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Expat's Eye
Expat's Eye
UPDATED: August 10, 2009 NO. 32 AUGUST 13, 2009
The Rise of Metal
By GOU FU MAO
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This, alas, is not the norm for rock acts touring China, which, given the increasing prosperity of its huge population, has emerged as a realistic market for many overseas acts. China's rock promoters typically overbook or undersell: They hire venues whose scale flatters the foreign band's local following. Too few tickets sold means there's nothing to pay the band.

Tales abound in the Beijing rock scene of backpedaling and post-gig bargaining with local venues on a price previously agreed. It's an ugly scene that surfaced when a well-known New York punk band, NOFX, diverted its gear to Beijing for an extended leg on its Asian tour, only to finish the (very well attended) gig to find that the local promoter had no money to offer. Ticket sales, it argued, had underperformed.

It's perhaps easier that Yu mostly concentrates on heavy metal, a micro-scene of the Chinese music scene, which is itself a microcosm in the shadows of massive Chinese pop and classical music industries. While local alternative music magazines like So Rock (published out of Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province) fill out their pages with translations from UK and U.S. rock publications, it's rare indeed to find copy on Chinese acts in Western magazines. There are a few, like Carsick Cars, and White, experimental art rock and electronica outfits respectively, which make the overseas music press.

Chinese rock is often over-praised by so many overenthusiastic foreign photographers and students who crowd the front of average gigs, clicking and applauding mediocre stuff. Not to be negative about this fan base—they encourage artists who get comparatively little encouragement locally—but the breathless stuff sometimes written in the local expat press about Chinese rock music suggests we live in New York City's last village of the 1970s.

In reality the scene is far more about appearance than substance. There's a lot of image: Local rock stars spend as much time studying photos of rockers like rakish British rocker Pete Doherty as they do his music. Hats, pants and hairdos are done with one eye on the mirror and the other on the New Musical Express, the UK-based bible of indie music.

Amid all the fawning, I find in Yu someone who knows the potential and the limits in China's rock scene. His own tastes are very niche. Through his magazine and promotion company, Painkiller, Yu has made a viable if modest business out of metal.

Given that there's the language barrier between incoming fans and locals we could use more bi-linguists like him and his website. The critics who are most worth reading are, of course, local but if you're a passing foreign fan or critic you can't read them.

When you see big brands like shoemaker Converse reaching young Chinese by buying the approval of local rock banks, you'd figure rock music is China's future sound. Perhaps, but we need some Yu-like realists to guide the way.

The author is Irish and lives in Beijing

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