The Once was formed in 2012 with vocalist Hugo, guitarist Benny, bassist Jaz, and drummer Nam. The band’s music is a blend of lighthearted lyrics – centered around issues of growing up and a sense of being uncompromised – and a surging music style that makes the audience resonate with their emotions. Rooted in pop punk, The Once aspires to record every genuine emotion arising from the difficulties they met in daily lives, such as workplace, family, and friendships.
Instagram of The Once @theoncehk/ Instagram
Grow up as ordinary kids, rise with a unique music style
Similar with ordinary kids in Hong Kong, the 4 millennials were sent to learn playing the piano since kindergarten. “But we were barely into music that time,” Hugo confessed, “I learnt and played classical music just to satisfy my parents’ expectation of me being nurtured in a cultural environment and cultivating better manner.” Nam said he quitted piano since he was overwhelmed by the level 6 exam at the age of 9 that he felt “souless in playing music for a purpose and pursuing for a certain achievement”.
The quads used to be secondary school classmates. Following the school’s whole-person development program, they were once again required to pick up a musical instrument. Yet, influenced by the legendary local band Beyond, they attended guitar and drum lessons respectively, imagining themselves shining as bright as their role models. Meanwhile, a singing contest was hosted at school. The Once was then formed and perform for their very first time.
Nam reminisced about the first performance of The Once, “for the very first time in my life, I found playing music so enjoyable. It is all because of the companionship of my band members and I chose the right musical instrument to express myself.” Since then, these 4 kids kept practicing during recess and after lessons – every day and night. After an intense practice schedule, they were invited to their first public performance at Silver Mine Bay, then won the champion in No Drugs 2013, which empowered them to keep moving forward and started producing their own music.
However, the development of the band is never plain sailing. Even though they could manage their academics throughout their 6-year secondary school studies, getting into universities became one of the obstacles that hindered their development. “We went into different institutions and had various commitments. Unlike in the past, we were in the same pace and could practice at school, but at that time we did not even have the common time and space to discuss our future development,” said Hugo, “it was a very frustrating time for the band, but we soon decided to get part-time jobs so that we could rent our own studio.”
Hence, the band rent their studio in Kwai Hing where allows them to create their music. As the members graduated from university, the members undoubtedly spare part of their salary to rent the studio. No matter how hectic their work is, they will always gather at the studio for practice and music production, as it is their “second home where they could rant about non-sense things happened in workplace through music,” said Hugo. In recent years, The Once has actively released their original songs inspired from their workplace, family, and friendship.
Give me a break! Grap a glass of wine and enjoy a great show with me. Chill out is what we all do in holidays, give it a crack! — “Tremendous Stress” by The Once
12 years into the indie music industry – Brotherhood first, Fame comes the last
In an era when idol culture is prevalent, many rely on following the pop cultural trends to appeal to the majority, replicating a similar music style and earning fame and fortune in a quick way. The quads admit that fame can provide an independent band with more resources for future music productions and to be on bigger stages, yet this is not what they pursue most. They have always insisted on composing their unique instrumental arrangement and expressing their emotions through the songs.
Instead of spending money on promotions, the band invest mostly in their sound equipment. “Independent music units are usually budget-deprived, but we are here to show the public that we have the ability to produce quality music,” said by Nam, believing that good production will attract its soulmate simply through music.
The Once’s latest song and music video – Re: Bird at the sea. @The Once/ YouTube.
Since the immigration wave in 2019, many creators have moved abroad, believing that life abroad is more inclusive of creativity, and they do not have to face the high cost of living in Hong Kong. Even though Nam once had this idea, he gave it up in the end, “growing up, we aspire to create music that belongs to Hong Kong. If we leave Hong Kong, our home, even if the songs we create in a different place no longer belong to Hong Kong.”
Moreover, we promised that everyone will always be banded with this team. Will The Once still be called The Once without any one of its members? We can only live once – it would be a pity to give up when encountering difficulties. What’s more, we have everyone and a group of supporters, although its not a lot, it’s enough for us to continue creating.
What The Once values is not only their dedication to the Hong Kong music scene, but also the bond between the four of them.
Living space for Hong Kong independent musicians
Chapman So, the Production Director of BS10, a music production studio exclusively serving independent musicians, compared the development of Hong Kong music industry with Taiwan, where its music development is recognized as diverse and dynamic among Asian countries. Chapman observed that the Taiwan government has actively promoted creative industries not limited to music, but also film and television. The government provides direct subsidies to different units in the independent music circle, such as subsidizing bands to produce records, traveling to foreign countries to attend international music festivals, supporting live house operations, and even organize music festivals directly or outsourced to third parties.
But when compared to the situation in Hong Kong, the problems mentioned above pale into insignificance. First of all, the Hong Kong government has failed to develop the cultural and creative industries. During Donald Tsang’s governance, the cultural and creative industry was proposed as one of the six advantageous industries. However, this idea has always been a fantasy. The idea of adding a cultural bureau was rejected by the Legislative Council. Therefore, the government still has no dedicated responsibility for cultural affairs. As a result, the responsibility for developing cultural and creative activities is scattered among different departments. Logically speaking, the Arts Development Council should be the department currently responsible for developing local cultural and artistic activities. However, according to its definition of art, independent music is not included to subcultures.
Some commentators believe that independent music does not need government support. As long as the government does not Some believe that independent music does not need government support. As long as the government does not hinder it, it is the greatest support for the collectives. But Chapman said that, in the current laissez-faire market economy, the development of independent music is always in a state of struggle for survival. Every foot of land in Hong Kong is precious. For art groups that need large space but limited ability to pay rent, factory building units are ideal locations for their activities. In addition, after the industrial relocation in the 1990s, the number of vacant local industrial building units increased, which is conducive to the entry of art groups. For example, the Kwun Tong Industrial Area was once regarded as the cradle of independent bands. However, as the government launched a policy to revitalize industrial buildings, the rents of industrial buildings have been rising, which directly threatens independent musicians. The rents of industrial buildings in the Kwun Tong area have also increased. Since the government launched the Kowloon East plan to double the number, independent musicians have no choice but to grit their teeth and barely cope with the rising rents. They are forced to move to other districts to find another base, or even end their careers directly.
Even more sadly, Hong Kong has limited space for independent bands to perform. There are only a handful of music festivals held in Hong Kong, and the application procedures are complicated. Organizers may have to negotiate with multiple government departments at the same time, such as the Highways Department, Environmental Protection Department and the police, which limits the development of small and medium-sized music festivals. Of course, there have been large-scale music festivals in the past, such as Clockenflap, which has been held in the West Kowloon Cultural District and Central Waterfront for many years. However, the participating groups are obviously mainly well-known foreign groups, followed by a few local bands. It is difficult to call them a local music festival and effectively promote the development of local independent music. Therefore, many Hong Kong independent musicians have to travel to Taiwan and the Mainland to attend music festivals in order to seek performance opportunities and experience.
What’s even more fatal is that local independent musicians also lack medium and small-scale live house performances. Live houses are entertainment venues and must operate on commercial land. However, commercial buildings are expensive to rent, making it difficult to operate a live house with only a few successful examples. Relatively speaking, industrial buildings with lower rents and larger spaces would be ideal business locations, but the government has resorted to outdated buildings in the past. Due to property regulations and planning requirements, live houses are almost completely prohibited from operating in industrial buildings. For example, Hidden Agenda, which was once rated as the best local performance venue by Time Out magazine, has been banned at least four times in the past due to government enforcement and rent pressure. “Forced eviction” shows the difficulty of running local live houses.
With the increasing close-down of main indie music stages in Hong Kong, the sustainability and development of local indie remain questionable. While indie musicians are toiling unheralded to rejuvenate the local music industry, the authorities also play a key role in making Hong Kong music industry bloom with variety.
Reported by Coey Fung, Irene Meng