If Fruitpunch could appear in the 1980's, they would probably be regarded as a low profile band by others. At that time, in the local indie scene (used to be called underground music), those bands, who were influenced by post-punk music and played dark and sad music, were classified as ‘low profile', the coolest musical admiration. They might be able to challenge such bands like Octave of Prayers if they played 17 or 18 years earlier.

Although local independent band Fruitpunch just released their debut album "Will It End" this year, they have been formed for a long time. They had their first live show as early as 1997. At the beginning, Fruitpunch were a full band with 4 members, but now only Leo(lead singer/guitar) and Patrick (lead singer/bass) remains in Fruitpunch. Recently, they use a drum machine to replace drummer. It is sure that they already planned to record their album many years ago and "Will It End" is the product of Leo and Partick, with the help from their friends in the HK indie scene like Ming@JoyTrendySound.

Fruitpunch are regarded as a post-punk band, and Leo & Patrick often talk about Joy Division and how they are deeply affected by it. However, Fruitpunch are different from the current British or American new wave post-punk bands such as The Strokes, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, The Bloc Party etc. Fruitpunch yells quietly and reradiates the accumulation of bitter and drowning feelings. In facts, sadcore bands like Radiohead and Red House Painters also greatly influence Fruitpunch, so I would say that Fruitpunch are a band between Post-Punk and Sadcore.

The ambient and sentimental songs Will It End and The End are the first and last songs in the album. These songs perfectly express their despairing and isolating feelings. Right after Will It End, Our Future is a song with an alternate shifting between ambient and pale folk music and loud distorted guitar arrangement. To make the song explosive, Leo plays violent and maniac guitar with extreme loud volume at the finale. From Folk to (Post) Punk, a hint that this band were named as Fruitpunch (Folkpunk).

But there are some moments that Fruitpunch are 100% Post-Punk. While experiencing the wildness in Below The Line, we could hear the sharp-edged guitar and droning bassline come together to make it shine. It can also be regarded as a goth number. The Last Scene is a song with much tension under raging guitars, and even the lead singer's voice expresses indifferent and lifeless feelings. However, the above-mentioned songs are the only two upbeat songs in the album. Game of The Few obviously is a Joy Division-style downbeat song. As Leo unconsciously sings with a despairing voice like Ian Curtis, you may even feel they are trying too hard to re-create the sound of Joy Division.

The falsetto in The Sound of Night clearly shows the influence of Thom York to them.

I like Patrick's fluent and melodic bassline, and it is the origin of Fruitpunch's low profile feelings. "Will It End" is an album mostly comprised of moderate to slow songs. In order to build up a sensational image, they have included a piano ballad No Feedback; a quiet number Watch Myself and a dark-folk song Please. These songs create a sentimental and empty atmosphere that breaks our hearts.

In these years, Hong Kong is lacking of bands like Fruitpunch which try to move us and make us cry.

We are now printing our debut album "Will It End?" but we will postpone our launch to the end of August due to marketing factors.
We would like to thank Ming@JoyTrendySound for his marvelous mixing and mastering.
It really means an end of Fruitpunch's first stage and a start of our second stage.