After playing in a short lived
grunge cover band together in their teens, Adrian Da Silva and Don Cruz regrouped in the summer of 1996 to write
Brit/
indie-rock style music, a relatively new musical direction for them. After recording a demo and recruiting bassist Wade Bolingbroke and drummer Alex Lee, 'Cry' (later renamed
Audiotraffic) was signed to Wings Music Entertainment. In 1998, Cry's first album was recorded and produced by Benjamin LeFevre, a music veteran who has worked with the likes of
Pet Shop Boys,
The Rolling Stones and
Van Halen. Adrian and Don travelled to
London to do a final mixing of their CD, spending just 11 days on recording and post production. Wade and Alex left the band for personal reasons and were replaced by Woo Joo Lee and
Masaki Heung respectively. The band has since spent the last few years playing at various venues and events, appearing on television, film, radio, online and in print. One of the highlights of their career has been opening and supporting the British rock group
Mansun on their 1999 tour of Hong Kong. The band was particularly grateful for the personal praise and encouragement that they received from Mansun following their performance. They have also opened for
Rialto,
Swedish group
Prime STH, and
Brett Anderson and
Bernard Butler’s band
The Tears. Now independent from Wings Music Entertainment and as of 2003 renamed 'Audiotraffic', the band continued on their path to bring their music to a larger audience. Audiotraffic actively contributed to the Hong Kong entertainments scene having co-written and performed on the soundtrack for the 2003
Eason Chan and
Louis Koo film 'Naked Ambition', and appeared in
Jackie Chan's 2004 film '
New Police Story'. They have been a popular act at the
Rockit Hong Kong Music Festival in 2003 and 2004, sharing the main stage with artists such as
The 5.6.7.8's (the band from the
Tarantino film
Kill Bill: Vol. 1),
Aqualung,
Electric Eel Shock, and
The Cooper Temple Clause. In 2005 they were relegated to the Marquee Stage at the festival to make way for other local bands. In 2004, Audiotraffic were the winners of the Hong Kong region in the
World Battle of the Bands competition . As regional finalists they qualified to represent Hong Kong at the World final held in
Auckland,
New Zealand, where they competed with other finalists from the
Asia Pacific region. Audiotraffic lost out to the local
Kiwi finalists, but received an honorable mention from the judges. Whilst in New Zealand, Audiotraffic toured the country for two weeks with the other finalists making several TV appearances and radio broadcasts. ==Trivia==