THREE bands had played, the rain began, and last Sunday's preliminary round of the 9th Carlsberg Pop Music Festival came to an untimely end.
But fear not, the festival will return to Kowloon Park on August 15 for another try at sorting out the wonderful, the not-so-wonderful and the wonderfully wacky among 39 amateur bands.
Produced by Tom Lee Music and sponsored by Carlsberg, the festival culminates in a September 4 battle of 12 bands.
As usual, this year's festival offers a healthy share of hard rock, a favourite style with young musicians in Hongkong. In fact, all three of the pre-deluge participants on Sunday - Septuple, Private Pills and Evolution - fell into this category.
Exactly what we can expect from some of the other bands, notably Jackal's Dream, Black Box & The Dog, and Rotten, remains to be heard.
Don't miss them, though, because these less-than-poppy bands tend to be weeded out in the preliminary round. IT SHOULD be sm oother sailing from now on for Mothership. At a meeting on Tuesday night, the 10 members of Hongkong's hottest club band chose David McDowell to be their manager - a decision long overdue.
With a single person at the helm of the Mothership's business dealings, the group should be able to focus more on what they do best: play good music.