Few people have been toiling away in our underground music scene like Riz Farooqi. As the man behind fanzine-turned-gig-promoter-and-label Start from Scratch Records, Farooqi has been spreading the hardcore word since the final days of last millennium. But it’s as frontman of one of the city’s foremost hardcore bands, King Ly Chee, that he’s had his greatest influence. And this year marks the band’s tenth anniversary.
Through constant line-up changes, the success of their Paul Wong-produced second LP Stand Strong, the disappointment of never landing a major record deal, and a changing sound that threatened the very essence of the band (“We went through a real metal phase, and I think we were losing the root of the band,” says Farooqi), the band have remained key to our hardcore scene. “We were looking back and started thinking it was a huge mark. Not many bands in Hong Kong stick around for ten years, especially not ones that have gone through so much shit, like us,” he says.

The anniversary has plunged a new energy into this screaming, political five-piece. The new Macanese-heavy King Ly Chee (40 per cent of the band resides in our sister SAR) is about to embark on one of their most ambitious tours yet – a 12-gig whirlwind into the Mainland’s exploding hardcore scene. Accompanying the band on what is being billed as King Ly Chee’s CHNC – 10 Year Anniversary Tour will be a special compilation release, bringing together select tracks from each of their three previous releases, as well as three newbies from an upcoming album. That’s right, they’ve got a new album due in the New Year, one that Farooqi promises will go back to King Ly Chee’s core – “Direct, simple music [that’s] in your face”. Now that’s hardcore.

Mark Tjhung

King Ly Chee play Underground Heavy 1 on December 19 at Rockschool.