Lamma Fun Day - 23/11/2013 - by Nick the Bookman{L_ATTACHMENT}:
File comment: The "Official Court Music Reviewer of Lamma.com.hk" hard at work on Power Station Beach, taking notes for this review.
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Well times three. That's how I'm feeling and I hope you all are as well, seeing it's the Return Of Lamma Fun Day. There are (count'em) ten bands doing their best to entertain and amuse you today. Groovy musical vibes to make you feel all loved-up and expansive and willing to donate all the change from your drinking and other pleasurable exploits to the care and succour of runaway kids in Nepal. Last year, the Fun Day raised about HK$70K which is an admirable target to aim for. A quick disclosure here. Sometime between writing(!) the notes for this review and actually writing this review (25/11/2013), I've Misplaced The Notes. I think they might be in Open Space. More on that later, so I'm gonna have to wing it. Rule One: Overpraise Everyone With A Plethoric Superabundance Of Tautologic Excessive Zeal (and I might get away with the flabby bits masquerading as "data"and "factoids"). So, here we go (times three).
For one reason or another, I don't get down to Power Station Beach until about 1600. Jim is in full flight, exhorting the mad-and-up-for-it crowd to think big and give bigger. Regular foil and co-auctioneer Les is slumming it with the Gods in Macau. Hanging out with Senator Mannie Pacquiao who is fighting tomorrow (24/11/2013) for the joy and pride of the Philippines in The Clash In Cotai against Brandon Rios. Scottish Simon is a supremely skilful substitute whose witful and wisdomous one-liners soon have the audience forgetting about Old-What's-His-Name Again. Sterling support play old sport. The Boys are doing more than their best, but there's a fairly slothful response in handing over the spondies. Stuff is shunted over to the Reserve List and re-offered later. Jim isn't too sure that last year's target will be banjaxed and obliterated. We shall see...
The first Band I see is
The Bollands. An amiable folk duo from New Zealand, they are on-off residents of Hong Kong, who've recorded one CD here4 and hope to start work on the second one in the next few months. Christian (a man nearly as averse to shaving as I am) is on lead vocals and a mightily strummed acoustic guitar. And the captivating Joyce on keyboards, a melodeon/Ocarina(?), an ankle tambourine and backing vocals. The songs are melodic. The musicianship is sufficiently ample enough to have got them a high-placed slot at the former Hong Kong International Folk Festivals (most of the '80's and early '90's). Considering bands like Lindisfarne, The Oyster Band, Shooglenifty and Burach (from Scotland) trod the boards at the Bowen Road Island School during the Festival's heyday, I think that's a good enough mark of my esteem for their talents and performance. Heather, who has their CD, tends to agree with me on this one. I'm pretty sure that Clivus Nondog, sitting behind me with Eleanor, would agree. He's about the only other person I remember who's still here from those old Festival days.
I've got a good space on the grassy part of the beach, front-right from the stage. Behind me, Mike and Jane, aka Songs For Children, have a small fire going and the mulled wine is roiling and bubbling and toiling and troubling away. A quick thank you to both of you now for getting me into
Best Coast on Halloween. I've been so busy that I still haven't had time to do the review. So I'll shoehorn it into this paragraph. The 'Frisco scene band's softly sugarpop sweetsurfing soundscapes are augmented by a monstrous drums and bass addition which turns them into a well-drilled rocking extravaganza. Full praise to Brady/Braden/Sweetheart (as referred to by the backstage roadies) for his powerhouse beats and Bob's sinewy and muscular bass lines. The afore-mentioned duo have been touring with Best Coast for about a year and the pleasure-rush in their performance is immense. But let's not forget Bobb, the Sino-American lead guitarist who's got a massive panel of FX pedals and isn't afraid to tromp any of them into the dusty stage. Last, but not least, is co-leader Bethany who's easy on the eye and has her front-row fans more or less drooling and salivating
en masse. That's when they're not singing and shouting out word perfect renditions of the songs. A great night out at the Youth Hangout in Sai Wan Ho and I've got the autographed set list as a memento.
Right. Back To The Future from 30/10/2013 and it's the hotly-anticipated local debut of
The Bearded Ukeladies. That's debut on Power Station Beach coz they've had a lot of "rehearsal time" in Joyce's bar. Anyway, it's welcome to Leigh and Harry and their ukes. Their sweetly shambolic (in a
good sense) set is broken up with badinage and mock insults and occasional bursts of ukelele madness. I think their most up-to-date number was
"Under The Boardwalk". But, I've got to admit they saved the best for last. A coruscating raga-drone like Middle Eastern tinged Ukulele flail and strum
tour de force through the majesty of
"Miserlou". The same song Dick Dale does on the soundtrack of
"Pulp Fiction". A good ending for the folksy bit of the Fun Day. The heavy hitters are waiting in the wings.
First up is
Bank Job who are no mewling noncyninny boys. No siree, they've done their time in The Rock School of Hard Knocks that we all know as Lamma Fun Day. They did a blitzing set last year which brought Donna out of self-imposed retirement to warble a few tunes. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to repeat this year because I think she's back in England with the family. Roger, her husband, is very ill and needs treatment in the UK, he can't get here. On behalf of everyone who remembers them fondly, may I extend Lamma's best wishes for happy times and a successful cure for Roger. Hopefully, one day, you'll all be able to come back here again, hale and hearty. Anyway, Gareth has left the digital mixing desk to slap his bass in the band. Jason's got his croaky voice in full flow. Giving an extra dimension to the hard-graft, law-deriding lyrics. Sing it like you Live it, eh Jase. The band, to me, are a quirky mix of funk/punk/rock aka The Beat. Without the horny horns. Hints of Quicksilver Messenger Service style-guitar stretchouts keep threatening to erupt, but are held firmly in check. There's a weird
soupcon of lysergia hovering over the set, but no full melt-downs occur. Except in my fevered brain.
Next up are
The Sleeves. They've played Clockenflap twice - I missed all but the last song of their set in 2012 - and are now making their
Ta!Daah! Lamma debut. Keith, lead vox and guitar says it's the first time "15 years since I've been to Power Station Beach to play volleyball". Their first song
"Sex Museum" is a favourite of mine from their debut CD whose name I wrote down in my lost notebook and now can't remember. I'm willing to bet up to a dollar that the rest of the set was from the same album. Everyone is meshing smoothly. There's a film called
"Urgh! A Music War" which came out in the early '80's which had a great mix of UK/USA punk/new wave bands. Two shots I remember are Poison Ivy from The Cramps doing the most
exquisite micro lip sneer partway through
"Tear It Up" and Klaus Fluoride, bassist with The Dead Kennedy's doing a more significant swagger-sneer during some unknown song. While hitting a large echoey-ey-ey chord-chord-chord. Both moments capture the musician (and the band) right In The Zone. Everything is
Awesome! And
Unrelenting! And
Absolutely Effortless and Right Now! Captured live and immediate. Sort of like when The Grateful Dead do
"Space/Drums/Jam" or whatever iterations you like. Owsley's finest is kicking them into the meta-zone and Crowley's
"Do What Thou Wilt" reigns supreme and unfettered as the way to go. It's like a drug-free Usain Bolt running the 100 metres in 9.59 secs. No finer feeling. Basically, all this bollocks is just my way of saying The Sleeves are really rather good and user-friendly. And they hit and scaled the peaks of ecstatic performance with plenty of energy to spare. They even brought Ivy from Dark Himaya on stage to ululate enthrallingly over and around the bits and pieces of their last song. Special stuff. Can't wait until the next time, guys. Special mention to Pete (?) their guitarist for double-dipping and not kicking the kiddie moshers off the stage.
The best and longest set is saved for
The David Bowie Knives. This powerpunk trio is Sean on lead guitar and vox, Gabe on drums. And (oops!) The Unknown Bassist on unknown bass. Was it Stu?
[Ali!] He's as quiet as John Entwhistle aka The Ox. Long-serving and now dead founder member of The Who. Wasn't flamboyant like Keith Moon. Or Pete Townsend. Or Roger Daltrey on vocals. Just got on stage. Drank his brandy. Occasionally fell asleep during the performance. And
never missed a lick. Sean is a great frontman. A belligerunty Steve Marriott sound alike. The band are hardrocking. Bit like The Only Ones in places. Bit like Blue Cheer at times. Not quite as raw/riotous as The Sex Pistols. But the sounds are hammering home. Especially when I close my eyes. Sean sounds like three guitars at once. Gabe is channeling Neil Peart from Rush at one point. Then Jaki Leibowitz from Can's patented
motorik drum style. Then some big Kodo-style big beats. All anchored around the mighty bass grooves. Sean had a fine line of patter as well. None of which I can remember now. But they were the perfect band to finish the day off.
I'm getting ready to stroll home when I bump into Jim (Tamara - Open Space). He say's everything is set up for me to do a set up at
Open Space. Tonight. In about an hour. I vaguely remember proposing the idea a couple of days ago and then forgetting all about it. Jim didn't. Basically, I've got to go home, sort out the CD's and amble/stagger/gasp for oxygen up the dark dark hill to Open Space. Just below the windmill. He tells me "Be there at 2300 and I'll have everything ready for you to play. People have been Twittered/Facebooked and otherwise notified to come up about midnight. I've got to leave at 2315 to get the 2330 ferry to town. To work. I'll be back on the 0230. Have fun". So I get there. Get set up on the CD decks. Start playing. He starts recording and leaves. I DO have fun. On my own. The first arrival is Oisin. At 0200. Jim is next. At 0310. And Caspar arrives at about 0315. I've got an audience.
The recording stopped about 0100, after filling 2 gigabytes full of weird shit, dubnoises, trance, tribal tech, psychedelia etc. So I start the set again. Finish about 0500 or so and Jim does the final hour. When it's light, I stagger down the hill (leaving my notebook behind!). I had a blast. I think my very select audience of three had fun. You'll have to ask them. Hopefully, it all worked. I'm in the zone called Too Tired To Crash so I just go through Sunday in a semi-automative state. Get to bed about midnight Sunday. What a great weekend. And what good practise for Clockenflap 2013. Starting next Friday. A report from the front-line will be forthcoming. Until then.... lots of love, ntb.
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