MOST MUSICIANS WOULD get a buzz from their debut album, let alone a 16-year-old. But Chris Edwards, a member of the group Amplified, whose Turn It Up! was released in Japan last week, says the band have been so busy doing promotion work that he 'almost forgot' the day their CD went on sale.
Amplified - which comprises Edwards, Terrence Ma King-hang (bass guitar) and Neo Kai Yuan (drums), all 16 - has had a fairy-tale launch into the music business. The three not only fended off thousands of rivals to sign with a record label, but their first single, Mr Raindrop, hit No1 on the Oricon International Singles chart last month and became the closing theme of the animated TV show Gintama.
Back after a tour of Japan, where they did 30 interviews and performed in Tokyo and Fukuoka, the trio are starting to run out of steam. 'We spent one month in Japan and that's kind of enough for the summer,' says Ma. '[Promotion work] is too tedious. Mr Raindrop used to be our favourite song, but now we feel it's already overplayed.'
Childhood friends, the three formed the band while studying at the Chinese International School. Edwards had started playing guitar when his family moved to the Dominican Republic for a year, and began to write music to pass the time.
'There wasn't much I could do, as it was too dangerous go outside,' he says. 'I was really bored and started learning some classical guitar songs.'
Meanwhile, Ma and Neo had begun jamming with a couple of schoolmates. When Edwards returned to Hong Kong, the three friends began playing together and writing their own songs. Although they recorded a self-produced album, they hadn't thought of hooking up with record labels - until Neo's sister spotted a call for talent by Sony Japan on a J-pop forum. Amplified sent in a demo tape, eventually beating about 1,700 other acts to win a record deal with Sony's DefStar Records. They were the only band chosen to perform at an audition, the company says.