A party all their own: Nan Yang Pai Dui, or NYPD, Hong Kong’s post-punk indie band with a distinctively local sound

“There were some spots where our common friends hung out, some indie clubs that gathered us together. Slowly, it developed into what we are now,” Chau shared.

Founded in 2018, the band debuted with their self-titled LP in 2020. Next month, they will perform on the Saturday line-up for Hong Kong’s Clockenflap music festival, being held for the first time in four years.

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But the members didn’t seem too fazed by the anticipation – after all, they performed at the festival in 2018. They just want the audience to have fun.

“It does not feel different this time. We’re happy as long as we get to play,” chuckled the lead singer, Jon, who asked that he be referred to only by this name.

“I just hope everyone treats it as a party,” Chau said, referencing the band’s name, which – despite its unintentional allusion to the New York Police Department – translates to “party of Southeast Asia”.

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“Jon and I were quite influenced by the cinematic soundtracks of Wong Kar-wai’s films. And in the films, the characters always say they need to go work in nan yang [Southeast Asia], so we took that vibe into our name,” Chau explained, referring to one of Hong Kong’s most famous film directors responsible for classics like Chungking Express and Happy Together.

The band took inspiration from the unique “vagabond vibe” of the films’ vivid cinematography and atmospheric music, Chau added.

“But it turns out our songs sound nothing like it,” Jon roared in laughter.

Often influenced by the group’s city adventures, its songs reveal the members’ satirical takes on everything from consumerism to romance.

“Our songs are reality mixed with a touch of fantasy,” Jon stated.

The band’s most well-known song “Mee & Gee” – which has racked up more than 200,000 plays on streaming platform Spotify – tells the tale of a trip to the namesake second-hand clothing shop with locations across the city.

Apart from detailing an eerie adventure at the local thrift store, the song also expresses scorn towards the typical city dweller’s obsession with fashion brands.

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Other examples of their lyrical odes to down-to-earth Hongkonger haunts include “Gai Gai” and “Block 18”, two popular eateries that are perfect for a low-key date. After having dessert at Gai Gai, Block 18 made the perfect next stop for a savoury snack, Chau shared, adding “this is what we really did”.

Despite their songs’ references to local hotspots, the band members insisted that making a statement about the city’s culture was not what they had intended to do.

“We did not think about the exact direction when we composed our songs, but I guess it came naturally since it is what we were experiencing at the time,” Chau clarified.

“I guess that is purely because we are locals,” chuckled Jon. “We will not try to write about say, Venice, because I’m not from there. We were not doing a conceptual album.”

The band’s sound is a hybrid of post-punk and psychedelic electronica, while the singing style has a distinctive local flair. Not only do the lyrics feature Hong Kong slang – and plenty of profanity – but its delivery is also inspired by nan yin, a Cantonese narrative song art.

Nan yin, which has been recognised as part of Hong Kong’s intangible cultural heritage, was popular in the early 1900s in the Canton area’s opium dens and brothels.

“There is a representative singer of that style – Dou Wun. We like his singing very much, but we’re not trying to replicate it,” Jon explained.

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“We listen to a lot of post-punk, and they often use this kind of singing as spoken words,” said Chau, adding that he found this to be similar to Dou’s style.

The band melds nan yin and post-punk to create a new way of interpreting the sounds of Cantonese.

“But these are mostly our spiritual icons – we take their attitude into our singing rather than their actual craft,” emphasised Jon.

Apart from Clockenflap, the band is also set to appear as guest performers for the Taiwanese rock band Amazing Show when they come to Hong Kong in March.

Some would categorise NYPD as part of the city’s indie music scene, which typically refers to artists who produce songs without the support of a record label.

But to them, indie means “not to serve others”. “Play your own music; play what you like. You do not take your clientele into consideration when making music,” said Chau.

By day, the five members are designers and tattoo artists who sometimes work nine-to-five jobs. “We serve our clients and customers by day, and that is not indie,” they pointed out.

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So they find music as a way to escape. “I always want to enlarge the proportion of music in my life to be as big as possible,” said Jon.

With a free-spirited ethos, the band has amassed a solid following across age groups.

“We do not think we are famous,” Jon clarified.

On second thought, the lead singer joked, “you should write this: ‘they think they are very famous but could be more famous.’”