WARNING: this is NOT a complete history; just a short brief history so people can get a better idea…a real history would take me a few weeks to write…this only took a few hours

aside from these bands, punk rock in hong kong wasn't very alive because most people in hong kong were more interested in metal (such as Anodize, Heresy, Azylum – all fucking great bands). also, most fans of music in hong kong around that time focused more on sex pistols and the clash and pretended modern day punk rock was dead! of course it wasn't – punk rock has never been “dead” just very underground because the music and attitude were unpopular at that time. unfortunately, these music critics still have the same view today! they're still ONLY talking about old punk bands like the sex pistols, the clash, exploited, etc., and ignoring all the hard work more recent bands have been doing to promote punk rock. to them, Bad Religion, NOFX, Operation Ivy, The Casulties, The Unseen, Propagandhi, Crass, and many many more incredibly influential punk rock bands never existed and still don’t exist. (hardcore was of course NEVER talked about at this time because they had no idea that hardcore was even around.)

ANYWAY: back to the history. so punk rock was very quiet in hong kong until some students in foreign international schools started listening to punk rock and started playing in punk rock bands (this was around 1990). one of the oldest punk rock bands in hong kong is called Pregnant Men. their style of punk rock was similar to Bad Religion but their lyrics were more personal regarding friendship and daily life. when they started they were the ONLY band in hong kong playing punk rock but people hated them because most hong kong people didn't want to support a "guai chai" band EVEN THOUGH two of them can speak Cantonese and Mandarin. It was a very sad situation because these guys were the friendliest, most caring most humble guys and they just wanted to build a punk rock community in hong kong. anyway, they didn't give up...after a few years of working hard and releasing a CD on their OWN record company (Plug Music) the hong kong punk community slowly became bigger and Pregnant Men inspired MANY MANY punk rock bands in hong kong such as Tokyo Sex Wale, Mrs. Wong's Noodle Shop (i played guitar in this band), NOPDOGS and That Guy's Belly. during this period, hong kong punk rock was VERY active and very healthy. so many people were involved with punk rock and many of them had websites, published their own underground magazines, and released their own CD's!!! shows at the warehouse and even in The Fringe Club in lan kwai fong were CRAZY!!! The shows would be so full that there wasn’t enough room for everybody – people had to watch from outside. The shows would be full of females and males jumping, dancing and singing along. it was a very exciting period in hong kong for punk rock...around this time many bands started visiting hong kong as well such as Fugazi (this is the singer of Minor Threat's current band), All You Can Eat, Pridebowl and Envy (the first time).

(while I write this – it is hard to believe that NONE of this period is remembered today…all the people involved with punk rock and hardcore don’t even know that this beautiful period existed…that is very sad and unfortunate…)

then slowly - all the "guai chai's" in these bands finished secondary school and moved to the UK or USA for higher studies. their bands broke up and slowly the punk rock scene started getting smaller and smaller. during this entire period I was still in the USA attending college and would come back during the summer/winter time to take part in shows and helping other local bands. finally, in 1999 i came back to hong kong permanently because i finished my university but I came back at the time that punk rock slowly started to die.

when i came back i was more concerned about hardcore then punk rock because to me hardcore had a more active mind and a much stronger/healthier purpose and power then punk rock. i came back to hong kong to find some so-called “hardcore” bands that my friends were introducing me to.  at the time of course i was so excited to see that hong kong's music had progressed so much. but, when i went to the shows to see these "hardcore" bands my heart was broken...the bands on stage were ALL playing Limp Bizkit, RATM, Korn, Machinehead cover songs. the bands weren't even playing their OWN songs - they were covering rap/metal bands and saying that they were "hardcore".

i was sad and then one day i remember sitting outside of 7-11 in Wan Chai with my friend and we had a conversation. my question was, "fuck man, how come punk rock has existed in hong kong SO LONG but no local Hong Kong people are interested in punk rock OR REAL hardcore?". my friend agreed...THEN i sat there and said, "I KNOW WHY!!! its because the level of english in hong kong isn't that good so maybe A LOT of Hong Kong people want to learn about hardcore or punk rock but cannot because they cannot communicate to learn more!!!"

that night I decided on starting my magazine Start From Scratch in English and Chinese so that people FINALLY could have a good place to go to get more information about the punk rock/hardcore culture and thinking. when I started working on it I realized that just a magazine wasn’t enough…a band was important too. i have been playing in bands since I was 13 years old and when I was thinking about all of this I didn’t have a band so I wanted to start one anyway. having this idea and purpose of introducing hardcore gave me a MUCH more important reason to start a band and a magazine…

may-june 1999 was the birth of the true spirit of hardcore in hong kong with king ly chee’s first shows and the release of my magazine…

in the past 3 years…king ly chee has done MANY MANY shows, MANY MANY interviews, toured 3 different countries, have released 8 issues of the magazine…BUT ONLY NOW are things finally becoming better because it is NOT only king ly chee promoting hardcore anymore. today we have SO MANY NEW people who are promoting hardcore!!! for me, that is the most beautiful feeling – that after all our hard work now people are continuing to promote hardcore ON THEIR OWN!!! that’s incredible…

this is all I want to say for now:

hong kong hardcore officially begins now…EVERY LITTLE THING YOU’RE YOUR FRIEND, YOUR BOYFRIEND, YOUR GIRLFRIEND or ANYBODY DOES TO PROMOTE HARDCORE IN HONG KONG TODAY, will be remembered forever…please remember that…hong kong hardcore is alive today and is more active today because of ALL OF US!!! remember – we are ALL creating history right NOW…10 years later the next generation will remember ALL our hard work and will appreciate what we have done. Stand strong – no matter how HARD it is to promote this, no matter how many people attack us…keep in mind the FINAL GOAL and you will never give up.

good luck and stay strong!!!

Peace,

Riz