Album Notes

Uncle Joe has certainly come a long way since its humble beginning in Tom's bedroom back in 1995. They started just the two of them, writing acoustic songs in a stripped down style. "It was a reaction to the band we were in at the time. It was this great rock band and we loved playing in it, but we had this inward craving to just simplify things," explains Andrew, "so we got together and unplugged everything and just played a sound that to us was fresh and relaxing. Our style developed from there". After a few well received acoustic shows, Uncle Joe took a back seat for the next two years as their other rock band, Micah68, took off in Hong Kong with the release of an album and success in the local indie scene. "It was our time to learn how to play our instruments, to interact as musicians," continues Tom, "and just generally play shows. It was our training ground and the memories we have of those days are important." But with the departure of the Micah68's lead singer and primary songwriter, Tom and Andrew found themselves back to square one. "We were pretty bummed at the time cause the band was doing well. But we were totally in support of what the singer wanted to do with his life, so it was cool." Their response was to reform Uncle Joe and immediately record a 5 song EP that was released in 1999 on Far East Records. Based off the songs they had written back in 1995, "Send Home to Victoria" was recorded in two days and was well received by the local indie press, establishing for the band a solid fan base that they still have today. "We were surprised that people took to the EP so well," remembers Tom "because it was just five very personal songs that we had been playing the two of us together for so long. We didn't really think people would be that interested." But interested they were, and the EP received a number of local plaudits from musicians and press that lifted the band into a new beginning. The real Uncle Joe had finally arrived.


The following two years from 1999 to 2001 saw Tom and Andrew play with a number of friends on bass and drums to fill out the band's new live sound. The simple songs from the EP quickly gave way to a fuller, more defined indie rock sound as the band began to be influenced strongly by the early post-rock scene in the US. "It's funny, because people in HK still don't know what to make of our sound," explains Andrew, "because we play like a rock band but without the usual rock band sound - no distortion, no muted rock riffs, no fast solos. That is the stuff that HK has grown up with and is still really popular today in the scene. Our stuff was and still is very different and we were one of the first bands to start playing arpeggio guitar parts and simple song structures in an upbeat manner. Clean guitars with power."
At the beginning of 2002, Uncle Joe were playing a healthy number of local shows as well as broadening their reach by a tour to Singapore. By the middle of 2002 Ben Tse had become a permanent fixture on bass, filling out the band's overall sound. Tom explains, "It was great to have Ben get involved with Uncle Joe. He is as much a part of the band as Andrew and I are. His bass style is exactly what we were looking for and we now feel like a whole unit". The band continued to have problems finding a permanent drummer, but was exited to hook up with local drum legend Jun Kung for their debut album. Jun listened to a four-song demo the boys had recorded in a practice room and called them straight up to say he wanted to play with them. They met for the first time in January 2003, and then two days after that initial meeting, went into the recording studio. "It says a lot about Jun's talent that we could jam with him twice and then immediately go into the studio and record. His style, personality and interpretations of our songs were exactly what we were looking for. It was an awesome experience to play with him" says Andrew. Jun laid down seven tracks with the band and played a number of shows with them in support of the bands debut full-length album, From the towers of this city, I can still see all your promises (released on Far East Records, Sept 2003).


In July 2003, Uncle Joe's line up was finally made complete with the addition of full-time drummer, Ben Matthews. "Its interesting," continues Andrew, "because it has taken us so long to bring out an album it almost feels like our farewell tour. But we know this is just the beginning, there are a lot of fun experiences ahead. We just hope we can continue to share our music with people and hopefully learn some things about ourselves a long the way."