Anthony Wong Chau-sang believes music is an art which cannot be taken too seriously if one wants creativity to flow. 'Music is something you have to learn to play with,' he said. 'If you take it too seriously you cannot come up with good compositions. 'I believe that a good songwriter should know how to make use of his experience and let his creativity flow freely.' Unlike some local actors who make 'cameo appearances' singing after having some success in movies, and who then fade into oblivion, Wong is one of the few who has managed to keep the albums coming. 'Somehow I feel like I am quite dumb because I just do whatever I want to do, I do not really care about other people's impressions. 'I also believe I can voice the feelings of lower-class people, because basically that's where I come from. 'Through my songs I want to express my feeling and anger towards some social phenomenon and hope to draw the public's attention to it,' he said. Since he released his debut album in 1995, Wong has built up a hard-core alternative rocker's image. But the actor-turned-singer seems dissatisfied with his public persona. 'In my new album there is a ballad called Sweetness Of Autumn, which is my favourite song. 'But I know that some people would find it a bit awkward because the song is performed by a guy like me. 'I believe that if the song is performed by other idol singers such as Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, the response would be very different,' he said. 'It is weird that the audience like to categorise singers. 'It is just that some people like to make a god to worship and an evil to fear. 'I think it is very silly.' Wong said he was not against the domination of Canto-pop in the local music market, but he hopes there will be more room for other kinds of music to survive. 'I listen to Canto-pop music as well and some are quite good. 'On the other hand, as the market is dominated by Canto-pop and the audience has no chance to be exposed to other genres, then the local music market stagnates,' he said. Wong said he was happy with his performance on his second album Underdog Rock, especially with the songs he wrote himself. 'Unlike my previous album, this time I only wrote several songs of my own. ' But I like them a lot because I had very strong feelings when I wrote the songs,' he said. Bands such as Anodize and Blackbird also contributed some of the numbers to the new album. Wong said he was happy to give the groups complete freedom of expression. 'When we decided to invite them to write the songs for me, we had strong faith in them, so I did not think that we needed any discussion beforehand.' Wong believes there are two kinds of people who will appreciate his music. 'One is middle-class professionals,' he said. 'They are more educated and can understand the meaning of the lyrics. 'When they listen to my songs, they may think about the meaning and it may lead to a kind of self-realisation,' he said. 'Another kind of audience are those who come from the lower working-class level. 'Basically they may not pay attention to the lyrics and may not understand the meaning, but they can feel the same passion through the music and my vocal performance.' Deeply influenced by The Doors, Tom Waits, Kiss and Canto-pop singer Sam Hui Koon-kit, Wong said he enjoyed live performance much more than working in the studio - just like his idols. 'When you are performing on stage, you can feel the direct response from the audience and their passion always makes you feel great. 'You cannot enjoy [this] in the same way in studio work,' he said. Meanwhile, Wong said he had no plans to make another album and would leave his manager to fix his schedule. However, he does plan to continue writing songs. 'No matter when - if there is something that inspires me, then I will come up with some good songs,' he said. 'But I would not force myself to write something just to meet a fixed schedule.' The entertainment pages are edited by Winnie Chung. Tel: 2565 2216; Fax: 2562 2485.
