A tough choice from shows tonight was eased by the fact that Hard Queen played both Friday and Saturday allowing me to see both them and Nanjing punk outfit Overdose. Overdose are straight up punk and have a new CD out Die With Me:
Overdose on Myspace (six great tracks starting with Fuck Your Fucking Band)
As I got into Yuyintang a cover band was closing out their set. The ones who wear the white shirts and black ties. They play well, but, they're a cover band ...so moving on ...
... it was a whirlwind night for me and I got a few surprises. Overdose have had a line up change since I last saw them. On bass now is Adam, who is in someway related to the D22/Maybe Mars crowd. I also saw Morgan from Boys Climbing Ropes and indie promoter Abe Deyo is back in town. On the local side of things, Lu Chen is coming down to a lot of gigs lately too.
Overdose took the stage. Singer Ruan Ruan is pure punk. To be fair, so are the rest of the band. Ruan Ruan, with her signature gothic black suit and bleached short hair, never disappoints with her ballsy performance that shows the whole range of old-school punk gestures and facial expressions. Backup vocals were sung Lemmy style into high mics and Du Wei's tattoos are just as intimidating as his drumming. The set was solid and despite the average to low turn out there were some seriously hardcore fans who at times were literally dancing by themselves. These included Lu Chen, Little Punk and Fabi from Rogue Transmission.
One bizarre anecdote. As I was going in, so were a group of highly strung and obnoxious party types. Just inside was a table with the band's CD on sale but no one was there to take the money. As I asked about them, as the other group looked too, I was told "No one here to sell them right now, sorry." As I turned away, deciding to wait until I saw an older staff member to sort it out later, one of the girls in the group appeared to openly steal one, whooping in the process. There's also been an outbreak of people coming to YYT and trying to blag in for free or get on a list etc. Wankers with no respect for the venue and band's culture and struggles.
Andy, sounds like the gig at YYT was good; I cannot say that about the one at the Dream Factory, though your favourite Mushroom did very well. I guess this is the main reason Brain Failure disappointed me - not really original or energetic...
Hi YLK
Would love to see any video of that show when you have it available. Did you notice any difference in the sound there? The new management said they have put in a new sound system that is fully professional and part of a 1.2 million RMB investment.
Overdose were good, but ... the sound check wasn't too good. We have heard how the sound can be at YYT lately (good) and Overdose's new CD shows they are very professional. i would like to have had it a bit clearer. But, they are old style punk and that's not the point :)
The sound was good, definitively much better than last time I was there (when The Battles played). The lighting system was better too. However - just like you pointed it out - old punk sounds best when the music has this raw feeling to it.
I have the video, thought I came late and The Mushroom were already playing, so their part is not complete. I can make a copy for you, but you may have to wait for a couple of weeks before I get to it...
The challenges of managing success...