Help my find punk rock in Beijing

August 5, 2009 4:20 PM

Help me find punk rock in Beijing.

Going to Beijing in a few hours for a month. I want to try and find some good punk rock/hardcore/thrash shows to take in when I get there but I have no idea where to go.

Anyone able to point me towards any venues or bands that would be good?

I also speak no Chinese.

Thanks!

posted by kinakomochi to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

I was in the same situation in Japan last year - hearwhere was a lifesaver (via projects).
posted by soma lkzx at 5:16 PM on August 5

You probably want D-22. If it's anything like it was four years ago there'll be lots of Anglophones there to guide you around the rest of the scene.
posted by escabeche at 5:20 PM on August 5

Oh, and I highly recommend the Angry Jerks if they're in town.
posted by escabeche at 5:23 PM on August 5

Are Brain Failure still around? Saw them in New York a few years back and they were really good if you like the retro UK82 thing.
posted by cazoo at 6:35 PM on August 5

Yes, D-22 is a good place to start. Martin Atkins also featured it in a documentary he did called 16 Days in China.* There's very much a thriving scene in Beijing (Carsick Cars and Snapline are two breakout bands) that makes D-22 its homebase.

(* Forgive me -- it's a bit of a self-link, as our record label distributed a compilation of Beijing punk-rock that Martin produced -- strike if necessary).
posted by pfafflin at 8:51 PM on August 5

The Mao Livehouse just round the corner from me has punk shows occasionally and rock often.
posted by Abiezer at 10:23 PM on August 5

*follows thread with interest*
posted by flippant at 4:16 AM on August 6

Glad to see the Angry Jerks get mentioned here! If you're ever in Nanjing and need a tattoo, lead singer Gao Feng is the man to talk to. Also look for the band Overdose. They've recently moved to Beijing from Nanjing and are intimately connected with the scene in Beijing. It's been a long time since I've been able to tell good punk from bad punk, but anywhere that Overdose is playing you'll run into a few more bands and people who can lead you further down the rabbit hole. They always tell me that D-22 is the best place, and have recently been mentioning Mao Livehouse.
posted by msbrauer at 7:38 AM on August 6

For videos of Chinese punk from 1995-2003, check out this.

pfafflin - thanks for posting the link to the comp. I'm going to check it out.
posted by toddst at 8:53 AM on August 6

13 Club for punk rock & metal (not sure about thrash specifically)
Mao Livehouse occasionally - check the listings
I don't think D-22 is what you're looking for music-wise, but you'll run into people there who are in the know about the scene... locals eager to practice their English + foreigners alike.

cazoo, Brain Failure is def still around! They played at Strawberry Festival this year... put on a great show as always.
posted by amillionbillion at 10:17 AM on August 6

D-22 is a ways away from the downtown area; it frequently gets good bands, but the place always struck me as a little up its own asshole about how cool it supposedly was. This may very well just be my impression; plenty of people love it.

Way on the other side of town, inside the Chaoyang Drive-In Theatre, is 2Kolegas (pronounced "Dos Kolegas"), which is the smallest and punkest of all of these venues. Crowds usually spill out of the bar and onto the lawn outside, and you're virtually guaranteed to have a sweaty, ear-damaging good time.

Mao Livehouse, as Abiezer mentioned, is another good venue; lately they seem to have been booking mostly smaller acts, but they occasionally get in bands like Brain Failure or Ziyo. Well worth a look, though the lack of ventilation, fire exits, or any kind of air cleaners there can make it feel kind of oppressive when there's a big crowd.

Not far away from there is Yugong Yishan, which probably gets in the widest range of performers -- punk to metal to reggae to samba to arsey Eurotrash techno. It's the fanciest of these venues, and is priced accordingly, but is well worth a look. The Verse -- to the best of my knowledge the only Chinese funk band in Beijing -- is playing there this Friday, and I'll always have a soft spot for them for the way they opened their set at a benefit concert after the Wenchuan earthquake last year, after a bunch of extremely solemn speeches and ballads from other bands, with the song "Funky Everybody," which then segued into "Hard to Handle." Let me know if you feel like going; I'll buy you a drink.
posted by bokane at 3:50 AM on August 12 [2 favorites has favorites]