Justin Sweeting: Bringing Hong Kong's indie music out of the shadows

If you were among the 450 people dancing to Canadian psych-rockers Caribou and frenetic local electronic whiz Choi Sai-ho on July 1, you’ve got Justin Sweeting to thank. Sweeting is the guy behind the Peoples’ Party, which has spearheaded an indie music renaissance in Hong Kong, bringing the local live music scene to levels it has never seen before. 

It used to be that Hong Kong’s music fans had to wait an awfully long time between great concerts, and even when they took place, you’d be lucky to find a good spot to stand in tiny, cramped venues. No longer. Since last January, Sweeting has brought some of the world’s best indie bands to town. Young Knives, Ratatat, Handsome Furs, OK Do, José Gonzalez -- the list goes on and on. 

“I always felt I couldn’t be in Hong Kong because there wasn’t enough going on musically,” he says. “But when people complain about not enough going on, it means there’s lots of potential. It’s always better to be on this end of the evolution than when it’s full-developed, when you don’t feel like you can contribute anything.” 

Born and raised near the University of Hong Kong, where his dad was a professor, Sweeting left to study in the United Kingdom. There he formed a band and got involved in the British music industry. In 2003 he was offered a position with the group that organized the Rockit music festival and he gladly returned home. 

A lull before the storm

When Rockit folded in 2006, the whole local scene seemed to fall into a lull. That began to change towards the end of 2008, when Sweeting helped start a new festival, Clockenflap, and the newly launched local edition of Time Out began organizing concerts that showcased up-and-coming local acts like A Roller Control and rising mainland stars like Hedgehog. 

That’s when Sweeting decided it was a good time to get more involved. He launched the Peoples’ Party at the beginning of last year. His philosophy, he says, was to bring in a regular stream of cutting-edge bands, “Cool artists you’d want to see anywhere in the world,” to play smallish shows at affordable prices. In some ways, being a musical backwater has its advantages. Normally, the renowned multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird plays to an audience of thousands, but when he came to Hong Kong earlier this year, fans got to see him in a venue that held no more than 450 people.

The success of the Peoples’ Party has inspired others to follow suit. Last year, indie record distributor Love Da Records ventured into the realm of live music with shows by Emmy the Great and Little Dragon, the Art X Heritage X Design staged three outdoor concerts and the DJ duo Songs for Children brought in Theoretical Girl from the United Kingdom. 

Unfortunately, putting on an indie music gig in Hong Kong is hardly a lucrative business, and those involved do it mainly to cultivate a more interesting music scene. One of the biggest challenges they face is convincing local people who aren’t in the habit of going to regular shows to travel across the harbor to see an overseas band. After all, young expats, who are some of the Peoples’ Party’s most loyal followers, have a tendency to pack up and leave after a few years in town. “If it’s not local, it’s not going to work,” says Sweeting. 

Too many bands, too little space

There’s also the thorny issue of finding a good venue that can handle a medium-sized crowd. Sweeting says he has had to pass over many bands who want to come to Hong Kong but would need a larger venue than Grappa’s Cellar or Rockschool, where the Peoples’ Party normally holds its gigs. Things might get better later this year, when a larger new venue is slated to open in a converted cinema in Wan Chai, but for now, limited space is hampering the growing demand for indie shows.

Still, things are definitely looking good. “When I was a kid growing up here, there was no music going on -- now there’s shows every week,” says Sweeting. As more good bands come from overseas, the local music scene seems to be picking up the pace. Sweeting regularly books local bands to open for overseas acts, and he often spots local singer Anthony Wong Yiu-ming, who runs local indie label People Mountain People Sea, in the crowd. “All the pieces of the puzzle are coming together,” he says.

The buzz seems to be rubbing off on others. The Handsome Furs, a Montreal-based synth-punk band made up of Wolf Parade frontman Dan Boeckner and his wife, Alexei Perry, are making their second trip to Hong Kong after a memorable show last fall. “They blew the crowd away and they were blown away themselves by Hong Kong,” says Sweeting. “They liked it so much they’re coming back for a week. ” Naturally, they’ll be playing a show while they’re here.

Handsome Furs plays Rockschool on Wednesday, August 4. See Facebook for more details.