As 2010 comes to an end, I'm left to reflect on the year that was.  Doing so evokes memories of events, and changes Chongqing has seen in the past year; CQ beer festival, legitimate western food, an Irish Pub, and main-stream media coverage. But what stick out in my mind most of all is the music.  For 2010 was a great year for music in a city often referred to as a cultural desert.
 And as I look out my window into a thick haze of urbanization, I try to recall where, for me, the year started.  Of course I could say January 1, or February 14(Chinese lunar new year), but anyone who's been here as long as I have knows that due to the perma-grey skies, and bone chilling weather December through February,  new year's  day in Chongqing might as well be March 1.  Or in my case, March 13.

March 13 is when I was blown away by Shanghai via Guizhou singer/MC ChaCha at Nuts Club, where many of my fondest memories form 2010 took place.  Not to mention a mere few days later when I had a night out with the infamous Dead Elvis, which included a vomitus high schooler, and a tranny-bar. Or on April first when a Norwegian Jazz trio played, featuring one of the sick-nastiest drummers I'd ever seen.  And later that spring when, 2 of China's best producers of electronic music, Liman and Sulumi(particularly Liman) rocked CiCi Park, Carsick Cars(in its original line-up) and 24Hours, played great high-energy sets at a near empty Nuts Club, Reptile Retard taking the energy through the roof with their unique style of "techno-soul," and Maybe Mars' return to Chongqing with Ourself Beside Me before the lull of summer.
And as the weather started to drop, the calendar began to fill-up, beginning in September with three nights of non-stop music from bands both foreign and local to celebrate Nuts Club's 3rd anniversary, featuring Chongqing's best Narrenschiff, BendT., The Wheels, and The Deep Green Sea.  As well as spectacular performances by Seattle freak-folksters the Cave Singers, and 'psycho-billy' band Knuckle Bone Oscar from Denmark.  October saw the return of ChaCha, this time with the entire Uprooted Sunshine Soundsystem, as well as legendary reggae producer Clive Chin. And later that fall when, recently named 'best band in China' Miserable Faith played to a packed house, Beijing up-and-comers Guai Li made their Chongqing debut and American instrumentalist Daniel Hart  pulled off an excellent rendition of 'One Night in Beijing,' with his violin and dance-pad.  Before the year was rounded out by two of my favorite bands from China's east coast, Dalian's Wang Wen, and Boys Climbing Ropes from Shanghai.  

Its hard to believe so much has happened in so little time.  It was no more than a year and half ago when Chongqing's live music options were limited to the odd show in a dark, dank, basement of a youth hostel, and the even more rare occurrence of 'dance' or 'electronic-music' parties.  And to think, the above is a mere selection from the artists' performances that stick out in my mind, having left out acclaimed artist, both foreign and domestic.  

The aforementioned local band The Deep Green Sea celebrated their 8th anniversary on New Year's day.  Having seen them a dozen or so times, I was once again captivated by their somewhat eerie, somewhat funky, chilled-out sound.  And if Chongqing's first 2011 show is anything to go buy, we should be in for yet another great year music, in what may be the only 'desert' in the world that is not expanding, but shrinking. 

Last Spring, Shanghai indie-rock band Boys Climbing Ropes, was scheduled to play a show in Chongqing.  For one reason or another the show was cancelled, but not before we asked band members Jordan Small and Morgan Short a few questions.

CQSCENE:  First of all, I have to ask, does your name have anything to do with erect penises and/or Wayne's World?

Jordan Small:  That's the beauty of all three (erect penises, waynes world, boysclimbing ropes), they are up to anyone's interpretation.

Morgan Short:   Ah, it's going to be one of these interviews... we're going to get into a fuckin joust here.  Alright, alright.  Let's get crazy.  Let's get witty.


CQ:  You're clearly annoyed by the interview format, what about it bothers you?    

MS:  Oh no. Not annoyed.  Elated. It's rare that we get an "erect penis" question right off the bat.  Too bad little punk isn't around to throw in her two cents. 

CQ:  One of the most popular songs from the album is Whale Song.  Was it in any way inspired by Star Trek IV?

JS:  It has been far too long since I watched that brilliant film for it to have had any impact on the content of that song. It's actually about the death of a loved one. It is kind of a depressing celebration of a song.

CQ:  With the exception of some African cultures death and celebration usually don't go hand in hand, what is it about death/the passing of a loved one does this song celebrate?

JS:  It is not a celebration of death itself but more about the coming together of those alive.  The sharing in an inexpressibly human time of reflection and psychological turmoil.  It is something that is built out of loss.  I suppose it can be reckless, chaotic connections that people make when reaching out for something impossible to get back.  The music expresses a lightness, while the lyrics are a little darker and disconnected. 

MS: All the other songs are inspired by Star Track IV and to a lesser extent, Star Track Voyager, and in the most minor way Data's struggle to comprehend 'what it means to be human.'  Also a bit of Warf trying to negotiate a life between two cultures.   
There's also a lot of 'with great power, comes great responsibility' and 'be yourself' and 'fuck George Bush'.

CQ:  and how do you negotiate a life between two cultures?  

MS:  Well, I don't know if Security Chief Warf ever managed to do it.  He always seemed torn between two worlds.  It was his cross to bear.

CQ:  Has living in China/Shanghai had an influence on your music?  In what way?

JS: We are defined by our surroundings and the controlled accessibilty to its nouns and verbs. Shanghai has played a major role in building our sound. This city is restless, to the point of anxiety. These songs are like buildings stirring under the weight of pollution.

CQ: Your music however doesn't sound restless or anxious, so where/how does that anxiety come into play?

JS: Hmmm. Guess that's just our personalities...

MS: Musically I think we draw on influences the same way everyone else does in this late, late period in modern life: you try to steal the best shit you grew up with and then you steal the best shit of what everyone else around you is doing.  Everyone around us happens to be in Shanghai and in China in general, so we steal from them.  
But we're only a band because we live in Shanghai (we met here), and we've lived here for 1,000,000 years, so the city and the malaise of the city is a frequent inspiration for all our chart toppers, perceptive and insightful that they are.      

CQ:  Can you give me an example of some of the shit you've stolen?  

MS:  The whole, guitar, bass, drummer, singer thing -- that was someone else's idea.  We just moved right into it.  Passed it off as our own.  I think some of our songs have choruses as well, which is not really a concept we came up with ourselves.
 
CQ:  As this is your first Chongqing show, is there anything in particular about the city you're looking forward to?

JS:  Its sheer population density

MS:  Actually, we're looking forward to this Nuts Club, which we've heard a lot about.  We heard it's fucking nuts.  We've been to Wuhan a few times and we understand there is a bit of a Wuhan connection there with the people who run it.  Maybe I'm wrong about that.  But we're looking forward to getting blitzed in a new city, which is the core aesthetics of the band.  We're looking forward to making new friends in Chongqing and selling them shitty merch to fuel our larger designs on wealth and fame.  Maybe we'll fit in a temple or two.

CQ:  Finaly, what can an unacquainted audience expect from the show?  

MS:  Hmm.  I would say, it's a lot of sweat and people jumping around, it's pretty loud, lots of bangs and explosions, and there is a lot of opportunity to think about life and the world and your fellow man.  In the end, we all overcome evil and live to fight on another day.

BCR plays Nuts Club Saturday 12/4,  20:30. 
30 RMB

Wang Wen, the first ever band we highlighted on CQSCENE, and one of our favorites in all of China, will be performing at Nuts Club, Saturday 11/13.  Recognized as the forefathers of Chinese post-rock(instrumental rock), the Dalian based band seldom make it out this far west, so we highly recommend catching them while you can.

Daniel Hart is a multi-instrumentalist whom after coming to China as a member of the band St. Vincent, is back.  This time on a more extensive, solo tour which will bring him to Chongqing on Saturday, November 6, with some tough competition in the form of Taiwanese pop mega-star Jay Chou performing at the same time across town.  Along with playing Violin and Guitar, smartshanghai is reporting that he also uses a Nintendo Power Pad to dance out drum beats.  Pretty cool if you ask me. 

Here's a track from Daniel's band The Physics of meaning.

You can catch Daniel Hart and his Power Pad,  this Saturday(11/6)  20:30 @ Nuts Club.  30 RMB

And the forecast for the next few days calls for angst!  Both Thursday and Friday are sure to have their fare share, as punk band Buyi, and thrash metal band Inner M will bring they're mosh inspiring sounds to Chongqing, before the weekend clears up with something a bit less likely to leave you with bruises. 

Sinne Eeg, one of Denmark's premiere jazz vocalists, will be performing both at Nuts Club, and Bossanova(Nan Ping), but as I'm sure she has enough money to sue me, I'm gonna spare you the mp3s, but you can give her a listen on her website. 

This Friday, October 15th, Nuts Club plays host to Shanghai's Uprooted Sunshine Soundsystem's 5th anniversary tour.  A multinational crew of DJs, MCs, Singers and producers, with a reputation for turning out reggae infused rhythms, from roots to drum & bass.  In the run up to this weekend's Chongqing party we had a few word with one of Uprooted's founders, and an integral presence in the Shanghai music scene Garreth "Gaz" Williams aka DJ Drunk Monk. 

Us:  We'll start off with names and nationalities/home towns?

Them:  Ok, the two remaining founding members are Gaz AKA Drunk Monk from Manchester, UK and Israel AKA dji from Montrael, Canada. Then we have DJ Blaise Deville from Geneva, Switzerland, ChaCha from GuiZhou, China, Esia from France, Didje from Tahiti and Arminda from Portugal. Plus on this tour we have special guests Clive Chin from Jamaica and Selector Twice from New York.

Us:  How did UPROOTED come about in the beginning?

Them: Uprooted Sunshine was formed in November 2005 by Drunk Monk, dji and DJ Yo. Yo was doing a small reggae party in a bar called The Eager Beaver called 'Sunshine Is...', and after responding to a post on a forum asking for people to start a reggae night, Drunk Monk and dji met up for the first time at C's bar and decided to start a reggae night. The first party at C's was called Uprooted Sounds. The first party was a great success and after that Yo, dji and Drunk Monk joined forces to make Uprooted Sunshine. A few months later, Blaise Deville arrived in Shanghai and came to C's for an Uprooted night and soon after joined the crew. Uprooted continued there monthly parties at C's, but at the same time started a new night in a, then new, bar called Logo. Whilst on holiday in Shanghai, Didje came to one of the Logo parties and jumped on the mic, tearing up the party. He returned home, but soon after returned to Shanghai to join Uprooted. A year or so later, an unknown singer called ChaCha came to One Love (the weekly uprooted party at Logo which lasted for over 2 years) and got on the mic. After joining the parties a few times, it wasnt long until she was a proper member of the crew. Not long after, Esia and Arminda were introduced to the crew by a mutual friend and, after a short time in Korea, they returned to Shanghai to join Uprooted. This is just the short version of the story, there were many other members along the way, most notably Yas and Yufah from Japan, Don Dada and Saru from France and Boombadil from Italy.

Us: How has where you're from as well as you are now, influenced the music you make/play today?

Them:  We all share a love for reggae and jamaican music, but as we are all from different countries and backgrounds we all bring our own individual taste and experiences to the music. Some of us have a hiphop background, some drum and bass background, some a rock background, some of us even used to make pop music. We have all also had our own experiences in the music industry, from events management to performing and producing, so this is also a good aspect of the crew as we can all concentrate on the areas that we specialise in. Its quite a unique thing to have a group of 7 people who are all from different countries, and so with our individual styles and backgrounds we can appeal to a much wider audience. At the end of the day though, we are all the same really, we just like reggae music and want to spread it around china.

Us:  Gaz and Cha Cha, were in Chongqing last March with The Antidote, and if I remember correctly, Gaz was (understandingly) a bit upset by the early exit of most of the audience.  For those who haven't experienced an Uprooted party, can you tell the audience what they might expect, so as to assure they are properly prepared?

Them: The night is going to be a show from start to finish, so dont think about leaving early this time! The night will start off with dji's signature opening of dub grooves and heavy bass, followed by a special guest artist from ChongQing. After that we (Uprooted Sunshine) will perform our new live set which we have been putting together over the last few months. There are some brand new tracks in there (one written especially for the tour), plus some of our old favourites. After that is the main event - Mr Clive Chin and Selector Twice! Clive has been digging out some serious tracks for his set, including a Rocksteady tune from the early 60's sang in Mandarin, and also a track he made in the 70's entitled 'Shanghai'. Im sure the Uprooted MCs wont be able to stay off the mic for too long too....

Us: Any last words?

Them: We are all incredibly excited to be going on tour, and me myself (Gaz) am very happy to be playing back at Nutz. I had a great time last time (although it ended too early :) ) and this time I am with the full crew so its going to be a big one! We are putting every last bit of energy into the show, so we hope that you (the crowd) can give us that energy back!