Half the audience stood transfixed; the other half fled. Psychedelic, post-punk rockers Elf Fatima have that effect on audiences.
Their show at the Fringe Club three weeks ago was the loudest that's ever shaken the small venue's walls. It was a performance that intrigued those who withstood the volume, and the band's hypnotic grooves and lengthy improvisational jams singled them out as one of the city's most original acts.
Elf Fatima say they're starting all over again this year - eight years after they formed. Their name - inspired by the Japanese manga series Fatima by Mamoru Nagano - may be familiar to many Hong Kong music fans as the band supported the equally loud Glasgow band, Mogwai, last October.
They've just released a self-titled, second album - recorded and produced in their Kwun Tong studio. It's a darkly psychedelic work of pure post-rock.
'We want to see this as a new start, a new beginning,' says guitarist Eddie Hui when we meet at the Kwun Tong MTR station. He's just back from a trip to Shanghai and has a mandolin and a traditional Chinese gui zheng slung over his shoulders.
The band's studio is in a factory that houses other bands such as King Ly Chee. The Fatima Factory is on the top floor: purple walls, drapes hanging from the ceiling, Pink Floyd posters and Hindu deities. Jimi Hendrix plays Purple Haze on the TV and the PA system oozes the sounds of the gui zheng.