In most Chinese cities, underground bands are known more for their publicity grabbing theatrics, attracting coverage from places like performance art publication New Wave, than for their music. Not so in Shanghai. Out metropolis’ independent rock scene is low on the hubris and heavy on the substance. Exactly what that substance is, however, depends on who you ask. Some enthusiasts focus on the gaggle of plaid flannel-clad punk and grunge bands, with their small but dedicated following of intense, alienated young men. Other observers will counter with the more upbeat, pop-influenced groups, whose mainstream accessibility defines the Shanghai rock scene and brings to it a surprisingly broad audience. The sheer variety of taste, talent and genre exhibited by Shanghai’s rock bands is unrivaled in any other city. As in other facets of the city’s cultural life, an edge of friendly competition ensures that each band strives to carve out its own unique niche and genre. The confusing array that results means that, wherever your tastes lie in the range between head-banging and harmonic hopping, there’s at least one group you’ll enjoy. Despite, or perhaps because of, the wide-ranging variety, there has evolved something of a distinct Shanghai sound, a thread discernable in the works of most of the city’s original bands, regardless of their direction. On the superficial level, there is a polished presentation and a conscience attention to band marketability, whatever the market might be. On the more important musical level, there is a quality of surreality, a detached but beautiful acid-like trippiness, giving voice to the bizarreness of life in a metropolis caught in a time warp while barreling blindly towards an undefined modernization. Shanghai’s best-known rock act Crystal Butterfly (Shuijingdie), musically the “Chinese U2”, have departed for Beijing to record their debut album with the New Bees Indy record label. They are, however, | scheduled to return for a handful of concerts over the next few months, including one with a star-studded line-up including Chinese rock trailblazer Cui Jian and teenybopper band the Flowers, tentatively slated to be held in the Shanghai Stadium in May. Sharing Crystal Butterfly’s album ambitions are their main competitors for the title of Shanghai’s best band, the Honeys (Tianmi de Haizi). The Gin Blossoms-esque pop-rock group, however, has opted to remain in town and record with the newly launched “Fine Music Company”, the city’s first independent label. Meanwhile, some of Shanghai’s more alternative groups shun the prospect of album releases, and continue to focus on live performances. One of the city’s oldest surviving band is Godot (Geduo), named for the absurdist Beckett play, which despite shifting membership has become an underground punk institution. The same can be said for the only slightly newer and heavier band Amplifier (Kuoyinqi). Both rarely perform solo concerts, but are staples of “rock parties” featuring anywhere from three to ten bands. Another group making a splash is the epoynous Chan, which oddly but elegantly mixes Brit-pop listenability with Japanese metal sensibilities. Their sound is utterly unique: cacaphonous but compelling. They’re laying low for the next month or so for personal reasons, but usually play weekly at Xintiandi Ark. Shanghai’s rock scene has in the past two years heated up to the point that new bands, especially on the student level, proliferate like toadstools, with attendant life-spans. Some, however, have persisted to appear on the radar, such as the big-haired young death metal acolytes Sizui and pop rock acts Cold Water (formerly Cold-blooded DNA), which has released two remarkably good demos, and Cool Fairyland (Lengku Xianjing). With older membership, but still working to establish a reputation, is Xi'an import Blue Sea (Lanse de hai). | Their music follows the hard rock Bon Jovi lines so popular with many a 1980s Beijing band, a style viewed suspiciously by the decidedly Eurocentric Shanghai rock denizens, but the nevertheless have secured a recording agreement with the Fine Music Company. Unfortunately Shanghai’s live performance action is rather widely spread and spottily publicized, but two diametrically different spots serve as the hubs. Oddly located for a rock dive is the Japanese-owned Xintiandi Ark, which arguably boasts the best sound system of any bar in China. Drawing on Japan’s tradition of integrating the most grating of rock acts into the mainstream, Ark regularly features a variety of Chinese bands as well as famous Japanese headliners. Shanghainese groups perform regularly on Sunday nights and some weekdays, as well as at periodic weekend afternoon rock parties. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the SUS2 Music Factory. Located beyond the boondocks in Wujiaochang, past Fudan University, and entered via a winding path through a scrap metal yard, SUS2 is the picturesque face of the Shanghai underground. Also functioning as a music school and producing a weekly radio program, SUS2 most weekends holds in its crowded performance room concerts of all sorts of original bands, from the young and untested to the seasoned and reputed.
Xintiandi Ark
SUS2 Music Factory
Shanghai Rock Online:
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City Weekend, April 11, 2002 |