Pic: Yuyintang Livehouse
Has it really been a year since We Are Shanghai vol. 1 - yes, it has. We Are Shanghai is an underground compilation project. The kind where a scene puts out tracks from all the bands.
Here's Vol 2:
Of course, there are way more bands in the scene than are on the comp, that's just maths. Also, there's more acts with ex-pat members than not. But I want to say something about that. As organizer Ivan points out in this interview the call to be on the CD was open and to everyone. The presence of local scene overlords Top Floor Circus on Vol 1 and metal scene organizers Chaos Mind on Vol 2 clearly proves that the call went out deep into the local scene, that people knew about it and that it was answered.
This Friday was the release show:
Hello Money
First the bands, and then the "50 000 RMB CW Incident" ... oh yes.
Hu Jia Hu Wei play DST and Fugazi style post-hardcore and do it with great energy. They feature Xiao Zhong of Pairs and also Toshi who is leaving Shanghai forever shortly. So we'll see what happens there. They gamely opened the show and a good amount of punters had assembled for them. Hello Money are a playful band whose showpiece is a kind of multi cover version seamless medley. Singer J sings, raps and plays the violin. Lot of fun and they coped well with a power blackout in the middle of their set, which was odd and random (the power thing).
Death To Giants were the real ticket of the night, not to go against the spirit of the show. But, this band are super good and have just had their excellent video get a ton of views on both Youtube and Youku. I put it up here. The band were great showcasing their blend of grinding thrashy riffs and screaming, virtuoso timing and chops, harmonised singing and humor. And they do all of this while feeling very much underground, that is you don't feel distance and the shows are personal.
Now, poor weekend working stiff that I am, I didn't get to catch the full set from Mike Herd's up and coming new outfit, Xiao Xin Yi Yi. However, there is something to write about. It's not actually all that controversial I suppose ... ah, but fuck it. While bantering with the crowd, frontman Mike addressed some people making vids with their phones and joked that they should hold onto them as they could make 50 000 out of it. Now this was an in joke that most people there didn't get - but Mike got e-mailed about it the next day by the mighty City Weekend magazine referring to it as an "incident." Yes, an incident. Cue: sinister music.
I don't know what is more disturbing, the mail being sent or the fact that City Weekend have people in shows reporting this stuff back to them.
Either way, I'm going to have to explain the meaning behind it. What a pity. So, to keep it brief, CW have a new thing CW TV. Mike's band were interested in it and were being courted to be in a video for it, understanding it was a regular TV type thing. When it came down to the wire it was explained that the TV thing was actually an ad platform of sorts and that the price for CW to make the show as a service to Mike the customer was 50 000 RMB. Now where's my e-mail?
