{"id":151846,"date":"2018-04-04T12:39:37","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T04:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/?p=151846"},"modified":"2018-04-10T17:32:29","modified_gmt":"2018-04-10T09:32:29","slug":"life-was-all-silence-post-rock-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/life-was-all-silence-post-rock-band\/","title":{"rendered":"Delirious yet tranquil: An interview with Hong Kong post-rock band Life Was All Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are always a number of underground gigs happening in Hong Kong, from Brooklyn daydreamers <\/span>Beach Fossils<\/span><\/a> to local shoegazers <\/span>Thud<\/span><\/a>, while local music festival <\/span>The Week Hong Kong<\/span><\/a> will return for its second edition from 15 April to 21 April at seven locations across Hong Kong. One of the most-anticipated post-rock headliners \u2013 Life Was All Silence \u2013 is known for their unhinged, complex and at times wonderfully serene tunes. We interviewed Leaf (bass), Frank (keyboard), Travis (drum) and Jay (guitar) from the band ahead of their performance on 19 April at Dummers’ Ark to see what they have been exploring, both spiritually and musically, since releasing their acclaimed debut album The People in late 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

An interview with Hong Kong post-rock band Life Was All Silence<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"Life
Music is a form of self-expression to Life Was All Silence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hi, guys. Thanks for chatting with us. Firstly, where did the name Life Was All Silence come from?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Leaf: At first it was only Travis and I, and we were figuring out how to name the band. I was reading a manifesto by Luigi Russolo called The Art of Noises at the time, and I got really intrigued by the first line: \u201cAncient life was all silence\u201d. The article is basically about noise machines and how life was undisturbed and quiet in the past. I found this picture and the whole idea really appealing, that\u2019s why we adopted it. We left out \u201cancient\u201d because it would probably be too lengthy for a band\u2019s name. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been four years since your debut album The People, how is life? What have you guys been doing or experimenting with the past few years? <\/b><\/h3>\n

Travis: I think we\u2019ve all become more mature in the past few years. While teaching drum lessons full-time, I\u2019ve also looked more into spirituality and meditation. Frank has become a father, Leaf got into pottery making and Jay does a lot of mixing and mastering for a number of bands, such as GDJYB, Emptybottles. and David Boring. The four of us, we don\u2019t really have a target saying when to release new stuff as we are quite a spontaneous bunch. Even though we\u2019ve not been spending a massive amount of time on purely music making since our debut and a lot of touring, we\u2019ve invested more time and energy in other parts of our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Life
Leaf works in information technology in banking, Jay is a sound engineer, Frank works in digital product design and Travis is a full-time drum teacher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So two of you guys now have just built a family, Frank has a child and Travis\u2019 wife is expecting, how is everything going with that? <\/b><\/h3>\n

T: Frank, if you have any complaints about your wife and family, this is your chance (<\/span>laughs<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Frank: Everything is fine (<\/span>laughs<\/span><\/i>). Time management is really important when it comes to taking care of a baby. Even though I\u2019m the youngest person here, it\u2019s funny how I have a family now. One time I tried to write a song about my son, but it didn\u2019t come through.<\/span><\/p>\n

L: It\u2019s because we can\u2019t make happy music. We\u2019ve tried plenty of times. Every one of us would insist that we could make it this time, and then we always failed. <\/span><\/p>\n

T: I think I\u2019ve grown a lot spiritually (but not religiously-speaking), that\u2019s why I\u2019ve decided to have a child. I\u2019m not as cynical and stubborn when it comes to outrage and despair towards the society as I used to be. I feel like there is still hope in terms of education. And I\u2019ve become calmer and stronger mentally because of meditation. I mean, I still curse a lot and drink a lot, but you don’t have to be a saint to do meditation. It does allow me to perceive things differently, and I become more aware of the possibilities in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Life
Life Was All Silence get together every week at their band room to play music<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your recent performance at <\/b>F\u00f6llakzoid<\/b><\/a>\u2019s gig definitely shows a change in musical style. It seems calmer and more atmospheric whereas it used to be more explosive. What has changed exactly?<\/b><\/h3>\n

T: You could hear an obvious difference in our latest music because the new material is indeed a reflection of our matured selves. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jay: I don\u2019t think we deliberately try to tone it down. One of our new songs is called Lie Is An Abstraction, that one is quite fierce. I think when it comes to defining the term \u201cexplosive\u201d, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that we have to be loud or we have to exude a type of rage. It is probably still confrontational, just in a less in-your-face kind of way. <\/span><\/p>\n

T: There are many facets when it comes to human emotions and it\u2019s hard to convey that using just one type of sound. Music is just as multi-dimensional as human beings. That\u2019s why I think music really opens to variation across genres, there are no rules. <\/span><\/p>\n

You guys have explained that there is storytelling in most of Life Was All Silence\u2019s music because it\u2019s always an interesting form of self-expression. Can you share with us some of the stories then?<\/b><\/h3>\n

L: I definitely need a good story backbone to figure out how to play the music well. One of our new songs, Be Given, is about a person from an undeveloped land having an exchange with an extraterrestrial, and how this unknown being sheds light on the human about past and future and all the mysteries in the world. There is a progression in the three movements of the song, documenting how their lives cross path and the way it has affected their thinking. And our old song Damascus is about warfare, nuclear weapon and the killing of innocent people. There are certainly quite a bit of repressed anger and disappointment in it.<\/span><\/p>\n