UPDATE: Maybe all the years of loud music have ruined my hearing, maybe all the years of drinking beer have ruined my memory, but either way I was wrong about what Morgan said. Check out the comments for clarification. When I bumped into Sun Ye the other day, he told me he was getting married. "Congratulations," I said and beyond a bit more talk about it, I didn't think too much more of it. Then I found out last night that when Boojii play Modern Sky Festival in a couple of weeks it will be sans Sun Ye due to his impending nuptials. His replacement will be Han Han from LOS/Duck Fight Goose and they've been practising like mad, including a gig at last night's New Faces Night at YYT. Alas, I wasn't able to get free until it was too late - Boojii went on first, right on the dot and were followed by DFG, I didn't have time to make it over for their sets, but Andy filled me in. Sun Ye has confirmed that this is just a temporary arrangement and that he'll be back with Boojii soon. The band still haven't got a release date for their album but it should be out before the end of the year and is one to look forward to.
Obviously, congratulations go to Sun Ye and I'm glad that it's only a temporary change. Other bands haven't been so lucky in the past. Morgan was talking the other day about how 21 Grams' long hiatus was largely caused by a female member going and getting hitched. They seem to be doing the odd gig again now, or at least they were at the enoise showcase a few weeks back. You can read some more about 21 Grams and download some tracks by following this link right here. Seriously, some of these kids need to be a bit more considerate to us music fans and stop being so wholesome. It reminds me of a conversation I had with Xiao Bai of Bang Bang Tang once where she stated matter of factly that if her boyfriend asked her to stop being in the band she would, no questions asked.
Another band experiencing slightly more serious line-up changes due to affairs of the heart are Pinkberry. The story is that the drummer has left due to romantic complications. Before it sounds like I'm besmirching Xiao You or the other boys' good names, I should point out that it hasn't involved other members of the band. Basically, the rumour is that old A Luan is a bit of a playboy and that the band got fed up with some of the comments on their QQ from the ladies that he'd left in his wake. So much so that they have now apparently asked him to leave. Sure enough, he now only names PZ64 on his Douban page, there's no mention of Pinkberry any more. That leave Xiao You and Toni as the only remaining original members one year in after the bassist was replaced a couple of months back. Then again, those two were always the driving force of the band anyway so it shouldn't disrupt things too much hopefully.
Hey man, you misheard me. I was talking about Booji (not 21 Grams). They used to have another gal in the band, singing and playing xylophone, way back in the day, when they were playing at Live Bar, and the guitar player from Banana Monkey was in the band. I heard she left because she got married. Could be wrong though -- maybe they had a falling out or something.
But yeah it was my estimation that 21g's took time off because someone got married. I was just blah, blahing tho. It seems everyone is getting married and leaving these childish musical pursuits behind.
Speaking of marriage: you forgot Brad F. But I think that marriage wont affect the bands, as his lovely wife-to-be is playing at her own wedding party concert on October 9.
Oops. Thanks for clearing that up mate and sorry for misrepresenting you the first time around. You're right, I should have mentioned Brad and Damen too, they show marriages aren't always to the detriment of the bands - far from it
Sui, who were a big hope for the scene, stopped when the drummer and singer got married then went back to Chengdu to have a baby.
I see over at your site, Morgan, that someone else is leaving too: last weekend in Shanghai
What a blow to the scene.