Upclose with Dr. Eggs
Originally from France, Dr. Eggs is an indie band “concept” based in Hong Kong. The band’s mastermind Joul tells Winnie Chau about his contempt for ambient Hong Kong sounds.
HK Magazine: You keep saying that Dr. Eggs is a “concept.” What do you mean?
Joul: It’s a concept because I’m the lead singer and I compose everything with my computer. I then go to the studio and play with different musicians. I don’t stay with the same band members. I go everywhere.
HK: What is that you are holding? Earplugs?
J: They’re not just for practice—I also use them when walking around. You walk towards the bus stop and the bus squeaks and the Octopus goes beep! It’s bad for the ears. If there is one thing I hate about Hong Kong, it’s the noise for sure. I am very serious about this. I’m planning to make a documentary about it.
HK: OK, now tell us about the noise—uh, music—that you make.
J: I can’t just play one kind of music—that’s boring. My music is a fusion of all the styles I like. It’s like a cocktail, a little bit of ska, a little bit of ragga, a little bit of rock and electric music, then you shake everything up and hopefully it comes out tasting good.
HK: Dr. Eggs have played around 60 gigs in the prisons around France. What’s the story?
J: People laughed at us and the guards weren’t particularly nice. I always carried an alarm in my hand. But we just didn’t think about what crimes they had committed. Everyone makes mistakes. So we played with our maximum energy, jumping and dancing. They became really crazy. Actually, most of our craziest gigs happened in the prisons because what usually they just get boring guitar solos.