Anthony Wong Interview
with Sandy Fong
(copyright: www.peoplemountainpeoplesea.com )
About the first encounter in music - When a man meets a man (part 1)
'I thought in this way: Gorgor and I seems we should work together, but also seems we shouldn’t work together. The reason we should work together is we belong to the same group, we are very similar in certain ways; the reason we shouldn’t work together is our style of songs, there seems nothing in common between us' said Anthony.
Whatever, this EP is going to be released in July, but what opportunity has brought them together, no matter should or shouldn’t, in this project?
'It's Chan Siu Po of Universe, he has heard a short duet of us in Getting through winter together, he feels the effect is good, he suggested we can have a cooperation before our own single albums, therefore we have this special project. Actually I seldem cooperate with other male singers. May be because I'm a singer too, sometimes I worry the feeling of the outcome too similar to mine. Also I feel that my voice and my performing style on stage is quite close. In the beginning I had such concern, but then later I thought what the heck, it's fun anyway'.
Since it's a cooperated album, besides the duet, in this album, there are upcoming surprise after surprise
'Besides the duet Dream in the Night, Gorgor and I also suggested to write a song for each other and also chose to sing one of the old songs of each other. Regarding the new song, I give the song Typhoon signal #10 which I sang in my last year's "Live Concert" to Gorgor, because I feel that song isn’t quite like songs sung by me, but rather quite suitable for Gorgor to sing it, and he seems to like it. Regarding the old song I choose the one Gorgor has written for Chow Wai Min years ago If only you know my reasons behind. Gorgor has written a new song for me, and chose to re-sing my song in 1996 Happy together'.
The feeling to cooperate with Gorgor is...
'To tell the truth I was a bit nervous in the beginning. Because it's Leslie Cheung! A genuine superstar. You know to cooperate with a superstar easily get you nervous. I'm very surprise he isn’t imposing and he trust us very much. Because all the arrangement and production of this album is wholly taken care of by "People Mountain People Sea". Our cooperation is very smooth, we are happy to have Gorgor's full confidence in us'.
Besides the cooperation, his and his other nightmares… - Dream in the Night (part two)
Dream in the Night was originally to be included in Anthony's single album, but he feels it's a song suitable for a duet, so the present the song to Gorgor, and Gorgor likes it, feeling the song has got a mysterious feel, it perhaps will not be a song to become a hit instantly, but eventually they chose it because of it's uniqueness.
'While preparing to record the song, Gorgor and I recorded a demo together in the studio. Base on the emotions of it, we rehearsed it and recorded it separately. Besides the arrangement of the song is somewhat mysterious, its rhythm is also quite dramatic. When we wrote the beginning of the song, it started with the piano phrase, then we developed the rhythm together, after completion of the whole rhythm, then we decided the lyrics to go with it. Lately I want to write a song about pressure, to express how to find a way in a life full of pressures. And I like a song by David Bowie and Queen together Under pressure. So Lam Jat was invited to write the lyrics. By coincidence the three of us (Gorgor, Lam Jat and himself) can't sleep well, so this is song we all share ourselves in it…..
Find someone like me – so far away and so close (part three)
'This is a completely new creation from Gorgor, actually he has got musician to complete a full demo before he let me listen to the song. Full of tango sense. But because the other song Happy together in the album we wud like to have the same style with the South American feelings in the arrangement, so we decided to change it as it is now. It's still full of exotic sense, plus some electroinc thing, become this exotic and dramatic version. Of course the dramatic effects mainly contributed by Gorgor, the dialogue part is like the final touch of dotting the eyes to the dragon, making the song lively'.
What make you think of the production arrangement?
Because in this EP, we have only one duet, Dream in the night, how can we extend our cooperation? How can we appear in each other's song somehow? At last we think of in my song for him Typhoon Nr. 10 I sang the backup, and Gorgor say the dialogue in So Far, So Close. When I discussed with Wyman about this song we talked a lot, afterwards he told me, the lyrics is inspired by a comic Turn Left, Turn Right written by a taiwanese Ki Mi. We thought for a long time finally we decided to name the song with the book’s name, but later we discovered a song by Yeung also got the same name. We have to change. Wyman has written a song for Jacky Cheung many years ago, named So Close, So Far. I said, let’s try reverse it. Actually I think this name suits the song very well, because it actually was expressing this helpless, that two people got no chance to meet, or not to meet again, but are actually very close to each other.
The lyrics is like storytelling, is it easy to write suitable dialogue?
'The recording of the dialogue is good fun. During recording Gor Gor only record a lot of talks, very casually, and I just by instinct chose those suitable parts and tried to put in the song. Unexpectedly everything seems tailor made and the dramatic effect is so natural. It’s like a coincidence, the whole thing developed perfectly. I remember on the day to record the dialogue, Gorgor’s voice is a bit rusty. He actually asked if it is okay, but I felt a bit rusty is good. The results if this rusty feel add to the mood of the song'.
What’s your feeling to interpret this song?
'It’s quite difficult. Its music is dramatic, it needs to be quite expressive to sing in it, especially with the chorus, I tried something I seldom do, sing like a "pop king", I felt it was fun and cute. I’m very glad of the initial decision to add the dialogue to the song, because it really becomes very touching, to express the feeling of the fate and opportunity, let people get the goose-skin feel, especially that sentence "He flow all the way from Asia to South America"'.
Throughout the production, anything unforgettable?
'Throughout the production, it gave me a cyber feeling. This doesn’t mean the theme is cyber. Many arrangements of the album were created in many different places then communicated through email, revision, etc. fully utilized the advantage given by Internet. This song So Far, So Close was arranged by Vee in Taipei, she data email the arrangement to HK, we opened it with various instruments, the process is good fun, and feel the amazing technology'.
I love typhoon – Typhoon Nr.10 (part four)
Those who are familiar with Anthony know Typhoon Nr.10 which he sang in his live concert last year. He personally likes this song but eventually he didn’t put it in his personal album.
'During the selection process both of us provided a lot of songs to each other to choose. Like Dream in the night, Typhoon Nr.10 was planned to be put in my last solo album. After the performance in the live concert I feel this song is also suitable for other people to interpret, it would be great if Gor Gor likes it. The result is Gor Gor likes it the first time he heard it and he said: 'Good, I sing this one'.
The arrangement of Typhoon Nr.10 at the live concert was not the one I intended, what I want is the version now in Gor Ggor’s song, those electronic musics of the 80s, what you got now those electronic effects are all fabricated, though the base line not the 80s style, but it is intended to be a hybrid. Last year I said I fear the typhoon season is gone before my solo album, therefore I sang the song in advance. Although for some reasons this song was not included in my album, but this song could still be issued before the typhoon season'.
Why call it Typhoon Nr.10?
'I have a notebook to record things I would like to include in my songs, like the title of the song, the content of the song etc. Typhoon Nr.10 is one of the title I would like, actually source was from Lam Jet, he has said he would like to write a song with this name, eventually he didn’t use it and so I took this name and wrote the song with Chow Yeo Fai. I hope he doesn’t mind. It’s not the first time by coincidence to have the same title song, like So Close, So Far, may be song writers like us has similar interests and expose to similar movies, music and book etc., like Love Education by Lam Jet and Wyman, they each wrote a song by the same name for different singers, like One One, like another one Joe 'n James, I won't use it now otherwise there are two songs clashes with shine. It seems there is no new things under the sun'.
The pain between to love and not to love – If you knew my hidden reason (part five)
'Gor Gor and I picked 2 songs from each other, besides a new one, we also pick an old song to interpret. I have heard a lot of Gor Gor’s old songs, but I don’t feel I cannot convert into my song. I won't pick the song without much space for me to further develop. If you knew my hidden reason was an old one Gor Gor wrote for Vivian Chow and I feel from the interpretation to the arrangement of the song there are potentials to develop, so I chose this song'.
You can always convert songs with your own style, but with this song so familiar to the public already, is it difficult to dress it in new clothes?
'Kei Cheuk and I both had some projects to re-interpret other people’s song. Like Hidden Waves the recording, mixing and chorus all finished in one night. This song was not done in one night, Kei and I both wanted to do something like this for some time. His arrangement of the song is very good. Very simple. I think to be so simple and yet so touching is very powerful. If you notice, besides Dream in the Night, for the other songs we have used a lots of guitar, plus some new toys of Kei – he recently bought some very old electronic instruments from the 70s and 80s, plus old synthesizers, they all appear in the album'.
From interpretation you have a lot of feelings with this song, is it because it is an old song?
'When I record this song it was very smooth. Actually when you have the feel for the song, it's always very smooth. Some songs you have to spend a lot of time to record, like Dream in the Night. Or I was very familiar with this song before and I have particular feelings for the song, basically I could record immediately when I enter the record room'.
Feelings returning home - Happy Together (part six)
Gor Gor has got a film called Happy Together but didn’t have a song with the same name, because of this project, it seems finally Happy Together is completed.
'Happy Together is the song I chose for Gor Gor. He has got the film but didn’t have the song, I feel if he sings this song it would be perfect, like something fully completed. Actually to re-arrange this song is very difficult. Just myself have many different versions, there are 4 different versions in recordings, in live concerts there were the 5th and the 6th versions. I feel the greatest about it is although the song is not related to the film, but somehow in certain level some connections are there, now it is definitely linked up by a person'.
Is it intentional to have the South American mood in the song?
'Yes, we invited pariticularly Tommy Ho, a veteran guitarist, to perform those Latin and South American parts. He's the guitar teacher of Ellen of at 17. This is re-arranged by Jason, our idea is to include the mood of South American in order to connect to the film, with the tango feel. Of course in the arrangement there is still the special electronic parts by People Mountain People Sea'.
Are there any difference between Gor Gor and yourself in the interpretations?
'Basically Gor Gor's voice is quite hoarse. But in this song the spectrum is pretty board. He is one key below me. Actually under some conditions our voices are very similar, sometimes even myself cannot distinguish. May be there is some difference with high pitch but still very close in lower keys. The only difference is Gor Gor gives you a feeling of very sexy. This is our major difference'.
Finally the project is finished, your feeling now is…..
'Completing this gave me the feeling of enjoying a small holiday, a small holiday in my old plans. At first I doubt if just 5 songs are enough, but if only for a small holiday, 5 songs are sufficient. To me, this is a rare opportunity of a very fun project'.
The End
many many thanks to Wing for translation
with this translation we don't want to violate any copyrights of www.peoplemountainpeoplesea.com, but providing a good translation to all Ming Gor & Gor Gor's no-Chinese fans