The scene could have been from a movie, but for Kaiser Kuo, what happened on a cool autumn day in October 1988 would change his life.
The young Chinese-American and a friend from Arkansas were checking out Beijing's first and only guitar music store when a salesman invited them to jam.
Not shy, the two young heavy metal enthusiasts put on a show: 30 minutes of noisy, unadulterated Black Sabbath. The pair drew a crowd of more than 40 people - mostly dressed in Mao Zedong suits - who watched the long-haired hippies from the US.
Expecting to be kicked out of the store, the two were instead ushered into the back by the manager, who offered bai jiu or white liquor, cigarettes and the chance to play gigs the following week.
'Tell him 'hell yeah, we're interested',' said Kuo's friend, Shawn Andrews. 'So I translated to the manager,' Kuo recalled.
That night, the pair met Ding Wu, the lead singer of Beijing rock band Black Panthers.