Going against the grain
GIRL POWER IS BACK. Hong Kong's copycat band the Rice Girls stopped riding the coat-tails of Posh, Scary, Baby, Sporty and Ginger two years ago. But by dropping the Girls tag and becoming simply Rice, the five have made a comeback, determined to find an identity of their own.
The formula remains the same - upbeat pop songs, wild outfits and snappy dance routines - but this time they've written some original material and are determined to be taken more seriously. 'We want to become Hong Kong's own all-girl band,' says the group's leader, Rachael Blackmore, after a four-song showcase at the Fringe Club last week which showed they still have a loyal fan base. The singers are running around, excitedly signing autographs.
Those who scoff at their ambition would do well to remember the success the Rice Girls enjoyed in the late 1990s, having carved a niche role. They played on bills with Canto-stars such as Aaron Kwok, performed before Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and, in true celebrity fashion, opened countless shopping malls. 'We had a lot of fun,' recalls Blackmore. But she and the others decided they had exhausted the potential of being an Eastern Spice Girls after playing the Millennium Carnival in Victoria Park - a wise move since the originals were already running out of steam. The band members, who are all in their early 30s, invented new names for themselves 'based on their own personalities', says Blackmore. The new-look Rice now features Blackmore as Golden Disco Diva, Joanne Jackson as Sassy Sugar Babe, Lea Ratcliffe as Sexy Tai Tai Lady, Debs Cockayne as Cool Karaoke Queen and Angela Manandhar as Exotic Karate Fighter. Ratcliffe (formerly Posh) is a singer and dancer, Manandhar is a paralegal and karate fighter who won a silver medal representing Hong Kong at the Asia-Pacific Games. The other three all work as impersonators and in children's entertainment.
Blackmore says the Rice Girls had attempted to release a single but discovered copyright laws prevented it, so the decision to change was forced on them. 'It took us a lot longer than we thought it would,' she admits. They have written two songs in the past year and have just pressed the tracks on to CD along with a remix.
The Rice Girl roots are evident in the songs. The Rice Rap is an unashamedly commercial song with which they hope to interest the Tourism Board ('Take a ferry, it's merry to bump across the sea/Take a tram to The Peak sometime in the week').
'It's a real Hong Kong song,' says Blackmore. 'We realised everyone here was playing songs like La Bamba all the time, but they were not really Hong Kong songs. We want this to be the Hong Kong anthem. We all came to Hong Kong and stayed because we love it here and the rap is about that. We have done a party dance to it so this could be a massive global party song like YMCA.
'Hong Kong does not have much to export in terms of entertainment. It really needs something. We are five girls who can sing and dance, so let's see what happens.'
Grand ambitions, but the girls have never been short of confidence. 'I have written to all the record companies. We are planning to get a record deal,' says Blackmore. Rice's second number, Smile, is a better pop song and gets the best reaction from the crowd at Wednesday's gig, which also features a couple of disco covers including Abba's Mamma Mia.
The short concert proves they still know how to put on a show and Rice intend to tour Asia once they have re-established themselves on their home patch. Blackmore says the band's local success in the past has given them self-belief and is spurring them on to fresh challenges. 'We want to do it all again at a higher level and internationally this time.'
Rice play their next gig at 5pm on April 13 outside the World Trade Centre, Causeway Bay.
