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Chochukmo returns
Hong Kong's most talked-about indie band are pushing their sound "more to the edge"
Chochukmo's Mike Orange (second from right): "We're like water, with the shape changing all the time, but the taste is still similar."A year ago, Hong Kong's hottest indie band Chochukmo suddenly disbanded at the peak of hype. After releasing their first album, they burned out in 2010 playing on tour in China.
But now they're back. The five-piece experimental rock outfit has a handful of new tracks and will play their comeback show tonight.
Also on CNNGo: What's that sound? Chochukmo
The Chochukmo Relaunch gig is part of the City University of Hong Kong Band Society annual performance. The line-up includes Taiwanese rock band My Skin Against Your Skin, as well as two young bands The White Wave and Life Was All Silence, both from City University.
Chochukmo guitarist Mike Orange told us more of what we can look forward to.
Chochukmo were at the top of our Hong Kong Hot List: 20 People to Watch in 2009.
CNNGo: What can we expect?
Mike Orange: It's been a year since we disbanded and this time we're coming back with some new tunes. We have like five or six unreleased songs on hand, which is around half of an album.
We think it's time to do some gigs, to feel more about the new songs and to feel more about how the rest of the album should be composed.
For the new songs, instead of the relatively more straight forward tunes in our last album, we're pushing more to the edge in terms of composition as well as arrangements, trying to be more experimental.
We're inputting more music elements into our music, trying to blend them, stir them, or just twist them. In our last album we've been trying to create a sound which is unique to us and for this stage we're trying to refine that sound of us.
CNNGo: So how has Chochukmo grown since we last saw you guys?
Orange: After the hectic China tour in August 2010 and all through the way to the disband, to the moment when we're invited to contribute an unreleased track to a charity compilation for the 311 Japan earthquake named "Light for Japan" and to the final moment that we all decided to come back together and try to give it one more shot, it's never easy for any of us.
I mean, those moments are heavy moments which have made us think a lot about music and also about what Chochukmo means to us.
We definitely did grow up a lot, in terms of how we see this band, how we make music and also how we keep up with a positive mind with the band.
During the break we've all had a chance to be detached from the band and everyone of us has been doing stuff, either musically related or not musically related, and have been learning a lot. So at the time we all come back together, we all do feel refreshed and feel different.
Such a change has also changed our music and our composition.
CNNGo: That means, not the same Chochukmo anymore?
Orange: Chochukmo is never the same, I mean, we don't have a band image that we're trying to build up.
The band is the combination of the five of us. It's like water, with the shape changing all the time but the taste is still similar.
For our new tunes, they do sound different than the songs in our last album, but they still share the Chochukmo signature playful tone in the last album.
The playful and experimental minds are always there with us, this time we're going to be more refined.
Getting there: CityU Band Society Annual Performance -- Chochukmo Relaunch. November 11, 2011, 7:30 p.m. Hangout Youth Outreach, 2 Holy Cross Path, Sai Wan Ho.
Supporting acts: My Skin Against Your Skin (Taiwan), Life Was All Silence, The White Wave. Tickets: HK$150.
Listen to Chochukmo's latest track Higher, Higher using augmented reality. Full instructions on their website.
