ExMen: Evan, congrats on the launch of the album "Volume Presents: Club Anthems Asia"! This must have been a long labour of love involving many people. How did the concept for the album come about?DJ STONEDOG: There aren’t any Asia-based dance labels, that I’m aware of, that are putting out very ‘Westernized’ commercial club music. Volume being a gay venue, this compilation, and our label Volume Up Records, naturally grew to become a platform for upcoming LGBT and LGBT-friendly artists. I wanted to showcase what Asia can do- and to prove that we do have the talent, often unfairly overlooked, here within the LGBT community. On top of that, I wanted to include songs that told stories relevant to gay culture. “Rainbows” is about our pride flag, the Hollywood Road track is about coming out, there’s a song about gay open relationships, a very daring one about ‘fun’ at the sauna and of course “Love Wide Open” which is about our struggle for gay marriage rights.
VIDEO: “Love Wide Open”- DAVID BOSLEY
ExMen: What, in your opinion, is a "Club Anthem"? What makes it "Asian"?
STONEDOG: I’m pretty sure most of your blog readers are familiar with what a ‘cub anthem’ is, but in terms of ‘Asian’, for this project, all the tracks on the album originated from Asia. If not the singer on the song, it was either the remixer or the songwriter. Some of the tracks have lyrics that specifically reference Asia, especially the song “Delay No More”, which to Hong Kongers sounds like a very rude Cantonese slang term. Something not very flattering about your Mother (laughs).
VIDEO: “Delay No More”- GOLD MOUNTAIN
ExMen: How were the vocalists selected? Was there singing auditions involved, or was there some scientific attempt to match certain vocalists to certain songs?
STONEDOG: I initially started writing for artists who were friends of mine like Olynn Saleh and Andy Josh Lim from Singapore, HK Magazine’s Johannes Pong and Volume’s resident Drag Diva La Chiquitta. Melanie Alexander (of 90’s girlband ‘Girlfriend’ from Australia) is a long time friend of mine. Manila’s DJ Brian Cua (whom you recently interviewed) recruited Med Marfil the lead singer of the famous Pinoy band True Faith and later, Ricci Chan. David Bosley’s manager approached me to work with David after hearing Chiquitta perform her song “Tranny in the House” during the 2009 Mr Gay HK finale. I found other talent by scouting HK’s nightclub and hotel circuits. I also put casting notices out via Facebook and found Helena Angwin and Kitty Fung who then auditioned for me. Tonally, Helena fit the song we had already wrote, whereas Kitty’s good girl/bad girl song was written specifically for her and was inspired by her uber kawaii girl next door looks which belie her ballsy, sassy sense of humour.
VIDEO: “Bad For You”- KITTY FUNG
ExMen: You have vocalists from Hong Kong, Philippines and Singapore. How challenging was the production and recording process?
STONEDOG: And not just that, there’s remix teams also representing Manila (Brian Cua, as mentioned before), Japan (willie2400), Malaysia (Princess Ann) and mainland China (DJ Chozie Ma). There was some jet setting required on my part but with technology these days I can have a singer in a studio in another city (as was the case with the Mel Alexander track) and simply phone in and have my call patched through to the singer’s headphones so I can direct the session. The whole album was 2 years in the making. I calculated I lost one night’s sleep a week for the final 6 months of production in order to deliver the album on time for Volume’s 4th anniversary. I was determined!
VIDEO: “Let’s Take It Higher”- RICCI CHAN
ExMen: How did you manage to bring together so many remixers, many of whom have cult followings, into this album?
STONEDOG: Not as difficult as you might imagine when we had a few really strong tracks like “No I Won’t”, “Love Wide Open” and “Rainbows” already completed to lure the bigger talent in with our limited budget. Matt Pop has a massive following on Youtube (I was a huge fan) and he had heard “Rainbows”, loved it and so happily came on board to work on the Kitty Fung song. As we completed more tracks, it became very apparent to the more established people like Bassmonkeys, Oren Nizri and Pete Hammond that we were on to something really special and they wanted to be a part of it. Especially for a project so ground-breaking in this region.
ExMen: Speaking of the amazing Pete ‘Mixmaster’ Hammond, you collaborated for the song "Change Your Life" by Hollywood Road. How was the experience like?
STONEDOG: I am one of the geekiest Stock/Aitken/Waterman super fans out there and to work with one of my teenboy idols from the PWL Hit Factory was an experience I will treasure forever. Pete is super affable and has been making quite a comeback of late especially with remixes for artists like Alphabeat and Mini Viva. He is able to re-imagine familiar loops and samples from his PWL days and thread them into these new songs. Pete and I discussed in length what classic PWL track would have the right elements to build in to the Hollywood Road song and we eventually settled on Kylie’s “What Do I Have To Do” not just because of the workable tempo and key. We liked the subtle subtext that blending these two songs created. Because “Change Your Life” is a song to help LGBT people find ways to come out of the closet, by including the other song’s connotations in it, we ended up layering in a whole new dimension, which as a songwriter and producer, I find very artistically satisfying.
VIDEO: “Change Your Life”- HOLLYWOOD ROAD
ExMen: Some of the tracks such as "The Snake and the Spider" talks candidly about relationship pitfalls, while "Rising 2 Fame" contains many catty references. Compared to the usual uplifting club anthems, are you also trying to provoke some kind of reaction with these tracks?
STONEDOG: As much as I do love a mindless, throw your hands up in the air sing-along song, as a songwriter I find it liberating to also be able to tell stories never heard in songs before, like the gay open relationship storyline in “The Snake and the Spider”. That song was based on listening and observing certain friends of mine who’d think nothing unethical about having on the side flings from their partners, yet also lamenting about the inevitable power struggle that often underlies many gay relationships. In the gay world, we have our own rules and codes of behaviour, both sexually and socially, so for me it’s a fascinating world to explore both lyrically and emotionally.
VIDEO: “The Snake and the Spider”- ANDY JOSH LIM
ExMen: Where will the album be released?
STONEDOG: So far it’s out in HMV & Volume in Hong Kong, and by the time this interview is published on your blog, it will be in all the leading record stores in Singapore. Hopefully soon other regions in Asia like Taiwan, Thailand & Malaysia it will find outlets too. It is envisioned to be available to the major markets outside Asia at various stages throughout this year, whether on physical CD or digital release. To everyone outside Asia who is interested, if you can’t wait, email us at info@volume.com.hk with the subject heading ‘Club Anthems Asia’ and one of our label staffers can assist you with an advance order.
ExMen: How has the initial reaction to the album been so far?STONEDOG: We are such a new, grassroots little indie label but we’ve been met with such positive buzz. I’m so extremely grateful. We’re getting some radio airplay here in HK and a lot of positive praise from DJs and punters who’ve already got the album. Time Out Magazine Hong Kong put it in their “Best of 2010” awards. I’m hoping everyone who reads this will find a way to grab a copy to see what all the fuss is about.
ExMen: Will we expect a sequel? If so, can you shed some light on it?
STONEDOG: That depends on you guys. Get out there and support the first one to ensure there can be another one. Such is the nature of start up labels. We do have more songs waiting to either begin or be completed like the 2nd La Chiquitta song we recorded and an original track with Singapore’s DJ Big Kid that didn’t quite get finished in time. There is always hope our community feels compelled enough to act on it to help keep our voice heard and continue to give local LGBT artists a fighting chance to raise their profiles. It’s really up to the public to decide our fate. I’d hate for it to end before it really had a chance to grow and perhaps become a key that can help unlock a better future for gays in Asia.
