The Lovesong

The Lovesong are one of Hong Kong's finest exponents of incendiary guitar driven emo-rock.  Intense yet controlled, the foursome head out on an Asian Tour in August.  Spreading the love to their Asian Brothers and Sisters, we grabbed singer Ben Tse for a few words...

Hey Ben, please introduce yourselves to our readers: 
Hello. My name is Ben and I play guitar and sing for the band.  As a band, we are four good friends who all love music and we try to create music that we love.

Take a peek outside your window right now, describe what you can see. 
A sunny and lovely day in Singapore from the inside of the hippest motel. 

Tell us about your name The Lovesong. How did you come up with that? 
The words 'the' and 'lovesong' are meant to be two seperate words. I (Ben) came up with the name many years ago because I thought it would be cool to call a band with the word 'song' in it- like 'something something' song. I thought the word 'love' in its truest sense meant sacrifice which was quite relevant. But all in all, it is just a name that I thought would work for the kind of music I was writing for the band. 
 
Fill us in on a brief history of the band:
I started writing songs on my own back in 1999, trying to write music that I wanted to hear that wasn't really done by too many bands at the time. I kept on writing and recording demos etc. until 2005 when Nic, Ephraim and Suhail happened to be less busy and were around - we all said, let's make this music into a live band!

Sounds like it was meant to be... How would you describe The Lovesong sound?
I would say definitely guitar-driven indie rock - but that doesn't mean much right? I'd say a distinctive feature of the band would probably be the spoken/shouted vocals - a total influence from the sounds of late 80's to early 90's emo!

What would be the one message you'd like to get across through your music?
For myself, I would like the music to inspire people, to give hope to people, and something that would connect people together - at the end of the day, we are all going through similar issues and struggles in life, and hopefully what we have gone through and what we share from our personal lives can be something people (who either listen to our music or meet us) can relate or connect to. One important thing I feel is the need to be real and 100% honest with ourselves and other people, and that's sometimes the hardest thing to do.

Who/what are your inspirations?
Friends, family and loved ones, good music, good food and my personal spiritual faith.

What's the best thing for you about being in Thelovesong?
The ability to express music in a way I would like to express it.
 
What's the biggest challenge you face in your opinion? 
Finding time, patience and inspiration to continue creating music that is hopefully becoming more creative and honest to us as a band and the people who listen to us.

Tell us about your setup – what equipment are you guys using at the moment?
I use a fender hot-rodded telecaster, full drive 2, modified tubescreamer, a simple chorus and a delay pedal. Nothing fancy at all.

Doesn't need to be fancy as long as it works, right? So tell us about your recording process – is it easier having a producer in the band?
I worked full-time in a studio for a year or so and learned to record, mix, master etc. I think if anything it helps me to have a better idea of what levels work with each other and what sounds might clash e.g. for certain mixes, setups etc. As for recording, it helps because at least I would know if something can be done or mixed better. But I really just mix according to what my ears tell me. I know nothing about physics, electronics, phase cancelling etc. 
 
Your releases so far have been limited pressings – is that a conscious effort to keep your CD's collectable?
We've never thought of selling the CDs in the first place - originally I had them all for free download on the website, but due to demand for a 'real' CD, we decided to hand-make them every show. As much as we enjoyed making them, we simply did not have time to mass produce them and in the end decided that we didn't have enough time to make more - so for this year's SE tour, we decided to press them properly, but keeping a similar feel to the way our handmade ones were made. We just want to make the music available for those who are interested. Only downside about pressing them is that we need to sell them for a slightly higher price than we would have if we had handmade them. I have never been interested in making money from music.

It's certainly true that your CDs also sell for a very reasonable price.  What's your policy/ethos on pricing? 
I believe that music should be shared. If I could and money wasn't an issue, I'd hand out free CDs to anyone who was interested. We price to basically cover costs and hopefully the extra that we make from each CD can fund our practices / lovesong related activities etc. 
 
Having started life as a solo project, how collaborative has the band become and can you tell us more about your songwriting process?
Now that we are a band, we make decisions as a band. I tend to write the main structure of the songs, but we all reinterpret or write our unique parts and see how all that fits together as a band. Nic sings a lot more now as well.

Best show so far, and why:
There are so many, but I really enjoyed playing one at the UNDERGROUND. The atmosphere was great, sound was balanced and everyone just had a really good time.

Worst and why:
Played this show once in a townhall and it was quite embarrasing because I had nothing in my monitors and my vocals were not going out of the house for the WHOLE show. Every other band that played before us had decent sound, so I find it hard to accept why there was NO sound coming out of the monitors or house at all. But it was still enjoyable, somewhat.

How about the weirdest thing a fan has given you:
I think she was a specific fan for one member in the group, but she gave us lots of candy at one show.

Tell us more about this upcoming Asian tour. How did it come about and where will you be going?
Well, we are in Singapore right now as I am typing this. We will be playing at the BAYBEATS annual indie festival which amazingly is FREE and hosted by the Singaporean government in the main part of the Marina Bay (called Esplanade). Pretty amazing - HUGE stages, lots of international bands etc. Then there will be a few different shows in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. This whole tour was organised by Nic. 

What are you looking forward to the most on the tour?
Just meeting people, eating good food and being able to share stages with bands from these lovely places.

Why should people in these cities come out and see The lovesong?
Because we are nice people!

What are your thoughts on the music scene in Hong Kong at present?
I think it's definitely getting better and better. There are more bands, the level of muscianship is getting better, the tastes and styles are also becoming more diverse etc. 

Why do you think you guys have made such an impression in your home town?
I honestly don't think we have made any more of an impression than any other bands who truly believe in their music have. If anything, I think we really enjoy it when we play and we try to put 100% into our playing. Perhaps people are able to tell when a band really loves doing what they are doing?

What do you think is the best thing about HK?
The convenience and energy of the place.

And the worst:
The crowds and humidity.

Tell us why it's so important for you guys to break out of Hong Kong and into the rest of Asia?
I think it's just a natural thing to be able to share your music with as many people as possible when you have the privilege to do so, and it's an honour to be able to "represent" Hong Kong in whatever ways we can by playing in Asia. Also, Asia feels like our brothers and sisters, so it's like going out to see our extended family and sharing what we are doing. I think this is an important step for any band in Hong Kong to take when the time is right.

If you could collaborate with anyone in Asia, who would it be?
I think anyone who sees, approaches and thinks about music and life the same way we do. 

Tell us something not many people know about you:
I used to serve chicken and beef on Cathay Pacific airplanes in a purple uniform.
 
What's next on the agenda after the tour is over?
We have a show with a Beijing emo band sometime in September and a couple of other shows in Hong Kong - I think there is one called Yo Park or something.

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Check The Lovesong's full tour listings on their AMP page.

Responses[1]

Posted by AMP Ed on August 6, 2007 10:58:00 AM HKT #

love/comes/crashing   ( 8 months ago ) # the lovesong is truly a special band..i didnt catch them at the laundry KL, but i did attend their show in Baybeats 07..front row. i bought their cd's and asked them to sign it.truly humble and down to earth people..everyone should check them out!