HCM CITY — After releasing the music video Có Thể (Possible) in February, HCM City indie band Cá Hồi Hoang continues the run with Hết Mực (Run Out of Ink) early this month, as they make plans for a full-length music movie project later this year. 

The video was co-made by Nguyễn Viết Thành and Tuấn Anh. Thành is a multinstrumentalist and the band’s leading vocalist, while Tuấn Anh is cameraman with experience shooting music videos. Despite its catchy, strong and fast rhythm, the song is still fairly experimental.

"We wanted to question ourselves and our audiences about what we would do when we run out of ink—buying a new pen or buying ink," said Thành. 

"Most people are just concerned about the result, not the process. Sometime we have limited time and we are influenced by different ways of thinking to experiment with music. That is why I wrote the song." He focuses on harmonising his music and lyrics. 

Cá Hồi Hoang is one of HCM City’s most popular indie bands. It was founded in 2013 by Thành and Nguyễn Thanh Minh. After releasing their debut album Chapter II in 2014, Thành went to Czech Republic for further music study.

In 2015, the band was reunited with Thành’s return and recruited a third member, bass guitarist Bùi Khắc Đạt. The band had its first performing tour in 2016 with The Livin’ Tour through Hà Nội, HCM City, Đà Lạt and Cần Thơ. Their second album Giấc Mơ Giấy (Paper Dream) was released in July of the same year.

Last year saw a drastic rise in the popularity of the country’s indie bands, including Cá Hồi Hoang. About 400 of the 1,000 copies of the third album Gấp (Hurry) were sold during the Gap Tour 2017 in Hà Nội, Huế, Đà Nẵng and HCM City.

When the album’s name is written in without Vietnamese diacritics, as “Gap”, its English meaning is space—the space in which Cá Hồi Hoang has become more mature and grappled more seriously with the choices between life, career and passion for music. 

"The originality and the narration of Cá Hồi Hoang have made impression to me," said musician Thanh Bùi, who made the top eight in the 2008 Australian Idol competition and now runs the music school Soul Academy in HCM City. 

Gap is also the name the band has chosen for its music movie project which will be launched this June. The movie will combine some songs from Gấp album and some others by the band members’ friends, according to the band manager Nguyễn Thanh Phước. 

"The movie script is written by Thành telling a story about a musician," said Phước. "The story will focus on the psychological development of the musician. We want to make an arthouse movie not for commercial purposes. We hope to screen the movie at arthouse movie cinemas in Hà Nội and HCM City." — VNS