.

Fortunately for those fans who came to hear the band playing old songs, they were also satisfied because the concert was split into two halves, the first part was the performance of Pioneer and the second half was dedicated to the other songs. There was an intermission between the two sets during which the band took a break and showed the crowd a mockumentary styled retrospective video by the band, depicting how the band perceived the last few years of the band’s development. The Maine caricatured their entire existence as a band into an entertaining and heartfelt video, which the crowd enjoyed immensely. In the short video, The Maine reenacted their first photoshoot as a band, recording in the studio, and more photoshoots, “behind the scenes” of their music video shoots and signing to a major label. And of course, depicting drummer Pat Kirch’s addiction with cupcakes.

After the screening of the humorous mockumentary, the band came out on stage again. There were a lamp at each side of the stage, creating a homey atmosphere. On this part of the night, O’Callaghan said “hopefully this would be the singalong portion”. The band began with “Inside of You” and also “Everything I Ask For”, which were singles from their previous albums. The first few songs of the second set were played on acoustic guitars which separated that night from the usual concerts of The Maine. The performance of the rearranged version of “Everything I Ask For” was probably the best one I have seen out of half a dozen shows – it was fun and the fans sang along to every word. Even when O’Callaghan took a moment to say something to his guitarist Jared Monaco, the fans continued to sing on and O’Callaghan motioned to the crowd as if saying “you’ve all got it”. In addition, the band played an alternate version of “Saving Grace”. The highlight of the night was when the band played “Ho Ho Hopefully”, a song from the band’s Christmas EP released in 2008, a song which probably isn’t suitable to play at other shows not in December. The Maine ended the night with “Into Your Arms” in which O’Callaghan playfully replaces the lyrics from “she had the most amazing smile” to “the most disgusting rash”. After the band left the stage around 9:30pm, the crowd had no intention of leaving and began an encore chant. A few seconds later, a crew member came on stage and announced “it [encore] ain’t gonna happen” and told everyone to begin to line up at the merch table where they were holding a meet and greet inside the venue, and only autographs were allowed at the meet and greet in order to move the line up. I was the only few who left the venue shortly after, almost everyone stayed for the meet and greet.

Even though I hadn’t listened to Pioneer until that night, it was a delightful experience witnessing the band’s growth, culminating in one show. The sound of the new album is definitely a departure from the band’s earliest work, but consistent with the direction of their sophomore album as they take a more old school alternative rock turn instead of the typical catchy pop rock tunes. An Alternative Press review of The Maine’s new album ends with, “Out of all the bands borne out of Warped Tour Nation, we never would’ve guessed the Maine would be the ones putting out rock records this consistently unique, interesting and, well, great.” As I was listening to the new record, I honestly thought that if I hadn’t been listening to The Maine since their first album, I probably would not be into the band because the new sound is not what I usually listen to. What makes me enjoy the new record is probably having the chance to experience their musical journey, which is what would keep me going to see the band time after time. And hey, O’Callaghan announced they would be returning in Spring, guess who would be there?

Photography and review by Jessie Lau

Evanescence

Everyone probably knows at least one song from a Gothic metal band. In 2004, Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life” became a radio hit, which made the band a household name and earned them two Grammy Awards. It’s been five years since their last album, the band finally returned to the stage along with a brand new self-titled album which has been in the works for the last couple of years. On a chilly and rainy Tuesday night, Evanescence performed at Toronto’s Sound Academy to a sold out crowd.

每個人應該至少認得一首哥德金屬樂曲。Evanescence的“Bring Me To Life“在二零零四年成為電台大熱，令樂隊名字變得街知巷聞，更為他們贏得兩個格林美獎項。自五年前上一張專輯後，樂隊終於推出了用了幾年時間製作、以樂隊名字作標題的全新大碟，並且回到台上。在一個下著雨、冷冷的星期二晚上，Evanescence在多倫多的Sound Academy演出了一場爆滿的音樂會。

Rival Sons

Openers of the tour included rock band Rival Sons and The Pretty Reckless. Californian blues rock band Rival Sons seems a odd choice for the bill, they played a half an hour set which was interesting to see considering the crowd were more prepared for some Gothic music rather than some old school rock. The band sounded great nonetheless and lead singer Jay Buchanan was the enticing subject to photograph.

The Pretty Reckless

Having seen The Pretty Reckless on Vans Warped Tour 2009, where photographers were not permitted in the photo pit,  I was pleasantly surprised to find out we were allowed to photograph the performance. The 18-year-old Taylor Momsen fronts the alternative rock band; she was the last one to join the stage in her signature risque stage outfits: a tight white studded dress, garter stockings and  a pair of knee high buckled platform boots. (Incidentally, that was the same outfit when I last photographed her!) As enticing her performance could be, it got boring after awhile as she didn’t do anything else other than risque dance moves. However, despite constantly tiptoeing the fine line between a stripper and a singer, it’s undeniable that she has some powerful vocals. In addition to “Zombie”, ‘Goin’ Down”, “My Medicine”, “Just Tonight”, “Makes Me Wanna Die” and “Factory Girl”, the band covered Audioslave’s “Like A Stone”. Halfway through the set, Momsen asked the crowd “how many of you guys are drinking?”. After a show of hands, the 18 year old Momsen said, “really? I thought there would be more of you!” With her sexually charged performances and rock star attitude, Momsen indeed is not your average 18 year old at all. Rock on, girl!

The Pretty Reckless

The Pretty Reckless

Evanescence

Before Evanescence took the stage, there was a scattered chant going on that called for the lead vocalist’s name “Amy Lee” (overhead: “Isn’t it funny how people are screaming for ‘Amy Lee’ not ‘Evanescence’?”). It was really exciting to see the backdrop with the gigantic Evanescence logo that also changes into other graphics, the backdrop was gloriously illuminated by changing lights. Drummer Will Hunt began the intro with a drum solo and the rest of the band slowly joined in for “What You Want”, the first single from the new release. After the song, Lee talked about how the album is currently #1 in the US and #2 in Canada, how excited they are about the new album and that they will be playing a lot of the new songs. Lee, also a classically trained pianist, also played the keyboard and the Baldwin piano on a raised platform in front of the stage. Even though I haven’t listened to the band’s new material until then, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment because the band simply sounds great. Lee’s high pitched vocals are dark, mysterious and beautiful. It’s an incredible experience watching the band live because it’s really hard not to completely immerse oneself in the impressive atmosphere. Admittedly, it was rather disappointing to hear “Bring Me To Life” live because it lacks the male vocals as in the album version, but fans took it upon themselves to scream the parts back. After ending with “Bring Me To Life”, the band returned for an encore and ended with the piano ballad “My Immortal”, another singalong favorite.

Evanescence

Evanescence

English text and photos by Jessie Lau
Translated and edited by Jaime Chu

From the band's Facebook page

It was a Saturday night when my friends down the dormitory corridor discovered that their favourite band was going to play in town. Out of curiosity, I wanted a taste of the music scene here and joined in purchasing a ticket. The Irish band is called And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA. I know, not the best acronym around) and I liked the poetic portrayal the name gave. Little did I know I was in for a night of awesome instrumental rock.

October 17th marked the Durham stop of their winter tour at the city’s Live Lounge. The venue was cozy with a bar and there was enough space in front of the stage, which quite suited the group. After two opening acts that didn’t achieve much to warm up the audience, ASIWYFA appeared on stage preparing the equipments. And then the lights dimmed. My friends and I immediately went in front of the stage and read the set list: “BEAUTIFULUNIVERSEMASTERCHAMPION”, “Gang”, “Search:Party:Animal”, “A Little bit of Solidarity goes a Long Way”, “”7 Billion People All Alive At Once”, “D Is For Django the Bastard”, “S Is For Salamander” and “Don’t Waste Time Doing Things You Hate”.

In fact, I have never heard of this band before. But what better way is there to experience a band for a first time than a live gig?  The visual set-up of the performance was already stunning.

Standing at the very front was a novel experience, especially when the sound I heard was felt at the same time as physical vibrations. While drummer Chris Wee (half-naked)  provided the solid and powerful rhythms, guitarist Rory Friers and bassist Jonathan Adger were amazing at performing their respective parts. Their dedication to even a small venue was proved by the energetic jumps on amps. Special credit should be given to Friers when he encountered technical difficulties that lasted for about five minutes and tried his best to fix it without interrupting the show. His supportive band members were more than able to deliver music of the same quality during that short period.The crowd, although not a large one, enjoyed the instrumental rock band’s music thoroughly. We clapped and jumped along the great rhythm and guitar riffs. The interactiveness between the performer and the audience could not be better illustrated at the end of the show when the guitarists jumped off stage into the crowd still playing those awesome notes, then leaving their guitars with the audience.

Written and translated by Sherlock Lam
Edited by Jaime Chu

Hong Kong’s (most) famous indie band MY LITTLE AIRPORT (MLA) held three shows on the weekend of August 26-27 at Hong Kong’s Hidden Agenda in Ngau Tau Kok. If you haven’t heard of them, perhaps the fact that the Scottish indie band BMX Bandits had covered one of their songs would spark your interest. In addition to their new album, “hong kong is one big shopping mall” (namesake of the show title), MLA also released a series of souvenirs at the venue, such as t-shirts with the slogans: “I love the country not the party” or “Happy music makes me sad” and iPhone cases. As I watched the show on night of the 27th, it occurred to me: ‘Really, does this not, together with the tickets, make the concert a mini shopping mall in itself?’

香港(最)著名的獨立樂隊MY LITTLE AIRPORT (MLA)在八月二十六到二十七日兩天內在香港牛頭角Hidden Agenda場地舉辦了<香港是個大商場>演唱會。沒有聽過他們的讀者，如果我加上一句：「連蘇格蘭的獨立音樂組合BMX Bandits也翻唱過他們的一首歌」，希望你會感興趣。同場發售與音樂會同名的全新專輯以及紀念品（如：「I love the country not the party」、「Happy music makes me sad」標語T-恤和iPhone保護套）。 筆者在看27號晚場的時候忽然想到， 其實這樣的銷售加上門票，也使演唱會變成小型商場了吧。

Outside of the venue

The shows were held in a small, repurposed venue inside an old industrial building in Ngau Tau Kok. For the live occasion, Nicole (vocal) and Ah P (guitar) invited Yin (bass guitar) and Foh (drums) from the local indie band 22cats to join the band. Also on the stage were Nicols’s sister and friend as back-up vocals.

Without the delay of opening bands, the band launched into AMK’s “Gap” (“隔閡”), followed by the all-time-favourite “Let Me Take Plane that will Explode” (“讓我搭一班會爆炸的飛機”). Next, MLA’s poet laureate Suet came on stage to recite some poems in French to accompany two songs from the new album. I was slightly puzzled by how her spoken French didn’t seem to have improved much from their initial collaboration to the extent that even a non-speaker like me could tell the Hong Kong accent. Then again, I suppose it matched MLA’s style in its special way.

my little airport

The highlight of the night was definitely a cover of “Batman of Love” (“愛情蝙蝠俠”) by Kwok Siu Lam (Alvin Kwok), a Hong Kong singer in the 80s. Even though the news of them doing this cover was on Facebook the night before, and a teenager such as myself had never even heard of Kwok, I, too, immediately joined the crowd in waving and jumping. In fact, the retro, slightly campy melody and beats, coupled with the over-confident lyrics (“My brand-new service: removing your tears”) (“服務夠新 專脫淚痕”) reminded me much of earlier Canto dance music, for instance Leslie Cheung’s “What’s On The Girl’s Mind’ (“少女心事”, 張國榮). The fans certainly enjoyed the song along with the guest singer’s crazy dance carrying a loudspeaker. Another personal favourite was a cover next on the run-down: “I Still Remember” by Teresa Carpio and George Lam (“仍然記得嗰一次”, 杜麗莎/林子祥). Nicole applied her well-paced reciting like that in “Mei Fu Gainsbourg and Pak Tin Birkin” (美孚根斯堡與白田珍寶金) to some of the lyrics. This and the common themes of crush, heartbreaks and lovelornness in their own works made the cover, in a word, fantastic.

MLA does not confine themselves to bedroom production. Works like “Who Invented Work” (“邊一個發明了返工”) and “donald tsang please die” reached a greater public on the Internet. That night, Nicole introduced the song “Wet Wet Dreams” (“濕濕的夢”) from their last album by saying Ah P recently changed its name to “Uncle Can’t Handle It Anymore” (“叔叔不行了”). Those who are familiar with Hong Kong’s Internet culture would identify the slang of the online forum “Golden”. The tongue-in-cheek, humourously suggestive but not raunchy style of the song was best expressed when Ah P extended a finger at Nicole at the line “Every night I need to touch you gently” (“每晚 也要與你輕輕相碰”). Ah P played both electric and acoustic guitar at ease thoughout the night. When Nicole teased him when he made mistakes, he claimed he was in fact hiding his talent and went on to show off some awesome skills as a boastful redemption.

Nicole and Ah P seldom hesitate to interact with fans. At the band’s last show “Romantic Kowloon Tong” (“浪漫九龍塘”) at Shouson Theatre, they shared a crate of beer with the audience in the stalls. The crowd had missed Nicole, who moved to Beijing, and she was happy to tell us about her recent self, such as in the introduction to “my little st. valentine’s day”, she told the audience as if telling a secret, “This should be the last time I sing this song.” And when Ah P performed his short new song “How Can You Fall In Love with a Guy Who Has Never Heard of Gainsbourg”, Nicole casually walked off stage into the crowd while lighting up a cigarette. (The song, according to Ah P, was inspired by a real life event, so I guess art does imitate life.) The crowd always responded enthusiastically to Ah P’s words, such as his original idea of producing a t-shirt with the slogan ‘All the Pretty Girls Are Mad’.

At the end of the one-and-a-half-hour or so, Nicole chose to wrap up with “Kowloon Park Swimming Pool” (“九龍公園游泳池”), saying it was this song that led her back to Hong Kong. The encore would not have been asked for so passionately was it not for the foreign guy standing next to me on stage right who stomped the stage and yelled. (The guy was there with his girlfriend, and was really into the jumping and clapping. Almost as passionate as myself.) The full band returned to the stage and sang two songs from previous albums, as well as, who could resist cheering – ‘Batman of Love’ (愛情蝙蝠俠).

MLA will continue their tour in various Chinese cities in the coming months.

Merch

是次演唱會在牛頭角的工業大廈內的小型場地舉行。為配合現場演出，主音Nicole和結他阿P兩人請來了22cats的阿賢(低音結他)和阿科(鼓)幫忙。另外，Nicole的妹妹和朋友也擔任了和音。

開場沒有暖場嘉賓，首先是清唱了一段AMK的<隔閡>，緊接大熱<讓我搭一班會爆炸的飛機>。然後演唱兩首新專輯上的歌時有MLA的御用詩人阿雪上台唸法文詩。我感到奇怪的地方是，他們合作已好幾年可是坦白說，阿雪的法文連不懂法文如我都聽得出是不標準的。話說回來可能是有心配合MLA風格的。

最能掀起全場高潮的一部分莫過於翻唱八十年代歌手郭小霖的<愛情蝙蝠俠>。雖然早一晚在facebook上已披露了，而筆者是一個連郭氏是誰也不認識的年輕人，也隨著其他樂迷舉手跳動。比較懷舊、帶點「娘」味的曲調和過份自信的歌詞（「服務夠新 專脫淚痕」）其實讓聽慣了張國榮的<少女心事>等舞曲的我非常容易投入。加上拿著大聲公和唱的嘉賓的瘋狂舞蹈，讓樂迷看得非常愉快。個人最愛還有下一首翻唱杜麗莎/林子祥的<仍然記得嗰一次>，Nicole沿用在<美孚根斯堡與白田珍寶金>裏不徐不疾的語速朗讀部分歌詞，而內容其實和MLA本身有關暗戀、失戀和想念的歌詞主題互相呼應，別有一番風味。

MLA並不是不食人間煙火的睡房製作，之前的<邊一個發明了返工>和<donald tsang，please die>都走出了睡房、廣為網民轉發。演唱會這晚，Nicole在介紹上一張大碟內的＜濕濕的夢＞時，笑稱阿P最近把它改名為＜叔叔不行了＞，熟悉香港網上文化的讀者可能會知道這是高登討論區的用語。阿P演唱到「每晚 也要與你輕輕相碰時」還對著Nicole伸出手指。好一個樂而不淫。阿P整晚熟練地遊走在電子和木結他之間，還在彈錯被Nicole嘲笑後說是隱藏實力，誇張地表現了結他技巧。

Nicole和阿P素來不會吝惜和樂迷交流，例如上次在壽臣劇院的<浪漫九龍塘>音樂會就搬出一箱啤酒跟堂座的觀眾分享。樂迷久違了移居北京的Nicole，她也樂意說上幾句。例如在唱＜my little st. valentine’s day＞像透露個人心事般說：「這應該是最後一次唱這首歌。」而在阿P演唱一分半鐘長的新歌＜how can you fall in love with a boy who has never heard of gainsbourg＞的時候，Nicole抽著煙走到台下看也顯出了她的率性。（這首歌他說是和友人的一次經歷，所以創作的確來自生活。）阿P說的話則 經常引起樂迷哄堂大笑，就好像介紹紀念品時說本身想造一款「All the Pretty Girls are Mad」T-恤。

來到最後，Nicole選了新碟內的<九龍公園游泳池>，並說是因為這首歌才回到香港。安哥部分由我所站台右邊身旁的外國男孩踩台帶動。（陪女朋友來的，全場最投入地跳動、拍手的除了我就是他。）終於全團再一次上台，唱了兩首舊歌，還有大家的最愛 – <愛情蝙蝠俠>。

MLA接下來還會在中國各地巡演。

Written and translated by Sherlock Lam. Edited by Jaime Chu.

All photos taken by Sherlock Lam except promotional poster.

Photo by Matthew Niederhauser/INSTITUTE

The morning before my Warped Tour, I woke up to an email titled “Chinese Punk Rock Hits North America” which instantly caught my attention among the floods of press materials from publicists. The “Chinese Punk Rock” refers to China’s most renowned punk band Demerit, the first Chinese band to be part of North America’s legendary “punk rock summer camp” Vans Warped Tour. As a regular Warped Tour attendee and someone with a Chinese background, this automatically intrigued me and I immediately jumped at the chance to cover this for Misunderrated.

Since the band came together in 2004, Demerit has been recognized as China’s best and most influential punk band. Their solid musicianship combines street punk and 1980s metal and is a living commentary on the current sociopolitical climate. Their sophomore album “Bastards of the Nation” has been widely received and was named as 2008’s Record of the Year by China’s top metal magazine, Painkiller. Demerit was featured in the Australian filmmaker Shaun Jeffords’s documentary “Beijing Punk”, which takes a look into Beijing’s rapidly growing underground music scene. They are scheduled to record their third full-length later this year.

Sadly, the band did not join the tour until late July, so I did not have an opportunity to see them perform on Warped Tour’s Toronto stop. Misunderrated is not familiar with the Chinese music scene, we spoke with Demerit’s frontman and vocalist Spike Li over Skype before they left for Warped Tour.

Much thanks to Pete for reaching out and introducing us to some new music, and personal thank you to writer Jaime Chu, who has way better Mandarin skills than I do.

-Jessie

M: Misunderrated
S: Spike Li

Photo by Matthew Niederhauser/INSTITUTE

Warped Tour

M: You guys must be in the middle of preparing for Warped Tour. How’s that going?
S: We are pretty ready, including the run-down, set, etc. But…probably…we might still need…but I still have some problems right now.

M: Do you mean technically, or…
S: Everything else is fine, but they might still need to book us, if we have to be signed in person it has to be done next month, but the tour has already started.

M: This is your first time going on tour in America.
S: Yes. Well, the first time preparing to go, haven’t gone yet.

M: So how did you guys end up on Warped Tour?
S: Actually, I’m not quite sure, it should be–should be–a record company who liked us a lot, and then…just like that.

M: What do you guys anticipate about the tour?
S: Lots of anticipation…I’m not very familiar with the U.S. But I know there are a lot of my favorite bands on the road, in California. Besides anticipating our performance, I also look forward to seeing the bands I like.

Touring

M: What do you like about touring?
S: I think rock music can’t just stay in one place, especially in China, it would be meaningless to only play in Beijing. But if you go to different places, you could perform every day, see different kinds of people every day, see different bars, and the unique culture of each place. Just to be able to experience the climate and the world right now, and perform my own music, I think it’s a pretty perfect thing.

Photo by Matthew Niederhauser/INSTITUTE

Rock Music in China

M: Demerit has been a group for seven years, has the environment of the rock music industry or your process of making music changed over the year?
S: At the beginning, we just wanted to start a punk band, because we listened to The Ramones from the U.S. in high school, and we began to like punk music, so we wanted to–back in our hometown in Qingdao–we started a punk band for a year. Then we went to Beijing after high school graduation, where the response was better, there were more bands and the vibe was better. We started a new band called Demerit in Beijing, and here we are. [laughs]

M: I remember you mentioned in an interview that you are not very satisfied with the music environment in Beijing, that it’s not quite ideal or there are a lot of competition, does that have to do with the fact that you prefer touring?
S: Not competition. Because I think making music in China, which is different from other countries, especially in rock music, the kind of real rock music in China, the rock music of this generation doesn’t count for competition. To make music, to make good music, is to express myself the best that I can, but there are other things in the circle besides music. Do you know what I mean? Not competition, because music doesn’t have competition, it’s not business, it’s not the economy. But touring is not about that either.

M: I remember you guys had an experience at the beginning where once at a show, no one at the venue actually knew what was going on or who was playing, there wasn’t even a poster. When did this kind of thing stop happening?
S: Not anymore, there was once in 2006, when we were touring in Guangzhou. It was pouring rain when we arrived, afterwards we rode to the bar and discovered there weren’t any posters. We rested a bit before they started putting them up, then they told us they just started promoting [laughs]. At the time I was sure–after all we were a new band–we were sure no one was going to come. But we also thought, we might as well play since we came, I don’t care how many people there are, we have to play and perform well. Even if there’s only one person. In the end no one came, haha. This doesn’t happen anymore. [laughs] It’s better, much better.

M: [laughs] What do you mean by “better”?
S: At least one person would come. Kidding, it’s not like that. Nowadays more people know about us, and venues are more or less more responsible, because there are more bands touring, at the time there weren’t a lot of them.

M: You guys have been in Beijing for so long, has the environment changed?
S: There is change. I particularly remember we recorded our first demo during Chinese New Year in 2005, and our first drummer was an American called Zack. Then in 2006 we played for the first time at Midi Festival–the best festival to experience rock in China–we were very excited to play on that stage, and we were very excited to be invited. A lot of people knew about us through that festival, because at the time, punk, street punk or hardcore, was not popular in China, the scene of this style of music was very small. We performed, toured in about 20 cities, slowly experienced the process of being a musician, we loved being on the road, touring, so we kept doing it. Then there were more and more festivals, and then…I don’t know how to say it…it felt like…something just changed.

M: You mentioned once that a lot of punk bands, a lot of people these days just wanted to become television stars. Is that part of the change?
S: This is what I think: If a band has existed for a long time in China, especially a punk band, it’s very hard to keep growing in China. That’s why a good band, after a while, they might not like the circumstances anymore, and they might want to just become a rock star. Therefore a lot of the meaning in being a punk band has changed. They lost the original belief, even that spirit of resistance was lost. I don’t think this should exist in punk bands, punk bands should say something…um…something meaningful about our society, not just things like love or protecting the environment. We might all need these things in our lives, but as a punk band, the things we embody shouldn’t be these. But a lot of bands these days have changed that attitude in order to fit in the mainstream. I think that’s what has changed.

M: Punk only started rising in China in these ten years.
S: A bit more then ten, during the nineties. [pause] From my understanding punk was considered quite cool at the time, wearing things like a mohawk, leather jacket, studs. Then after a while, many bands probably began to discover other better things, and started doing those, therefore it [punk] didn’t precipitate in China. It wasn’t that this thing–punk music–appeared when it needed to, and then you would keep doing it because it accumulates. But in China we learned about things from the West, through the radio, magazines or the Internet–I’m saying most phenomenons are this way, not absolutely, not everything–we might think something is quite cool, we want to do this, we want to do that, and therefore the music isn’t one that’s developed from the experiences of life.

M: When punk first appeared in the west, it was a brand new form of music, which then you are able to use it too as a form of expression in China. Do you think there is potential, or there already is, for a music form in China that is equivalent to what punk was in the West?
S: I think punk itself is a music form, and it’s also a product of learning from life, this style of living also represents a lifestyle attitude. So even if a person doesn’t understand or doesn’t know punk, he could still have the same attitude. From this sense, the only unique thing about punk is its music form. The result is that everyone is actually related to this music form, and the product will be different through his understanding of other kinds of music, the different cultures of each country, every one’s personality and characteristic. For us, we would try to use Chinese music scales or melodies unique to Chinese music. But this is only about the form. As for content, us in China are experiencing a different era than the U.S., so the content has to be different.

Photo by Matthew Niederhauser/INSTITUTE

Overseas

M: So is this you guys’ first time playing abroad?
S: If Korea counts as oversea this will be the second.

M: What’s the difference between playing in China and playing in Korea?
S: We went to Korea once in 2008. I feel like Korea is more relaxed, they are not as reserved. China is relatively more held back, they are more direct. Maybe their lifestyle is closer to that of the West, a lot of their views are more open, not as tense.

M: Is it still as tense today?
S: It’s a lot better right now. People used to be restricted by all kinds of rules and social chains. Some friends would come up to us after a show and told us they weren’t able to loosen up as much as they had wanted, that if they come again they would dive, etc. Maybe they already have a small flame in their hearts, but they still wouldn’t directly act on their intuition and still consider other things. This is one aspect of the tension.

M: Have you thought of what could help to change this?
S: I think the media is probably the biggest factor. If the media could have a more positive coverage on this [the punk scene], meaning…just if the whole country could be more open, letting every kinds of culture to come out, no matter good or bad, allowing the people to choose what they want to do.

M: What kind of influence do you think punk has on this or how might it affect?
S: From these few years we’ve been working, I think as a band the change we bring to this environment or to this society might not be big, but to me personally, being in a punk band affects me a lot. First of all, punk changes me; and then I become more clear about what is it that I want to accomplish. This is very important to me.

AFTERWORD

The interview was periodically interrupted by a thunderstorm from an unknown electronic source, we had to pause our conversation from time to time while waiting for the noises to pass, much thanks to Spike for understanding. As one-fourth of one of the best punk group in China, it was not hard to notice Spike’s sincere and idealist aspirations to punk music throughout the conversation. Warped Tour’s Kevin Says Stage always has bands that bring a fresh and striking presence among the rest of the line-up, having Demerit on the tour is introducing the chemical reaction between old-school British punk and the explosive energy of young China to North America. I am especially looking forward to the band’s concert in San Francisco in late August. “Hopefully there won’t be any thunderstorms then,” Spike said with a laugh. I told him, probably not, California has really nice weather.

-Jaime

Written by Jaime Chu with contribution from Jessie Lau

Taking Back Sunday

In 2010, one of the biggest and most exciting announcements in the alternative rock music scene is the reunion of Taking Back Sunday’s original lineup. The Long Island band has gone through a series of lineup changes since 2003 when guitarist/vocalist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper departed soon after their debut release “Tell All Your Friends”, which has been widely received. Seven years later, the original members behind the mastery of “Tell All Your Friends” finally reconciled to write another new album, appropriately a self-titled release to signify the reunion. The highly anticipated album finally dropped on June 28th, 2011 and a North American tour to support it. TBS brought openers Thursday, Colour Revolt and The New Regime to Toronto’s Kool Haus on July 22nd.

Coulour Revolt

San Diego alternative band The New Regime replaced the original openers, pop rock band We Are The In Crowd, who had to drop off the tour to record their debut album. The New Regime is a one man band fronted by Ilan Rubin and opened the night. He played to a small crowd – probably due to the announcements of set times on the promoter LiveNation’s Twitter – most fans decided they would skip the opening bands until the headliners come on. Nevertheless, Rubin performed their first show in Canada with his tour mates with much enthusiasm, engaging the crowd by making small talk while he is changing guitars. There was also this one guy from the audience who kept directly addressing Rubin saying things like, “that’s my favorite song!” and increased the interaction and intimacy of his short set. When indie rock band Colour Revolt came on after The New Regime, more fans came and began to fill up the room. Colour Revolt’s soft set provided a nice contrast to the loud music that ensued.

Thursday

Post-hardcore band Thursday (an observation: Thursday is opening for Taking Back Sunday) formed in 1997, has been a band for 14 years. Their maturity certainly shows in the band’s weathered performance and the highly receptive audience (and I have to say it is rejuvenating to be at a show where most of the audience is legal). The crowd erupted as the crowdsurfers started to set in. The band played  “Jet Black New Year”, which lead singer Geoff Rickly dedicated to Taking Back Sunday. Thursday had the album artwork projected at the back of the stage. For the intro to “No Answers”, the band played a montage included the opening of the Soviet Film “, animations, historical events like bombings and all sorts of things. It was interesting to see how the band combined the song and a film clip in the performance for an extra omniscient effect. The band ended the set with “Turnpike Divides”, from their latest album “No Devolución”.

Thursday

Thursday

Before TBS came on, the passionate crowd began to whistle and chant “TBS” in excitement. The current line up of Taking Back Sunday includes lead singer Adam Lazzara, guitarist Mark Eddie Reyes, bassist Shaun Cooper, guitarist/vocalist John Nolan and drummer Mark O’Connell. Fortunately (and unsurprisingly), the band played a lot of old favorites such as “MakeDamnSure”, “You Know How I Do”, “Bike Scene”, “Set Phasers To Stun”, “Ghost Man On Third”, “Liar (It Takes One To One)” and a couple songs from the new album (“Faith (When I Let You Down) and “El Paso”). The band also performed a cover of Straylight Run’s “Existentialism on Prom Night” (Nolan and Cooper were in Straylight Run after they left TBS in 2003), possibly the softest song of the set and fans sang along dearly. I was aware that vocalist Lazzara has always been known for his crazy mic swinging skills, but I wasn’t expecting to find Lazzara went all the way into the bar and performed “There’s No ‘I’ In Team”. In fact, Lazzara is undeniably a natural performer, utilizes every inch of the venue to maximize the response from fans, for example went far stage right and climbed atop of some speakers for “A Decade Under The Influence”. The entire set consisted of fans shouting back every lines of the song back to the band, the original lineup of TBS definitely take a lot of the fans back to their teenage angst years. After ending announcing the end of the set with “Cute Without The ‘E’ (Cut From The Team)”, fans were unsatisfied and began to demand an encore. After five minutes, the band played two more songs – the ballad “Your Own Disaster” and concluded the nostalgic night with “Great Romance of the 20th Century”.

Taking Back Sunday

Taking Back Sunday

English text and photos by Jessie Lau
Translated by Jaime Chu

Without realizing, the annual Vans Warped Tour crept around just like that. This is also Misunderrated’s third year covering Warped Tour and also meant that the site has passed its third birthday! Anyway, comparing this year’s line-up to the previous ones, it definitely lacked something big. Half of the Main Stage bands wouldn’t have been able to play the main stage if the line-up hasn’t been so… disappointing (or maybe last year’s lineup was spoiling).

One of the bigger names that played was Paramore, who is playing selected dates of the tour. These dates on Warped Tour are the band’s first time playing in North America since last year, as they have been busy with overseas tours. Most significantly, it is their first time performing in after the departure of two original members who released a rather exposing statement regarding the nature of the band’s internal dynamics. Therefore, in some ways. Paramore had a lot to prove through these performances that they are still Paramore (in fact, they had a t-shirt that says “Paramore is STILL a band”, to reassure the fans). In her famous flaming multicolor hair, lead singer Hayley Wililams hopped on stage with the remaining members of the band, guitarist Taylor York and。 bassist Jeremy Davis under a mixture of exciting chant of “Paramore” and screaming from anticipating fans and started off with “That’s What You Get”. Throughout the set, Williams continued to pounce around the stage, whipping her fiery red hair back and forth. In addition to older materials like “Pressure”, “Careful” and “Here We Go Again”. the band also performed the new single “Monster” (from Transformers: Dark of the Moon soundtrack). Williams spontaneously delivered the lyrics with an edge and some sassiness, which occurs way too often (almost every song) for my liking, it does get old and annoying after a bit. The band closed off with “Misery Business”, in which Williams pulled a guy from the audience and had him sing the rest of the song with her, which was probably the most interesting thing from the set…until the explosion of orange confetti after the big finale of the song and concluded the set.

Paramore

There For Tomorrow

One of the frustrating things about Warped Tour and its multi-stage set up is probably having (at least) two bands you want to see playing at the same time. While the bands’ play time alters daily, these are unavoidable situations. And this happened with Automatic Loveletter and There For Tomorrow. Unfortunately, Automatic Loveletter, which is led by Juliet Simms, happened to play the same time Paramore did on another smaller stage to a modest crowd. Simms thanked the loyal fans by saying “thank you for sticking around when you could be seeing Paramore right now” and also encouraged the crowd to get closer for more intimacy. Since the band has recently released an acoustic album, titled “The Kids Will Take Their Monsters On”, Simms brought out an acoustic guitar and sang some songs from the new release. Simms’ powerful and raspy voice combined with the strong strums of the acoustic guitar created an unique and engaging performance that stood out from the loudness of other regular performances on Warped Tour.

Automatic Loveletter

Florida band There For Tomorrow has played Toronto a few times over the last few years and had a solid following, however they haven’t came back in a year and a half. This year, they return with the release of their sophomore album “The Verge”. Sadly, the band played the same time as another Florida band A Day To Remember took over the Main Stage, which attracted most of the attendees. Judging from previous tours and an interview, in which guitarist Neil Westfall pointed out they wouldn’t want kids to get bored at their shows, one of the things that A Day To Remember pay a lot attention to is their stage set up. And the boys don’t give up, even on Warped Tour, and always determined to bring something fun and refreshing to their shows. Upon the beginning of the set, an caricature of the band was getting inflated on top of the stage and inflatable speakers with hands grabbing them were set up on both sides of the stage, giving the illusion that it’s an ADTR headliner instead of the “punk rock summer camp” Warped Tour. The band probably had the biggest crowd of the day and the energy of the audience was exploding despite it being 6pm. The band began with “I’m Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?”, featuring guest vocals from The Devil Wear’s Prada vocalist Mike Hranica, one of the best things about Warped is getting to see duets live! Almost every song was rewarded with an applause from the crowd, demonstrating the band’s popularity. ADTR closed off with “The Downfall of Us All”, soon after the title of the song was announced, an uproar from the crowd ensued and fists were pounding as the anthem-like intro “da da da da da da” set in, and half a dozen of beach balls were released from the stage into the crowd.

A Day To Remember

With over seventy bands on Warped Tour, making it a great place to discover some new bands and explore genres that you normally wouldn’t have a chance to see. I was on my way to the washroom when I saw this very eccentric band playing the remote Kevin Says Stage, named after Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and is used to showcase up and coming bands. Turns out the band playing was pop rock band The Dance Party, lead singer Mick Coogan was shirtless in a pair of white pants and thrusting his pelvis, you know, just dancing around (if you wondered how they caught my attention). Their over-the-top performance was super entertaining and attracted a group of people by their set to start a little dance party away from the big crowd. I have heard so much about Foxy Shazam from my fellow photographers and had to make a trip to check out the band. Their live performances resembled more of a circus than of a rock show. All band members were busy performing their instruments while carrying out various stage antics, from running around the little stage, kicking, headstand, balancing the guitar with one finger…it’s like nothing you have ever seen before.

The Dance Party

Foxy Shazam

One of the last bands that played were post-hardcore band Of Mice And Men, with the full sleeves tattoo, dark hair and long legs, vocalist Austin Carlile definitely bears some resemblance to Suicide Silence’s vocalist Mitch Lucker.  Despite it was one of the final sets of the day, many fans were still around for OMAM, and they did not disappoint their fans. Carlile has an engaging stage presence and knows how to please the crowd, like replacing his tank top with one of a local band’s with Toronto written on it. The closing band of the night was 3OH!3, the electropop duo originated from Colorado that has seen the big limelights thanks to the radio hit “Don’t Trust Me” back in 2008. There’s no question that whenever 3OH!3 is playing, there’s a dance party. Fans showed their support by making the 3OH!3 sign and dancing along. Singer Nathaniel Motte made up a song on the spot about Mississauga (this Warped Tour stop).  The band played a handful of songs while the sun is setting, and ended the 17th Vans Warped Tour with none other than “Don’t Trust Me”.

3OH!3

Text and photos by Jessie Lau
Translated and edited by Jaime Chu

He Is We

The world can always use some upbeat and lovely music, enters He Is We, an indie pop band fronted by singer Rachel Taylor and guitarist Trevor Kelly. I first saw the band when they opened for The Rocket Summer last year and was pleasantly surprised by their whimsical music. In the world saturated with pop rock bands that sound alike and vague lyrics, He Is We stands out automatically with their heartfelt and sweet music. They are like an indie Taylor Swift – storytelling lyrics, girl problems and fairytale elements that help the band gained popularity.

輕鬆好聽的音樂從來都不嫌少，所以便有主音Rachel Taylor和結他手Trevor Kelly領隊的indie pop樂隊He Is We。第一次看這對樂隊是去年他們為The Rocket Summer暖場的時候，驚喜他們率性隨心的音樂。在陳腔濫調和虛無歌詞已飽和的流行搖滾界，He Is We由衷和甜美的音樂自然突出。他們像是獨立Taylor Swift－敘事性強的歌詞，少女問題和童話元素都幫樂隊提升知名度。

Scotty James

He Is We’s first headliner “All About You” tour dropped by Toronto’s El Mocambo on July 5th. The first opening singer was local acoustic musician Scotty James, next up was fellow Canadian Andrew Allen from Vancouver. Allen is a singer-songwriter and guitarist and performed with his drummer. He played a Sublime cover “What I Got” and did an fun beatbox loop. The next band was Ocean Grove, from California, the only pop rock band on the tour. The band is pretty new as it was their twenty fifth show, despite that they managed to capture the crowd’s attention. In addition to their own material, the band played a cover of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”.

Andrew Allen

Ocean Grove

Ocean Grove

El Mocambo is not a big venue, it is perfect when it’s half filled because it doesn’t get too crowded to a point where it’s unbearable due to the lack of ventilation. In fact, there’s only one  huge fan next to the stage to keep half of the people happy. Another notable feature about the legendary El Mocambo is the romantic atmosphere created by overhanging lamps that mimic candle lit lanterns. In addition, He Is We’s stage setup included a couple paper shaded lamps (?) which created a homey feeling that make the performance more intimate.

He Is We

In a boho dress, vocalist Rachel Taylor and guitarist Trevor Kelly with the rest of the touring band and performed songs from their debut album “My Forever”. Taylor’s voice is a little raspy, making the songs raw with emotions. Taylor talked a lot between songs, sharing some stories and inspirations behind the songs, although they can be concluded as “songs about guys with stupid girlfriends” (see where the Taylor Swift reference comes from?).

Halfway through the show, Taylor asked for a birthday girl Erin in the crowd, turned out her father requested a “Happy Birthday” from the band for her 16th birthday. The band was not prepared and Taylor asked Kelly to play some tunes and she will start singing along. Not sure if it was intentional or just happened that way – Kelly played the most morbid tune to which Taylor started to make up some words for it, making it the eeriest “Happy Birthday” ever, which I’m sure Erin wouldn’t mind!

He Is We

Andrew Allen joined Taylor on the duet “All About Us”. He Is We ended the set with single “Happily Ever After” that had the crowd singing along, the band added a two-step and breakdown towards the end of the song to make things interesting. Despite the seemingly overrated themes, He Is We’s music and performances are so sincere that it’s hard not to fall in love with them, just like their official bio claimed “He Is We wants to go on a date with you”.

Text and photos by Jessie Lau
Translated and edited by Jaime Chu

The Japanese band Tokyo Jihen (東京事変/Tokyo Incidents) is led by Shiina Ringo (椎名林檎), one of the most prominent pop divas of the country.  Their second studio album “Adult” (“アダルト”/ “大人”) was released in 2006. I bought the album mainly to celebrate my own coming of age 18, and was not warned of the addictive charisma and style of Ringo and her band.

Shiina Ringo began her career as a solo singer and songwriter in 1998, who has, up till now, produced six albums and ten singles. Her style, which is often reflected and incorporated in Tokyo Jihen’s songs, ranges from rock, pop, punk, blues and jazz. Combined with her uncommonly sophisticated lyrics, she quickly gained fans and recognition. Tokyo Jihen was formed during one of her nationwide tours, Sugoroku Ecstasy. However, it is worth noting that “Adult” was created by the second phase of the band, after the guitarist and pianist were replaced.

Back to the album itself. It shows Ringo’s literary talent expressed through musical talents. For instance, the track listing shows symmetry using the sixth track as the centre line:

This has been a convention of Ringo’s works since her second solo album. The final track “手紙” was also cleverly written in the format of traditional Japanese letter writing, complete with “Dear…” and “P.S.”.

The bossa nova-styled third track, “化粧直し”, may trick you into thinking the band as “soft”. Yes, there is certainly much jazz in the songs. For example, brilliant piano and guitar solos in “秘密” deserve a mention. (It is funny that this occurs after the original pianist H ZETT M, an authentic jazz pianist, left the group.) However, one of my favourites in the album is the fifth track “修羅場 Adult ver.”, in which the crisp staccato notes in the intro demonstrates the band’s solid skills. In addition, the chorus line “Ah~~~~” is quite the signature of Ringo’s singing style similar to shouting.

The final track “手紙” is definitely my pick of the entire album. I love the progression from the quiet strings rhythm in the beginning, which then builds up by adding drums and piano, and finally reaching a climax with full-blown electric guitar accompanying the singer’s emotion. “Please remember, even if you lose your direction in a place distant and far away / what I told you. / I will always be singing.” (Source)

“Adult” signifies maturity, and it has surely been exhibited in this album, a marker of the band’s journey – ripened from their previous albums and singles while providing a solid foundation for the following albums and, importantly, their live shows.

Tokyo Jihen is due to release their fifth studio album “Discovery” (“大発見”) on June 29th.

Written and translated by Sherlock Lam
Edited by Jaime Chu

Keren Ann by Jan Welters

In the tradition of French-pop chanteuse, Israel-born singer-songwriter Keren Ann’s warm, raspy voice and introspective, poetic lyrics are a magnetic force. Having been a fan since her English debut in 2003, I finally had a chance to catch her live at San Francisco’s Yoshi’s Jazz Club on Tuesday. Yoshi’s in San Francisco is the second location of Bay Area’s prominent jazz club by the same name in Oakland. One could almost imagine time-traveling back to the Jazz Age in this carbaret-style venue for Keren Ann’s performance.

承繼了French pop的傳統，以色列出生的唱作歌手Keren Ann一把清麗舒服、帶點沙啞的嗓音一直如磁石般吸引著知音。加上幽幽的歌詞更是久聽不厭。在剛過去的週二終於有機會在三藩市的Yoshi’s Jazz Club（灣區屋倫同名老牌爵士俱樂部的分址）看到她的演出。在Yoshi’s這個舊式歌舞廳格局的表演場地欣賞Keren Ann幾乎可以幻想著時光倒流回到二十年代的爵士盛世。

Keren Ann’s raspy but solid voice and the electric vibrations from her guitar came on before the red curtain was even completely raised, as if, like the title of the song ‘Strange Weather’ suggests, a storm was about to arrive. The lights changed from time to time from red to green and back to red again. Keren Ann’s usual understatement of head-to-toe black hinted we should pay attention to something else.

She played for almost two hours, mostly songs from the new album ‘101’ (inspired by Taipei 101), released in March, with earlier songs in between. From the Karen-O-esque blunt haircut and the pistol she held up in one hand on the cover art, we could tell she meant to evolve from the shy, endearing chanteuse she was known to be. Her voice toughened; and sweetly melancholic introspections became a dark humor beneath a sugar coat of electric French pop. Such as the story reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde in ‘Blood in My Hands’: the bloodshed in the life of a girl about town as she becomes attracted to a mysterious stranger. The improvised line “There is blood in San Francisco” received welcoming cheers from the crowd.

Bidding farewell to the acoustic ballad, the electric arrangement in ‘101’ is surprisingly a bit reminiscent of Charlotte Gainsbourg, but the focus is still on Keren Ann’s voice. It appeared, initially, both Keren Ann and the audience needed some time to get used to this new-found boldness. But the music and affecting performance soon took over, and gradually, a hollow echo of electric notes consumed the atmosphere. Though sweet and humorous in the few times she interacted with the audience, you could tell Keren Ann would much rather sing.

Keren Ann by Jan Welters

And although she is working hard to immerse in the new phase of her music career, some things haven’t changed: At times she became again the chanteuse in soft long tresses who told stories with a voice from the heart. ‘Songs From A Tour bus’ was an especially heartfelt portrait of a life misunderstood by many. A running thread through the set reflected the accumulation of her creative trajectory thus far and revealed an urge to express from a young woman who, beneath layers of experience and poetry in the lyrics, just wanted to be loved as she loved. However, as far as live performance goes, there was still an uncomfortable distance between herself and the maturation of experimenting with more pop elements.

Switching to the familiar acoustic guitar in the middle, she returned to a few songs from earlier albums such as ‘Chelsea Burns’ and ‘You Were On Fire’, and ‘All The Beautiful Girls’ from ‘101’. We also caught a glimpse of a rare, blithe side of her when she covered Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. Richard Cohen’s accompaniment was the most pleasant surprise of the night. From jazz- to funk-inspired arrangements, the ever-changing effects added musically inspiring aspects to the otherwise similar performance with that of the studio album. Though some solos became redundant at the end, especially in the acoustic encore, it might have been sweeter had Keren Ann played alone.

Just when one began to wonder whether there would be any French songs, she presented ‘Le Chien d’Avant Garde’ from her second album ‘Le Disparition’. Under the gradient of purple and red lights, the combined elements of electric guitar, trumpet improv solo and the typical chanson francaise performance was the highlight of the night.

After the last song, Keren Ann only disappeared behind the curtain for a quick moment before coming out again under the audience’s cheers and applause. It was clear that even she herself hadn’t had enough. Encore was almost obligatory at this point. She picked up the acoustic guitar again and began strumming a familiar chord progression. It turned out she saved the best for (almost) last and finally played ‘Not Going Anywhere’, to the delight of the entire audience. She went on and played two more songs to end the night. It seemed as though she also agreed that the small acoustic portion in the earlier set hadn’t completely satisfied her (and our) appetite. But in spite of the encore, no one would have minded to stay if she didn’t mind keep playing.

鮮紅色的幕簾還未完全升起，已聽見Keren Ann沙啞但沈穩的嗓音和電子結他的震響，彷如歌名《Strange Weather》所言， 一陣不尋常的風暴正要掀開。燈光由紫紅換成藍綠，偶爾又轉回紫紅。Keren Ann一身低調的黑色打扮是說明要人專注在她的音樂。

這 晚演出接近兩小時的歌曲多是來自今年三月推出的新碟《101》（意念來自台北101），並間隔著早期的作品。從封套上不客氣的短髮和單手舉起的手槍可以見 得Keren Ann有意一改以往恬靜的形象。不但唱腔硬朗起來，從前幽幽的心事變成現在糖衣包裝下冷不防的黑色幽默，和暖場嘉賓Chris Garneau的苦中作樂凝成對比。“Blood in My Hands”說的便是生活突然被神祕陌生男人闖進的故事，原本萬千寵愛的女孩變成殺手，周遭頓時熱血四濺。即興的一句“There is blood in San Francisco”更換來全場喝彩。

告 別acoustic民謠，玩起電子編曲的聲線效果竟有三分令人想起Charlotte Gainsbourg，但焦點仍在Keren Ann的嗓喉。未習慣這樣壯膽的Keren Ann的觀眾，和甚至她本人起初還有點拘謹。但隨著音樂和感情起伏，她的嗓子和電子結他浮游的回音逐漸完全屏住了大氣。 雖然不多話，偶爾和觀眾交流的時候她還是流露出不經意的幽默感。不過看得出她寧願唱歌。

儘 管她正努力投入音樂上的新階段，好些東西還沒有改變：台上的她偶爾又回到了那個留著微卷長髮、用結他說心事的女孩。如”Songs From A Tour Bus”便由衷地描述外間看不到的巡演生活的另一面 。整晚的選曲反映了Keren Ann從出道至今的創作歷程。瓣開歌詞中的意像，只看見一個不過渴望簡單地愛與被愛的年輕女子。然而就新碟歌曲的現場演繹來說，和完全沈澱於這個更pop 的路線仍有一段距離。

表 演中段換上了熟識的木結他演出了兩首早期的作品和新碟中的”All The Beautiful Girls”。及後翻唱Joni Mitchell的”Big Yellow Taxi”亦讓人有幸一瞥Keren Ann罕見活潑的一面。Richard Cohen整晚的喇叭伴奏是這次演出最驚喜的地方。從爵士到funk，變幻無窮的效果把原本和大碟中相差無幾的演出加添了許多音樂上的趣味，雖然到了後期 某些即興獨奏有點畫蛇添足，寧可Keren Ann一人自彈自唱。

正惆悵究竟會否有法語歌演出的時候，Keren Ann隨即送上第二張大碟”Le Disparition”裡的“Le Chien d’Avant Garde”。在紫紅漸變的燈光下，揉合了電子結他、即興喇叭獨奏和典型法語歌曲的演繹是當晚的高潮。

唱 畢最後的“In Your Back”後，喝著一口水消失於幕後、但明顯意猶未盡的Keren Ann在觀眾的掌聲下很快又回到台前。Encore環節似乎已成了指定動作。她隨即拿起木結他奏起熟識的前奏－全場未有出現的“Not Going Anywhere”原來是留待此時壓軸！和Richard Cohen的和音太令人陶醉。最後還有”End of May”和”The Hardest Ships of the World”。似乎她也認為之前acoustic的曲目未能盡興。事實上，她要是願意繼續彈下去，觀眾也絕對樂意聽下去。

Written by Jaime Chu