Pump up the volume
Hip, hip, hooray, the gays are coming out to play. Sort of. Sarah Simpson celebrates a new record label while mourning the loss of a party extraordinaire
Evan Steer and his Volume crew are about to overcome the disappointment of the cancelled Pride Parade and revive the party spirit. Over the past year Steer and friends have been plugging away in the studio, carefully putting together a special treat for the LGBT community. As an extension of one of Hong Kong’s hottest gay night spots, Volume, Steer is not only launching the first ever gay Asian record label, but has also been orchestrating a fabulous promotional bash the likes of which Asia has never seen.
Anthems Asia Live was an event earmarked for November 20 and was set to take place at AsiaWorld-Expo. Excitement for all those involved in the label’s debut album had been mounting for months as plans were made to produce the most extravagant dance event to come to Asia, complete with a revolving stage, evolving set designs, and numerous special effects in front of an estimated 3,000-capacity crowd. Unfortunately plans have stalled and the launch party has had to be downsized to a cosier event at Volume. Although the cancellation of the original event appears to be due to financial restraints rather than discriminatory factors, it remains another disappointing setback for the LGBT community. However, the show must go on.
As Steer explains, the aptly named Volume Up label will give the LGBT community a long awaited voice in the music industry. Volume Up’s debut album, Anthems Asia, will be a compilation double CD focusing on the club vibe that its sister nightclub affords, featuring local and international gay and gay-friendly artists. “I don’t want Hong Kong to be all about Cantopop. Sure its there but there’s more we can do here. It’s more than just the rock pub scene down at The Wanch. We can make really big electronic music that’s commercial and sounds world class.”
Featured international acts include the UK’s chart topping Bass Monkeys, Miami DJ Oren Niziri, and songwriter and producer Pete Hammond of 1980s pop fame. Among the Asian artists are Singapore’s eye candy Andy Josh Lim, out and proud girl group Hollywood Road, and up-and-coming Hong Kong rapper Gold Mountain, who will be contributing a cheeky song entitled Delay No More, a phrase many Hongkongers may be familiar with. Steer sees Gold Mountain as an invaluable link between the different music worlds: “He’s obviously not gay, he’s a rapper, he hangs out in that community and he’s all for it. He’s like, you know what it doesn’t matter, music is music and he loved the song.”
Of the album, Steer explains, “There’s some definite themes on certain tracks. There’s the Hollywood Road song for example which is about coming out. Love Wide Open is about gay marriage, Rainbow is about the pride flag of course, and there’s the cruising sauna song. But there’s a lot of tracks on there that are just about going dancing and clubbing.”
Andy Josh Lim sums up what it means for all of the artists to be on the first gay album on the first gay label in Asia: “To be a part of this, and be given such a unique platform to help showcase what the LGBT community can do gives me immense joy. After this album drops, people outside of Asia will sit up and finally notice that we make world class, commercially viable dance music too.”
Ulimately, Volume Up aims not only produce a level of house music that will work towards launching Hong Kong onto the global music map but ultimately it’s about handing the spotlight over to a community in need of maximum support and respect. As Steer concludes, “I think first and foremost it’s to get our voice heard and to record our story for posterity. This is how the gay community thought and felt in that particular era. It’s all history in the making, it’s an archive of our community of where we were in 2010 and where we’re going. It’s important that our stories can be shared and understood.”
Anthems Asia Live takes place at volume on Saturday 20.
Photo by: Calvin Sit
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