(no subject)

[miko2]

Today's Song: Dang by Joyside

After my post a few days ago I downloaded some tracks by Chinese / Beijing alternative bands. So far I like what I've heard, so I'm going to feature each band with a song of the day.

Joyside is very old-school punk. These guys are the Chinese Ramones, I swear. You could also say the lead singer has spent a lot of time watching Mick Jagger. According to one person posting on Youtube, they are big fans of Johnny Thunders (late guitarist for the New York Dolls, and his own band the Heartbreakers). The song I decided to download, Dang, has a very British punk feel, a little bit Sex Pistols, etc.

Roll it all together and you have the premier Chinese punk band. They were featured in a documentary called Wasted Orient during their first tour of China (the dvd was released last year). Recently they've been featured in Beijing Bubbles, another documentary on Chinese underground rock yet to be released. The Wikipedia article on Wasted Orient seems to discount them as a band without a lot of talent (there isn't even an entry for the band itself), but my impression is that their star has been rising since Wasted Orient came out. In a sort of drunken, punk, WTF kind of way, you know.

I love reading entries on Chinese rock sites like Rock in China Wiki because of the great Engrish you come across. In this case, their first tour is described as "amazing, full of passion and chaos, fuddle and shout." Full of fuddle. That's brilliant. The article then goes on to add "After years of struggle and vomiting, Joyside started to climb out of their beer barrels. They dig pure rock'n'roll, give great big kisses to devil, and run wild on the burning side."

Give great big kisses to devil! Heh.

The song I downloaded isn't available on Youtube, so here's a couple of other videos of the band:

Joyside - Booze at Dawn
Joyside - live (not sure of the song)
Joyside - Baby In Shadow