It’s been a long time coming, but Hong Kong’s iconic Clockenflap festival is finally here, with more than 100 acts playing over three days. Neil Li gives us a rundown of what to expect.
(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Today is the day Hong Kong’s biggest and most popular music festival makes its triumphal return. Ending a four-year absence, Clockenflap is back at the Central Harbourfront and runs through March 5, much to the delight of music fans, musicians and, of course, the event’s organizers.
Justin Sweeting, the festival’s co-founder and music director, says the forced hiatus has proved to be a time of reckoning for the team. “It taught all of us that you can’t take anything for granted. You have to take your opportunities when you can. We’ve been well-primed for a time we’re able to return.”
Clockenflap co-founder and music director Justin Sweeting feels the response to this year’s festival is unprecedented. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
A fine trajectory
Clockenflap was first held as a one-day event at Cyberport back in 2008, with around 1,500 people in the audience. In the years that followed, it grew incrementally, becoming a two-day and subsequently three-day event. In 2011 Clockenflap moved to the iconic West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade, remaining there for five editions, until, in 2016, it was moved again to its current location at the Central Harbourfront. Its last edition in 2018 was attended by around 70,000 people.
The festival’s ever-increasing popularity is owed largely to its ambitious programming. It has a track record of securing a great mix of top local, regional and international acts. Over the years, these have ranged from emerging, underground indie talents to such massive names as US psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips, Icelandic symphonic post-rockers Sigur Rós, British hip-hop artist Stormzy, and American disco-funk legends Nile Rodgers and Chic.
English rock band the Arctic Monkeys. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
This year, more than 100 acts are performing over three days, spread across six stages along the harborfront. Headliners include English rockers the Arctic Monkeys and the iconic hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, both playing in Hong Kong for the first time. Norwegian folk-pop duo Kings of Convenience and English indie rock band Bombay Bicycle Club are back, having playing Clockenflap more than a decade ago.
As in previous years, the festival’s attractions extend beyond music. These include art installations and performances. There are child-focused areas, with puppet shows and drum jamming, and of course the obligatory food and drink stands, and even a craft market.
“Our focus has very much been to ensure that Clockenflap returns with its full experience,” Sweeting says. “What we want to achieve is very similar to past editions, in that it’s a chance for people to come together and connect over shared creative inspiration and make some unforgettable, joyous memories together.”
American hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. Both bands are Clockenflap headliners making their Hong Kong debut. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
All systems go
Kyle Haynes has been to all previous editions of Clockenflap. For him, the combination of getting to listen to a gallery of amazing musicians from around the world while hanging out with friends in a gorgeous outdoor setting is the clincher.
Over the last few years, die-hard fans like him were disappointed, time and again, to find the festival getting postponed or canceled, at least on one occasion after a full lineup had been announced. Hence the news of its return this year was greeted with cautious optimism.
“It’s been many years of hoping and … trying not to get too excited,” says Haynes, co-founder and operations manager of live music venue The Aftermath.
Clockenflap is unique in its ability to persuade Hong Kong’s music community to gather in a single location. A number of its patrons won’t normally attend live-music events, Haynes points out. The backdrop of Hong Kong’s spectacular skyline also helps. This year, the festival is a total sell-out — a first in its 15-year history.
Haynes is optimistic that the momentum of this year’s Clockenflap can carry into the local music industry as a whole. With live music banned for most of the past three years, venues like The Aftermath had to make adjustments to their business model in order to survive the crisis. Now they can finally go back to doing what they do best.
Haynes sees the staging of this year’s Clockenflap as “a sign that things will return, or already have returned, to normality”.
Ollie Rodgers, lead vocalist and guitarist of Hong Kong rock band Mr Koo. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Melting potluck
The local indie rock band Mr Koo is making its Clockenflap debut this year.
“It was a childhood dream of mine,” says Ollie Rodgers, the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist. “I have rugby friends who played in the Sevens representing Hong Kong, and this is my equivalent. I’m stoked to be part of that music scene in Hong Kong.”
Rodgers — whose mother’s maiden name is Koo — formed the band in 2017 in New York, inspired by the city’s live-music scene. He returned to Hong Kong in 2019, wishing to create more original indie music of the homegrown variety. Band members include guitarists Tom Chan and Aritzon Pamplona, keyboardist Andy McBain, drummer Kevin Cheng and saxophonist Jun Woo. Their music can be a blend of surf rock and beachy psychedelia with the blues.
They sing in English and are often grouped with the Western acts as a result. Rodgers is concerned if such categorizations won’t alienate the band from the larger Hong Kong music community and audience. As Clockenflap is the mother of all Hong Kong music festivals, musicians like him are keen to let their audience know where their artistic roots lie.
“It’s wonderful to have a local festival on this scale dedicated to indie music,” says Rodgers, happy that Clockenflap serves as a “melting pot” of local Chinese and English-language bands as well as overseas ones.
He hopes the festival will give the local musicians who were forced to put their careers on hold because of the pandemic a new impetus to start over. Seeing their contemporaries perform on a big platform can inspire musicians to play more shows. And who knows if any of them might not make it to a Clockenflap stage next year?
Sam Yu and Rita Yim of the new pop band Tofu Kingdom. Both bands are playing their first major gig at Clockenflap this year. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Leveling up
Clockenflap also serves as a platform for nurturing local up-and-comers — acts like Tofu Kingdom, making its festival debut today.
Guitarists Rita Yim and Sam Yu founded their dream pop and shoegaze band in April 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic. They’ve had very few opportunities to perform live.
Yim, who is also the band’s vocalist, has been to Clockenflap many times before, as a fan — an experience she calls mind-blowing. “Performing at Clockenflap extends the feeling of awe and wonder I experienced as a visitor,” she says.
The band hopes to gain some insight into the business side of running a music festival while they’re at it. “Now that Clockenflap is back, we’ll get a taste of how an international live show is organized — how they handle it and how they manage the atmosphere,” Yu says.
The young duo is also looking forward to meeting and connecting with musicians from around the world. Regional bands have already reached out to congratulate them on the Clockenflap endorsement. Their international following on the Spotify audio-streaming service has shot up. For the first time, audiences from Europe and the Middle East are tuning in.
“On Twitter, we saw messages from Japanese fans saying that they started listening to our music because they thought our band name was interesting,” Yu adds. “That’s when we realized that the power of Clockenflap was huge.”
Tofu Kingdom will play its longest set to date this evening. The band hopes to continue to release new music, following up on the recent launch of its first EP, Souvenir.
Sweeting feels the pandemic has, by default, enhanced the scope of nurturing local talent. “The local Hong Kong music scene has benefited and blossomed, as a result.
“I can’t remember another period when so many local shows, and across different scales, were sold out. It was wonderful to see, and now it’s a case of continuing to build on that momentum to keep things growing.”
Not forgetting...
(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Men I Trust (Friday, March 3, FWD Stage)
Hailing from Montreal, the indie dream-pop band (Emma Proulx, Jessy Caron and Dragos Chiriac) has made a name for itself with its atmospheric numbers as well as live performances. Audiences at festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza have swayed to its mesmerizing blend of pop, ambient and electro, a sound that’s also earned the trio fans in fellow musicians Tyler, the Creator, and Flying Lotus.
(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
FKJ (Saturday, March 4, Harbourflap Stage)
French Kiwi Juice, aka FKJ, is often touted as a pioneer of New French House. The singer and multi-instrumentalist is known for performances that weave together a broad spectrum of musical genres — from dance-pop to funk, jazz and soul — yet nothing sounds out of place. The talented maestro balancing his multifaceted show would be the thing to watch out for.
(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Tyson Yoshi (Saturday, March 4, Harbourflap Stage)
One of the biggest names on Hong Kong’s growing hip-hop scene, Tyson Yoshi has amassed 48.2 million views on YouTube, including over 21 million for his 2019 single Christy alone. Yoshi has played in Taiwan, the US and the UK, rapping seamlessly in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. With those skills, catchy tunes and plenty of natural bravado, it’s easy to see why fans can’t get enough of the rising R&B star.
(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
HYBS (Saturday, March 4, FWD Stage)
Alyn Wee and Karn Kasidej, old friends who reunited during the pandemic, are flying the flag for a burgeoning Thai music scene with their distinctive spin on laid-back pop and R&B. Flappers will enjoy grooving to such carefree tunes as Run Away and Dancing with My Phone. The duo played a sold-out show in Hong Kong in December, so local fans will be delighted to have them back for an encore.
(PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Milet (Sunday, March 5, Harbourflap Stage)
Milet’s debut album, Eyes, launched in 2019, was No 1 on Japan’s Oricon Albums Chart, while songs like Us, Ordinary Days and Tell Me have been featured in a number of TV dramas and anime series. The Japanese singer-songwriter has performed at Summer Sonic, Fuji Rock as well as the closing ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Clockenflap gig will be her first outside Japan, so grab the chance to see an artist who is still at the beginning of what promises to be a stellar career.
