Endy Chow Kwok-yin Never Thought He'd Sing Solo
The singer-songwriter made his name as a Cantopop singer in the mid-2000s, but put it aside in 2006 to return to indie-rock band Zarahn.
I was born in Hong Kong in 1979. My childhood was like growing up in a greenhouse. I wasn’t allowed to go out alone. I didn’t have much human interaction. Later came the emigration waves from Hong Kong [in the 1990s]. We moved to New Zealand. I couldn’t understand the idea of emigration. I thought they just wanted to make me leave my friends.
My first rock heroes were Beyond. They were so cool. There was no internet back then. I could only record them on TV. I looped them endlessly. I would use a badminton racket as a microphone to pretend I was on [TV show] “Jade Solid Gold.” I never imagined I’d be on it for real. When I was 13 I started getting rebellious. I wanted to do something adventurous.
In the age of Beyond, people would connect rock bands with sex, drugs and triads with dyed blond hair. My parents were strict and never let me out. But they finally gave in and bought me a guitar. They even bought me a Beyond box set.
Zarahn was formed in 1995. We were only 14 or 15. We played in my bedroom every day after school.I bought a four-track cassette recorder and started to write songs. We put our songs onto a 90-minute cassette tape and we managed to sell all 50 copies. We used the money to go for Korean BBQ. My childhood was the period of transition from analog to digital. Young people today might not even know what a cassette tape is.
I believe in technology. But it’s running so fast that people’s hearts are degenerating. When I started out as a singer 10 years ago, people on the bus and trains would recognize me. But now people only look at their phones, without noticing anyone around them. People say technology is all about humans. But I think people are manipulated by technology.