Baak Gwai at Spanish Moon

• By RACHEL SHEPARD
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: May 7, 2008 - UPDATED: 5:31 p.m.

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When most people hear Tuscaloosa, Ala., they think of Alabama football and traitors. What they may not associate with the city is a progressive indie rock band making their way onto the music scene.

Baak Gwai was formed in 2004 with John Snowden (vocals/guitar), Adam Pate (bass) and Chris Zeiler (drummer). Adam Planche (guitar/keyboard/vocals) later completed the group.

Before I got deep into their interview, I had to ask about the band’s unusual name. Baak Gwai’s lead singer, Snowden, gave us the inside scoop on what the name really means.

“It’s Cantonese for white trash. Loosely translated it’s a derogatory term for a white person. I worked at a Cantonese restaurant in high school, and they taught me how to trash talk. People always pronounce it wrong, but that’s the only downfall.”

Pronounced as “bok gwhy,” the band’s name may be difficult to say, but it didn’t stop the guys from getting the attention of an indie label based in Baton Rouge . The band signed with Decimal Records in December 2007 and began touring and recording right away.

“The guys [of Decimal Records] drove down here [to Tuscaloosa], and they told us what they wanted to do, and it sounded good, so we did it and set up a tour. We stopped in Louisiana for five days and recorded. We got 18 songs out of it, but I think we’re going to release 13 songs, and then we’re going to do a split with justinbailey, who is also on the label.”

Baak Gwai’s first full-length album was released in early 2006. They had been trying to record a second full-length with no success until Decimal Records approached them. Since then, the band has finished a four-song EP and hopes this latest attempt at a second album will be released soon.

“We’ve been trying to record a second album forever,” Snowden said. “It’s just never worked out. The [recording] equipment burned out one time. It got too hot in there, and we lost all the files.

“The second time we tried to record it, the guy never mixed it even though we paid him, and that just sucks.”

Even with all the mishaps of recording, Baak Gwai didn’t get discouraged. They used the extra time between the recordings to write new music. Snowden shared his excitement with us of recording in Baton Rouge at the Decimal Records studio.

“It’s awesome to record at Decimal. It’s great to record with a bunch of guys that have some really cool [equipment] to use like telephone mics and different guitars and keyboards. It’s a lot of fun to mess around with.”

Not only are they getting their recorded music to the fans because of their new label, they are getting their music out to people who might not have heard of the band at all. Their unique sound hasn’t changed, but things are different.

“We’re definitely more on the ball. We’ve been trying to play as much as possible and get out as far as possible,” Snowden said. “This August is going to be our first 60- or 90-day tour and we’re going to basically outline the U.S.”