Sex, Drugs and Chinese Rock

They play punk in Beijing, metal in Central China, and electro-hardcore down south. Wuhan is hot for noise and punk, and apparently Chengdu is home to an awesome music scene. Even Rolling Stone magazine opened a China office last year. Granted, its Chinese name is “Audio Visual World” but three years ago, Ah Mei and a pirated DVD of her greatest hits would have been the most you could expect. What gives?

“The music scene in China has completely evolved,” says Wu Yue, general manager at Beijing Tangsuan Entertainment Company. “New bands are playing indie rock, dance-rock, emo, funk and improv hip-hop, and they’re playing it well.” Beijing has always been the center of the Chinese rock scene, with small gigs almost every night and a steady stream of festivals with local and overseas headliners. Now Shanghai and even Xian, Wuhan and Chengdu are catching on.

“The change in the last two years has been incredible,” says Archie Hamilton, general manager of Beijing- and Shanghai-based event organizers Split Works. Split is throwing next month’s Yue Festival, with Talib Kweli and Ozomatli headlining. “Two years ago, Shanghai had no live music scene at all. There were maybe two clubs where bands could play, both on the outskirts of town and both with appalling PA systems.” Now artists like The Go! Team come over and play to a full house, and you’re a tool if you haven’t heard of Shanghai’s hottest confusingly named band Crazy Mushroom. Even the government is surprisingly lenient about allowing these darn kids to play their rock music. “The market here is just beginning to flex its muscles,” Hamilton says. “It’s a very exciting time.”

Beijing disco-punk-revival band New Pants are part of the new generation of mainland artists who are dealing serious damage to the old-school notion of Chinese rock. “We were too poor for heavy metal – the equipment’s very expensive – so we turned to punk,” shrugs lead singer Peng Lei. Their music is an enticingly discordant mash of rebellious camp and upbeat electro; their image is equally random. “Our bassist Pang has a different look at every gig,” Peng continues. “Last time he dressed up like a Xinjiang native and grilled lamb kebabs on stage.”

Head to any show in Shanghai and Beijing and such enthusiasm is infectious. “There’s a new phenomenon of a massive transient population who’ve come to the city to work for a year or two,” Hamilton says. “That translates to a huge amount of people who come out to party, which creates a great vibe, which in turns draws the local Chinese crowds.”

“It helps there are now more Chinese lifestyle magazines covering live music,” says Abram Deyo, music editor at Shanghaiist.com and promoter. Wu notes that audiences are getting bigger and the festival scene is flourishing more than ever. “The Beijing Midi and Pop festivals have been held for eight and three years respectively, and crowds reach well over 20,000,” she says. Shanghai also boasts five free English-language lifestyle magazines, while Beijing has six; all are eager supporters of burgeoning local music. And the media is just one part of the growing infrastructure.

“Some of the local bands pull quite large crowds,” Wu says. “Even so, I always have a detailed marketing plan before booking one of them. It’s what a good promoter should do.” The promoter network that has sprung up alongside that of bookers and managers is the keystone of the new music scene.