Back in May Danish Techno-soul duo rocked not only Chongqing, but a handful of cities throughout China.  Prior to their show at Nuts club we asked them a few questions via email, and as life on the road was a bit hectic at the time they were unable to answer my questions. They've since returned to Denmark and the "soul" half of the duo Retard, took the time to respond to our questionable questions...



CQSCENE:  Which of the pictured reptiles best relates to
 Reptile? Why?

REPTILE: Lately I have felt a lot like a snake in a bottle of booze. But I
think thats often how you feel when you are on tour. Apart from that I
would say that Gecko from Turtles is a pretty suitable character when
I comes to which reptiles I relate to. Gecko is exactly like me an
Urban Reptile born in the 80's. I would not fight alongside Shredder
though. Despite my looks I am probably more a splinter kind of guy.


  
 CQS:  and all political correctness aside, which of the 'retards'
does Retard most relate to? Why?

R:  The Reptile will answer for the Retard in this case. I think that a
combination between Forrest Gump and Rain Man is what the Retard
reminds me of the most. He has Forrest Gumps optimistic spirit and
blue eyed believe in oneself that normal people seldom seem to posses.
Just like Rain Man my Retard has obvious autistic sides. He can sit in
front of a computer without noticing me talking to him. And like a
child he keeps on working until he almost pisses his pants. You can
see his legs moving more and more until he suddenly has to run to the
bathroom. Apart from that my Retard looks like a retard. But indeed a
beautiful one...

CQS:   Last week you opened for, and according to some, out-performed
  Peaches in her highly anticipated Shanghai performance, what is it
  about 2 dudes on stage that seems to work better than just 1 chick?

R:  We got balls.. But actually I think that there is a chance PEACHES has
balls as well so I guess thats not the critical factor. I think
PEACHES put up a good show. I think the biggest difference between our
shows is that hers is planned from start to end. We just get drunk and
go on stage... Maybe thats why we got the nickname Beasts with Beats.

CQS:  In a lot of the press thats been going around about you, a lot of
 the emphasis has been put into your live show.  What is about the live
setting that you seem to thrive upon?

R: We put a lot of emphasis on our liveshows. It is extremely important
for us do deliver and give people an experience that they haven't had
before. Show them something original and freash. But most of all it is
important for us to give it all we got on stage. So many electronic
acts are horrible live and we want to show that it doesn't have to be
that way.

CQS:  a lot of the time in China, the rock crowd and electronic crowd
 don't tend to mix, but its been said that your show appeals to both,
 why do you think that is?

R:  That is actually what we are. We er both rockers. And a lot of the
music we make is rockmusic played on computers. Electronic music can
some things rock can't and the other way around. We try to take the
best from those to genres and put it together. Thats also why we call
it Technosoul. We want to mix german techno with rock and soul music
from the 70ties. But we want to appeal to more than just the rockcrowd
and the electronic crowd. I for instance think that most of the
punkers would like our shit as well.

CQS:  Its been reported that Chongqing is the city you're most looking
  forward to playing in while on tour in China, why exactly is that?

R:  We heard that Chongqing is where all the beautiful ladies come. And we
love beautiful ladies. Apart from that we heard a lot of good things
about NUTS and the venues are always important for the show. Finally
Chongqing is quite a legendary city. It is one of the absolute biggest
cities in the world if not the biggest one, and still so few people
has heard about it. That makes the city quite mysterious and I really
like that.


 CQS:  Anything else we should know about Reptile Retard?

R:  We will be back. If not before we will for sure be back next spring.
And probably with a fresh album out, new and harder songs, better
productions, even more energy and a whole lotta love.

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Wanzhou scene? . . .  


Nestled into the mountains a little way north up the Yangtse sits Wanzhou; Chongqing’s second city.  Seeing as Chongqing itself only has a handful of decent bars, I had no expectations and was surprised: Wanzhou has a lot to offer.  The city itself is how I imagine Chongqing before 1997, a lot smaller and less built up – it’s buildings and mountain/river location are similar – however the lesser degree of pollution means the mountains are actually visible most days.  Nevertheless the drone of development resounds across the city.   


The small central park has an array of local musicians and a small orchestra performing folk music and red songs in the day and a surprising number of relaxed coffee bars are also dotted around the town.  Wanzhou also has a Lazer Quest operating in an abandoned warehouse just by the docks – unfortunately they open periodically and were closed when we visited.  But if you’re luckier for 50¥ you can spend the evening running around, shooting lazers at your friends.

For more usual entertainment, Wanzhou’s BaiYan Lu (white rock road)– leading off the main square has a handful of typical Chinese clubs – small KTV bars like the tropical QQ Bar and the trippy Mirror bar, playing decent enough techno in the usual tinselly neon surroundings (both halfway up Bai Yun Lu Yi Xiang).   


However the highlight is undoubtedly Seed Bar.   Somewhere between a jazz bar and a yuppie 1980s apartment this wood clad bar is crowded with eccentric decoration but somehow manages to pull it off. They also have an impressive collection of sketch books in which to explore your inner artist or just leaf through.  At night they open their stage – acts alternating between local musicians and ambitious punters.  Half the staff are musicians themselves and they welcome everyone to come and play.  Seed is open to anything and if you bring along an MP3 or computer their sound system is equally open to the more musically challenged. (LaoShu KaiFei JiuGuan 3rd floor, Bai Yan Lu) 


For a typical provincial town Wanzhou is far more than its port location with a young and enthusiastic music scene that looks set to develop along with the town.

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