Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy Warhols on making new friends at Clockenflap, and learning to forgive some old ones
The US indie legends play the Sunday night at this month’s festival. Their popularity waned after a public spat with fellow rockers, The Brian Jonestown Massacre in a documentary – but that’s all in the past, says their lead singer
When bands come to Hong Kong for the first time, their first response to inquiries about what they’re most looking forward to is usually “the food.”
Not The Dandy Warhols. For the American indie legends, whose brand of melodic psychedelia makes them one of the most anticipated acts on this year’s Clockenflap line-up, have family and friends here who’ve kept them up to date on the city’s cultural scene.
And they’re itching to try more than just the local grub.
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“We hope to get the rock-band tour of dudes and bands that live there and see real lives and where they go to hang out in their bars, and meet their weirdo artist friends,” singer-songwriter Courtney Taylor-Taylor says from the veteran band’s studio wine bar in Portland, Oregon.
The four-piece band, whose worldwide hits include Bohemian Like You and We Used to be Friends, are well schooled in the cultural tapestry of modern Hong Kong. They know of the burgeoning music and club scene that’s been fostered by festivals such as Clockenflap (they will perform on the Sunday night of this year’s festival). And they’re into new rock bands coming out of China.
They’re also aware of the sterile mainstream nightlife scene and the tasteless, moneyed denizens that have always bedevilled the city. “My brother in law’s family have lived there quite a while, he’s an international business guy. We also have some fans there who are political types, people who work in the American State Department – so we’ll get the very clean view of the city, from the rooftop, from the 38th-floor rooftop bar-restaurant life,” he deadpans.
