The Underground

Global Battle of the Bands Hong Kong 2010 Finalists

Live review from GBOB HK Final 2010

Speaking of bands that can entertain, not many local bands put up as much of a show as do F.B.I. With their usual uniform of FBI tees (except for bassist Jerald, whose attire of choice that night was, a suit (SHOCK! Surprise!) – a major step up from his skeleton-inspired veritable Halloween costume from their Heat) their set was really charged. As expected, we got major commitment from each member to the performance (basically involving them going apeshit on stage), which was solid and interesting. They clearly were loved by most of the audience, who almost mirrored singer Cain’s groove. Not being their biggest fan myself, it must be admited that they sounded tight, and the songs made a very good case for why they should win (and why they have been runners-up before). Their brand of Noughties rock, combined with their stage-presence certainly made for a very enjoyable 8 minutes.

– Shashwati

Live Review from Underground 95:

Setlist:

1. Don’t Quit Your Day Job

2. Lan Kwai Fong

3. Gonna Make Love

4. Loneliness

5. Man Love

6. Fu

7. The Masquerade

8. Ghouls and Ghosts

9. F.B.I. (or F.B.I. Theme Song)

Playing the Underground for the 6th time, their tuning up featured some tantalising, mean-sounding slap-bass. An epitome of the Noughties’ rock sound, Don’t Quit Your Day Job featured a very lostprophets’ attitude combined with Hillel Slovak-era RHCP guitars ripping through screamed vocals. Lan Kwai Fong, undoubtedly meant to be the party-goers’ anthem, positively reeked of the Stooges’ 1969 and LedZep’s Black Dog, along with the crowd-participative chorus of “When I say LK, You say” – “F!” . With the bass up to bone-rattling levels, there was heavy use of delay and wah, and semi-military beats in the songs. Loneliness being their slower song, featured the almost-sparkling guitars of 3rd-wave punk, and moved into double speed with its’ leading bassline; in fact, the bass got so fast towards the end that you could scarcely see bassist Jerald’s fretting fingers- always a good sign. Evidently the crowd felt this as well, as the crowd was well into every song as was the band.

Man Love caused some of their more Rancid (and other 3rd-wave punk) roots to show, suddenly changing direction mid-song to a more Noughties’ feel. The screamed opening of Fu was followed by some classic punk chord progressions. With the crowd definitely on their side, they proceeded into The Masquerade, with some some stop-start Iron Maiden influences and a melodic coordination between the vocals and guitars. The crowd actually began headbanging to the single-strummed bits of the chorus – a classic hardcore ruse, which worked very well for F.B.I. in Ghouls and Ghosts, which also had some classic solos that reminded one of Tony Iommi, if he had played in the Noughties. With an mock-offhand comment to the guitarist about not needing his guitar since he couldn’t “sing and play at the same time”, their set closer had a bass-line reminiscent of Paranoid, and it was a song in the spirit of RHCP’s What it Is. Despite the lack of melodic accompaniment, the crowd really got going to the Bootsy Collins-like, insanely-wahed bass, and singer Cain’s encouragement to join in with the “When I say FB, You say” – “I!” They ended the night in the best possible way- with a long, flourish to heavy applause and a very tired but fully satiated crowd.

–Shashwati

Live Review from Underground Macau 4:

F.B.I. did not disappoint in their set at Macau Underground IV. Perhaps one of the heavier acts of the night F.B.I brought the grunge out with some serious vocal work and heavy guitar riffs, The band even brought out a definite Macau Underground highlight when they brought out some rap verses invoking memories of when Limp Bizkit topped the charts. With a set like that F.B.I.’s future in the Macau music scene seems like a bright one.Olinto OFBI were nothing short of fantastic! They lived up to their reputation by delivering a head banging performance that satisfied all heavy rock music cravings. All band members were at one stage in the spotlight, getting the crowd pumped up, making sure that every one in the audience were ready to rock. At the peak of anticipation, they’d smash a song on everyone’s head, evoking loss of limb control A.K.A: mosh. Overall, a very entertaining concert that left the crowd yelling for more.

Jake D.

Live Review from Underground 69:

Having been a devoted follower of Chochukmo, I decided to move on: I had chatted with the FBI guys on a web-radio programme a while ago, and within 4 weeks I had seen them twice. FBI started with a Blink 182 cover song first to show their love for punk. A speedy and energetic number to warm the crowd up. They interacted with the audience as they yelled out “I say LK, you say…” and expected the people to shout back “F!” This turned the crowd on and they (especially the girls) started to dance. Cain told me earlier on his voice was almost gone. How could I believe him? He became another person as he sang onstage - his voice was perfectly fine - with the professional music back up: Jerald’s RHCP-esque bassline, precise slapping and tapping; Kam’s thick and catchy guitar riffs; and Nice’s tight percussion, last but not least. While Cain decided to take a short rest, his amazing force took the lead and sang a couple of fast Canto-pop numbers, with a character of course - most of the mainstream Cantopop singers were poorly covering songs, with no style, written by the original composers anyway. Shortly Cain went back and insisted to sing “Man Love” with the guys. A very bright number. They ended their set with freestyle rap about number “6″ and “9″ (two suggestive numbers). Could be the sexiest band of the night, but let me determine a bit later, because the next band’s coming up. One of them would take off his clothes in the middle of the show. Check it out.

Erik Piece

Live Review from Underground 57:

FireBird International and their brand of metal pop delivers impact. They are no newcomer to the Underground, and allegedly they spent some time in Soler’s studio after the last show on December 7, 2007 (Not allegedly … it’s a fact). But, I thought pop and alternative don’t mix. Well, Julio showed up to cheer his friends. I hope he finally get to learn some blues from the headlining band of the evening.

Their opening salvo of metal funk is rock solid rock. You’ve got to like it if you like band music. The singer Cain is the right kind of front man for any band, especially for a band this busy, and even has the good looks of Justin Timberlake, unless I was fed too much Asahi by Chris for the evening, which makes the guitarist Archvictor just a good conventional guitarist. No hard feelings please, the other two front guys are just too good. And to you too, Nice, Mr drummer. You’re sitting way back and those guys really grab our attention.

Which leads me to single out Jerald the bass player. He gives you the playing, which is really quite versatile (trouble is he plays in the same evening when there would be a God of bass in the room, at least a demi-god). He has the build of those bass players you don’t want to run into in a dark alley, and the hair to go with it. He even cares to give you all the right moves, including the finger that he tots every so often. So, let’s have it, is Jerald a great bass player or what?And when they pick up speed, with the jumping around by every member except Nice the drummer, you’ve got to admit rock’s in their blood. A gweilo who’s Chinese and three Chinese guys who are gweilos (if you weren’t there you won’t get the joke) they make rocking in Hong Kong cool.

Bun Ng

Live Review from Underground 50:

Inventively using a slogan of “The Underground” to soundcheck, F.B.I. kicked off their debut at The Underground with energy and excitement. Their stage persona is cheeky and fun and the audience picked up on this immediately. The band also has an uncanny ability to get the crowd doing things from waving their arms and even jumping in a song with “Jump” barked at them. With strange lyrics about boiling children to songs poking fun at wannabe-musicians, I find F.B.I. immensely appealing. The cover of the Chili Peppers was a nice touch and F.B.I played it well (as they do all their songs - the technical aspect of this band is of a great standard for HK). Cain certainly endeared himself by speaking Cantonese to the mostly Chinese audience. It’s easy to like F.B.I.