Things seem to be getting militant in the Chinese underground. First we’ve had the lads (and ladies?) at Kungfuology and Layabozi railing against venue closures in Shanghai.
Now Max-Leonhard von Schaper at Rock in China is writing an ongoing series of posts on the current state of music in Beijing. The byline of the first post, “A declaration of independence from the chains of wrongly-understood Beijing Rock”, sums up the aim of the series quite well. And in the first article, titled Why No Beijing and D-22 are not worth the hype!, Max has put into print an idea that I’ve heard coming up in conversation more and more often; that the pairing of D-22/Maybe Mars, and the over-saturated media coverage it has received overseas, has created a distorted view of Beijing rock music. While on some more subjective details I’d have to disagree with Max (e.g. on the musical merit of Carsick Cars), there are many parts that are hard to disagree with.
The second article in the series, Through the looking glass: Beijing Inventory, is essentially a ’state of the union’-style look at music in Beijing. I’d go further into the details, but it’d be more effective to read it your self. These articles are a work in progress, so click the links to make sure you’re reading the most up-to-date edition.
Why No Beijing and D-22 are not worth the hype!
A declaration of independence from the chains of wrongly-understood Beijing Rock
Since the founding of D-22 in 2006, the international press has started a hype around bands frequently performing in this location at WuDaoKou; the bands, the sound, the scene around D-22 and the No Beijing movement all do not justice to such a pushed hype. Looking for examples? Like Wired.com
Here is to the why!
Released in October 2005, the record No Beijing had its mental roots in the No Wave scene of New York and contained the early rock bands Carsick Cars, The Gar, White-2j and Snapline. Four very close bands doing similar kind of music. Four bands that sooner than later would enter the stage of D-22 and perform on a regular basis in this little venue down the students’ district of Beijing. Other bands, such as AV Okubo, Joyside, PK 14 and Queen Sea Big Sharks would soon enter the same circle and receive a memorable monument in form of a printed photograph lining up the wall of the club. It was not much later that Maybe Mars was founded by the owners of the D-22, promoting their “house” bands and releasing their debut records, e.g. “Party is over, pornostar” by Snapline or Carsick Cars self-titled debut. Later on, some of “their” bands first went to Europe on individual tours, as e.g. Carsick Cars with their Sonic Youth connection, and later were shipped out en masse by Maybe Mars via their Showcase of the Chinese Underground 2009 to the USA. Further label work was added by e.g. Michael Pettis and his review of Carsick Cars in the Esquire magazine as well as the photographing work of D-22’s “house photographer” Matthew Niederhauser, who published his book Sound Kapital with showcases in galleries all over China.
But is this particular group of bands and promoters really representing the sound of Beijing rock?
No! Because Beijing rock and the Beijing scene is by far more! Think of the guys behind Hotpot Music and their continuous effort to host emo, screamo and hardcore shows. Think of the well-established bands of the former Rapcore Genre: Twisted Machine, Yaksa and Miserable Faith, that are not only going strong, but from which Miserable Faith also won the Midi Awards in 2009. Think of 2 Kolegas and their shows, think of Mao, think of Yugong Yishan! All those clubs do host regular shows, do host newcomer shows and they do give others a chance. Think of 13 Club that boasts a regular metal scene and has hold festivals packed with fans of which D-22 can only dream of, just size-wise.
So what are the actual reasons, that there is the perception in the West that the “rising stars of China’s rock” are to be named only by the billings of one particular club?
For one thing, it’s the language barrier, that prohibited many Western newspapers, magazines and blog writers to actually contact the bands, the label and the people in the scene and talk to them, exchange ideas and gather background information. If people wanted to find out about the bands, whom could they contact? At Mao, only Japanese speaking mags would be satisfied, at 13 Club and Get Lucky Bar, without Chinese no one would be able to do an interview. So it had to be D-22, the only bar with English speaking staff close enough to the student area to attract not only the attention of Chinese students and fans, but also of international students, that later certainly would share a word or two with their friends back home and contribute to the “fame” of D-22.
Add to this “single point of entry” for far too many, the fact, that D-22 is not built up by anybody, but an experienced club owner who has not only the connections back home, but also the eagerness and the passion to do what he loves, promoting music. It takes luck, hard work and experience to set up a functioning record label and to not just promote bands, but to actually help them in the things they do. It consists of constantly talking to others, convincing them on “your bands”, “your sound” and “your music”. The fate of Scream Records, Mort Productions, Little Bar Records, 13 Moon Records, Pilot Records and many many other indie labels is one and one thing only: the lack of English language to communicate with the foreign press. And with less people to talk to, once again, there is the “single point of entry” which helps to bottleneck the available news and interviews down to a handful of bands, down to certain particular circle of bands. Down to those that are hyped.
A statement of clarification!
Please do not misunderstand us! We love the fact that Chinese rock is being made known overseas! And we love the fact that some bands are successful. And do get listened to. And do get money from the things they love to do! We have been to D-22 and saw the bands, listened to their songs and we like them, as we like D-22 to hangout and watch the shows! But this is a statement of clarification for Beijing rock and the way it is perceived right now in the foreign world! And if you don’t believe it then make a quick search via Google and just have a look what The New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post are saying about Beijing rock. But this is a limited view on the scene! And one, we of Rock in China try to level out, by putting online more information!
One can always argue, that D-22 and their folks are doing just the things others should do as well and it is theirs to blame, hence it is the fault of all the other bands to not have taken that road. But we also blame the media for not being interested in really reporting what is out there in Beijing, and not just here, but also down in Shanghai or back in the provinces, in Chengdu!
Coming to the actual sounds!
Let’s dissect the sounds of No Beijing and the scene being hyped! For are they really worth the notion, worth the noise being made in the global hum of news ticking into our lives? Starting slow, we have to look at where it started:
Snapline! Berwin Song names their debut record “Party is over, pornostar” as “essential listening for everyone interested in Beijing music” and Martin Atkins had taken on of their songs on a split record with his band Pigface. Later the people of Time Out Beijing named Li Qing one of the most important women on the Beijing music scene. So what can be said about the music of Snapline? And in which way does it represent the Beijing music scene?
One certain assumption that these reviewers have done is, that the “music scene” mentioned in the above statements seems to be always focused on the exact same scene this article is about: D-22. Dig deeper, most reviews mentioned, most exemplary statements, most honors are being given by Western-oriented magazines or reviewers, which leads us back to above composition of the “single point of entry”. Where is the importance, that e.g. Hang on the Box inherited with their first shouts in Nameless Highland? Where is the emotion, that Subs induced in its fans, e.g. Midi 2006, when crying fans came asking for her signature?
Carsick Cars! A band built up around their main song “Zhong Nan Hai”, inviting foreign critics to immediately point out the references of Chinese government, politics, and revolutionary traits, while the band itself sticks to its interpretation of singing about their favorite cigarette brand. “Highlight of the show” as cited by several concert goers is the throwing of cigarettes on the stage while the band performs the song. Compare this to the “Painter” shows of Tongue and its political and social criticism! Yet one wants to point out that Carsick Cars are not about politics and never want to be. Fair enough, but is then the mere show highlight of “cigarette throwing” amongst mediocre rock music enough to be famed? Call it taste if you want to, but compared to bands such as Tookoo, The Last Successor, CMCB, The Reason, Tongue, No, Miserable Faith and many others, the music alone of Carsick Cars is not the convincing factor.
The Gar! The only band, having more than 2 songs on No Beijing, that actually has not released their debut record the very year that Maybe Mars was established. And in many ways, they have not made it as big as Carsick Cars or Snapline! Even though their music is by far more mature than others! Blake Stone-Banks calls it “a brilliantly realized album that stands out in a sea of recent Beijing indie releases”. But as so often in music business, it is not maturity or creativity that counts, but luck!
So if not them, who else?
When one considers the vast number of Beijing bands and genres and sub-genres established over the years, one should take into account the history of the bands, the history of the scene, to be able to speak about the Beijing rock. With Tree Village and Midi many years ago forming not only the backbone of bands, but considerably influencing many others as well. Take Yaksa, long time headliner of the Midi Festival and one of the first to have a record not just issued once or twice by its record label but thrice and sold nation-wide. Have a look at the three Gods of the Underground, Tongue, No and Punk God (even though they are not in China anymore). Take a look at the energy of the Subs, which always kept independent and also turned down poor poor Martin Atkins. Take a look at the Mongolian Folk bands and semi-folk bands pouring into the Beijing scene. Gang Zi, HangGai and Voodoo Kungfu have covered the range from pure folk to extreme metal.
The Beijing scene cannot be pinpointed down to a couple of bands and a bar in the students area, for it is so much more. A scene is the multitude of fans, of bands, of people working in the background, of records being issued and listened to, and, of stages. And with the loss of Tree Village, a center of true cultural exchange, which part of the scene is the prominent one? Which part is the one making the scene? It’s the stages, the connecting point between fans and bands.
Seeing this statement of clarification, this declaration of independence as the first step, stage no. 1 in our look at the music world of China and especially of Beijing, let us proceed to stage two: Through the looking glass: Beijing Inventory
Through the looking glass: Beijing Inventory
A stage two in our declaration of independence
Having discussed and talked about the hype of D-22, it is time to have a closer and more refined look into the Beijing scene; an inventory of the scene, to find out what is the Beijing Rock, what is the Beijing scene like and do we actually have only one or many?
Back in time, the good old days?
Many years ago, it was a clsoed scene, a scene, that only friends knew and in which concerts were hold at hotels and small bars within the embassy area at San Li Tun. That was the time of Cui Jian and his friends, the time of early Tang Dynasty, the time of Black Panther and those legends of rock, of which most have disbanded or found new ways to entertain their life.
Then came the time of lonely clubs, the Scream Bar punk scene, the early Get Lucky Bar nights, until the new millenia not only brought numerous new bands in the capital, but also a multitude of bars and clubs and venues and locations to dance and rock and mosh and just get cheap beer with bad sounds of a distorted guitar. We are talking about the times of New Get Lucky, of Yugong Yishan, of Mao Livehouse, of Yunmeng Bad (remember, once been a CD Cafe), of the rise of 2 Kolegas, the opening of 13 Club in WuDaoKou and the later opening of D-22, the coming (and going) of Nameless Highland. Each venue had its distinct location, its distinct base of bands rocking in and rocking out, its distinct crowd of fans coming to the gigs on a regular basis. As much as Get Lucky Bar was a synonym for metal, so as much was the Nameless Highland a heaven for punks. And as much as the 13 Club became a haven for metalheads, so the D-22 became the club for garage rock and indie punk.
The labels, the labels, and the rise of Beijing
When Josef Conrad let Kurtz speak the words “The Horror! The Horror!” on the verge of death, so have many bands utterly cried “The labels! The labels!” in their grief and anger on unfair treatment and harsh contracts! Yet in Beijing, it had been the labels that fostered the fame of the capital as a mecca of rock! Modern Sky and Scream Records pushed through with the first nation-wide distribution scheme of Beijing rockers, making names such as Sober, Yaksa and The Fly known all over the country. And whereas Modern Sky was concentrating on the more rock-orientated artists, Scream Records focussed on the more alternative ones, the rapcore, the techno and hiphop. Soon later, metal-heavy Mort Production entered the scene, So Rock! Records tried its first walk (even though without coming too far), Subjam & Kwanyin were born, later 13 Moon Records, Hotpot Music and Pilot Records appeared! And finally… finally also Maybe Mars was there! At present, each of these record labels has their following, their bands, their records, their little scene (an island) in the ocean of Beijing.
Rocking it hard times, emo, scremo, punk that still kicks ass: HotPot Music
Established only in 2007 by Paul Huang, Hotpot Music is ultimately associated with the harder forms of alternative rock, the screamo bands of Beijing, the emo and harder indie rock, the hardcore of the capital. Closely associated are Tookoo and their offspring Black Town Twin Brothers alongside their own record label Kingsize China! We are talking about bands such as Alt Senior, King Ly Chee, The Reason, The Raving Radio, Surprise, The Lovesong, Bigger Bang!, Last Chance of Youth and many others. They stick together, they hold concerts together and they release their own compilation records. A circle of friends making music, rocking hard, and representing the sound of Beijing Core.
Gore, Grind, Death and Black Metal: Mort Productions
Nevertheless the runts and shackels in the metal scene of 2004 and 2005 with Areadeath Productions tasting the temperature in Beijing’s label pool, they quickly pulled back their feet and gave way for the capital’s strongest record label in the metal field: Mort Productions! Started shortly after the establishment of the Painkiller Heavy Music Magazine, they have fostered the bands, promoted shows and distributed the metallic sounds of Beijing over the whole nation, still growing strong! Though not all of Beijing’s metal legends (think Spring Autumn, think Tang Dynasty, think Voodoo Kungfu, think Suffocated) are part of the labels vast coverage, the imminent core of Beijing’s heavier music is tight to Mort Productions. With their Resurrections Series they have shown China, what Beijing’s double bass bands are made of. The only thing actually missing is shows, as Mort Productions is not hosting!
So one has to turn the head and look at where most of the shows in the darker part of rock are happening: The 13 Club. Even though they try to re-shift their focus towards underground music since 2009, it is a grown fact that 13 Club is and was the home for many a metalhead in Beijing. With the 13 Club Metal Extravaganza happening straight for three years (and more), this metal concerto is only matched by the New Get Lucky Bar’s March 30th birthday party of Kouyu Zheng, legendary guitarist of Suffocated and Spring Autumn! Though with their move in 2004 & 2005 to the new location, the New Get Lucky Bar had lost much of its power that it had accumulated in the past and much of it had been transferred when one of the guys of Ordnance opened his own place of choice! Summing it up: What is the sound of Beijing metal? Mort & 13 Club!
Thou shall not forget
The Beijing scene has witnessed several mininova waves and fashion, such as HipHop with CMCB and Dragon Tongue, Nu Metal à la Yaksa and Twisted Machine, Grunge with XTX and Meat Tree, Brit Rock veterans Sophias Garden or Billows Fairy Tale etc. until the indie pop flu broke out when it became quite impossible for individuals to still keep track of the scene as one unit. Now what? Ska, Rockabilly, Drum’n'Bass, TripHop, Post Rock … even Jazz and Blues became the lates fashion for some young musicians to go for. That’s Beijing, and the true Beijing sound lies in the mix and ongoing spirit. And with the ever latest fashion of Festivals spreading like a wild fire everywhere in the nation when front riders and main providers Midi and Modern Sky went beyond the geographical border of Beijing over bring the Beijing rock mass ritual to all fellow country men, this spirit of Beijing rock is seeded for a greater futur of China rock era to come!
58 Comments
@Matt
yeah
@Alex
Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s we had a situation where artists like Cui Jian, Tang Dynasty, Black Panther, The Breathing, Cobra etc. mapped the term “Rock” in the Chinese music world which might be compareable to what happened in the 2nd half of the 50’s in the US. Unfortunatedly, we never had such strong follow ups like The Beatles, The Stones and The Doors etc. to really cause a change in the way thinking of the mass. What replaced TW/HK-Pop though was mainland local Chinese Pop (Na Ying, Liu Huan, Tian Zhen, Sun Nan, Han Hong) domination the 2nd half of the 90’s.
But the most significant change around that time is that the strong domination of the stupid brainwashing propaganda-pop （tong su style） seemed to break loose with the popularity of C-Pop, even on CCTV started to feature less KP-pop (just follow the annual spring fest TV show and you will know what i mean). All changes in music are going along with the change of society and political/economical backgrounds.
The real rock scene as we know it now actually started to emerge around 2000 and it is a small and silent movement that will show it’s powerful impact in the next few years. Especially with the new area of rock festival, new because this special form as an cultural event has been seemingly accepted by govermental level locally, starting with Midi + Haidian Government, Chaoyang Festival + Chaoyang Government, now porting to elsewhere outside Beijing such as Midi+Zhenjiang, JZ+Hangzhou, InMusic+Zhangbei, Painkiller+Yixian (even though Painkiller was the main backbone productionwise, these awfully humble guys rather like to keep it as ‘just a job’). Anyway, those festivals will give rock bands a broader audience and media exposure to be celebrated as in a pop music approach (even the shittiest so-what-amateur bands got featured on live broad casting and interviews by local Baoding TV! Not to mention how it must have felt like both for normal kids in Baoding area and the TV intendant to see such kicking bad ass nu metal ala Twisted Machine or hillariously spicy lyrics of 2nd Hand Rose or Slap!).
Actually festivals were nothing new during the last decade, thinking of CCTV’s “The same song” (tong yi shou ge) series featuring both icons of C-Pop and veterants and newbies of HK/TW-Pop. Now, local propaganda offices try to use rock festivals in the same matter and fashion to attract the attention of both young and old.
To my opinion, it doesnt matter too much, how the phenomenom rock emerging in China is being seen in the western world. The development of Chinese rock music will depend on how the general majority of Chinese people see and understand it. From a handful of weirdo art folks to a bench of hopeless school drop, the image of rock musicians has already changed a lot in the past, nowadays rock music has almost become a house-trained and socially acceptable life style sort of thing.
But the same time, we are facing a cultureless and brainless era of mass media consumtion. Even forces of the new media havent made it yet to really help to improve the situation. Maybe rock music can breath in some different ideas into the rising urban cuture in China, we will see, but as for now, i dont see anyone who are able to do so. Peng Tan is just one player on the survival like so many other ex-rocker-goes-pop alikes.
@Luke Born in Adelaide, spent my teenage years in Boston, went to university in Sydney, and been in Beijing for a year. I spent some time in Xi’an when I was a teenager and again in university, though, so China’s not new.
I recently gave a friend a ridiculously large mix, with everything from Wolfmother (hardly indie, but how often would you hear it outside Australia?) to Wons Phreely (who’s been on jjj unearthed a bit but mostly he’s a friend). Other artists I included (and love) were: Whitley, Former Child Stars, Bluejuice, Darren Hanlon, Expatriate, Hilltop Hoods (I know, I know), Josh Pyke, Architecture in Helsinki… and a bunch more. One of everything, but I think we can all see my bias towards the pop/rock/singer-songwriter thing. It’s no wonder my favorite bands in Beijing are SuperVC, The Life Journey, and Gar. I definitely raise my hand to be the one with embarrassing pop leanings of the group!
@Yang
“All changes in music are going along with the change of society and political/economical backgrounds.”
Understandable. And a little unavoidable. But at least with economic changes, I feel like once kids start being in the financial position to throw money around on gigs and booze and fashionable clothes, the scene will grow because it’s cool. I hate that side to any indie scene as much as the next person, the side where the pretty, rich idiots think they’re cool for turning up to a gig even if they don’t care about the music, but they pay their cover charge and drink like crazy. Which is, in the end, a good thing in getting money going around the scene.
“But the same time, we are facing a cultureless and brainless era of mass media consumption.”
This is a problem the world over. Really, I think Australia has it best, since we have a culture of supporting local indie bands through a national radio station. It’s not a perfect system, and just throws perfectly good indie bands into wild popularity and the scene as mentioned above, but it means that there’s always fresh local music coming onto the scene. But even in Australia, the pop charts are still topped by the bullshit American pop starlets and American/Australian Idol contestants. The masses are always going to fall for mass media, because it’s calculated and constructed to be appealing to them. Even rock wouldn’t really be rock if a bunch of people didn’t like it.
Which is why I like the pop side of indie. It’s creative and interesting in its own way and a gateway into the more edgy stuff, while still being appealing to the masses. The Life Journey and Convenience Store led me to SuperVC led me to the stars of Modern Sky – Queen Sea Big Shark, New Pants, Sober, Supermarket – which then trickled down into everything else. So you give someone a palatable pop band and who knows where they’ll end up.
@Luke I can’t believe I forgot to mention Vasco Era. I went to pretty much every Sydney show they ever played. :/
@Alex
The coolness has been a fashionable compagnion of the indie scene, it’s a good way to work things out on the financial side and adds an extention to the performed content, thus also a cultural element along the music. The latest since the birth of Punk music, the busness has gone beyond music itself (so not only selling records and gig tickets, but also merch and especially later with HipHop related fashion brands). But this model of combo-biz hasnt been adapted by the chinese underground/indie scene well yet. I know some chn Hiphop rappers (Dragon Tongue) started out with their own clothing brands and shops, few Nu Metal musicians are also running their own tattoo shop (e.g. Yaska) but most bands and musician rather have more directly music related or totally non-music related part time jobs. I think Sina.com.cn or so just had a small report on that recently.
In case D-22/MM and Modern Sky (more than other labels), i dont know if i got it wrong again, but i recon some really valueable collaboration between rock bands and contempolary art, which is awsome! There are so many thinkable ways to cross combine art forms and there for also new busness models to help the indie scene to develope and grow stronger, both contentwise and incomewise and Beijing is just the right place to do so. I think Chinese music fans are tollerant enough and wont see this as an sellout, in the end, we all know that musicians have generally a way too poor income and they would deserve a better way to make a living.
I think it’s true that the bands published about in the Western media may not be representative of the whole Beijing scene. Here’s the problems I see with Max’s analysis, though:
1. The title itself. It says they “aren’t worth the hype.” It’s one thing to say that they’re overhyped, which may be true, but by saying they aren’t worth it, you’re demeaning them, which is probably why Matthew Niederhauser seemed to take so unkindly to the article.
2. Things like this paragraph:
“One certain assumption that these reviewers have done is, that the “music scene” mentioned in the above statements seems to be always focused on the exact same scene this article is about: D-22. Dig deeper, most reviews mentioned, most exemplary statements, most honors are being given by Western-oriented magazines or reviewers, which leads us back to above composition of the “single point of entry”. Where is the importance, that e.g. Hang on the Box inherited with their first shouts in Nameless Highland? Where is the emotion, that Subs induced in its fans, e.g. Midi 2006, when crying fans came asking for her signature?”
The answer to those last questions: They’re all in China! How do you expect Western media to know about it if nobody tells them? Compare the Maybe Mars US tour with the tour Hedgehog, Joyside, and Queen Sea Big Shark did. The reason the MM tour got so much coverage in the American press is because it was better advertised, and associated with Sound Kapital. I had no idea Hedgehog had come to my city before they left (and I really wish I had known!) I don’t think anyone here is debating whether or not good music besides the hyped ones are being made, but you cannot expect people to simply show up at their doorstep–especially when they aren’t in China itself.
3. The whole article reeks of this sense of indier-than-thou and rejection of the “popular,” which helps nobody. That’s what I don’t understand about this article. Clearly, MM has done a good job of getting its bands out there (to the point at which I saw Carsick Cars mentioned in another band’s show as someone that band inspired. not sure how accurate that was, but still). Shouldn’t the correct response be to learn from their successes, rather than deride them?
I hope this is coherent enough. As an American who went to the Maybe Mars tour (which was somewhat disappointing, since I only got a half hour of each band) and who loves the Beijing scene, I really want to have better access to the scene when I’m not able to be in China.
sorry, i made an error, i said Joyside when the other touring band was Casino Demon. sorry!
What an interesting discussion. I’m sympathetic to both perspectives, but mostly feel that Maybe Mars deserves respect and congratulations and emulation. They’ve really raised the bar on organization, professionalism and promotion as a label.
I do some work for Soma Records and Mao Livehouse Shanghai, and hope we will learn a lot from Maybe Mars and D22. Earlier examples were of what not to do – and we’ve all had tough learning curve. Local expertise lacks professionalism, but international expertise is hard to adapt to China. (And the international recording industry these days is hardly something to aspire to.) Maybe Mars has really bridged that divide, in a way that no one else has.
But I sympathize with the frustration felt by Max and others. Suppose Soma does manage to replicate Maybe Mar’s success but in Shanghai, and get more international press, helped perhaps by having several resident laowais, including a journalist. If a lot of foreign press wrote us up, without giving full props to Yuyintang, Miniless, Zhulu Hefeng, 0093 their predecessors, and non-Soma bands, people in the scene would be very rightfully pissed off.
I always try to direct journalists to cover those other elements of the scene, and personally can only cover the venues and labels I am not affiliated with. However, visiting international press cannot talk to everyone, and almost always can’t speak Mandarin. They go for what is easy and accessible. In recent weeks I’ve been contacted by a lot of parachute journos doing the default Shanghai Expo story, and it’s great that they want to include a paragraph or two about the rock scene. That alone is a huge improvement, after fifteen years of everyone assuming we lacked one. However, given their length and time constraints, who gets coverage will be based on who is talked to. It also rides greatly on what has been written before. It is unfortunate but completely natural that Maybe Mars gets such disproportional international press.
There is also a matter of taste. People focus on the bands they know and like. As has been said already, if you like a band you feel isn’t getting deserved attention – help change that.
The only real thing I have to add is to question how much international coverage of the scene really helps. Does it? Local media coverage, Chinese or English, gets bodies into venues and sells albums. Does international coverage, tours, acclaim provide anything more than nice bragging rights? I’m not sure. I suspect that what it does do is force the mainstream Chinese media to view local rock with more respect, and in the long term that drives them to provide the local coverage that we really need more of. But it remains difficult convincing Chinese labels, venues and artists that international press attention and tours are something they should be spending scarce resources on.
[...] interesting article from Rock In China. As with last time, this doesn’t represent my opinion. Here’s the original post (keep an eye on it for [...]
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