King Ly Chee
| King Ly Chee | |
|---|---|
 King Ly Chee live (2012) |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Hong Kong |
| Genre (s) | Hardcore punk |
| founding | 1999 |
| Website | kinglychee.com |
| Founding members | |
| Riz Farooqi | |
| Current occupation | |
| Riz Farooqi | |
| Brian Chi Wong (since 2007) | |
| Kent Wong (since 2009) | |
| Joe Wu (since 2010) | |
| former members | |
| Stephane Wong (1999-2001) | |
| Kevin Li (2002-2005) | |
| Ming So (2005-2006) | |
| Kim Mang Leung (2006-2009) | |
| Egas Mateus da Silva (2009–2012) | |
| Fei Hin | |
| Warrick Harniess (1999) | |
| Alex Chung (2000-2006) | |
| Pong Law (2005-2008) | |
| Ho Chan (2008-2010) | |
| Ian Cruz | |
| Andy Chung (2001-2006) | |
| G Tsui (2006-2008) | |
King Ly Chee (荔枝 王) is a hardcore punk band from Hong Kong .
The group played already in Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia , the People's Republic of China , Thailand , Hong Kong, Taiwan , South Korea and the Philippines and was able to gigs with bands like Darkest Hour , Sick of It All , Comeback Kid , Shadows Fall and NOFX a great reputation in the East Asian region . The group also toured with the Slovak punk band Good Reason through Slovakia , the Czech Republic , Germany and Austria . Nevertheless, King Ly Chee is rather unknown in Europe . Another concert tour through Europe is planned for 2014 to celebrate the band's 15th anniversary.
The group has released four albums so far , plus a compilation , split CD and EP . Singer Riz Farooqi is the founder of the label Start from Scratch Records , whose name goes back to the magazine of the same name, which was also published by Farooqi. The lyrics were initially written in English , until 2007 bilingual (English and standard Chinese in one song); since 2007 the pieces have been recorded completely in English and Mandarin.
The group has played at several major festivals including the Pulp Summer Slam , Baybeats , Formoz Festival and the Busan International Rock Festival . The group has been plagued by line-up changes since it was founded in May 1999 - Riz Farooqi is the only musician who has been continuously active with King Ly Chee since it was founded.
history
The Beginnings (1999)
King Ly Chee was founded in Hong Kong in May 1999. At the time of its founding, it was difficult for bands that played roughly metal or hardcore punk to gain a foothold in the music scene. Punk rock, on the other hand, was in full bloom in Hong Kong. Bands such as Pregnant Men , That Guys Belly, and Tokyo Sex Whale became widely known in the country. The founder of the band, Riz Farooqi, who originally comes from Pakistan , started the bilingual magazine Start from Scratch to give young people in particular a taste for such music. This magazine published interviews, CD reviews and essays all about the metal and hardcore punk scene. Over time, Riz realized that "words" would not be enough to get the population excited about this style of music and so the group King Ly Chee was born.
"Words are incredibly powerful, but the true power of hardcore is watching it live. It's all about watching the singers and band members kill themselves on stage, screaming their hearts out. "
Over time, drummer Stephane Wong and bassist Warrick Harniess from Great Britain joined Farooqi. This line-up only lasted one month, however, when Harniess left the group. After numerous line-up changes, the group now consists of Riz Farooqi ( vocals ), Brian Chi Wong, Kent Wong (both electric guitar ) and Joe Wu ( bass guitar ). King Ly Chee's last drummer, Egas Mateus da Silva, played in the band from 2009 to 2012.
The first album We Are Who We Are (2000–2002)
As early as 2000, King Ly Chee's debut album We Are Who We Are was released, which was created on the do-it-yourself principle. The group borrowed the money for the recordings from their bassist Alex Chung's uncle. The recordings were made within ten hours in the A.Room by Davy Chan.
The first appearances on international soil followed in July and August. The first festival at which the band could be seen was the Formoz Festival in Taipei, Taiwan . The first concert in South Korea followed in August. This took place as part of the Youth Festival in Seoul in front of almost 10,000 visitors. In November, the group toured the People's Republic of China for the first time, with concerts in Beijing , Shenzhen , Guangzhou and Wuhan .
In April 2001, it performed at Spring Scream in Kenting , Taiwan, in front of an audience of around 3,000. A year later the group played again at this festival. In December 2002, King Ly Chee performed in Taipei and Taichong . Stephane Wong left the band in 2001 and was only replaced by Kevin Li in 2002. In 2001, Andi Chung, a guitarist, joined the band.
First successes with Stand Strong and Under One Flag (2003-2008)
After the group had been busy with touring for the last two years, the follow-up album Stand Strong was released in 2003 , which was produced by Paul Wong, a well-known rock musician from Hong Kong. It reached number 11 on the HMV charts . A few months later the DVD for the album was released. It was released on Polar Bear Records, the Paul Wong label who signed the band.
In April 2003 King Ly Chee played again on the Spring Scream, before a renewed appearance at the Formoz Festival took place in July; in February 2004 they performed on a Southeast Asia tour in Bangkok , Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. This was followed by new appearances in those three cities and in Johor Bahru in December . The group was silent until August 2005. This was followed by two concerts in the South Korean cities of Seoul and Cheongju .
In 2006 singer Riz Farooqi founded the label Start from Scratch Records . Thanks to the help of the Slovak political punk band Good Reason , the group was able to tour Europe for the first time in January 2006 with concerts in Bratislava , Most , Hamburg , Berlin , Prague and Gleisdorf . This tour lasted ten days. A split CD was also released with the band under the name Under One Flag . Musicians Alex and Andy Chung and drummer Ming So left King Ly Chee. Ming So only joined the band in 2005 after Kevin Li had to leave the group. With G Tsui (vocals), Kim Mang Leung (drums) and Pong Law (bass guitar) three new musicians joined the hardcore punk band.
Brian Chi Wong was also accepted into the group in 2007. At that time he was living in Australia , where he played in the nu-metal band Fingtauyuen . Wong emailed a few songs from the first release to Riz Farooqi. In May 2007, King Ly Chee toured as opening act for NOFX on their Asian tour through Asia, stopping off in Beijing, Taipei, Manila , Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta and Bali . In 2008 the EP "Unite Asia" was released, which the band offered for free download. In Quezon City , the group played on April 26th at the Summer Slam in Amoranto Stadium with Darkest Hour in front of almost 26,000 visitors.
First best-of publication 10 Years of King Ly Chee (2009-2011)
In 2009 the compilation CD 10 Years of King Ly Chee , which contains the best songs from previous albums, was released for the band's tenth anniversary. Kin Man Leung left the group after three years and was replaced on drums by Egas Mateus da Silva (formerly at Uni-k ). His band colleague Kent Wong (electric guitar) joined the band with da Silva. Both musicians are not from Hong Kong, but from Macau . Da Silva worked as a part-time student with the Macau government. Together, the group toured mainland China in December 2009 with concerts in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Zhuhai , Guangzhou, Changsha , Wuhan , Chongqing , Nanjing , Shanghai , Chengdu , Xi'an and Beijing. In April, the group played at the Summer Slam in Manila, Philippines, together with Shadows Fall in front of more than 32,000 spectators.
In May, three concerts in Manila, Cavite and Olongapo City followed in the Philippines . In 2010 Joe Wu joined the group as bass player. King Ly Chee played mainly at festivals this year such as the MIDI Music Festival in the Chinese capital, the Busan International Rock Festival in Busan, South Korea, and Baybeats in Singapore. On February 17, 2010, the group appeared together with Chicosci as opening act for Glassjaw . In 2011 the group only played at the Forever Young Music Festival in Chengdu; on December 8, 2011, the group was allowed to perform as the opener for Parkway Drive in Hong Kong. Four days earlier, King Ly Chee played No Turning Back .
Third and fourth albums: Time Will Prove and CNHC (2012-present)
Almost nine years after the release of the second studio album Stand Strong , Time Will Prove was the band's third studio album. The album was released as a digipak and contains an album in an English and a Chinese version. Guest musicians include Paul Wong (in the song No Second Chances ), Andrew Neufeld from Comeback Kid ( On the Road ) and Wu Wei ( Scream for Life ). On February 3, 2012, the group played together with Anti-Flag .
The Time Will Prove Tour followed in March , which led through the People's Republic of China. The group gave concerts in Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Beijing, Zhengzhou , Guangzhou and Xi'an . In May the group performed at the Gegey Music Festival in Kuala Lumpur; a month later a gig at the Unity Fest in Johor Bahru followed and another two months later the group played again at the Baybeats in Singapore.
In the meantime, the drummer Egas Mateus da Silva had left the group. On September 30, 2012, King Ly Chee headlined the first ever CNHC Hardcore Festival in the Chinese capital. It's the very first hardcore punk festival in the country's history. The band expressed mixed feelings about the festival. On the one hand, the musicians are very much looking forward to this performance, as it is the first hardcore punk festival in the history of China, on the other hand, they think it is a shame that such a spectacle has never been organized in Hong Kong. The musicians called on the Hong Kong government to "forget the past and the childish bullshit in order to see how a new chapter in the country's history can be started".
On January 27, 2013, the group played as support for Comeback Kid , which could be seen in Hong Kong that day. In mid-March there was a performance with the band Sick of It All . On September 7, 2013, the group played at the second edition of the CNHC Hardcore Festival with other Chinese rock bands at the Mao Livehouse in Beijing . According to a contribution by Legends Arising, the band is planning to tour Europe for the first time since 2006 to celebrate the band's 15th anniversary. The musicians should be supported by Stronger Booking . However, the tour was not completed. Instead, the group worked on their new album, called CNHC , which was released as a CD box set in December 2014. Lou Koller, singer of the band Sick of It All, can be heard as a guest musician. Between June 12 and 21, 2015, the band completed an East Asia tour, which included ten appearances. On May 31, 2015, the band released a new version of Unite Asia from 2006. The revised version includes guest musicians from 16 other hardcore bands from all over Asia. Between September 25 and October 4, 2015, a tour of Southeast Asia followed as the main support for Sick of It All. The concert tour led to the Philippines , Thailand , Singapore and Malaysia , among others . In July 2016, the group played four concerts for the first time along the east coast of the United States . King Ly Chee was invited by the band Sick of It All. Street Dogs also play at all four concerts. In addition, a new EP was released as a download with Be Water .
Discography
EPs and split CDs
- 2006: Under One Flag (split CD with Good Reason )
- 2008: Unite Asia
- 2016: Be Water
Albums
- 2000: We Are Who We Are (in-house production)
- 2003: Stand Strong ( Polar Bear Records )
- 2012: Time Will Prove ( Start from Scratch Records , Hotpot Music )
- 2014: CNHC (Start from Scratch Records)
Compilations
- 2009: 10 Years of King Ly Chee
Sampler
- 2012: Core in China
Music videos
- Time Will Prove (時間 證明)
- This Is Our New Beginning
- Refuse
- Overcome
- Lost in a World
Style, band name and controversy
music
The group plays the classic hardcore punk, where they occasionally incorporated influences from punk and metal, which is due to the constant line-up changes. This also had an influence on the development of the songs, in which the musicians in the meantime built their musical influences. In an interview with hardcoretimes.net in 2002 , singer Farooqi named well-known scene bands such as Shai Hulud , Sick of It All , Bane , Poison the Well , Envy , American Nightmare , Good Clean Fun , Time Spent Driving , The Appleseed Cast as the main musical influence also groups like U2 , Coldplay , Slayer and the early Sepultura .
In the first months of the band's existence, King Ly Chee played a mix of hardcore punk, metal, emocore , punk and indie rock , which also allowed the vocals to achieve greater emotional intensity. The progressive nature of the music describes singer Farooqi as natural, since this was already present in the early days of the band, had completely written in the days when he songs independently and composed.
Texts
The band initially wrote the lyrics of their debut album We Are Who We Are only in English, which was not well received by the population, as a large part of the Chinese population hardly speaks English. Thereupon Riz Farooqi decided, together with the then bassist, to publish the publications bilingually in the future , in English and the high Chinese dialect Mandarin. So more Chinese should be addressed with King Ly Chees music. In 2007 Farooqi had enough to write the texts in two languages; then he decided to record each song twice. Riz Farooqi writes the English-language texts, which are then translated into Mandarin by Brian Chi Wong. He tries not to change the rhythm of the song.
The lyrics are about personal experiences of the musicians, about life in Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China and about racism . The musicians also orient themselves towards hardcore punk bands with a positive lyrical attitude or an important message that the musicians have made, be it from life experience, politics or social circumstances.
Position on the national and international music scene
The national music scene is built on a commercial formula. Riz Farooqi is of the opinion that the song lyrics could make the difference between the “life and death” of a band, especially in a state where a single genre of music dominates - in Hong Kong it is the cantopop - there is a risk that a band will fall into that Grid of this dominant genre is classified. He describes how the cantopop is like an "incurable disease" for a band. Farooqi also criticizes the lyrical background of this music, which is often only half-heartedly developed or copied from world-famous hits, edited a little and reduced to the central lyrical themes of cantopop music, love and romance. Because this formula was successful for decades, according to Farooqi, the Chinese music industry does not need to change it.
Other genres of music operate underground, as they are not or only insufficiently promoted by the music industry. For this reason, most underground bands do not manage to get beyond the hobby status. Farooqi describes this as the most common reason many bands give up the music after just a few months or years. He describes that King Ly Chee is not just a band, but a life's work of musicians, which is why it still exists today. The band is the first who was able to partially change the psyche of youth. She received a lot of emails from fans and young people who thanked the band for their honest texts.
According to Farooqi, hardcore punk, metal and punk bands from Hong Kong do not copy world greats from other countries. But he says that he knows many Nu-Metal bands that are strongly reminiscent of Slipknot , Korn or Soulfly . Otherwise all other bands played their own sound. Compared to the hardcore punk scene on the American and European continents, the scene in Hong Kong is much smaller. In 2002 there were only three hardcore punk bands, some of which included musicians from King Ly Chee. In some countries in Southeast Asia, including Japan , Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, more pronounced scenes exist.
Band name
Shortly after the group was formed by singer Riz Farooqi, he looked for a suitable name for the band. With this name he finally wanted to represent the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong. Hoping that the group will leave Hong Kong more and more often over time to play their program in other regions of the world, the name should express that Hong Kong has more to offer than commercial pop music . After a long brainstorming session, which, according to the band , gave rise to the stupidest band names - for example station names like Causeway Bay - the group decided on the name King Ly Chee .
Controversy
In an interview with shanghaiist.com , Riz Farooqi reported that he was once thrown from a plane operated by the Hong Kong airline Dragonair (now Cathay Dragon) for being a Pakistani native despite having spent his childhood in Hong Kong. While a stewardess and the pilot of the machine asked him to leave the plane, the rest of the band, all of whom were of Chinese descent, were allowed to stay on board. Farooqi was removed from the plane by security. He then reported the airline to the Commission for Equality in Hong Kong and described the metropolis of Hong Kong as the "most racist city in China"; he had never experienced so much racism in the rest of China.
Farooqi was attacked in a song by the Guangzhou band Smoke Town , although the band had never had contact with King Ly Chee musicians, especially their singers. Her song China Hardcore read:
"C ~ N ~ H ~ C ！！！！
China hardcore now (4x)
Fuck that hardcore (3x)
Fuck Riz fuck that"
"C ~ N ~ H ~ C !!!!
China Hardcore now (4x)
Fuck this hardcore (3x)
Fuck you, Riz, fuck that "
In the above statement, Farooqi cited racism in relation to his origin and skin color as a possible reason for this text.
Although the group is one of the most famous hardcore punk bands in the country, King Ly Chee play their shows in Hong Kong in front of just under 150 spectators, even when bands like Terror or Misery Signals tour Hong Kong. When the group performed with the lesser known hardcore punk band Have Heart , only 43 people attended the concert. On their European tour in 2006, the group played in the German capital Berlin in front of just five paying visitors. According to singer Farooqi, this only happened because the shows weren't promoted on tour; Exceptions to the less successful tour were appearances in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
The band is on the black list of the People's Republic of China , so the group is prohibited from performing at major music festivals in this country.
Notoriety
King Ly Chee is not only well known because of her numerous appearances and tours, especially in the East Asian region. Performances with bands such as NOFX, Shadows Fall and Darkest Hour increased the group's profile. In Europe, King Ly Chee is still an insider tip.
The Time Out Magazine called King Ly Chee as a "torch bearer" of the hardcore punk genre in Hong Kong since the group exists for more than a decade, which is unusual for bands in Hong Kong. The magazine describes that it is normal if you don't hear from your favorite band after just a few years.
The presence in social networks such as Facebook , Myspace and the video platform YouTube also promotes interest and awareness worldwide. The group has over 7,000 “likes” on Facebook, more than 9,000 friends, more than 240,000 profile views and six-digit titles played on Myspace.
useful information
- Singer Riz Farooqi also works as a primary school teacher and teaches children aged six to seven. Until the beginning of 1999 he studied at a US university. Former band member Andy Chung also studied in the United States before joining the band in August 2001.
- The magazine that Farooqi brought out at the beginning of his career was published in two languages. In this Farooqi published not only interviews, but also articles about Straight Edge and other alternative ways of life in hardcore punk. Since the magazine was not printed in color but in black and white, some shops did not want to sell the magazine. In 2006 he founded the label Start From Scratch Records , the name of which goes back to the magazine.
swell
- ↑ a b c d e f g h hardcoretimes.net: Riz (King Ly Chee) on Hardcore in the Far East ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d e Kyle Lawrence: shanghaiist.com: Hardcore punks King Ly Chee depart 'racist' Hong Kong for mainland tour
- ↑ thebeijinger.com: NOFX live in Beijing
- ↑ David Frazier: Taipei Times : Spring Scream on track for early April , published March 7, 2003, accessed July 3, 2012
- ↑ a b chengdumusic.com: King Lychee ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ kinglychee.com: Asian Tour 2007 - STARTS TODAY!
- ↑ a b regiomusik.de: Interview with King Ly Chee: Hardcore from Hong Kong ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published October 19, 2009, accessed July 3, 2012
- ↑ Blabbermouth.net : DARKEST HOUR Schedules First-Ever Concert In The Philippines , published March 19, 2008, accessed July 3, 2012
- ↑ tartareandesire.com: Pulp Summer Slam 2008 Lineup
- ↑ a b undergroundhk.com: Interview with King Ly Chee ( Memento of the original from September 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Baybeats: Baybeats 2010 Lineup
- ↑ gluehc.com: King Ly Chee To Tour China in March / April
- ↑ Baybeats : Band Profile of King Ly Chee
- ↑ idioteq.com: KING LY CHEE excited about first ever China Hardcore Festival
- ↑ Legendsarising : Recap of CNHC Hardcore Fest in China
- ↑ Unite Asia : TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT: King Ly Chee Asian Tour 2015
- ↑ Unite Asia : PREMIERE: King Ly Chee premieres re-recorded Unite Asia feat. vocalists from all over Asia
- ↑ Unite Asia : Sick of it All Asian Tour 2015 Updates
- ↑ a b Chris Wynne: In Effective Hardcore : Interview with King Ly Chee
- ↑ beijingdaze.com: Core in China Compilation
-
↑ kinglychee.com: The story after the formation of the band name was taken from the biography from the official homepage of the band.
“Right when King Ly Chee began Riz knew that he was going to let this band represent Hong Kong and China. He knew that this band was going to be constantly leaving Hong Kong to play in surrounding areas letting those people know that Hong Kong is much MORE then commercial, sugar-coated, insincere pop-music. So he was looking for a name that would represent hardcore and represent Hong Kong. After searching and brainstorming the dumbest names possible (He even contemplated using MTR station names like Causeway Bay! Thank GOD he didn't!), A friend suggested the Chinese name 荔枝 王. Riz at first thought it was weird but the English version of it King Ly Chee was pretty cool and unique! "
- Official biography on the band's homepage - ↑ bunnywarren.com: Open attack on Riz of King Ly Chee from a China band
- ↑ regiomusik.de: Inquired: Interview with King Ly Chee / Hardcore from Hongkong ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Time Out Magazine, January 18-31, 2012, page 63
- ↑ facebook.com: King Ly Chee on Facebook (as of September 24, 2012)
- ↑ myspace.com: King Ly Chee on MySpace (as of September 24, 2012)
