Hua Li

Name, where are you from?
Hua Li, Montreal.

Describe your style in three words?
Suggestive, business-informed streetwear.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Jean Grae played a medium-sized venue in Montreal probably something like five years ago and it was the single most awe-inspiring crowd control I’ve ever seen. Her set ended with everyone in the venue getting into a soul train line. I can’t even remember what tracks she played but the whole experience was the closest thing to a collective ascension.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
I was always drawn to Amy Winehouse as a young musician, but when I watched Amy as an adult I understood that our sensibilities and our songwriting approaches were much more similar than I knew back then.
I feel similarly about Tyler, the Creator. I think we like a lot of the same stuff and approach writing from a similar mind space - hopefully, one day we will share a line-up together and I can ask him!

Which subcultures have influenced you?
As a kid in Victoria BC, I found other weirdos to identify with in punk and indie rock. Later I came to be influenced by Montreal’s queer scene and DIY club cultures, spaces where I found myself and cut my teeth as a DJ spinning '90s hip hop and house classics.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
My father passed away on July 26th of this year. It’s all very fresh for me and I think if I saw him again so soon, for such a short time, it would only pour salt in my wounds, and yet there are some things that I wish I could ask him that I never got the chance to before.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?
My enduring favourite venue is Montreal’s Casa del Popolo. When I first moved to the city as a 17 yr old music nerd, I experienced so many times the feeling of, “wow I can’t believe I get to be here for this history-making live music moment.” I was drawn to the city because of artists like The Unicorns, Tune-Yards and Nomadic Massive and it was amazing to see those scenes so active in spaces like Sala Rossa and Casa del Popolo back then, and even more amazing to play those stages myself just a few years later.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Carole King! One of the great piano playing singer-songwriters! She wrote so many of the classic girl-group tunes that we love, like 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow'. Her album 'Tapestry' was the first CD I ever owned and it has influenced me profoundly.