Arrows Made Of Desire | BeijingDaze

Jul
27thQuickslants: Festivalitus, Ningxia Force, Miserable Faith and More

Another weekend, another set of quickslants and a whole lotta music going on but who’s watching? Seriously, I think poor Zhangbei is having the distinction of being the festival with the least coverage this year, at least in the Anglophone blogosphere.. Maybe just an excessive case of festivalitus, a weird China-born disease stemming from excessive amounts of festivals using the same bands and sub-standard setups? oh well!! To be fair though, this year’s lineup is not bad but they really have not learned their lesson as far as sundays go: Everyone of the past two years, Sunday headliners played to an almost non-existent audience as folks rushed to get back to Beijing. Anyways, let’s see what’s taking place: Friday July 27th Buyi & Lidong @ 2Kolegas This is the party spot for the evening with two of the most talented bands out of Ningxia. Buyi has delivered on their performances for years and there is no doubting their chops. Since the release of their album, Lidong has moved up a few notches and can now claim the spot left vacant by Wu & the Side Effects while they regroup and re-record. 2 good bands, 2 Kolegas, all the buddies will be there and it’s gonna be a swell time. Red Pirates @ Hot Cat I like these cats and they always manage to show us a good time with their brand oh Hard Rock. Dave rocks the vox, the Drummer has one of the biggest smiles ever and the guitarist [...]
Sep
22ndQuickslants: Xiao He’s Silly Ballad, SUBS + Perdel Unholly Alliance and Happy 7 to Yugong

Man.. It’s Quickslants time already! This week has just flown past, I swear! Things got started yesterday at Temple with a lovely performance by the newly formed Lulu Galore & Sweet Leaf and we got a whole weekend to look forward to. It’s looking like a slightly understated weekend for livemusic in Beijing but in reality, there’s some pretty cool stuff happening. let’s see what we got! Thursday Sept. 22 New Blood of Rock @ Mao Live: King Kong Productions is putting together a cool little evening with some of the fresher local rock bands, most of which I never heard off and that might not be a bad thing. The advertised line up includes: The Hangover, The Ruined Flowers, Three Kings, Little Smart and Illness Sickness. Open Mic Thursdays @ Hot Cat Club: Hot Cat has been picking up steam lately with better performances and more people showing up. I’m curious to see how their open mic night is going in terms of mixing local musicians with expats. Also, I just miss a good open mic night vibe which i don’t think Beijing has had since the untimely departure of Beijing Rob over a year ago. Friday Sept. 23 Skarving & Friends @ 2 Kolegas: I’m becoming really sold of Skarving. musically, these guys are alright but the real draw is their enthusiastic and high energy stage shows. The band is having fun and you can’t help having fun while listening to them! It’s infectious. Bad Mamasan is also [...]
May
19thQuickslants: Hanggai, Mantas, SUBS, Ghosts, Kingdoms, Hellcats and return of the Arrow

Holly smokes is this looking like a busy weekend in Beijing… stop me if you’ve heard this before but there’s a whole lotta rocking to be done. I’m almost glad I won’t be here for this as the ‘daze crew if off checking out the rock scene with our buddies from DUDE. Still, for those of you in town, there’s a lot to see with some impressive lineups throughout the city. I mean you can’t go wrong with any venue this end of the week starting today Thursday May 19 oh man… I don’t wanna be in your shoes Beijing. There are some tough choices to be made tonight with what seem to be a bombastic lineup Flying Mantas @ Mao Live: Our buddies on the Mantas, along with The Clamps, bring out the retro sounds on them Burns guitars for some old school goodness! I’ve heard reports of their mini tour in Beijing and that it’s going fairly well with the Mantas on fire but The Clamps side a bit off. Still, if it’s good music you’re after, this is not a bad place to be. Hanggai & Christian Zehnder @ 2Kolegas: The inner Mongolians have been spending a lot of time at 2 Kolegas lately with more shows there that before I reckon. Tonight (Thursday), they’re joined by Swiss Jazz virtuoso Christian Zehnder. It’s a bit unclear as to whether they’re playing together or if there’s separate sets but it might be a good opportunity to check them [...]