This was also the time she became a DJ and vinyl collector. “There was a strong music culture [in Brazil], where people are passionate about music and respect those who play on vinyl,” she says – and when the Chinese-American DJ relocated to Hong Kong, “the first thing I saw was that nobody was DJing on vinyl in clubs”.
Is Hong Kong seeing a vinyl revival? Record store owners on a growing trend
Is Hong Kong seeing a vinyl revival? Record store owners on a growing trend
In late 2020, she decided to take matters into her own hands and co-founded Bad Times Disco with fellow Hong Kong newbie and DJ, Japan-born Yuki Kai.
The duo wanted to “start the culture of people playing records in actual parties” and to “dissociate vinyl from that ‘upscale listening bar’ kind of sit-down, adult music”.
Hao adds that they “have definitely been part of this big vinyl revival here. Now, you’ll see multiple DJs and collectives playing records in an actual club and party context”.
Founded during Covid-19, Bad Times Disco was named for what Hao calls the “overlapping crises of the 21st century”.
Instead of seeing music as just escapism and entertainment, Hao says the collective is “very much a political, cultural, social project”, as it “talks about real issues, [raises funds] and does solidarity work”.
We’re less connected to the music scene here because we’re so culturally different from the nightlife culture that currently exists in Hong Kong
The collective’s main beat is, of course, music and parties. Hao again cites her experience in Brazil, where “the parties were really good in Rio”.
“It’s not just about the DJ line-up; it’s also about the production value, the care, the design, the lighting and the artwork. I just didn’t see that level of production when I came here,” she says.
“We put a lot of love into our parties. No one else in Hong Kong is doing them the way we are because we approach every single one as if we were gallery curators. For every party, there’s a specific set design, custom lighting, performances, art exhibits and installations – every booking is an all-vinyl party and each one is really special.”
She says Bad Times Disco is more “connected to nightlife outside Hong Kong”, and that those who go to the collective’s events are not necessarily part of the local music scene, but “more of the art and creative worker crowd”.
This could also be because of the fact she does not confine herself to specific genres, and considers music to be “a lifelong journey”, especially since, as a DJ and vinyl collector, she is “constantly digging and listening to new music”.
Since its inception, the collective has hosted numerous vinyl fairs around Hong Kong, which Hao says mostly catered to DJs and “nerdy collectors”. But now that priority is shifting to Bad Times Records, which she co-owns with her partner Daniel Stoelzner.
Aside from buying and selling vinyl of “rare grooves” and hosting different genre nights, Hao says the store may also serve as a platform to “fully showcase the depth and breadth of everything I play”.
The bricks-and-mortar shop is open until June 11, when it will close ahead of the DJ’s summer tour.
