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Hot Seat: at17
Posted: 2 Feb 2010
The darling duo who changed the face of Cantopop tell Edmund Lee that they still don’t know how they ended up together.
Two girls, two guitars, endless banter… Ellen Joyce Loo and Eman Lam are a Hong Kong singing-songwriting duo. In fact, we’re tempted to say that they’re the Hong Kong singing-songwriting duo. Formed at the (average) age of 17 in 2001 and named after a song by American folkster Janis Ian – by the suggestion of Chet Lam (Eman’s brother) and “by the voting result” of mentor Anthony Wong Yiu-ming – at17 has since breathed life into Hong Kong’s increasingly lacklustre music industry, almost singlehandedly ushering in a new era for Cantopop that places as much emphasis on music talent as commercial packaging. Ahead of the third edition of their annual series of mini live shows, ‘Just the two of us’, we met up with the pair to find out how it all began.
In a few years, the two of you have gone from playing shopping malls and small campus gigs to putting up huge concerts at AsiaWorld-Expo and Queen Elizabeth Stadium. Do you miss the days when no one knew who you were?
Ellen: We don’t have the experience of not being able to do something just because we’re celebrities. We still go to dai pai dong and travel by MTR.
Eman: ‘Celebrity syndrome’.
Ellen: I had celebrity syndrome for a little while – feeling that everybody on the streets recognized me. But people have been really sweet to us.
Eman: There aren’t any real stars nowadays, anyway.
Ellen: Even if Andy Lau goes shopping in Taikoo Shing, there won’t be a big riot.
Eman: It’s still possible for Andy Lau.
Ellen: But not a riot per se, right? Unless all his fans gather…
Eman: It’s more likely that people just won’t believe their eyes.
Ellen: As [Cantopop star] Miriam Yeung said, she still goes shopping like the ordinary people. If you walk fast enough, people won’t believe that it’s you. [Laughs]
What was your first ever meeting like?
Ellen: We met at an unplugged music competition in 2000. I was playing a duet with my brother.
Eman: I was performing with seven people. I was only responsible for the percussion, and two lines of supporting vocal.
What made you think that you could work together back then?
[Both take a long pause.]
Ellen: [Gets excited] I’ve never thought about that!
Eman: [To Ellen] Right, why did you think that you could collaborate with me?
Ellen: I’ve never thought about that! It’s the first time I’ve been asked, “why do you think that Eman would be a suitable person to work with?”
Eman: Obviously, you’ve never given it any thought.
I’m asking this because, from what you just said, you two didn’t particularly appear to be a good fit.
Ellen: We weren’t a good fit.
Eman: It’s just that when you’ve already got one leg in the water, there’s no way to pull it out again.
Ellen: It’s so interesting… [Gets excited again] Right! Right! We’ve never…
Eman: [Interrupts] So you never considered that I’ve tricked you [into it]?
Ellen: [Pauses] Well. Let’s put it this way. [Both Laugh] After we first met and exchanged our numbers, we became friends who ate, chatted, and went to movies together – but we weren’t playing any music. Later on, I learned that [Eman] and her brother Chet Lam had been performing in shopping malls; and they also thought, “Hey, Ah Mui [their nickname for Ellen, meaning little sister] can play guitar for us too!” So we ended up playing at [Tuen Mun’s] Gold Coast every other Saturday.
Eman: And we finally played [Causeway Bay’s] Times Square.
Ellen: After that, Eman recorded a demo for a friend; Ming Gor (Anthony Wong) listened to it and invited her for an audition. As I’d been playing with her all the time, Eman asked me to come along. It was all extremely innocent. We went to a tiny bandroom in Mong Kok, to play a few songs in front of the members of [production company] People Mountain People Sea. But actually, I had no idea who any of them were. I didn’t even know who Anthony Wong was.
Eman: I knew slightly more than you. Only slightly.
Ellen: Towards the end, Ming Gor asked if we wanted to release an album. We said yes, although we’ve never thought about whether we were going to be part of the [Cantopop] scene. It was Ming Gor’s idea for us to play as a duo – even though we’re a duo in real life in non-music matters. [To Eman] But I’ve never thought about whether you’re suitable for me.
Eman: It’s very strange. Very strange. We were two unpolished people who, after rubbing off each other, become two very refined people. [Ellen giggles] It’s not only about music. You can see that especially in this show, because it’s, literally, just the two of us. Everything you see on the stage, apart from the lighting…
Ellen: …and fm…
Eman: is [designed] by us.
From there, you got popular in a really short time.
Ellen: Uh, yes, you could say so.
I remember the first time I watched you play, it was at a university campus gig back in 2002. While the other indie bands seemed to find their 25-minute sets too short, you played two songs and you were gone. So, thinking back, I gathered you must already have been pretty big at the time.
Eman: [Laughs] I like the way you looked at it.
Ellen: You may also see it as that we… [to Eman] can I say it?
Eman: Yes, you can. Say what?
Ellen: From the very beginning, we’d been feeling slightly self-abased whenever we played in a band show. Because we didn’t start out playing music. We never sent any demos to the record companies, writing 100 songs just to hope that someone would appreciate us. We were not very ‘band spirit’. So when we played those gigs, we were only thinking, “let’s sing our parts well… and let’s go.”
Eman: [Laughs] We’re like the ‘arrogant’ people who’re actually just too shy.
Ellen: It’s only when we played with a whole band in a Taiwan gig that we began to appreciate the unique aspects of our performance.
Eman: And what are they?
Ellen: We’re two independent girls, who play guitars and are brave enough to cover Radiohead [songs] and… there’s some special charisma to our live performance. We didn’t yet learn about this at the time of those early band shows.
Eman: After we grew up, we realised we should be proud of ourselves. We did something representative: we’re two local girls who don’t need to adopt Barbie doll images [to make it]. In Hong Kong…
Ellen: … Ninety per cent [of pop singers] are in that category.
Eman: They think that they must be of that category just to get a chance. We’re happy that we belong to the 1 per cent, or 10 per cent.
It’s telling from your image that you’re musicians first and foremost, and…
Ellen: …not pretty girls.
I don’t mean that.
Ellen: Oh, there’s no negative connotation in that.
Eman: It’s just that people found out we are musicians before discovering that we are also pretty girls.
[Both laugh.]
Ellen: It’s a double reward there!
‘at17: Just the two of us... until we meet again live’ is at Arts Centre’s Shouson Theatre until Friday 5. Tickets: 2734 9009; www.urbtix.hk.
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