the shanghai heat/final of the global battle of the bands took place last night at yuyintang. the variety amongst the entrants truly showed the diversity of the shanghai music community – so many parts of the world were represented, except for most of china. but more about that later.
i didn’t have time to go on geek patrol as i was in judging mode. my opinion could propel an act towards stardom or the trash-heap. ahh the power, i can feel it absolutely corrupting already. mwahaha.
here’s a quick rundown of some of the acts:
Alec Haavic Friction Six. they were originally billed as friction seven and i’ve seen them advertised as friction five. these guys are part of the jz gang, truly the coolest kids in town. i saw some of them nailing killer jazz tunes on saturday night as part of the jz big band. but the friction x is worlds away from swing bands and ella, and just as good. they play a kind of rock-fusion with lots of accents, odd changes and some killer percussion work. they are as tight as you would expect some of the finest musicians in town to be, and they are quite loud too. pleasantly so, and with lots of soul. well done guys, a great performance.
Stegosaurus – i have made no secret of my appreciation for stegosaurus. these four laowai harmonising in chinese seem to have impressed the crowd too. they rocked out last night – they were considerably tighter than the last time i saw them and their unique blend of pop, metal, and fairground sounds had the room moving.
Mirror Mirror – featuring featuring founding members of Stegosaurus, josh and joseph. josh is left-handed and has a nice ear for riffs and melodies. joseph is right-handed and the way they sit on the stage makes them look like a … hey i see what you did there.
And the winner is…..Uyghur featuring Hassan.
i’ve long been a friend and fan of hassan and i am very happy to see him win last night. he deserves it. his music is engaging like little else you have heard. despite his band rehearsing only two times before this show, they sounded tight and handled the complexities of hassan’s songs well with an ease that you might expect of people who have been playing these songs for a few years. enjoy the new epiphone SG, dude. and welcome back to the drum stool, maxime!
well done to chris, becca and yuyintang for organising a succesful event for shanghai. but what happened to all the local chinese bands? i was chatting with chris, the head of china GBOB and she is just as confused as i am. apparently the beijing competition, which is in its first year this year, pulled 42 bands, almost all of which were chinese. are the shanghai bands afraid of competitions after pepsi? i know there are many chinese underground rock bands in shanghai. why didn’t they apply? why did they pull out? there has been criticism about last year’s event being at melting pot being a turn off for bands and fans. but this year it was at yuyintang, the home of shanghai’s underground scene. some say the entry fee was prohibitive. maybe people don’t like playing shows on sunday nights?
other acts included Lucius Clark, Picasso Smiling and Monroe Stahr.
#1 by Nerbo on September 28th, 2009
That was a great show. Fun night.
#2 by Andy Best on September 29th, 2009
Hi,
The debate and various thoughts from the conspicuously absent bands are all on the various Douban threads around it.
I’ll summarize some of it, although it’s important to note that this is what I read there, not my own opinions.
Pepsi, yeah. Basically, the Pepsi experience just created a new level of awareness of comps, sponsors and band identity/beliefs. Some were down with it, others got totally turned off it. But there was certainly a pervasive negative vibe coming of the back of the Pepsi thing. Whether or not it applies in the same way to GBoB.
It’s bad timing as the majority of bands are still playing it over and coming to grips with it all.
Only one band made an official statement about the entry fee, October Capricorn.
Other debate was centred around ‘foreign bands’ being able to enter a comp to represent China.
Obviously, that’s pertaining to many many issues, again, that a lot of people in this country are wrestling with for the first time.
It’s important to note that, unless I missed it, no band that withdrew specifically said that was the reason.
Someone correct me if I missed anything.
I think if the comp wants to develop in the ‘local sphere’ it would have to let someone like a Wang Xiao Tian of 0093 handle it next time.
But if it’s to be a fair comp it should just advertise then leave it open.
#3 by gunsella on September 29th, 2009
thanks for that, andy. isn’t it interesting that none of these concerns affected the beijing end of the competition. hopefully, as the contest continues over the coming years, its reputation/credibility will grow and younger bands will see this a cool opportunity and just a fun night. in the future i’d really like to see an integrated scene where these simply aren’t issues.
#4 by Josh on September 29th, 2009
Yeah, it was a fantastic night. Lots of talent that i didn’t know Shanghai had had when I first came here. I was hoping to see more of a Chinese presence in the competition, but maybe next year. We lost, but I’m glad it was to a guy from China (Xinjiang)! Uyghur was fantastic! May fortune and riches be with u in ur travels to Hong Kong and maybe London.
#5 by gunsella on September 29th, 2009
josh – you guys were great. so cool. i look forward to seeing you play again soon.
#6 by Josh on November 7th, 2009
Hey Adam, I don’t know how else to contact u, but we’re playing a show again. This time it’s at Live Sound Garage near Nanjing Xi Lu. Here’s the info and new flyer made by Bren. Hope to see u there!
http://www.cityweekend.cn/shanghai/events/55516/