Live with Lizzy!- Gengahr
18-11-15
One of our fabulous critics, Laurella Jose, loves hearing live music and seeing local bands play. We've had the demand to cover the music scene in Hong Kong for years but didn't have a passionate, music lover with the skills to take it on. We present a new series to HKELD called, Live with Lizzy!
Lizzy will be talking to us weekly about music events she attends, Hong Kong's developing indie scene and bands she loves.
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I for one am very excited for Clockenflap this year. Personally, this excitement grew when I found out Gengahr was coming over to Hong Kong for the first time to perform at the event. With the recent release of their new album, A Dream Outside, the London based band is scheduled to play on Your Mum’s stage, 2:30pm on Saturday, November 28th. I would encourage anyone to check out their album; especially if you’re into Tame Impala and MGMT. This sound is quality psych-pop, eerily beautiful vocals and trippy composition.
These questions were answered by John from Gengahr.
My Philosophy professor played “Bathed in Light” during a lesson and I went up to him after class to ask what band it was by. No help from his accent, he kept repeating Gengahr again and again until he gave up and spelled it out, what’s up with the name?
Heard of Pokemon? We stole it from that. Old school geeks though we have moved on since. We always get questions about Pokemon (there's about 20 games or something crazy) and if is not a question about the first game released in the 90's we know nothing. Gangar is a ghost Pokemon who likes to play tricks on people. When we started we lied about where we were from so it seemed to fit in. I'd like to point out we no longer lie.
I’m a little bit hooked on your album, what’s your favorite track on it and how did it come to be?
Maybe 'where I lie'. It's one of my favourites to play and I enjoy the guitar parts and the melody. That one came together really easily, even though the music is relatively 'dark' for us. The only issue was the guitar solo which I rewrote about 50 times and I'm still not happy with. I improvise it most nights live, sometimes it comes out better.
Can you describe the last time any of you had a sudden rush of divine inspiration?
Not sure if it was divine, I didn't see the face of God or anything but I saw this band Makthaverskan play having no idea who they were. They looked super young and clumsy setting up and didn't expect anything. They started playing and I immediately liked their sound, sort of really scruffy indie pop with a punk edge but when the girl started singing and I was blown away completely. Since then I've fallen in love with their record. I'm having a bit of writers block for the first time but I play along to that record for a few songs and then I enjoy the guitar again as an instrument and it helps me come up with ideas.
The other thing would be Grime's new album came out on my birthday which I think is a divine sign of something being awesome.
Is there something you have to keep close when you’re in your creative groove?
Nothing particularly springs to mind. I always enjoy hearing an electronic synth sound and then trying to work out how to create that on guitar, I never nail it but I get close enough and this sound, whatever it may be can often inspire new musical ideas.
I’m a senior in high school; can you describe yourself at that time in your life in terms of music, development and personality?
Musically I was all over the place. I'd always loved indie stuff like blur and the other Brit pop bands as a child. High school all my friends got seriously into nirvana which skipped me by but I got really into metal and punk. After that I secretly got into good American indie like Pavement and dinosaur jr, which most of my friends at that time hated. Although I had two close friends who shared my love for softer and weirder music and we bonded over that. Around the same time we got heavily into dance music, but weird stuff like acid house, gabba and grime. I guess always looking for stuff that felt new and exciting. I feel so far this answer has made me sound some sort of vaguely 'cool' so let me add the whole time my list of guilty pleasures was and still is immense. A great pop song is like a fantastic milkshake. So satisfying and sweet and gives you this rush but leaves nothing once it's gone.
Who got all the girls/who was the most hopeless with the ladies?
I can assure you I was the worst with the ladies, I had and still have no idea how to maintain a conversation with the opposite sex unless they are into music.
Who got the most badass/good boy/class clown?
Felix - badass as he could fight.
Danny - class clown but only because he's actually really funny, not implying he's an idiot.
Is there something/someone that impacted you during your teen years that still resonate in your music or life?
I'd say best friend at school. He was the first of our group to get a guitar and was a natural, could play loads of nirvana and green day songs straight away. I only started playing music so we could start a band together. Serious grunge rock when we were 15.
Y’all were pretty young when you started making music, what do you think was one of the first lessons you learnt about the music industry?
No one knows nothing about the music industry. It's such a silly thing. You can have an amazing band with amazing songs and a really strong image, amazingly managed and with an awesome label but none of that can force people to like something. Taste is all relative. Maybe that's a bit strong as a statement, there's loads of really talented people I've met working in the industry. But it just seems so much like luck as to what's successful or not.
I believe that people who are driven very much by creativity always have growth and development ahead of them. Is there any particular aspect of life, if not your music, that you think you all headed towards growth with? How is this influencing where your music is heading?
Not too sure. Touring is amazing but it's not very progressive. You make loads of new friends which is amazing but it's a hard environment to create anything in. I'm trying to teach myself how to sight read notation but that's super annoying for everyone else in the band, click click click of the metronome is not what you want to hear when you haven't slept in 3 days.
Did you know about Clockenflap before you were asked to perform?
I have to be honest I didn't. I can't wait to experience it though. It's going to be amazing.
This one comes from my Philosophy professor who saw you guys open for The Maccabees a few months back:
How do you think performing in Clockenflap shows how much you’ve developed and how far you’ve come as a band?
The fact we can go to a different continent to play our music is mind blowing, I try not to think about it too much or I might have a panic attack. We're super flattered to have been asked, I will do everything in my power to put on a good show for whoever comes to see us.
We’re really looking forward to seeing you perform during Clockenflap this year, is there something that you are looking forward to with regards to the music scene in Hong Kong?
Hopefully we'll get a bit of time to explore Hong Kong. I have a terrible feeling we might just be there for the day we play. If I can I'm going to go to every record and guitar shop I can and get as many recommendations of bands to check out as possible.
Tickets are still available for Clockenflap through Ticketflap.com.
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