R-O-C-K Chinese style

Chinese rock hogs the headlines in May, with two gigs bookending the month. Chris Toh looks behind the leather and poodle perms

Chinese music usually refers to one of three things: the traditional folksongs or arias sung at the wayangs (Chinese street operas); the evergreen ballads sung by singers like Teresa Teng and Liza Wang (See Preview); or the dancey, poppy grooves of Canto or Mandarin pop. But mention Chinese rock music and most would probably give you a quizzical stare.

Leaning towards the hard rock/heavy metal/grunge genre – think Guns ’n’ Roses, but in Chinese – Chinese rock came to prominence in the early ’90s when artists like Cui Jian from China and Wu Bai from Taiwan were blending Chinese pop melodies with crunching Western-style guitars, throbbing bass lines, pounding drums and amps turned up to 11.

This has not always translated to having hordes of fans stampeding the stage, though. Here in Singapore, while Chinese pop is embraced like the good-looking star player who’s also a whiz at maths, Chinese rock is regarded more like the pimply, bespectacled, snotty-nosed geek who sits at the back of the class: everybody knows he’s there, but nobody really wants to make friends.

‘We’re more indie than English indie rockers,’ laments Rui, lead singer of Goth rock band, La’Dies. Other than their friends and families, he says, there are few who know who they are. And if English-language indie bands are having a hard time getting noticed, this doesn’t bode well for those who sing in Chinese.

Nevertheless, Rui and other organ-isers like the Ark Cafe are trying to broaden Chinese rock’s appeal, with two pedal-to-the-metal rock events bookending the month of May: the self-explanatory Chinese Rock Event @ The Ark Café on 6 May, and Exposure 11 at the House of Rock on 27 May, a megagig featuring bands running the entire gamut of the rock genre.

The Ark Café was the very first venue to promote local Chinese music, organising xinyao (literally, ‘songs of Singapore’) competitions, and giving local singer/songwriters a venue to perform their original material. Rui, who has organised all the concerts in the Exposure series so far, says the aim there is to give unsigned Chinese indie rock bands a platform and to let Singaporeans know that there’s more to Chinese music than just Canto or M-pop. ‘Due to the fact that new bands do not get to play gigs that easily, I want to help promote and bring exposure to upcoming bands with potential and talent,’ he says.

Exposure 11 will kick off with ‘lighter pop-rock sounds’ before closing performances from heavy metallers Tian Di Hui and Goth rockers La’Dies, as well as two seminal acts from the region, neogrunge outfit Maf2ia from Hong Kong, and alternative rock band Uglymen from Malaysia.

And here’s another added plus to check out this pair of shows: the Ark Café’s gig costs only $5 (including one drink), and Exposure 11 is free of charge. ‘Our main focus and objective is about promoting and enjoying music, rather than for making money,’ says Rui.

Here’s a quick rundown of who’ll be playing.

Chinese Rock Event @ The Ark Café (6 May)

Azure

Currently one of the Ark’s resident bands, Azure won Best Performer at the Fifth Xing Qing Rong Ji National Song Writing Competition Grand Finals with their rap-rock ditty ‘Xin Bian’ (‘Change of Heart’), their first-ever original composition.

Black Forest

This five-piece pop-rock combo may sound a little emo rock, but that didn’t stop them from earning the rare distinction of having played both the Phor Kak See Monastery and the National Stadium.

Infinite Sound

Think early ’90s Cure over Pearl Jam platitudes from this quartet which creates a spiralling soundscape cemented by a basic rock beat.

LGF

The name stands for ‘Little Green Frog… because someone was referring to us as xiao qing wa (“little green frog” in Mandarin),’ says bass player Kinho. ‘I think it was some reference to the ’70s god of Taiwanese disco, Gao Ling Feng!’ Go figure.

Exposure 11 @ House of Rock (27 May)

Diversal-Unison

According to the band’s website, the reason why Diversal-Unison is so-called is because ‘all of us came from all walks of life and we unite together as one band to produce the best rock music in town!’

Other than rockin’ the stage with their hard-rock/emo routine, this foursome also harbours some philanthropic ideals, with a vision to be an inspiration to the youth and to support and help promote the local music scene.

La’Dies

Goth rock and heavy metal dominate this band’s compositions, which address the darker side of our psyche. As a forerunner of the genre, vocalist Rui says La’Dies wants to get its message heard. At the decibel level they play, though, it’s sometimes not that easy to hear what it is…

Livevil

Glam rockers Livevil may copy their look from stylised J-rock bands like Gazette, but the music is all theirs, whether it’s hard-hitting originals or covers that have been reworked to the group’s glam rock sound.

Maf2ia

A four-piece outfit from Hong Kong, these guys exude all the trappings of neo-punk and grunge – think early Nirvana or Oblivion Dust – with crunching guitars soaring over a frenetic four-on-the-floor rhythm – particularly evident on songs like ‘Public Enemy’ and ‘Qin Mu Yuan’ (‘Green Wood Garden’).

Quan Jia Fu

The name means ‘happy family’ in English, but with musical infl uences ranging from Wu Bai to Taiwanese rock band Mayday, this five-year-old band admits its original material may sound like a medley of weird-yet-interesting lyrics and tunes held together with rock guitar.

Redpoll

A Redpoll is small bird of the finch family with a characteristic red streak on its head. This band doesn’t sound like any bird we know, unless the bird sings folk-rock/hard-rock songs with the spirit of old-school punk.

Tian Di Hui

If Megadeth sang in Mandarin, then Tian Di Hui is probably what they’d sound like. This heavy metal act’s no-holds-barred performances are definitely not for fans of Celine Dion.

Uglymen

A hard-rock trio from Alor Star, Kedah, Malaysia, the band’s quirky song titles – ‘This Song Is Only Three Words Long’, ‘Eat Yourself’ and the exclamatory ‘Wah Lau, Eh!’ – is actually the end-product of their unique partnership – complete with ‘back-stabbing vocals, political solos, Tai-Chi harmony and double-standard arrangement’, as they declare proudly on their site.

Infinite Sound and LGF will also play at Exposure 11.

See listings for additional gig information.