Band: Dear Jane Hometown: Hong Kong Albums: 100 (2006), XOXO (2009), Gamma (2011) Members: Tim Wong (vocals), Howie Yung (guitar), Jackal Ng Hon-bong (bass), Nice Lai Chun-wa (drums)
The rock band Dear Jane was formed in 2003. The foursome have become quite popular locally. Young Post caught up with the boys before their concert earlier this week.
Tim: We chose the name Dear Jane because ... it's a girl's name that we like, like plain Jane. The dear comes from like a 'Dear John' letter.
Howie: I like to play ... both guitar and bass. When you're a bass player, it's easy to get into gigs. Everyone is a guitar hero and people just avoid the bass like the plague. But if you know how to play the bass, it's really easy for you to join a pickup band [at the] last minute.
Tim: Being able to play a hundred shows as we have means ... there are a lot more ways for local bands to play in public. Before people used to complain about how hard it was to form a band in Hong Kong or that there was no place for bands to play. When we started out, a lot of underground bands were coming together. There were more shows to see and we got more opportunities to play our music.
Howie: Our most satisfying show was ... the one we did last year for the release of Gamma. If someone told me that a local band could play a full-length show by themselves, I wouldn't have believed it. Before it was rare to hear that a band had the draw to be able to book a venue for a show just for them. It was always one show with five bands, or seven.