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Live Review from Underground 97:
Setlist:
1. I Believe
2. There’s a Time
3. Tits
4. This is Me
5. If
6. Not Meant to Be
7. Sweet Child of Mine (partial Guns ‘n’ Roses cover)
8. Hanging Around the Clouds
9. Questions & Doubts
Think of a rock band with a piano for a melodic lead instrument instead of a guitar, having a singer with an excellent voice, and some bits of funk and old rock ‘n’ roll, among many other nuances, thrown in by the rhythm section. This very crudely describes what the Brothers of Roadkill sound like. Resting on singer Adrian’s remarkable vocals, supported capably by a highly versatile drummer and very smooth bassist, their songs range from Bo Diddley-esque little ditties to ballads, making their set a very rounded one. There’s tonnes of soul in their sound, and you don’t miss a guitar in the mix because their songs just aren’t composed that way. The eccentricity added by a set of keys is something unique to their sound, and is very fun to listen to. Indeed, it was so much fun that they had surprise help from soundman Zane coming in with the tambourine and bells at multiple times.
They began their set with the dramatic, eerie I Believe, atmospheric and ballad-like, with its sadness being enhanced by the military-style drums. Some songs had the bass playing bits that would normally have been played on guitar, like Not Meant to Be, giving the whole thing a fresh twist. A highlight of their set was their reworking of GnR’s Sweet Child of Mine - it used a couple of the verses and the main riff (played on bass, of course) but they added their own feel to it, replete with their own lyrics and melody, gradually moving into the original song. Everything they did was with tremendous enthusiasm, which was thoroughly reciprocated by the crowd, who even coaxed them into doing an encore. A final love song graced us with the gentlest of basslines, which dissolved away in a couple of minutes to end their set.
– Shashwati
Live Review from Underground 89:
After watching Brothers of Roadkill at Underground 85 I was looking forward to hearing them again. The set was pretty similar to there last underground, but that’s understandable considering the short space between there two gigs. Personally I feel that this band is one of the few in Hong Kong whose songs I can imagine being played successfully on the radio, with little alteration. The jazzy feel of their songs make them immediately catchy and Adrian’s strong vocals give an endearing and personal quality to the set as a whole. I am only left to wonder whether Brothers of Roadkill find themselves in a difficult position in considering whether to move towards a louder, denser sound which the drums suggest, or tone down the sound so Adrian doesn’t have to enforce his voice to such an extent. It remains to be seen which way they will go.
Heather Lowe
Click here to watch Brothers of Roadkill playing their original song: Hanging Around The Clouds!
Live Review from Underground 85:
1. Hanging around the clouds
2. If
3. Tits
4. Questions & Doubts
5. Gayle
6. I believe
7. This is me
8. Untitled
With a name like ‘Brothers of Roadkill’ I expected to be blown away by some kind of heavy metal type of music. But was I so wrong! In their bio they claim to be the most exciting band to come out of Hong Kong of late, so I was a little put off before I even started writing my notes for the review. It annoys me when bands talk themselves up so much, especially before I ever heard of them. This was their debut at The Underground and I found out they have had only had a few shows prior to that. But the trio lived up to their bio in the fact that their first song kicked ass. It was so funky! I loved it immediately. All of the guys are Chinese but their style was so Motown.
Adrian played the piano while singing, Wong Chi Tung played Drums and CM Groovy played bass. What an awesome combination. I thought that Adrian played the piano better than Elton John. CM was so funky on the bass and Wong was keeping a beat that picked up the pace and the atmosphere of the crowd. Their second song, ‘If’ was slower than the first, but still great. It reminded me of James Blunt. Again I couldn’t help being drawn to vocalist, his voice was so versatile and so pleasing to the ear. I felt like I was in the piano man’s cabaret bar.
By the third song I was starting to feel that their band name was not suitable to the type of music they play. It came across to me as more Blues Funk. Maybe they are influenced by the Blues Brothers? The bass player (CM) jumped around during the song and was generally excited. Wouldn’t you be if you were playing a song called ‘Tits’? Love the song title by the way. Wong played really well on the drums and didn’t overpower the other instruments, but just extenuated them.
The fourth song, ‘Question and Doubts’ was so great that I wanted to sing along by adding some oohs and ahs that I thought would compliment the vocals. I am sure when they do a recording of this song that they might think about how to add some extra vocal tracks with my suggestion. The fifth song, ‘Gayle’, was another piano and lyrically driven song. I felt no cares, no worries and that everything just seemed alright. When the song reached the climax I heard everyone scream, it was as if everyone had just came in their pants. Ha ha.
In the song, ‘I believe’, I was greeted again by another lovely drum beat. By this stage I did really think that they were the most exciting thing that Hong Kong has seen of late. They are not rocking, no… wrong genre. But, they are definitely very musically entertaining. These songs were something that you could dance to. This song had the biggest applause of the night so far. And they kept on going, rounding up to their seventh song of the night, ‘This is me’. This was a new song and was supposed to be their last, so I went to the front of the crowd to dance and groove along to the music. I didn’t write anymore notes. What else could I say about these guys. They finished their song and the crowd were not satisfied yet, they screamed for more, and that is just what ‘Brothers of Roadkill’ gave them.
They played one last song. This time this song was so new that they hadn’t even named it yet. I thought this song was actually their best song of their set. It started initially with only the piano and vocals, but in the crescendo it was met with the onset of the bass and the drums. I was hooked on the music. The drummer showed his skills and the bass line cut a chord with my heart. I loved the encore so much, words can’t describe it. ‘Blues’ ‘Brothers of Roadkill’ were definitely a highlight for my night.
Cain (F.B.I. vocalist)
Click here to watch Brothers of Roadkill playing their original song: Hanging Around the Clouds!
Performances:
