For Those About to Rock:
Concert Listings April, 2007

Mid-weekmusic continues at Bonbon (although the rock night is changing to Sundays later this month) with Shanghai's best (and oldest) skate punk band, Loudspeaker. The three-piece will be joined in the glittering, glittering Bonbon nightclub by pop punk band Happy Sky. These two bands shared the stage last year at Bonbon with street punk heroes Mortal Fools. The show will be followed by Shanghai's most grassroots rock karaoke movement. Click here to visit Loudspeakers myspace page.

This Friday at 4 Live, Beijing band Convenience Store will be making an appearance, playing songs from their new album that will be released in Japan and Taiwan as well as China. Convenience Store have been critical favorites since forming back in 2001, winning "Best New Band" at some awards show. They are on Modern Sky records (same label as Joyside).

Opening for them are the Dropkicks who, incidentally, don't sound anything like the Dropkick Murpheys. Instead these Dropkicks are a three piece garage punk band that do covers of Search and Destroy, Sonic Reducer, Jet's "Are you Gonna be My Girl," and Jimi Hendrix's "Let me Stand Next to your Fire" (!??!?). They opened for the Subs last month.

The 6^th edition of the successful PAUSE party series. PAUSE is an acronym for a collective of Shanghai's independent music promoters. To wit: Phreaktion, Antidote, Uprooted Sunshine, e:klek:tic. So rarely do acronyms work out so well. Along with (weather permitting) graffiti art, live music, merch (from the shops ENO, My Xanadu), graphic art, and cheap drinks, the afternoon will feature some nine thousand DJs spinning nine thousand different kinds of music. They are:

Deville (Ghetto-tech)
Siesta (Drum n Bass)
Ozone (Bhangra/Indian dance pop)
Boya (Live dirty electro with toys)
Mr. Stokes (classic Afro-Beat)
MHP (Live minimal set)
r3 (Trip Hop/IDM live/DJ set)
Sketcherton (weird shit yet to be revealed)
Flaneur (Serge Gainsbourgian disco)
The Lab DJs (Live turntable scratch set)
Fish (Minimal)
dji + didjelirium (Dub + live didjeridoo)
Q-nan (mix of self-produced trip hop and DJ set)

Flying Fruit
9:00 P.M.
Bonbon
2F Yunhai Tower, 1329 Huaihai Zhong Lu
near Hengshan Road (1332 1939 299)

Cover: RMB 88 (all you can drink)

Probably the best looking band in town, Flying Fruit are great musicians and play well-crafted alternative in the vein of U2 and Travis. As always, after the band Bonbon turns into FAME, a rock karaoke party where members of the audience can sing rawk classics with the house band.

---

Foster & Jackson / Motown Music Night
4 Live
8-10 Jian Guo Zhong Lu
near Chong Qing Lu (6415 0700)

Cover: RMB 50 (free beer between 9 and 10 pm)

Finally, a night dedicated to the most underrepresented form of music in Shanghai's live music scene: Motown. Foster & Jackson will be at 4 Live and according to the promoters, these two talented singers were in the Coasters and the Drifters and shared the stage with legendary music talents like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. The Drifter sang the songs "Under the Boardwalk" and " Save the Last Dance for Me." The Coasters sang that song "Yakity Yak (Don't Talk Back)." The show will be followed by Motown DJs. Goddamn this is going to be sweet.





Rock Your Life Concert feat.
Banana Monkey (garage, indie rock)
Hugo (Brit rock)
Crazy Mushroom (Nu Metal)
Backdrop Falls (Metal)
Yuyintang
Lane 100, 200 Long Cao Rd
near Tiandong Lu, Long Cao Lu (6436 0072)

Cover: RMB 30

This concert was supposed to happen last month but was unexpectedly canceled. Encompassing a spectrum of rock styles, the Rock Your Life concert features four great, up-and-coming Chinese bands including local favorites Banana Monkey, who, incidentally, blew Beijing's Joyside off the stage last month when they played with them at Yuyintang.

---

Saturday, April 14^th

NoiShanghai VIII feat.
Justice Yeldham
Lijian Hong
Hong Qile
Vavabond
Torturing Nurse
Live Bar
721 Kunming Lu,
near Tongbei Lu (2833 6764)

Cover: RMB 30

A night of noise music that is sure to challenge the way you think about and listen to music as an art form, NoiseShanghai VIII is the eighth installment of NoiShanghai, a mini festival dedicated to Shanghai's most experimental and underground performers. Blurring the line between music and performance art, this episode of NoiShanghai features Australian performer Justice Yeldham (named after some disgraced Aussie Supreme Court Judge) playing an amplified piece of broken glass. An amplified piece of broken glass . . . that he plays with his face!

Here's Mr. Yeldham in an interview with BMX Zine on the audience reaction to his performance, particularly when he cuts himself with the glass:

On the occasion people have fainted or even been sick as a result. Those left are usually simply excited at this point as I work myself up, especially when the biting or smashing begins. Finally at the end, a mixture of relief and glee and maybe some concern if I had a particularly bloody show. But generally people seem pretty happy as a result.

Check out video clips at his myspace page.

The night also features the following performers. Click on their names to be redirected too their myspace pages:

Lijian Hong
Hong Qile
Vavaband
Torturing Nurse

---

Monday, April 16^th

The Roots
8:00 P.M.
Yunfeng Theatre
1700 Beijing West Road
near Wanhangdu Road Tickets: RMB 280, 380, 480
To order call (021) 6289 3919 or visit www.cwest.cn

Philly-based, Grammy-winning hip-hop band The Roots will be in Shangers (What? No. Really.) for a performance at the Yufeng Theatre. Along with the upcoming the Sonic Youth show on April 23^rd and the just passed Ziggy Marley show, the presence of The Roots in Shanghai has everyone all abuzz that this city is starting to see some proper international acts. Black Thought, ?uestlove, and the other four or five red shirts will be playing tracks off their new 2006 record, Game Theory.

---

Friday, April 20^th
Brain Failure
10:00 P.M.
4 Live
8-10 Jian Guo Zhong Lu
near Chong Qing Lu (6415 0700)
Cover: RMB 50 (free beer between 9 and 10 pm)

Claiming to be the first musicians in China to sport mohawks, Brain Failure is one of China's oldest and biggest street punk bands and has recently returned from a 100+ show American tour. Sharing the stage with the Dropkick Murpheys, The Forgotten, Dillinger Four and The Casualties, Brain Failure has also played on the Warped Tour and remains China's answer to the street punk revival popularized by Rancid, Stiff Little Fingers and the Bouncing Souls in the early 90s. Head to their myspace page to hear some sample tracks.





WangWen + Muscle Snog + Boys Climbing Ropes
9:00 P.M.
Yuyintang
Lane 100, 200 Long Cao Rd
near Tiandong Lu, Long Cao Lu (6436 0072)

Cover: RMB 30

At the first of two shows this month, headliners WangWen will be playing new songs of their new album entitled 7 Stuffs in Another Infinate Space. Sounds like a Primus or Ween album title. Or maybe it just sounds translated from Chinese. They are billed as a post-rock psychedelic band that appeal to fans of Mogwai, Sugur Ros, and Mono. Sounds ethereal. Muscle Snog are a new experimental/shoegaze three-piece who do a pretty bitchin' cover of The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale." Check it out at their myspace page.

Boys Climbing Ropes are three white guys. Listen to some tracks at their myspace page.

---

Saturday, April 21^st

Subs
9:00 P.M.
Yuyintang
Lane 100, 200 Long Cao Rd
near Tiandong Lu, Long Cao Lu (6436 0072)

Cover: RMB 30

Following up last month's intense concert at 4 Live, China's favorite sons (and daughter) will be back at Yuyintang to play more hits off the album, Down. Their album Down and not the 311 album of the same name. China's premier punk/post-punk band, if you haven't heard them by now, sound a lot like earlier, harder Fugazi and At the Drive In. They also have a garage rock flavor to them mixing in elements of the garage rock revival (specifically the wrenching Gang of Four guitar and theatrics of The Hives) into their sound. The presence and performance of frontwoman Kang Mao has become legendary and together, they create "the most sought after live experience in China," according to chaile.org.

---

Sunday April 22^nd

Wangwen + Muscle Snog + FAME (rock karaoke)
9:00 P.M.
Bonbon
2F Yunhai Tower, 1329 Huaihai Zhong Lu
near Hengshan Road (1332 1939 299)
Cover: RMB 88 (all you can drink)

The second Shanghai show for Wangwen has them playing a set at the glitzy, ritzy Bonbon nightclub. Bonbon's rock night is moving to Sundays as of this night.

---

Tuesday, April 24^th

Sonic Youth + Carsick Cars
Shanghai Concert Hall
523 Yanan Dong Road

Ticket Prices: RMB 380 / 580
To order call (021) 6474 0787

Yes it has been confirmed! Thurston and the gang will be playing a show in Shanghai as part of a grueling two leg China tour (the Youth will be in Beijing at The Star Live on April 23rd). The will they come? speculation that has gone on for something like two years was finally put to rest at the start of this month. The news has hipsters all over China ripping holes in their faded Levis and wiring home to get their old Tool shirts sent over, or maybe that Nirvana shirt with the yellow happy face on it as a back up. Not a good idea to miss this one even though the tickets cost 9 cajiillion kwais. Although, I suppose you could just save your money for Mudhoney, who is coming to play Shanghai real soon.

Carsick Cars are a Beijing shoegaze band formed in 2005 that have quickly taken the live scene there by storm. Check out their myspace page to hear some really catchy numbers. They sound YOUNG AND HUNGRY.

---

Friday, April 27^th
Supermarket with Huzi, Wang Juan + Boys Climbing Ropes
10:00 P.M.
4 Live
8-10 Jian Guo Zhong Lu
near Chong Qing Lu (6415 0700)

Cover: RMB 50 (free beer between 9 and 10 pm)

Earlier this month, 4 Live hosted a band called Convenience Store and now electro-rock mainstays Supermarket will play a show accompanied by veteran ambient-IDM producers Huzi and Wang Juan. A trend? Locals Boys Climbing Ropes are an anti-folk pop rock overdrive band. Check out their songs on their myspace page.

---

Saturday, April 28^th

Pretty Girls Make Graves - -CANCELLED
10:00 P.M.
4 Live
8-10 Jian Guo Zhong Lu
near Chong Qing Lu (6415 0700)

Cover: RMB 100 at the door, RMB 80 with Student I.D.

The music of PGMG was highly anticipated when the band got together in 2001 thanks to the radness of the former bands of the founding members: Derek Fudesco played bass in the (sweet) Murder City Devils, Jason Clark was in Kill Sadie and Nick Dewitt was in the Bee Hive Vaults.

PGMG takes their name from a Morrissey lyric and the band played the 2004 Coachella Music Festival. PGMG has also toured with Death Cab for Cutie, Franz Ferdinand, and Bloc Party, so you can kind of guess what they sound like (although more like the latter than the former two). The band is breaking up after finishing their 2007 tour so their appearance on the stage at 4 Live comes as even more of a surprise.

---

Sunday, April 29^th

8mm Overdose
9:00 P.M.
4 Live
8-10 Jian Guo Zhong Lu
near Chong Qing Lu (6415 0700)

Cover: RMB 30 (RMB 15 Tsingtaos)

Hardcore thrash metal from Hawaii, 8mm Overdose will be playing a special Sunday night show at 4 Live (and the next night at Yuyintang) as part of a South East Asian tour, which takes the band to Korea and Japan along with China. 8mm Overdose are Hard Core (capital H, capital C) in the vein of Slayer, At the Gates, and Mastadon. Check out their myspace page for tracks. Banger show of the month. Hands down.




Plastic Chocolate + FAME (Rock Karaoke)
9:00 P.M.
Bonbon
2F Yunhai Tower, 1329 Huaihai Zhong Lu
near Hengshan Road (1332 1939 299)

Cover: RMB 88 (all you can drink)

Plastic Chocolate have become a local favorites for their superior song craftsmanship and their tight, energetic live set. And their cover of the 4 Non Blonds' "What's Goin On." They play a newer form of alternative rock in the vein of Muse. As some of the members are Korean and are due for mandatory military service (!!) they'll be breaking up soon. Catch them while you can and then stay after the show to sing rock karaoke 'cause you're a star.

---

Monday, April 30^th

8mm Overdose
9:00 P.M.
Yuyintang
Lane 100, 200 Long Cao Rd
near Tiandong Lu, Long Cao Lu (6436 0072)

Cover: RMB 30

The second Shanghai show of 8mm Overdoses Southeast Asian tour. See above for myspace link.


Last Month's Concert Listings

-Live music event submissions, contact Morgan Short

BACK TO MAIN