The first time I heard Tat Ming Pair was on a family visit to Hong Kong one summer in the late 1980s. One of my cousins had a stack of Cantonese rock and pop albums that included the likes of Raidas and Tai Chi. But nothing sounded quite like Tat Ming Pair.
At the time, my parents were listening to Sam Hui and Alan Tam - perhaps Tat Ming Pair's contemporary guitar licks and electronic flourishes were too avant-garde for their tastes. But the synth-pop duo's material has aged well, and even today the band's 1987 hit, Road Angel, manages to sound contemporary and fresh, with Anthony Wong Yiu-ming's vocals soaring majestically over Tats Lau Yee-tat's distinctive guitar riffs. Later this month, the pair will reconvene for the first time since 2004.
'Most of our songs were written during the '80s. There was one album in the '90s and one in 2004, but most of our albums were recorded in the '80s. The strange thing is, the songs - when we're singing and listening to them now - have a new resonance,' Wong says while sitting in the offices of his music label and studio People Mountain People Sea. Even though he's dressed casually and is down to earth, Wong has a definite rock-star quality and charisma to burn.
'The songs still connect to the era and society of today. Is it because the songs are really well written?' He laughs. 'Or is it because society hasn't changed and things continue to repeat, so that the songs fit in with the current era?'
Tat Ming Pair's most distinctive songs - such as first hit, Romance of the Stone - combine Chinese instrumentation with synthesisers and guitars. A prime example is Tonight the Stars are Bright, which begins with a few notes that wouldn't sound out of place in a Cantonese opera, but quickly transforms into an electronic melody with a rock edge. A minute and a half into the song, just before the chorus hits, the listener hears the guitars for the first time.
Their sound remains the same, but a lot has changed since Tat Ming Pair disbanded in 1990, although there have been rare reunions for special occasions, such as the gig in 2004.
'At the time we split, we were at our peak,' Wong says. 'We didn't feel we'd be able to top what we'd done, either on the creative side or the business side. We had also held our first big stadium concert. We felt there was nothing more we could do, and decided to spend time apart and explore other avenues of making music.'