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Feb
26thSubJam Remembered: The Underground Archives
ah.. the good old days! Stories that can pick you up, transport you into specific dates in your past and bring a slight nostalgic smile. I just had that happen while reading this passges written back in 2005 by good old Jon Campbell: But the minute my buddy walked in the door, I re-imagined what was, prior to his arrival, a cold, dirty Tuesday night at a shitty little Beijing club, as a different kind of Event altogether. For one, there is the process of getting to the club. Imagine, in a language you can speak, convincing a taxi driver to take you into the Drive-In, navigating your way down the dark tree-lined drive through a small strip of clubs, restaurants, and RV rental outlets (by the hour or the day; with driver or without), across a grass field, left at one of Beijing’s three old-school Volkswagen Beetles parked eternally in front of a filthy bar with the suspiciously-Apartheid-sounding name of Kafer Bar, and through the two Army-issue camouflage quilts hanging vertically in front of the door of 2 Kolegas (in Chinese, “Two Good Friends”, in ‘English’, generally referred to as “Dos Kolegas”). The quilts are one line of defense against the winter chill: The coal stove, which is refuelled with coal cakes, bits of wood, and cigarette butts regularly, is the second, but the only thing that really works is packing the room full. Once you’re inside the bar, you know you’re In. You look around at the kinds [...]
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Jul
17th[Book Review] Dave O’Dell’s Inseparable: the Birth of Punk Anarchy in the old P.R.CI generally consider myself pretty lucky to be here in Beijing at this moment in time, being witness, chronicler and sometime participant to the ever growing underground Rock n Roll scene. These are amazing times and I’d never thought in a million years that i’d somehow be part of it. And While I’m pretty knowledgeable about the current scene, I love getting more information about its past and compare it to what we have now. Good friend Jon Campbell wrote his Red Rock with was nothing short of amazing: a beautifully constructed dissection of Yao Gun and its roots! It’s probably my favorite history book so far. Now, we get another gem in the form of Dave O’dell’s Inseparable: The Memoirs Of An American And The Story Of Chinese Punk Rock . David O’Dell was one of the earliest supporters of the Chinese punk rock scene that started taking shape in 1995 in Beijing both as a friend of the scene and as a musician. He is now a Physics teacher over in Texas. The book is a rich and uniquely personal collection of stories, over one hundred previously unreleased photos and translated song lyrics from the earliest Chinese punk bands and the dizzying development of the scene I got my paws on this baby quite a while back and i kept forgetting to write about it when i really should have… and for many reasons: The book is a beautiful, honest and slightly biased history of a specific era [...]
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May
30th‘dazeFEAST 2012 -Celebrating 3 Years of Music and Friendswell, I guess this might be one of the worst kept secrets in Beijing folks but it’s time to make this baby official: When I set out to organize ‘dazeFEAST last year in June, I had absolutely no idea it turn into a gigantic party with over 800 people showing up at 2 Kolegas on a sunny June afternoon. I also had no idea that Beijing would grace us with such a beautiful day considering that the previous Thursday, the city was flooded beyond belief with cars literally floating about the streets. ‘dazeFEAST was so mind-blowing that i figured it best to just make it a one off and keep the memories. As the months went by and people asked, my answer stayed the same: No Way… It Ain’t gonna be the same…. too mafan… An then I thought better of it… ‘dazeFEAST was about celebration, friends, music, good times and just partying it out with my music buddies in my favorite venue in town! It’s got no standards to live-up to and as long as myself and the musicians are there, we have enough people to drink the bar empty! So guess what folks? for the third year anniversary of the blog 摇滚朋友们，大家好！ 不好意思等这么久才通知你们。因为最近特别忙，而且最近的音乐节较多，我怕太早通知大家也不太好。虽然通知发的比较晚，但我还希望大家都期待参加这年的‘dazeFeast！ You’ve asked! They’ve asked! They volunteered, I Agreed!! Say Hello to ‘dazeFEAST 2012!!! what: ‘dazeFEAST 2012 when: Saturday June 23rd 2012 – Starting at 4:00 p.m. where: 2 Kolegas who: my favorite bands as well as anyone who appreciates a good party how much: No [...]
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May
24thYugong Yishan: Still The King.. and more award for 2 Kolegas, Temple, The Stable, Hot Club and Residence Aa lot of happenings in town the last few week have kept me beyond busy with half a dozen unfinished reviews.. They’ll come out sooner or later! In the meantime, a few things have been happening: Yugong Yishan took home the award for Best Live music venue for both The Beijinger and City Weekend Awards. There’s not much that can be said other than Congratulations!! The past year, it’s been a bit better but I’ve also not gone there as much so I’ve had less chances to bitch about it. Still, they hosted Simple Plan, Grand Master Flash, Jorma and more whereas the other Beijing venues have struggled to get any big names that expats recognize. The win makes sense. 2 Kolegas continues to play second fiddle with both an editor’s award ( City Weekend) and an outstanding award ( Beijinger). I love the place and as they get to celebrate their 7th anniversary, I extend my thanks and best wishes to them. This year, they’ve upped the ante quite a bit with renovations, better planning, better promotion overall. They seem slightly more organized but just as fun and crazy as they ever were! See you over the weekend folks! Temple has arrived with a bang and is already making huge waves in Gulou… The place took home an outstanding mention at the Beijinger awards. The gang over there is putting all the venues on notice and forcing them to up their standards i hope. They got a good ear [...]
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Mar
1stLive Music Quickslants: Torturing Nurse, AIS Returns, 2 Kolegas Reopens & moreThis week has really flown by folks. It’s already Thursday and I’m bracing myself for a busy fun few days ahead! If you haven’t done so yet, go ahead at read jtdj’s review of the Pains show last Saturday. It has sparked a lovely discussion with over 20 comments and still going.. Great exchange on there! So, what’s happening this week? Thursday March 1 Bye Bye for South By @ Yugong I’m not sure yet whether I’m going to this one or not but I feel obligated! I might not care about most of the bands on here but they are getting ready to head to Austin where they will be the flag-bearers for China. I’m pretty sure Nova Heart is gonna bring the heat but all the others have not played in quite sometime and I’m not sure how/where they stand. I actually haven’t seen carsick cars play in over two years so if i want to retain my right to criticize them, I gotta at least make an effort. I’m also curious about Rustic‘s new lineup. I’m guessing it’s gonna be packed! Steerage @ Modernista A new Irish music outfit in Beijing by the sound of things… The way they advertise themselves is intriguing enough and they mention the word “ukulele” which is as far away from my idea of Irish music as can be. Could be interesting. Friday March 2 Ningxia Night @ 2Kolegas At last, those lazy bastard have decided to come out of the spring [...]
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Nov
27thThe great Beijing gig crawl: three venues, five bands, one great night in the ‘Jing.Sometimes I wonder if the sheer amount of shows on in this city is a blessing or a curse. There’s been countless times I’ve wanted to split myself in 3 to make sure I don’t miss anything. Saturday was one of those nights. After a mellow Friday hanging out 5 mins from home at Old What I was really to tackle the challenge of the Beijing Gig Crawl and try navigate my way to three shows I wanted to see on the same night. First up Hot Cat for Illness Sickness. I first saw these guys a few weeks ago at Mao, originally going because a) Residence A were on the bill, b) I know IS’s bass player and wanted to check out his band and c) they’re post-rock, my current obsession. One of the things I love about post-rock is that it can build from the softest plucking of the guitar to the full force of a metal band and back within one song and this is something IS do really well. They played two new songs at Hot Cat which were a bit heavier than the ones on their douban and I’m really liking the new stuff. Hot Cat’s sound system doesn’t always play nice and I’ve heard a few bands struggle with it, IS used it to their advantage though, they were loud, but not too loud that people couldn’t stand up front. Another thing I like about these guys is that they’re super organized, they have [...]
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Jul
11thLiDong & LaoDa play for the family at 2KolegasThere was a great post on City Weekend last week about the underrated Old What Bar and how it’s so much friendlier than other music venues in this city. I agree with Liz that Mao, Yugong and others are not the best places to go just to hang out and make friends with other music lovers. You got there for the show and leave when it’s done. But spend enough time out at 2Kolegas and you become one of the extended family of musicians and music lovers that call the drive-in their second home. And that’s just what it felt like on Friday night for the LiDong / Zhao Yiran (LaoDa) show, like you were standing in your living room surrounded by family, watching your brothers, cousins and uncle play. Both LiDong and LaoDa are originally from Ningxia, as are the 2Kolegas owners, so when I got out there around 10.30 the crew were all there drinking and chatting as any other Friday night. LiDong started around 11pm, to a modest crowd of mainly regulars. They played a great set of their north-west China infused folk songs. The standard run of a LiDong set is LiXia singing with his guitar the first song, then joined by GuiXian singing harmony on the second, then ZhangQian comes in on drums and Guixian plays bass for the third, by the fourth song Wu KeJia joins them on stage and the band is complete. Sometimes for festivals such as Ditan or dazeFEAST they are [...]
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Jun
28th‘dazeFEAST: The aftermath of a day filled with Sunshine, Music, Love and CelebrationI’m not sure where to start reviewing this baby because it’s so close to my heart and it’s very very very freaking biased but here comes folks! It’s gonna be a long one so buckle up and get a cup of coffee! I’ll start off by thanking 2 Kolegas for being the perfect venue and the Beijing Meteorological Bureau for their outmost cooperation. I need to thank the amazing Ruby for being at my side throughout the whole thing and helping keep the show rolling smooth. Trust me folks, dealing with 15 bands and their schedules was not an easy feat and she was a freaking Champ. Couldn’t have pulled it through without you babe! Thank you to Iris, Grace, Fiona and Mo Mo for manning the merch table I also need to thank Jaime Welton of Black Cat Bone/Bad Mamasan for cutting his vacation short to come and play ‘dazeFEAST no matter how hard that was. Huge thanks go out to Yang from Painkiller Mag and Rock in China for sorting out the Orange Amps Another big ups for Chery Bomb of the Flying Mantas for helping get flyers sorted out Thanks to Lauren Johnson, nightlife editor at City Weekend for the huge support she provided over the past few weeks. Thanks to Timeout, The Beijinger, Beijing Boyce, Beijing Gig Guide and Music Dish China and all others for also listing the event. A huge round of applause to all the bands and musicians because without the bands, there [...]
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Jun
8thToo many shows, too little time – just another weekend in the ‘Jing!I was a little surprised when BD described last weekend as “underwhelming” in the Quickslants! From what I could see it was shaping up to be a great weekend with many shows I wanted to get to. Maybe he needed a weekend off, but I was making the most of what was on offer and here’s what I got up to over the long weekend. Die! Die! Die! @ D22 My second trip out to the Wu this year was for a punk band from my hometown, Dunedin. I’ve been away from home long enough not to have seen these guys play live before, but had heard the name and a check of their douban & myspace during the week confirmed they were worth the trip out north. A friend had pre-warned me their shows are infamous for using every inch of the venue and they definitely did that. First song started and lead singer Andrew was already climbing the speaker stack to play to the people on the balcony! Check out this video Alex from www.beijinggigguide.com got of the last song from where we were standing, just out of the moshpit. And the music? Loud distorted noise punk, very bass and drum heavy, and a lot rawer and heavier than their current record Form, which I had been listening to during the week. Randy Abel Stable @ Hot Cat The Randy Abel Stable is made up of regulars from the bluegrass jam sessions at Great Leap Brewing every second [...]
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Jun
1st2 Kolegas Anniversary: They came, partied and celebrated til the un came upoh boy… where to start? As far as parties go, the best ones this year have been at 2 kolegas (see new year bash)! Those guys just know how to throw down the fun times and get a party started. Last year was memorable, this year was even bigger! How did it all go down? Day 1: For the true believers: Is there a better way to close out the work that heading to the drive-in for a good time with good friends? maybe.. but not that many of them! Day 1 of the celebration started off a bit slow this year with people slowly dragging their feet over. by 10 pm, only about 100 pundits had made it prompting some worried looks and comments from the staff and crew. Where was everybody? People started trickling in as last minute addition, Le Fant, was getting started. The band, hailing from Norway, played palatable indie pop. I stayed in for a few songs and moved back outside where it wasn’t so hot. They were talented musicians with good voice and arrangements but i didn’t really care much for them. Skarving, Beijing’s SKA outfit, took over afterwards for their brand of fun music. These kids have been steadily improving over the past year and they’re developing quite a following. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of their show on account of catching up with a whole bunch of people that showed up for the festivities. SUBS were next and that is [...]
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'dazeFEAST 2012 - June 23rd at 2 Kolegas.
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