Transnoodle
Date Formed: December 2005
Location: Hong Kong
Website: www.myspace.com/transnoodle
Description: Bouncy ska, reggae and latin beats with vibrant brass, thumping basslines and scratchy guitar.
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Live @ Roots Rumble Feb 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 2009
Credits: Sarah Liegeois: Alto Sax
Magnus Norberg: Drums
Orlando Osenda: Trombone
Josh O'Connor: Vocals
Andrew Parkinson: Guitar
John Saeki: Guitar, Vocals
Matt Steele: Keyboard
Kevin Voight: Bass
Description: Live opening up for El Destroyo, Go Jimmy Go and Astrophonix at Grappa's Feb 28(?) 2009
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Port Royal (Roots Rumble) |  | Listen (3:48) | Download (5.4 MB) | Starter for our set at Roots Rumble | |
| 2. | Bambi (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (4:26) | Download (6.3 MB) | The song that almost broke up Transnoodle! | |
| 3. | Down in the Delhi (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (4:12) | Download (6.0 MB) | The Roots Rumble version of Delhi | |
| 4. | Hong Kong (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (4:45) | Download (6.8 MB) | Welcome to the HK bitch? Hey, you think up 100+ liner notes. | |
| 5. | Spicy Island (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (3:20) | Download (4.8 MB) | A good fast version with a good solo and great energy. | |
| 6. | Ferry Pier (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (4:18) | Download (6.1 MB) | What you do when you're not a slave to others... | |
| 7. | Sham Shui Po (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (3:42) | Download (5.3 MB) | This is a really good version of this one. Matt on key solo. *Explicit Lyrics* Hahaha | |
| 8. | Poh Wah Yuen (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (4:10) | Download (5.9 MB) | Pretty energetic version. Set closer. | |
| 9. | Monkey Magic (Roots Rumble) | | Listen (4:08) | Download (5.9 MB) | The encore, and probably the best live version of this cover song from the cult 70s Japanese series. |
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Other recordings
Release Date: 2008
Description: Demos and Live stuff was getting too big, so this is where we will put the various studio recordings that are NOT the EP. So the Live albums will just be live albums without any studio tracks.
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Pohwahyuen (first EP mix) | | Listen (3:48) | Download (5.4 MB) | Thi sis teh first mix off the upcoming Transnoodle EP. We decided NOT to keep this mis because Josh tried this jazzier vocal and decided it sucked later. | |
| 2. | Hong Kong (first EP mix) | | Listen (3:48) | Download (5.4 MB) | First mix of Hong Kong for the upcoming Transnoodle EP. Includes Matt Steele on keyboards! | |
| 3. | Down in the Deli - (first EP mix) | | Listen (3:48) | Download (5.4 MB) | First mix of Down in the Deli for upcoming Transnoodle EP. | |
| 4. | Ferry Pier - first EP Mix | | Listen (3:58) | Download (4.7 MB) | ||
| 5. | Spicy Island - first EP Mix | | Listen (2:40) | Download (3.2 MB) | ||
| 6. | Port Royal - Underground Compilation Version | | Listen (4:18) | We finally recorded this for Underground Comp #2 | ||
| 7. | Transnoodle - Underground Version | | Listen (5:28) | Download (10.4 MB) | Also recorded for Und2 Comp. | |
| 8. | I Need a Mormon (John's Demo) | | Listen (4:01) | Download (4.8 MB) | This is John's demo of a song he wrote after he saw some Mormons hassling an Indonesian girl. It's about going to excess! Yeah! | View Lyrics |
| 9. | Spicy Island (Demo) | | Listen (2:40) | Download (3.2 MB) | Sad song about lost love & curry... which does he miss more? | |
| 10. | People Aren't Bad (they're just crap) - John's Demo | | Listen (4:03) | Download (4.8 MB) | John wrote this after a bunch of us missed several practices... | |
| 11. | Bambi (Josh's Reggae Instrumental Demo) | | Listen (2:35) | Download (2.4 MB) | Just something I threw together with the wife on the keyboard and clock radio in the kitchen... We sped this up and transposed it to make the current version of Bambi... | View Lyrics |
| 12. | Bury the Harbour (John's Reggae Demo) | | Listen (2:57) | Download (3.5 MB) | On this version it doesn't switch to ragga during the verses. | |
| 13. | Polonium 210 (John's Demo) | | Listen (3:20) | Download (4.0 MB) | If you have seen this new song explode into frenzied dancing and wondered what the words were, here's your chance. Contains quotes from ex-KGB agent Litvinenko who later died of radiation poisoning. There's also dogs on this recording. | View Lyrics |
| 14. | Sham Shui Po (John's Demo) | | Listen (4:24) | Download (5.2 MB) | Kind of a 80s Reggae feel to this version of the song about the downfall of a Hong Kong popstar. John's demos never sound like the final versions but they always have interesting stuff in them. | |
| 15. | Rumours (John's Demo) | | Listen (3:25) | Download (4.0 MB) | The demo for this song doesn't include the last verse from the live version. | |
| 16. | Body Snatchers (John's Demo) | | Listen (4:45) | Download (5.6 MB) | About the grim practice of murdering people to give their corpses to the morgue ... so their real family members can be buried illegally. Happens in the mainland, a lot. | View Lyrics |
| 17. | Down in the Deli (Studio Demo) | | Listen (4:16) | Download (6.1 MB) | First studio demo of this song about the woes of the world and how to forget them. Vocal by John Saeki. | |
| 18. | Bury the Harbor (Studio demo) | | Listen (3:14) | Download (4.6 MB) | The first studio recording of this song about building a land bridge between Central and TST! John Saeki does the ragga parts with a lot of piss on this version. | |
| 19. | Black Rain (Studio Demo) | | Listen (3:22) | Download (4.8 MB) | First studio demo of Black Rain, with lead guitar by Andrew Parkinson and vocal segue by John Saeki. | |
| 20. | Ferry Pier (Studio Demo) | | Listen (4:32) | Download (6.5 MB) | First studio recording of Ferry Pier. Don't live to work, work to live, as they say. |
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Live @ China Tea Club, Dec 12 2008
Release Date: 2009
Description: This was a birthday party for our friend Katherine. We had a sound engineer there.
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | I Need a Mormon | | Listen (4:33) | Download (6.5 MB) | Another, decently fast version of this song. | |
| 2. | Port Royal | | Listen (3:27) | Download (4.9 MB) | Stomping version of this one about the pirates and their downfall. | |
| 3. | Huddersfield | | Listen (4:32) | Download (6.5 MB) | He wants to go back there. And then he doesn't. | |
| 4. | Spicy Island | | Listen (3:26) | Download (4.9 MB) | That song about that sad bastard and his curries | |
| 5. | Fu Manchu (Desmond Dekker Cover) | | Listen (3:08) | Download (4.5 MB) | My favorite version of this has Barney Bruce on keys doing something really cool and dub. But I like this version too. | |
| 6. | Sham Shui Po | | Listen (4:39) | Download (6.6 MB) | Downfall of a pop icon, due mostly to other people's prudishness in a city that ranks near the bottom of the Durex survey. He'd be huge in America. | |
| 7. | Ferry Pier / Boys Don't Cry (live) | | Listen (5:22) | Download (7.7 MB) | Better than avereage rendition of the Cure cover added at the end. | |
| 8. | Monkey Magic | | Listen (4:45) | Download (6.8 MB) | We hadn't played this one in awhile. Gets pretty good n crazy at the end. |
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Underground 63 at Cavern
Genre: Ska/Reggae/Latin
Release Date: 2008
Credits: John - vocal, guitar
Koya - bass
Orlando - trombone
Magnus -drums
Matt - keyboard
Josh - vocal
Description: LINK: http://undergroundhk.com/podcast/u63/U63Transnoodle.mp3
This was a show done at the Cavern that went pretty well. They have a fantastic sound system and engineer so we got this great recording from Underground. A whole show in one file, the best sound quality of any live recording we have. Enjoy!
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Spicy Island (Underground 63) | | Listen (4:55) | Download (11.8 MB) | John can't turn off the distortion on his amp so for the first time you can hear this song with thick power chords, haha... | |
| 2. | Port Royal (Underground 63) | | Listen (4:18) | Download (10.3 MB) | Too much has already been said about this song. Now with distortion. | |
| 3. | I Need a Mormon (Underground 63) | | Listen (5:00) | Download (11.9 MB) | I Need a Mormon with distorted guitar | |
| 4. | Huddersfield (Underground 63) | | Listen (4:39) | Download (11.1 MB) | Now with distorted guitar. John's hopping mad by this point but Chris is thinking it sounds superb. | |
| 5. | Sham Shui Po (Underground 63) | | Listen (3:51) | Download (9.2 MB) | These are all good versions, and you'll never hear them with distorted guitar elsewhere. | |
| 6. | Hong Kong (Underground 63) | | Listen (4:15) | Download (10.2 MB) | Coming to the end of the set with this one. | |
| 7. | Poh Wah Yuen (Underground 63) | | Listen (3:57) | Download (9.4 MB) | Now with distortion, the closer of this set. |
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Fringe Club May 18 2008
Genre: Ska / Reggae / Samba
Release Date: 2008
Description: This was a different set as we played a lot of new songs for the first time.
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Fu Manchu (cover) | | Listen (9:23) | Download (13.5 MB) | Words to the wise from Desmond Dekker, the reggae pioneer | |
| 2. | Huddersfield | | Listen (4:32) | Download (6.5 MB) | A recent history of Hong Kong through English eyes | |
| 3. | Sham Shui Po | | Listen (4:39) | Download (6.6 MB) | Dedicated to that pop star who videoed himself having sex with Hong Kong's most innocent starlets... | |
| 4. | Bambi | | Listen (5:24) | Download (7.7 MB) | A song written by Josh's wife, about an older guy who returns to the dating scene and tries to explain to a 30-year old woman why she's way too young for him. | |
| 5. | Ferry Pier | | Listen (4:09) | Download (5.9 MB) | After trying out the new song for the first time, it felt like time for an old standard. | |
| 6. | Pousada de Coloane | | Listen (4:56) | Download (7.1 MB) | The best performance of this song yet ... bit noisy on the recording but on fire. | |
| 7. | Port Royal | | Listen (3:27) | Download (4.9 MB) | Set closer for a double-shot of piracy. |
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Transnoodle LIVE @ Fringe Jul 27 2007
Genre: Ska
Release Date: 2008
Credits: Guest players:
Koya Hisakazu - Bass
Joseph Fuego - Trombone
Description: We sort of play ska mixed with punk mixed with latin and African influences. Mostly we just play music for people to dance to.
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Spicy Island LIVE at Fringe Club July 27 2007 | | Listen (2:40) | Download (3.8 MB) | Since You've gone... I've been missing all the curry that we used to eat... at the spicy island.... | |
| 2. | Ferry Pier b/w Boys Don't Cry LIVE at Fringe Club Jul 27 2007 | | Listen (6:21) | Download (9.1 MB) | Dedicated to those who take a boat to work. And the band that was in town that weekend. | |
| 3. | Poh Wah Yuen LIVE at Fringe Club Jul 27 2007 | | Listen (3:21) | Download (4.8 MB) | The rockingest song about reading ever. | |
| 4. | Monkey Magic (Cover) LIVE at Fringe Jul 27 2007 | | Listen (4:13) | Download (6.0 MB) | Theme from the popular TV show 'Monkey'. | |
| 5. | Down in the Deli LIVE at Fringe Jul 27 2007 | | Listen (4:06) | Download (5.9 MB) | The Deli is a bar on Lamma Island where our guitarist is wont to dance on the tables. | |
| 6. | The Journey LIVE at the Fringe Club Jul 27 2007 | | Listen (4:45) | Download (6.8 MB) | A song about Khaled el-Masri, an Arab German who found out about extraordinary rendition and secret CIA prisons firsthand. | |
| 7. | Hong Kong LIVE at Fringe Jul 27 2007 | | Listen (4:40) | Download (6.7 MB) | Dedicated to the US Navy boys stumbling through the steaming streets of Hong Kong. |
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Underground Feb 9 2007
Genre: Ska/Punk/Latin
Release Date: 2007
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 01 Down in the Deli LIVE | | Listen (5:37) | Download (8.0 MB) | Featuring Joe Fuego on trombone | |
| 2. | 02 Ferry Pier LIVE | | Listen (5:14) | Download (7.5 MB) | Ode to nonwork pursuits | |
| 3. | 03 Black Rain LIVE | | Listen (3:22) | Download (4.8 MB) | If you have never seen a black rainstorm it really is BLACK. This song also addresses John's fixation with a particular pop star. | |
| 4. | 04 Bury the Harbour LIVE | | Listen (4:02) | Download (5.8 MB) | Our political song for '08 - Land reclamation all the way, baby, Till Hong Kong's not even an island anymore! | |
| 5. | 05 Port Royal LIVE | | Listen (4:14) | Download (6.1 MB) | Written from a scrap of a song devised by Noah Roy and Tom Hughes in the 90s, this rousing paean to pirates and pre-Kingston Jamaica is 13 years in the making. | View Lyrics |
| 6. | 06 Hong Kong LIVE | | Listen (5:20) | Download (7.6 MB) | Dedicated to shore leave | |
| 7. | 07 Pohwahyuen LIVE | | Listen (4:00) | Download (5.7 MB) | A live version of Pohwahyuen with trumpet & trombone |
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Transnoodle LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08
Genre: Ska/Reggae/Samba
Release Date: 2008
Description: Two sets of Transnoodle in Hong Kong's legendary rock pub.
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 Port Royal LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (6:14) | Download (8.9 MB) | Set opener about pirates in Jamaica | |
| 2. | 2 Spicy Island LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (2:48) | Download (4.0 MB) | His wife left him and now he hangs out at the same curry shop feeling sorry for himself. | |
| 3. | 3 Hong Kong LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:06) | Download (5.9 MB) | A US Navy boy's experiences in Wanchai leave him confused | |
| 4. | 4 Sampan LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:00) | Download (5.7 MB) | A woman arranges the transport that will take her away from her lover forever | |
| 5. | 5 Another Weary Sunday LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (3:45) | Download (5.3 MB) | How to escape from the drudgery of the workweek | |
| 6. | 6 The Journey LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:24) | Download (6.3 MB) | Khaled al-Masri fights to get back home after being kidnapped and sent to a secret CIA prison. A true story! | |
| 7. | 7 Bury the Harbor LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:26) | Download (6.3 MB) | Our 3-word political platform. Dedicated to Christine Loh for all her hard work against turning Victoria Harbour into one big mall. | |
| 8. | 8 Monkey Magic (cover) LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:09) | Download (5.9 MB) | Cover of the theme from the cult 70s TV show about Bhuddhism | |
| 9. | 9 Huddersfield LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:33) | Download (6.5 MB) | Debut live performance of new song about the trials and triumphs of a British expat in Hong Kong, from Chungking Mansion to the 2004 Tsunami | |
| 10. | 10 Down in the Deli LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:15) | Download (6.1 MB) | Forgetting the woes of the world on a tabletop in a bar | |
| 11. | 11 I Need a Mormon LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (4:52) | Download (7.0 MB) | Live recording of John's view of religion's potential to solve your ills | |
| 12. | 12 Ferry Pier LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (5:03) | Download (7.2 MB) | Y'all know Ferry Pier, our sort-of-Ska anthem | |
| 13. | 13 Pohwayuen LIVE @ Wanch Jan 29 08 | | Listen (3:33) | Download (5.1 MB) | Another of our usual suspects... thrill to this song about reading |
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Makumba 8-8-08
Release Date: 2008
Credits: Josh, Orlando, Koya, Sarah, Josh, Matt and featuring Barney Bruce on cowbell. Thanks to Hamada for a spot of pre-show audio engineering!
Description: The first of our "Three Summer Nights" gigs at Makumba. This one was the same day as the opening ceremony for the Olympics! We were lucky to still have a good crowd!
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Old Quarry | | Listen (3:20) | Download (4.8 MB) | This is an old song about expats living in Hong Kong | |
| 2. | Spicy Island | | Listen (3:26) | Download (4.9 MB) | Spicy Island restaurant is moving, so it IS closed, making this song all the more poignant. | |
| 3. | Fu Manchu (Cover) | | Listen (3:41) | Download (5.2 MB) | Cover of a rocksteady classic by Desmond Dekker. About not bragging about your money. | |
| 4. | Sampan | | Listen (3:20) | Download (4.8 MB) | Song about the little boat for hire, that gets us out when we've stayed too long. | |
| 5. | Huddersfield | | Listen (4:32) | Download (6.5 MB) | Story of an English guy in Hong Kong over the years. This was funny because teh bass player started playing another totally different song... hence a very long and meandering instrumental segue in the beginning... we got there in the end. | |
| 6. | Pousada de Coloane | | Listen (4:56) | Download (7.1 MB) | This is the story of Caloy the Dog and Maria Catalina .. who had teh curves of a Ford Cortina, but wasn't enough to keep Caloy from the sea.... Heh, thi sis our answer to "Hotel California" (also popular in the Philippines...) | |
| 7. | Port Royal | | Listen (3:27) | Download (4.9 MB) | Just to carry on the theme of pirates... | |
| 8. | Monkey Magic (Cover) | | Listen (4:26) | Download (6.3 MB) | Getting into the finale of the first set.... some girl disses a guy in Cantonese at the top of this song. | |
| 9. | I Need a Mormon | | Listen (4:33) | Download (6.5 MB) | First set closer... a bit of something for all the religious folks in the audience. | |
| 10. | Jockey Full of Bourbon (cover) | | Listen (3:34) | Cover of the Tom Waits classic from Rain Dogs about... well, about a lotta stuff. | ||
| 11. | Black Rain | | Listen (3:23) | Download (4.8 MB) | We keep dusting this one off. This performance was of course right smack in typhoon season. | |
| 12. | Ferry Pier | | Listen (4:09) | Download (5.9 MB) | Old standard about taking the Ferry to work (a continuation of a nautical theme? I dunno. Liner notes are hard.) | |
| 13. | Beyond (Cover) | | Listen (2:22) | Download (3.4 MB) | This spooky tarantella or tango-influenced song is a ska clkassic from Kentrick Patrick that hasn't been very widely played. It's kind of a lyrical forerunner to "Every Breath You Take". | |
| 14. | Transnoodle | | Listen (4:19) | Download (6.2 MB) | It's the song of the story of the legend of Transnoodle... | |
| 15. | Down in the Deli | | Listen (4:03) | Download (5.8 MB) | Song about John's favorite place to have a beer. I have never seen him dance on a table... or dance, really. | |
| 16. | Bury the Harbour | | Listen (4:05) | Download (5.8 MB) | This is the band's "Political Statement" on the paving of Victoria Harbour. In this special live version, John forgets all the words and I am heard to proclaim "we are fucked", but then things get going again. | |
| 17. | The Journey | | Listen (4:02) | Download (5.8 MB) | Hey, maybe we're lucky and won't have any more CIA prisons in Europe soon. Ya wonder, though. | |
| 18. | Poh Wah Yuen | | Listen (3:25) | Download (4.9 MB) | Get out your library books and reading glasses, punk fans! | |
| 19. | Hong Kong | | Listen (4:49) | Download (6.9 MB) | This song incorporates the horn line from "Confucius" by the Skatalites. It's part of a sort of old-ska trio with "Beyond" and "Fu Manchu" | |
| 20. | Encore: Sham Shui Po (fast) & Monkey Magic | | Listen (0:00) | Download (11.1 MB) | Closing the set by reprising these two songs... this is the fastest version of SSP we've done. Followed by our cover of the song from the TV show of the old tale "Journey into the West" |
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Live at Underground 52 @ Club Cixi
Genre: Ska
Release Date: 2008
Credits: Sarah, Sam, Matt, Andy, Kevin, Magnus, John, Josh, Koya
Description: Probably the best show we've ever played, and as close to the full band as we've ever gotten! (it WAS the full band at that time)
| Title | Listen | Download | Descriptions | Lyrics | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Port Royal | | Listen (3:27) | Download (4.9 MB) | Ode to the mercenaries who plundered from this Jamaican pirate town. | |
| 2. | Spicy Island | | Listen (3:26) | Download (4.9 MB) | Cryin' in his curry... poor sod. | |
| 3. | Pohwahyuen | | Listen (3:33) | Download (5.1 MB) | Get thee to a library! Read a book, son. | |
| 4. | Huddersfield | | Listen (4:32) | Download (6.5 MB) | The sun has set on the British Empire but not on British ne'er-do-wells and blackguards like our hero who started off in a pub and ended up Vice-President of a bank. | |
| 5. | Down in the Deli | | Listen (4:03) | Download (5.8 MB) | Dance the week away, forget your troubles. | |
| 6. | I Need a Mormon (Live) | | Listen (4:33) | Download (6.5 MB) | Great live version (finally) of John's song about the benefits of the Christian life. | |
| 7. | Ferry Pier | | Listen (4:09) | Download (5.9 MB) | We really get into the chorus at the end of this one and believe us, playing in the band is what makes us feel alive in the REAL WORLD. | |
| 8. | Hong Kong | | Listen (4:49) | Download (6.9 MB) | A tribute to the Skatalites, featuring the melody line from 'Confucius'. this is the set closer. | |
| 9. | Monkey Magic (cover) | | Listen (3:53) | Download (5.5 MB) | Our first encore was the Cover of the TV theme ... this time for all the Aussies! | |
| 10. | The Journey | | Listen (4:02) | Download (5.8 MB) | We NEVER close with this song since it's kinda heavy subject matter about Khaled El-Masri who was kidnapped into a secret CIA prison... but it was the closer that night. Maybe it was the loudest song we hadn't yet played. |
-English 
-Mandarin 
-Cantonese 
-Instrumental