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Live Review from Prins Nitram in Hong Kong:
It is wet, soaking wet, in terms of the reverberation of all instruments through the whole venue, even the drumsticks hitting one another can be heard with much reverb. The riff of “Love Hotel”, my personal favourite, reminds me of the 70’s UK detective/spy dramas like “The Zoo Gang” (The Wings). There is also a sense of vintage bassline like the retro-rock bands like The Coral. Maybe it is because of the fact that James need to sing, the drumming is stable yet never boring, since a drumming singer is already something interesting to see. There are few of them, to the best of my knowledge, including Don, Phil, Ringo and Roger. The pink blazer of Chris adds up the charm to the band. The riffs and tone of the guitar with the spring reverberation undoubtedly draw me to the dancing floor with the Shadows. So there I go, stop writing and have a good time with Logo.
Erik Piece
Message from Logo about CD3 Release Party B:
Logo fully supports the huge effort by The Underground in organising parties and bringing the best of Hong Kong’s independent musicians to the attention of a wider audience. These parties are fabulous and we encourage everyone to attend in the future. Party B was of course attended by Logo along with much of HK’s glitteratti and the order of the day was very much enjoy yourself.
Logo
Live Review from Underground 95:
Setlist:
1. Tidal Waves
2. I Saw Your Eye
3. Miss Your Voice
4. Lights Are Out
5. Escalator
6. Marlene
7. Non-Stop Paradise
8. Temple of Smoke
The all-sunglassed Logo proceeded to take the stage, and the coy intro to Tidal Waves was played, with a wonderfully strange mix of delays, funky bass and Television-esque guitars that Alan Parsons would have been proud of. The eclectic minimalism of the guitars was rounded off by some catchy riffing, and was topped off with singer-drummer James’ vocals being remarkably reminiscent of Joe Strummer. I Saw Your Eye featured a winding bassline, and 2nd-gen Hendrix influence, combined with the more contemporary tendencies of bands to use a Kinks-ish sound (especially in terms of beats) with more diverse arrangements. The lyrics, indeed, were in the spirit of Ray Davies, with their tongue-in-cheek tone set against honest conversational speech-patterns. A very middle-eastern feel was typical of Miss Your Voice, a trippy little ditty with lots of modification to the guitar and near-atonal chords in the bridge, followed by the cold-open into Lights Are Out, strongly reminiscent of the Replacements.
Escalator featured some remarkably trippy lyrics, along with a very early-Smashing Pumpkins-style drum-bass combination. The structure of most of Logo’s songs seemed to be to have an anchoring rhythm section, with consistent vocals, allowing the guitars to be as moody as they like, combining the glibness of shoegaze with the confident groundedness of David Byrne/Talking Heads. Non-Stop Paradise featured some Dylan-esque sociak commentary, and a penchant for memorable phrases, not unlike the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. The closer was Temple of Smoke, with the guitars mimicking the bass, and almost-metal feel to the song, and having some chords that are rarely touched in the regular course of pop music, hearkening back to MC5’s Fred Smith’s guitarwork, certainly leaving the foot-tapping crowd asking for more.
Shashwati
Live Review from Underground 84:
I was feeling a touch of deja-vu as Logo kicked off Underground 84. I thought it was pretty trippy that my second attempt at reviewing would be of a band who were doing their second underground show. I thought that maybe the planets were aligned in some weird way, somehow drawing us together. What could I do to make this review different from the first one? Well, for me I wanted to concentrate on the development of the band. And so that’s where we start…
As always, James (aka Wolfe) continued to have the same pull and presence as in his previous show. He banged away on the drums, so hard at times that the bass drum nearly escaped him. He played awesomely despite the drum kit nearly falling apart underneath him. I started to think, is this the most fragile drum kit I have seen in Hong Kong? Despite the small hiccups James plugged away without missing a beat and he even impressed the audience by slapping the tambourine onto the snare drum. He continues to amaze me with his effortless singing, sometimes stretching his voice to the limit which reminded me of Eddie Vedder (from Pearl Jam) when he screams and shouts.
I looked to the two guitarists , Mysterioso Akiko and Chris Derrida, to see how they had improved. Akiko wasn’t sporting the pink rimmed glasses from the previous time and I kind of missed them. Maybe she should of worn them still because they had some pull and I could see her eyes falling to her fingers as she plucked away at the bass strings. I wanted her to look up from her bass and look me in the eyes. Just as I made that thought she did just that as she was probably wondering what I was scribbling down. Oops. Chris maintained his cool look with his dark sunglasses and he swayed side to side as he strummed on his instrument of love. It seems that both Chris and Akiko’s skills had improved greatly. They were generally tighter and didn’t make too many mistakes.
The great thing about this band is that their songs create a lot of imagery. For example, in their song called ‘Non-stop Paradise’ I could imagine being on a deserted island with the soundtrack in the background. The scene plays out with myself and my loved one having fun on the beach, surrounded by palm trees, white sand and clear blue water. The song ended with chimes, as if we were waking up from a dream and being brought back to reality. The second last song they played, and I forget the name of it, was really trippy. I immediately thought, the Prince of Persia is here. The room turned into a harem with sexy belly dancers dancing all around. The guests of the room were high off smoking opium and in a trance brought on by the psychedelic tunes. This song was followed by ‘The Temple of Smoke’ which also had an Arabian feeling. I felt like sitting back and smoking a shisha.
Other songs that they played were ‘Eye for an Eye’, ‘Love Thief’ and ‘The Love Motel’. The last song I mentioned had a very infectious guitar riff in the chorus that I thought would stay in my mind for the rest of the night. Actually, I still can’t get this song out of my head. All in all, watching Logo again was an enjoyable experience. It was like going on a trip to exotic places without leaving my seat and accompanied by a great soundtrack. I look forward to what else these guys have got to offer.
Cain (F.B.I. vocalist)
Live Review from Underground 76:
1. I Saw Your Eye
2. Concrete Sky
3. I Miss Your Voice
4. Love Hotel
5. Ferris Wheel
6. Lights Are Out
7. Escalator
8. Marlene
9. Temple Of Smoke
Logo consisted of two guys (James and Chris) and a cute Japanese girl named Akiko. Chris was on guitar and Akiko played bass, while James led from behind on the drums. The two front men, Chris and Akiko, came onto the stage wearing dark sunglasses. Akiko’s sunglasses really drew my attention with their pink rims. I expected one of these two to start singing, but next thing I know, they start playing their first song, ‘I Saw Your Eye‘, and James begins singing from behind. We were told that this was a love song from Glasgow. Their music sounds like British 80’s rock, filled with catchy riffs and bass lines. Though, James was using some kind of distortion to his voice that made it sound retro ‘80s. I was told by other people that they thought Logo sounded like the “Buzz-cocks” and “The Clash” because of James’ super heavy British accent.
Their second song, ‘Concrete Sky‘ started abit slower and was more psychedelic. I thought that James’ first song would be his only one on vocals, but he amazed us by continuing to sing and lead his troupe from behind. He had support with some back-up vocals from Chris, but only a few oohs and ahs. It seemed like the guitarist and bassist just stood there and played their instruments while the drummer held all of the stage presence way at the back there.
The third song, ‘I miss your voice‘, was more upbeat and continued to be psychedelic. It was very trippy music. I was wondering by this stage… what this would be like on mushrooms? It set me in a trance with their music. I could almost imagine seeing spirals and swirls in the background with girls dressed in hippy style clothing dancing seductively as James sang middle-eastern scales. Were they going even further back than the ‘80s, heading into the ‘70s? I could almost imagine Austin Powers jumping into the scene and doing a silly dance. Their music went on like this for another few songs. I was starting to think… when is this trip going to end?
Their sixth song, ‘Lights are out‘, got my attention back with its fast paced riffs and loud music. I was convinced I was getting the intended vibe when James said in one of his lyrics, “picking magic mushrooms, and all the stems turned to giraffes”. Or something like that. Really trippy man! The next song, ‘Escalator‘, brought us back to a lighter side of Logo. I felt like I was in a field skipping merrily hand in hand with my loved one.
Their last song, ‘Temple of Smoke‘, which I misheard for ‘Sample of Smoke‘, had me thinking that these guys must really like their drugs until James pointed out that this song was about evaporating beliefs, not evaporating leaves. For this song, Austin Powers was back on the scene. This time he was on a mission, snooping around for clues and doing what he does best, being groovy.
All in all Logo gave us a good performance for their debut at the Underground. A little bit rusty and not altogether in some parts, but they definitely can set the mood and give us a feeling of deep enlightenment. If they get a little bit tighter I can really see their music being used as soundtrack for Austin Powers, or something in that genre. Groovy man!
Cain (F.B.I. vocalist)
Performances:
