A strange breed: Alok Leung

Alok Leung was, in a way, unlucky to be born in Hong Kong. A multi-talented man with a visceral love of and total commitment to music that is off-beat, under the radar, sonically challenging and out of the ordinary, he finds himself faced with the lifelong challenge of getting our pop-saturated city interested in some startlingly strange sounds - and trying to make a living while doing it.

He does so through music that he writes, records and performs himself; through collaborations, such as doomy new wave/synth-pop band A Roller Control, which also features local artist Nadim Abbas; through his own label, Lona Records, which releases obscure, boundary-pushing music by artists from Hong Kong and around the world; and by arranging concerts by visiting bands.

It is an uphill struggle.

"In other cities like Taipei, Beijing and Shanghai, big alternative music scenes have developed, but in Hong Kong it's so secret," he says. "Hong Kong is a small city, and living is really hard here. People's money goes on rent, and they don't have time to experiment."

Leung's music largely defies categorisation, as does that of the bands on Lona, an eclectic bunch united more by a shared experimental sensibility than by any sonic similarity. They take in everything from minimal techno to atonal noise to indie rock - some of the latter are surprisingly melodic and approachable.

Leung's musical tastes were forged, he says, in the early 1990s. He started learning classical guitar in primary school and formed his first band when he was 18 years old and was heavily influenced by groups such as the Stone Roses. "In those days, all my friends liked only UK music," he says.