Tom Cruise And Katie Holmes

As spring romances burnout in the more raw, sticky heat of summer we’re excited to bring you China’s latest tribute to dying love. Shanghai-based Tom Cruise and Katie Homles channel all the hurt, self-loathing and sadness for sadness sake we demand from a “good” break-up with just the right amount of pose that comes from knowing people are watching. Just like their namesakes, and the love they represent, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the band, was never meant to last. Xiao Zhong (Rhys), also from Pairs, will be returning to his native Australia and while they will be trying to play as many shows as possible before he leaves this fury of summer passion will not last long. Be sure to catch their release shows on June 6, at Shanghai’s YuYinTang, and June 7, at Beijing’s XP, and snag yourself a copy of “你不爱我 (You Don’t Love Me)” so, even after it’s gone, you can relive that bitter sweet pain again and again.

Listen to it here.

CARSICK CARS / FLAVOR CRYSTALS SPLIT 7”

That’s right folks, just in time for a run of co-headlining US tour dates, Genjing are beyond excited to announce an East meets West wax platter you’ll kick yourself for not snatching-up, lest you secure your very own copy, right this very minute! Limited to a pressing of 500 units on red vinyl, these puppies are gonna go like hotcakes, wethinks – and once they’re gone, they’re really and truly gone! Where can one purchase this must-have piece of culturally viable, sonic ephemera you ask? Well, that’s easy – right here in our shop or anywhere fine musical products are sold throughout the civilized (and uncivilized) world in these fast disappearing, brick and mortar establishments generally referred to as, wait for it…record stores! Remember those? Wait a minute. What’s that you say? You need a little exposition on why this particular seven inch in diameter, phonographic record is important enough for you to add to your carefully curated collection? Feel as though you’d like to actually lay ears upon this release in order to stave off any potential buyer’s remorse? Fear not! We’ve got you covered on both counts, just below, in the form of descriptive copy and an embedded stream. Yup, we’ve literally thought of everything this time around. Excuse us for a couple secs while we (collectively) pat ourselves on the back, real quick…

[one, one-thousand; two, one-thousand]

…ahhhh, that felt good.

After an auspicious run of activity, including two critically lauded albums on venerable indie Maybe Mars, sharing bills about the globe with alt-godfathers, Sonic Youth and slots at All Tomorrow’s Parties and Primavera Sound, Beijing indie-noise wunderkinds, Carsick Cars slipped into a well-deserved, five year, auricular hibernation of sorts, only to return in dramatic fashion this spring with a new rhythm section and 3, their most fully realized long player, to date. Yoko, a revved-up outtake from the Hamish Kilgour/ Pete Kember (a.k.a. Sonic Boom) produced sessions which spawned 3, marks a distinctive, stylistic departure for the band, who momentarily dial down the noise in favor of driving repetition, clean, Figurines-esque vocals and an anthemic, balls-to-the-wall resolve that unexpectedly launches the track into the stratosphere upon its incessantly rhythmic conclusion – an unequivocal, left-field indie-pop gem of a tune, if there ever was one!

On the flip side, Minneapolis psych-rock vets, Flavor Crystals, offer up Mirror in My Mind, a drone smeared, carefully considered, morotik ripper that mines the depths of exploratory shoegaze with aplomb, not unlike an auditory visage of one of Frederik van Eeden’s exercises in lucid dreaming. The band’s most recent full length release, a triple LP psych monster, coincidentally titled Three [Mpls. Ltd.], may well be one of the more criminally overlooked wax platters of the past couple years – self-engineered and produced by the band following a lengthy US tour in support of like-minded sonic sojourners, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Three captures Flavor Crystals in a vulnerable, metacognitive state and the results are nothing short of staggering!

LISTEN TO IT HERE!

INTERVIEW: ALPINE DECLINE ON ALPINE DECLINE

With the Beijing pollution index hovering around 500 PSI a week and a half or so ago – seriously people, the sun was literally blocked out for something like FIVE WHOLE DAYS – we figured Jonathan and Pauline of Alpine Decline were probably busy sitting around their flat, staring daggers at one another with bleary, bloodshot cartoon eyes, so we thought it best we give ‘em something to do before an impromptu Russian Roulette session ensued. That something, as it turned out, was the task of interviewing each other, ‘cuz, you know you wanna know everything there is to know about what makes these happily married museos tick, at least, we do…and we’re a pretty damn good representation of, er, you…I guess? Also, the fact that we goaded these kids into doing this saved us a whole hell of a lot of transcription legwork! Ahem, right. Many thanks to J&P for actually taking the time to sit down and hash this bad boy out – yadda, yadda, yadda. So now, ladies and gentle-people, children of all (emotional) ages, without further adieu…

Jonathan: OK, hello, and welcome – this is Alpine Decline on Alpine Decline. Pauline: That sounds horrible. Jonathan: It does. We’re going to interview each other using some questions from Genjing Records. We’ll just take turns asking each other these questions. Feel free to chime in on my answers. Pauline: Does that mean you’re going to chime in on my answers? Jonathan: OK then! Let’s start, question number one. Hm, why don’t you ask this first one.

Pauline: OK! Jonathan, question number one. What does your typical songwriting process look like? Jonathan: Pretty much as soon as we’re done with one album, we start working on the next one. Pauline: By finished, like, you mean when we’re finished with it and ready to move on to the next thing. Jonathan: Yeah, I mean that’s been different for different records. Sometimes we’re finished with it before it’s even mastered, but sometimes because we’ve been touring or something, it’s a couple months after we’re done with the recording stuff.

Jonathan: Did you try anything different in that respect for this release? Pauline: This is the first release we’re working with Genjing. Jonathan: It’s really exciting and interesting to put out each release, where we’re kind of putting together people who are into what we’re doing and want to support the record. We’re basically a completely underground band, but we’re finding a way to make it work in a kind of non-conventional way. Pauline: I feel like you have a long term view of the whole thing – like you’ve planned this story ahead. Jonathan: Yeah I mean I think more about the overall story of Alpine Decline than the focusing on each album release as the next big thing. It’s easiest when you’re trying to promote something to say it’s the new big release, the new killer shit, a masterpiece and we gotta go all out for this one, but I guess I’m more interested thinking about it like we’ll have this big collection of work that explores all this different stuff and each album drops you into a different chapter in our world. But that being said, GO BIG SHADOW CITY is the new killer shit, it is a masterpiece. This just happens to be the chapter where we’re firing on all cylinders.

Pauline: Jonathan, with GO BIG SHADOW CITY being your fifth album in four years, is it hard to come up with new ideas, musically or otherwise, and avoid repeating yourselves? Jonathan: Woah, already with the hard hitting questions. No I don’t ever worry about repeating myself or running out of new ideas, but because I think it’s OK as artists creating an album or a performance to return to things in the craft that we’re drawn to, or that are particularly effective for whatever kind of expression we’re trying to make. Pauline: So you’re not worried about running out of new ideas? Jonathan: Are you? I don’t worry about that because I don’t think our job is to crank out a bunch of new ideas. Yeah of course I think it’s important to really express something in our music, whether that’s a specific idea or just trying to express some part of our, like, human experience, but I guess I think music is the tool or process by which you and I can actually explore our experiences, and for whatever reason you and I have both been drawn to music as the way to do that as opposed to like, some other kind of art, or professional ambitions or whatever. Pauline: So you are justifying having no professional ambitions? Jonathan: Wait is that one of their questions or is that you asking me that? Are you asking me that as Alpine Decline or as my wife?

Pauline: Do we discuss music that influences us throughout the songwriting process or is that completely off the table? Jonathan: We talk about music all the time, but not really in relation to Alpine Decline or it influencing us. Pauline: But we also talk about Alpine Decline’s music all the time too. Jonathan: Yeah, but that’s separate.

Jonathan: How much time do you spend writing lyrics? [Laughs] Pauline: None, zero. Jonathan: I guess I spend not a lot of time writing lyrics, but for a really long time. Like I don’t sit at my desk with a notebook and a cup of coffee writing lyrics all day, but starting to put the words together is how we start working on a new album, and then I’m doing that for a few months until it’s actually the day I need to go in and sing the vocals. And then there is a scramble to sort of finish everything and put it all together. Pauline: And you feel like this produces your best work? Jonathan: Well I can get a lot more personal pleasure like this because there’s a really fleshed out concept for the album and each song and stuff, but there’s some spontaneity so that then later I get something meaningful out of trying to interpret what I wrote, as opposed to it being 100% orchestrated like I’m some master. Pauline: Could you do that too? Jonathan: No.

Pauline: How did you come up with the title Go Big Shadow City? Jonathan: It’s a mistranslation, but I knew immediately it was going to be the title of the album, even though I’d only just starting thinking about the album like, the day before. Then it kind of loomed over everything and influenced everything for the rest of the way. Pauline: Yeah.

Pauline: As songwriters and instrumentalists, how do you fight against complacency at this point? Jonathan: Oh I mean like, at the end of writing music and recording you have an album, but that’s just the product of the process, it’s the result, not the primary goal. The process itself, making music, is something we love and helps us understand our lives, our relationship with each other, everything. Pauline: We’ve both been drawn to music our whole lives. Jonathan: Yeah I don’t think that’s going to change, we’re lifers.

<a href="http://genjingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/go-big-shadow-city">Go Big Shadow City by Alpine Decline</a>

Jonathan: Next question! How much did living in the tropical paradise that is modern Beijing influence GO BIG SHADOW CITY? Pauline: Ha, ah well – you’ve heard the record. Jonathan: Or if not you can listen to it now online- pretty much everywhere you can listen to music. Pauline: It’s our lives here in Beijing. Jonathan: I think we try to use the recording process to create as much of a landscape or geography for each album, and I think it’s fine for some people to get into the world of this album and think about it as Beijing, but we’re trying to write records that are more like a reflection of reality, like a novel, than a documentary or something. Pauline: I think you’re mixing your metaphors. Are you talking about books or movies? Jonathan: You get what I mean. Maybe some people can make a laser-sharp album about Beijing or something specific like that, but I think I just enjoy the kind of novel thing more than the non-fiction thing, where through the art of writing you can touch on all these deeper human experiences and issues and stuff. If GO BIG SHADOW CITY was just about Beijing, for anyone outside of China it would just be a kind of voyeuristic connection instead of something more personal. Pauline: But the landscape of this record is influenced by Beijing? Jonathan: Well I mean it’s like you said, it’s our lives here.

Pauline: Jonathan, how long do you think we’ll stay in Beijing? Jonathan: You don’t have to say “Jonathan” at the beginning of every question. It’s gonna be typed up, they’ll know who’s talking. Pauline: Jonathan, how long do you think we’ll stay in Beijing? Jonathan: I feel like if we could, we’d stay in Beijing indefinitely, but with Roland [editor's note: Roland is a six month old baby] you realize there are better places for a kid to grow up. Pauline: We’re not planning on going anywhere anytime soon, but I think we recognize we can’t live here forever.

Pauline: OK Jonathan, another question. You’ve worked with Yang Haisong [P.K.14, After Argument, Dear Eloise -Ed.] twice now, how much did he inform your process while in the studio? Jonathan: Welllllll, we’re pretty aware of how we want our process to work– Pauline: When I transcribe this, how many “L”s should I put for that “Welllllll?” Jonathan: Seven. But that process for us involves having a person who is in tune with our intentions, you know, and is also willing to care and be personally involved in the album. Pauline: Yang Haisong is great because he’s very professional, but he focuses on what you’re trying to do in a really genuine way.

Jonathan: OK I’m going to just read this next question verbatim: Maybe I’m way off base here, but sonically, GBSC sounds much more, er, human – a lot richer, than your last release. How much of a goal was it to step things up on the production end? Do you think we were consciously trying to step things up on the production end? Pauline: No, I mean…I think the second time working with someone you are more comfortable and you understand what everyone means when they are talking about the music being better, so it makes sense that the record sounds better. Jonathan: Or maybe not even “better,” but more coherent. We were able to do a better job realizing ideas in the recording process.

Pauline: Jonathan, what issues do you have, if any, with the state of modern music? Jonathan: It’d be cooler if there was actually a room of press shouting questions at us like we’re The Beatles or Bob Dylan. But it’s just you and me sitting in a room asking each other questions… is this interesting to anyone? Pauline: Jonathan, the question was, what issues do you have, if any, with the state of modern music. Jonathan: I think I’m probably too self-interested to really be all that focused on the state of modern music. I’m probably just focused on our own thing. Pauline: You rant to me about music all the time. Jonathan: Rant? [It's cool, Jonathan, we rant about all manor of shit over here! -Ed.] Pauline: Next question?

Jonathan: OK. Pauline, have you had any truly disillusioning moments as a band, thus far? Maybe that question makes sense more if I say “have you had any truly disillusioning moments in your life as a musician, thus far?” Pauline: [Long Pause] Disillusioning? Jonathan: Uh, huh. Pauline: No. Not really. Jonathan: You could say how your approach to playing music and being in a band has changed though, right? Pauline: Yeah, we do things differently as a band and as musicians than ten years ago.

Pauline: Jonathan, as you know, you guys just got back from touring Australia and are about to embark on a fairly lengthy China tour, what’s next after that? Jonathan: The US for the summer and then hopefully a tour in the UK and Europe in the fall. Pauline: And we just finished a record of the tape machine stuff and now are working on the next album? Jonathan: Is that a question? Pauline: No, I don’t know why I said it like that.

Jonathan: Next question. Pauline, how far in the future do we have releases planned out? Like, are there heaps of Alpine Decline tunes lying around that you’re planning on throwing out there as one-offs or do we tend to work in batches? Pauline: It seems like we’re always working on something. Jonathan: You sound tired. Pauline: It’s not like we’re working in batches and then there’s stuff laying around, it seems like we’re just eventually done working on one thing and then we just start working on the next thing.

Pauline: Tell us a joke?! Jonathan: Knock knock. Pauline: Who’s there? Jonathan: Fuck. Pauline: Are you serious? Jonathan: Just do the joke. It’s funny. Pauline: Fuck who? Jonathan: Don’t you mean “fuck whom?” Pauline: Agh Jonathan that is sooooo stupid. Jonathan: How many “o”s should I put in “sooooo stupid?” Pauline: Five.

Jonathan: Pauline this is labeled as a “personal question” from Genjing. They want to know if there are any “drone” sets planned for the China tour. [Sheesh! Isn't anything "personal" any longer. -Ed] Pauline: Well, I think we’re going to keep doing the drone sets. A lot of times, there are good ways to fit them in on tour playing non-club spaces where drums and guitar amps don’t make a ton of sense. Jonathan: Yeah and we’ll be doing more of these kind of sets in Beijing and Shanghai in May and early June before we go to the US. Pauline: And the record is just finished. Jonathan: The Cuttlefish and its Ink

Pauline: Is that it? Jonathan: That’s it! That’s all for Alpine Decline on Alpine Decline. Pauline: OK then.

Alpine Decline China Tour

Fresh off a highly productive jaunt through Australia and the release of, arguably, their best full length to date, GO BIG SHADOW CITY, Beijing’s Alpine Decline are now set for an extensive tour of their host country, The People’s Republic of China! Not only will the band be lugging around heaps of limited edition phonographic records as well as beautifully hand-screened posters printed by the fine folks at IdleBeats, they’re also bringing along their brand spanking new baby boy, Roland – yes, Jonathan and Pauline named their first born son after one of their favorite pieces of gear! Though the novelty/cute factor of that statement alone should be enough to get you, the proud denizens of the Middle Kingdom, out to one or more of these headlining shows, keep in mind that these two Los Angeles transplants kill it live! No, No, No, not the baby!!! Sheesh. What kind of people…never mind, just make sure you clear your calendars and plan accordingly, these guys don’t disappoint in a live setting. Fact.

Tour Dates

Mar 14th – YuYinTang [Shanghai] Mar 15th – VOX [Wuhan] Mar 16th – 46 Livehouse [Changsha] Mar 18th – Black Iron [Nanchang] Mar 20th – Real Live [Xiamen] Mar 21st – TBA [Guangzhou] Mar 22nd – Hidden Agenda [Hong Kong] Mar 23rd – B10 [Shenzhen] Apr 4th – NUTS [Chongqing] Apr 5th – There Livehouse [Deyang] Apr 6th – Little Bar [Chengdu] Apr 9th – The Roof [Louyang] Apr 10th – Aperture [Xi'an] Apr 11th – 7 Livehouse [Zhengzhou] Apr 12th – Ark Livehouse [Xinxiang] Apr 13th – Hong Tang [Shijiazhuang] Apr 19th – Yugong Yishan [Beijing] Apr 25th – Castle Bar [Nanjing] May 18th – New Wave Festival [Dalian] Jun 6th – Miaojiaqiao #8 [Shaoxing]

Alpine Decline’s Australian Tour Diary

Dear Diary,

I really wish I could have gone along on the Alpine Decline Australia tour like my colleague here at Genjing World HQ Beijing PRC, Nevin, who tagged along under the auspice of “tour managing” or “networking” or some such thing. Must have been nice to fly on down to the southern hemisphere and work on your tan at backyard BBQs and shit while I hold down the fort here in -13 degree Beijing! Yeah, I’m a little bitter/jealous – if you weren’t a freakin’ book, you would be too! Anyway, to rub it all in just a little bit more, it turns out that Jonathan from Alpine Decline keeps a Diary too and now Nevin has asked me to post entries from it on the Genjing website, surrounding the band’s afore mentioned Australia jaunt. The balls on that guy, right?! They’ve even included a playlist of all the great bands they met down under. Some people have all the luck!

(Alpine Decline’s Australian Tour Mix by Genjing Records on Mixcloud)

The Weather is Fine, Sydney

In Sydney the weather is fine. The blue sky pulses above us and the beach and boardwalk are nearly too bright to look at. The child gasps at a rush of wind. I sweat into my sunglasses. Water appears everywhere, left and right outside of the window of the car as it slopes up and down the hills and along cliffs around Sydney.

Wild & Brutal / Weak & Mortal, Brisbane

Pauline went to hotel to watch the baby right after our set, so at the end of the night I take our gear from the venue to our hotel by myself. The hotel sits at the top of Spring Hill, the club at the bottom. I am carrying overstuffed bags on my back and shoulders, dragging heavy luggage with both arms, stringing forward, leaning forward up the hill. I am pouring sweat. The sky at 2AM is black and dry. I am gasping for air.

Each city in Australia feels like it is just at the edges of the wild and brutal, where everything is lethal and only you seem weak and mortal. Our infrared vision gazes at Brisbane and sees it teeming with life where the culture appears driest. People get rowdy and then seek the shade. People get rowdy when the sun goes down. The afternoon grows long and late against pint glasses at a pizza dive. Climb to the top of the hill with the punks, the embers teeming all along the twisting banks of the river, sharpened by Mexican liquor, swallowed up into a travel-exhausted dream.

Unattended Noise, Melbourne

The grass in Julian’s backyard is hard and dry, but I don’t care and I end most nights laying there and staring up. It’s February and it’s Summer and there is warm southern hemisphere wind, and the polarity feels strange and flipped. There is a small stone patio against the house, and early in the afternoon we set up guitar amps there and Julian started the music of with a performance of “Unattended Noise,” which up to that moment I had thought was a a joke.

He flicked on some Vox amp and rested his bass against it and let it hum. He plugged some Jaguar or Jazzmaster into a gorgeous sounding Fender amp and set a wok on top of it. He flicked on his electric toothbrush, dropped it in the wok, and went back inside to continue cooking.

All of us sitting around on the grass or smoking by the grill or sitting inside around the table, from young bands, from 70′s church burners, punk kid, indie kid, vegan muffin kid, baby – we all of us stopped and stared at the electric toothbrush rattling in the wok, dancing on top of the guitar pickups, roaring out through the amp, with the bass droning low all the while.

“Unattended Noise” is all anyone will really remember about that afternoon. Julian wanted to mic up the ice cream machine as he churned out some hibiscus vegan sorbet, but the timing wasn’t right. That kind of thing.

The vegan muffins were excellent.

Last Day in Australia, King’s Cross

Down from our small room in the Sydney Lodges is King’s Cross: about two city blocks of gentlemen’s clubs, bodegas, gutter punks sitting and waiting, halaal joints that serve N.Y.C. style pizza into the morning – a zone that has been dubbed “The Lockout Zone” by the city government. There’s a drunken steroid game in this neighborhood, elsewhere called “Sucker Punch” but in Australia called “King’s Punch.” It involves punching an unsuspecting stranger in the back of the head, and five people have died this year from the King’s Punch in King’s Cross.

I put on the baby and we walk down from the room to the street, and just as we hit the main drag and the first gentlemen’s club, we drop down into the subway and suddenly we’re off. When we come back up we’re along the harbor. Keep the baby covered up from the sun. We walk along the water to the opera house. I buy two glasses of their cheapest champagne. We sit in the shade of the white shells of the theater. We stare at the bridge to the North Shore. In a few hours we will catch the plane home to Beijing.

FIRE UP YOUR TURNTABLES PEOPLE, ‘CUZ ALPINE DECLINE’S GO BIG SHADOW CITY COMES OUT TODAY!

We, the mostly sober, generally congenial mopes here at Genjing World HQ Beijing PRC are pleased as proverbial punch to announce the release of our very first full length long player on phonographic record format, not to mention Alpine Decline’s Genjing Records debut, Go Big Shadow City! Beijing via Los Angeles transplants, Alpine Decline have truly captured the post-apocalyptic spirit of their adopted city with an album that could only have been made within the confines of the über-polluted, Blade Runner-esque concrete jungle/Petri Dish that is the Red Capitol – lilting vocals, driving percussion and crisp, buzzing melodies rise and fall from atop a dense sea of aural murk that acts as a fluid foundation of sorts, throughout the course of the eleven songs featured. All hyperbole aside there’s plenty more where that came from, we can’t stop spinning this lovingly crafted, urbane monster. It’s just that good. Don’t believe us? Decide for yourself, dear potential customer! We’ve conveniently embedded a full stream of Go Shadow Big City right here in this space – you’re welcome.

Once you’re done with your complimentary, sonic test drive and are ready to hand over your hard earned wampum to us in exchange for a brand spankin’ new, shrink wrapped Go Shadow Big City wax platter, you’ve (potentially) got some, er, colorful decisions to make: You see, in our ongoing quest for world domination, we’ve pressed GBSC in four different colors, one for each region in which the album is being distributed; Red = China (natch), Gray = Australia, Green = Europe and Blue = North America. So, if you aren’t fond of the color we’ve assigned your particular region, or feel the completely understandable need to collect all four slabs, hit us up here and we’ll sort you out, post haste. Of course, like all worthwhile commodities, this is a first come first serve, while supplies last kind of deal. Also, shipping costs will vary depending upon how you wanna roll – just sayin’. Many thanks in advance for your kind patronage and happy listening!

Talking Trash with Xiao Zhong from Pairs

Over the past few years Pairs have become one of the most talked about bands in not just Shanghai, but the entire Chinese DIY scene, largely due to the fact that they run laps around most other bands in terms of their output. The Pairs approach to music making definitely syncs with the 80/20 rule championed by the Crap Art / Album a Day movement (“If only 20% of the effort is needed to get 80% of the quality, then by spending only 20% of the effort, we can create five times as many artifacts at 80% quality!” ). The results are often scrappy, lo-fi, out of tune, out of time, and intensely fun. It’s so carefree it’s inspiring; I defy you to listen to a Pairs record and not want to pick up an instrument, start blasting away, record an album right there in your living room and then book a tour and take off the next day.

The Pairs discography spans everything from noise punk to piano ballads (and most recently Christmas covers); their live shows are controlled anarchy at it’s very best, Xiao Zhong looking like he’s one blast beat away from a nervous breakdown, screaming his heart out, sticking his drum sticks down his throat, while F sways to and fro, smashing out a few rudimentary chords with unrelenting ferocity. At this point they are few scenes across Asia that haven’t come into contact with Pairs and their sonic barrage, and while it’s lo-fi anger on record and stage and some staunch opinions in print, maybe the most important point is that Pairs are some of the nicest human beings you will ever encounter and pillars of China’s DIY scene. For every minute of time they put into their own band they are willing to lend to others, whether it’s setting up shows, tours, silk screening shirts, or sharing contacts. Pairs are part of it all.

Following up from the split release with New Zealand’s God Bows To Math we had a sit down with Xiao Zhong of Pairs to discuss how 2013 has treated the band, including touring South Korea, reactions to their piano punk album Eltham Join, and what the future might hold.

How was South Korea? Did you get any plastic surgery done? Did you sleep in an alley after losing a soju drinking competition?

South Korea was so much fun! Such an easy place to get around. Love Motels totally won us over, I don’t know how they make money but it was just a joy not having to wait for some sucker to photocopy my passport so the man knows where I’m sleeping.

No plastic surgery or hair plugs. No drinking competitions. We were a little boring this trip I guess but I can’t handle hangovers, and fuck being trapped wanting to vomit on a bus for five hours where no one speaks English. Also, soju hurts the gut hole, but way less so than baijiu.

Pairs playing at Rat On Swamp Dog in Shanghai

What’s going on in Shanghai right now? We’re seeing more releases coming out of the scene, but are things moving or just going round in circles? Are more people wearing Ray Bans on stage?

Thank fuck Converse and Ray Bans have little to no interest in Shanghai bands. That shit is a little gross. I’m not a big anti corporation kind of thing, if they want to get involved and chip in some money – cool, I just hate bands wearing sunglasses on stage.

I just watched that Beijing Punk documentary and realised that even though it was five or six years ago, I know most of the bands and people – seems like they are still doing the same stuff, fighting the same fights, talking the same shit and reading old Shanghaiist interviews with people, you can see it just goes around in circles. Venues are getting harder to book for various bullshit reasons and it seems to lack an excitement. But that’s me, I’m overly critical.

In addition to your recent “Christmas” album you’ve put out “piano punk” and electronic records this year. Have people been coming to your shows and complaining about the lack of Elton John and Daft Punk covers in your live set?

No, but I think before every set we played in South Korea we heard Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky.’ It’s a nice song to set up to. We did get booked a show in Jiading and they were disappointed when they found out we weren’t a piano band. They even set up the keyboards and pushed us to do a song from Eltham Join, but I can’t remember any of them. Best forgotten some of them, anyway.

How did you cross paths with God Bows To Math and Muzai Records?

One my old band’s first tour of New Zealand, we met Benjii who had a radio show and DJ’d Glassjaw before or set. He was writing for a zine as well. We became instant friends and we went back the second time, we played a show with friends of his which was Martin and Tom from God Bows To Math’s old band. Then when Pairs went to New Zealand, Martin and Benjii hooked it all up and were just living legends and made me wish that I lived in New Zealand.

Rhys & Martin

China is a big place, there’s plenty of folks you could be splitting 7″s with. Why go to the trouble of doing a split with a band from New Zealand?

Because I love those guys. I love their sense of humour, their attitude, how motivated they are, their songs, their influences – everything. Just super funny and friendly guys. Plus, it gives us a chance to work with Muzai Records. I have dreams where I just sit around talking to Benjii from Muzai Records and wake up super happy. Plus, it helps them on their tour here and it probably builds some kind of very flimsy bridge. Soft power or whatever the men in the know say.

That split with GBTM linked scenes from the UK, China, Aus and NZ; what’s the value of joining the dots between the different scenes?

Basically, we have a bunch of go to people who are up for ideas and are all about seeing them through to completion. A lot of people will say ‘Yeah, I love it, let’s do it!’ and you never hear from them again or they pull out last minute when they are expected to fork over the cash. But in our list of ace guys who put their money where their mouth is and do things with the right attitude, there’s Bomb Shop in the UK, Genjing in China, Muzai in New Zealand and Tenzenmen in Australia. So it just made sense to bring everyone together and introduce everyone and make total best friends forever. I know when Benjii went to the UK, they caught up with James from Bomb Shop and Tenzenmen helped God Bows out on their Australian tour. Just makes sense connecting a bunch of good sorts and seeing what they can do.

<a href="http://genjingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/split-7-4">Split 7&quot; by Pairs / God Bows To Math</a>

Without sounding overly morbid one day you are going to be worm food: at that point what will that vinyl record mean to the world?

I nearly became worm food in Korea. Had a fucked heart thing at Samsung D’Light. Didn’t feel good at all, couldn’t breathe or really move. Lips went all white and lasted a good 24 hours. Made me worried I had punctured my lung or had a blood clot or some shit.

I don’t know what the vinyl will mean. Probably not much. But it’s something for the resume, something for the experience board, a good way to feel productive and have a project with a bunch of friends and maybe someone will hear a song they haven’t heard and that will inspire them to do something productive with their time or just give them two minutes of a good time. Bury me with the record though. I’m taking the masters to my grave.

Now the split is done and dusted what are Pairs going to be up to? A smooth jazz record maybe?

Nah, two more records in the works. Drums are done on one, just need to work with Reykjavictim to get some guitars down and we’ve got a proper full band one with real songs and bullshit coming out before Summer 2014. Just got to find out who we will record with and where and all that boring stuff that makes me cry.

Pairs at Basement Bar in Busan, Korea

This isn’t goodbye; it’s just an intermission before the next email interview. Any words to share until next time?

Thanks so much for helping us organise our South Korean tour! It was such a good time. We met some really great people, got to breathe fresh air and eat healthy food. Wi-fi was everywhere and fast and the girls are amazingly beautiful. I feel like every band should go there, and play Basement Bar in Busan. People there go crazy!

Keep up with Pairs and their prodigious output on Facebook, Douban, Weibo and Bandcamp.

Interview with Martin of God Bows To Math

Despite all the hype that goes around being a rock star most bands find success not through some mystical muse but by years of dedication and hard work. God Bows To Math is one of those bands that embraces the challenge and embodies the spirit of DIY. They have been building a name for themselves across New Zealand and Australia for their incendiary live shows and explosive brand of noise-rock. Last year they helped the Shanghai band Pairs to tour New Zealand and now in a reciprocal effort This Town Touring brought them to China. We checked in with guitarist Martin Phillips to ask him about the tour and find out why it is that the most interesting and unique things are often created out of the mundane.

First things first, when you say god bows to math, just what kind of bow are we talking about? For example, one where you place one hand behind your back and place one foot in front of the other, like how gentlemen would bow to hot girls in 17th century Europe? Or feet together, hands at your side, like a Japanese business associate welcoming you at the airport? Talk me through this one…   I always imagined it was something altogether more theatrical, with fluid and exaggerated arm movements ushering in the next act.   The name itself isn’t ours, we stole it from ‘Double Nickels on the Dime’, I love the song as it maintains an air of mystery (in both the music and the lyrics) always seemingly resistant to definition. Phonetically I think it sounds great as well (anything more than four syllables is wasting my time) and it means we sit on record store shelves near HDU and Godspeed.   Death From Above 1979 used to tell people they met on a pirate ship/ in a gay bar/ at a Sonic Youth concert. How did you guys meet?    We once tried to tell a radio show host that we met in a public toilet in Panmure. It fell pretty flat at the time and served to reinforce the fact that none of us are ever going to take off on the professional comedy circuit.   The actual answer is a little bit more boring but I think boring has a bad reputation. Sometimes the most mundane things are the best.   I met Tom when my family moved up to Auckland and I had to switch high school for the last year or two of my school life. That was about ten years ago now, at various points we’ve worked together, lived together, and played in bands. I took up guitar in my last year at high school, Tom had been in the school band and I knew he could play drums. One summer he had access to a local church so we jammed on Black Sabbath riffs one afternoon (Tom guaranteed his ticket to hell in the process, but I’m Catholic so I’m still okay), had a great time and decided to form a band.   We met Cuss through his old band Sherpa who played at our second ever show. He filled in a couple of times when we were left in the lurch and about four years ago we convinced him to join permanently.   You can see what I mean when I describe it as boring. As nice as it would be to have some fantastical origin story involving an alien invasion, the Knights Templar and the large hydron collider, at the end of the day I think the longevity of a band really does hinge on being able to spend long periods of time in a smelly confined car together without getting into fisticuffs. Having two awesome people that are dependable definitely wins out over crazy origin myths.   I know a heap of kids based in Asia who haven’t been to New Zealand, so please, paint them a picture; what’s the scene like there? What are the logistics of putting out records, doing shows, doing tours?    It’s a bit difficult to compare to what’s happening in China since this will be our first time over there. I imagine things aren’t too much different when you get down to the bones of the matter.   New Zealand has nice scenery, and generally everyone is fairly easy-going. More than anything, it’s a small place both geographically and in terms of population and this has it’s own positives and negatives. The music community is very tight-knit but there isn’t a lot of choice when it comes to playing different cities etc. There’s enough of a distribution channel to be able to release independent music although the chances of making money are always verging on non-existent. There is a plethora of amazing artists that usually sit a little too far outside the mainstream to be easily found. Around the country there are a bunch of really great supportive venues (Lucha Lounge or Whammy in Auckland, Mighty Mighty and Puppies in Wellington, Space Monster, Queens, Chicks Hotel and darkroom all spring to mind). Most of the effort that gets put into putting on shows and running venues is a labor of love.   If anyone is interesting in coming over to NZ to play shows or even just to holiday feel free to get in touch (godbowstomathband AT gmail DOT com).

    God Bows To Math at MAO, Beijing

How did three upstanding young men like yourselves fall in with those dograts Pairs?    As with most people who know Rhys there is a long and complex story as to how we met (note: there isn’t really; it’s all fairly straightforward).   Back in early 2008 his old band (Bang Bang Aids) came over to NZ for the second time to play a couple of shows. Somehow they ended up on a bill at one of the worst venues Auckland has ever seen (The PR Bar – R.I.P) and the promoter asked me if my band wanted to play. At that stage I was in a band with Tom and a couple of other friends playing music that was quite different to GBTM, after we played our set (my memory is fairly hazy as this was over five years ago) one of the BBA guys came backstage and said “man, you guys are pretty s**t ay”. We then witnessed BBA’s set and half of our band thought it was one of the best things we’d ever seen and the rest were tied between ambivalence and outright hatred of what these rats were doing to music.   That spelled the end of that and shortly after we formed GBTM (this is a very simplified version). So Rhys is partly responsible for breaking up our old band. Thankfully when Pairs came over to NZ in 2012 we managed to join them for most of their tour without imploding.    Pairs release in NZ through MUZAI and that’s how we really got close to each other, touring with them was incredibly fun. Both Rhys and F are fantastic human beings and very skilled musicians.   This 7″ release is joining the dots between a number of scenes; the UK, Australia, New Zealand and China. Why is it important to make the effort to branch out and do something beyond your own scene?   It’s really nice to be collaborating with people who share the same attitude towards music. I think having people from different parts of the world involved makes it feel like something bigger than it probably is which is a great feeling. There’s a sense of camaraderie that’s cross-cultural in releasing independent music. The other great thing is that when we finally do get to travel and play music we meet these amazing people that we already know quite well. We were lucky enough to go to Australia a couple of times and hang out with Shaun (tenzenmen) and when we get to China we’ll hopefully meet Nevin in the flesh as well.     I really respect what Genjing does in bringing together artists from different parts of the world. Tenzenmen and Bomb Shop have the same sort of approach and MUZAI is increasingly working with overseas artists. It would be really great to bring some more NZ artists into this sort of fold. It also keeps things more affordable since the cost is split between more parties.

  God Bows To Math with Carb on Carb, Pairs and the Rat On Swamp Dog crew at Harley’s, Shanghai

What do you think kids in NZ can learn from Asia based bands? What can the world learn from kids in NZ?    One thing about the most of the Chinese bands I listen too is that they don’t seem to fit neatly into a particular genre (I’m talking of bands like P.K.14 or Duck Fight Goose), that’s one thing I picked up on. I think that’s a good attitude to have, there’s nothing worse than having one poor version of some international band in your city, which definitely happens (there’s always one Lightning Bolt, one Godspeed etc).   I’m not sure what anyone can learn from NZ kids, I don’t really speak to kids much so I am probably quite out of touch with what’s currently happening. I think being a small country New Zealand bands have the bonus of not worrying about signing to a major or achieving fame and fortune. There is an expectation that you have to work incredibly hard to make anything resembling a living from music (see Die! Die! Die! for an example) so bands generally don’t have to worry about financial concerns when writing and touring, it tends to make the music more adventurous without such concerns. Even the ones who do make a living tend to retain their own unique approach.   What are you expecting from the China tour? Will this be your first time coming to Asia? Aren’t you mad that This Town Touring didn’t hook you up playing some children’s parties?   Oh goodness gracious me, I think if we played children’s parties there would be a few concerned parents out there. I’ve always preferred audiences that are old enough to drink alcohol since that tends to make their view of us more favorable (alcohol+loud noise = more favorable opinion of our music).   We don’t have many expectations going into the tour. It’s going to be an incredible life experience for us and at the end of the day we just want to go somewhere a bit different from NZ and hang out with some old friends while we’re at it.

Once the vinyl is out there, it’s there forever. It doesn’t biodegrade, you can’t delete it by accident; what’s the significance of this 7″?   It’s our first release on actual vinyl (we’ve had a few lathe cut releases) and the first time we’ve done something with this level of collaboration across different labels. On a personal note it’s been something we’ve been working towards for nearly two years and we’re incredibly proud to finally have it out in the world.   After the release and the tour, what’s on the cards for GBTM?    Once we get home we are playing a show with a friend’s band from Australia and then maybe one or two other shows over the holiday period. We’ll be taking it fairly easy on the gig-front. We have finished the writing and almost finished the recording for our second album so we’ll spend a bit of time on the post-production side of things.   With the next one we want to put it out on vinyl so it’ll take a while to get the money together. The idea is to have it out next year sometime if possible and to tour it once it is released. We’re hoping to tour a bit farther afield as well as maybe heading back to Australia or China. Once that’s done it might be time for a break but I guess we’ll see what happens.

Follow the band on their facebook and twitter and listen to / buy their music on their website and bandcamp.

Interview with Tenzenmen

It should come as no surprise that DIY and punk circuits around the world are pretty tight knit affairs; friends, acquaintances and friends of friends trading off information and contacts for venues, promoters, distributors, labels, other bands to tour with, many of these roles being the same group of people wearing different hats. Yet of course there always people coming in and people going out; grow up, have kids, get a HD television along the length of your house or whatever it is people aspire to these days. At the same time there will always be some scene, some little nook or cranny, that isn’t on Facebook and you haven’t come across. Simply put, there is always someone new to meet.

Yet in the Pacific region there is one name that comes up again and again across scenes, and that name is tenzenmen. It’s kind of like that game with how many handshakes you are away from Kevin Bacon, except you’ve realistically got to scale it down to the DIY scene in Asia and Oceanian and it’s Shaun tenzenmen you’re after, not a high school outcast who goes and throws shapes in empty warehouses when he gets pissed.

If we go back to the list of aforementioned roles tenzenmen fulfills almost all of those mentioned, from touring bands to helping put out their music and get it distro’d over the world. As a label tenzenmen has been instrumental in exposing Chinese music to a wider audience and forging transpacific links, like a hub for good music going on anywhere. Sadly it seems like tenzenmen is in its final chapters, so we took this opportunity to talk to the man behind the label about how it all happened and his role in the recent split release between Pairs and God Bows To Math, that tenzenmen helped release.

What got you started putting out records?

Around 2002-2003 I was playing in an improvised jazz noise group and the leader from that decided to leave the country. He decided he was going to carry on the name (Hinterlandt) and keep creating music in the meantime. So I set him a challenge to write me three songs for an idea I had for a compilation CD series. He did that and so did I. That CD series was called Eccentrics and featured three albums and wide range of bands and styles of music from a few different places around the world. After that I just never stopped!

What influences the artists you choose to work with?

This has changed over time. Originally it was my friends that I was releasing — or new found friends with the ease of finding new music on the internet. After a visit to China in 2007 I started to work with Maybe Mars and just decided to release their whole catalogue. The depth of their catalogue genre-wise suits my tastes and complements the tenzenmen aesthetic very well. Later some bands started approaching me to work with the label — some of them didn’t even want me to do that much as they had everything already sorted — they just wanted to be part of what I was doing.

To me, tenzenmen is a punk label in the truest sense. It’s just not possible to pigeonhole releases across the catalogue. So my criteria is more related to what artists want and expect from me and their understanding of how I work and, importantly, how they work. I have made serious financial losses running the label and it’s been worth every penny!

Have you ever made a profit off this?

The closest I have personally gotten to making a profit was last year — and I still lost about $10,000. Actually there is a good chance I will make a profit this year but that is for other reasons I’ll talk about later. I have only ever wanted to support the music I like and enjoy and hopefully help bring it to new ears.

For myself and I think most bands I work with, we know we’re never going to make money doing this. Running the label is relatively easy and that has allowed me to expand the catalogue at a rapid pace. Once things are in place they don’t change that much. The internet is a great boon for music fans like myself — it’s so easy to find great new music. The only time I’ve been annoyed by piracy is when I found a Russian site trying to sell mp3s of some of my releases — but even giving that some thought who the hell would actually pay them anyway? Any kid who knew about these releases and wanted them badly enough would figure out a way to get them for free. Luckily there is a fairly supportive sprinkling of fans who do buy product and most of my sales these days are for digital downloads.

Shaun in ‘Fusion’, circa 1992

This release between Pairs and God Bows to Math sees a number of scenes being linked together, between New Zealand, Australia, the U.K. and China. What made you decide to jump on board with this release?

I’ve worked directly with all the people involved before except for Bomb Shop and it just made sense to be part of this release to help give it an outlet in Australia (where God Bows to Math have toured and where everyone knows Rhys from Pairs too).

When Nevin started Genjing I asked him to keep me in the loop with any releases he was working on and if it caught my interest I’d commit to some involvement.

Likewise, with Muzai in New Zealand we’ve both helped each other find interesting bands to work with and support. This type of international co-operation is quite prevalent in the punk and hardcore scenes across South East Asia. Bands can get the support of many labels around the world to take small quantities of product and spread the costs at the same time as spreading their art.

What’s the value of physical artifacts to make these links between scenes rather than just creating a Facebook group so dudes can share giraffe fail videos and other shit?

It’s probably most important now because the only way to even make a little money is to play shows — and the best place to sell you physical product is to a roomful of prospective customers. All these links enable bands to travel further afield and discover new music, new cultures and new friends. What better way to see the world?

What can bands elsewhere in the world learn from those operating out of Asia?

Many bands who have returned from tours in Asia are extremely humbled by the support they receive over there. Things might seem mighty chaotic to us but they will come together. If your mind is open you will make life long friends in these places — even people you might only meet for one night at one show. They are SO appreciative of your effort to visit them. So I hope that we learn that we can do the same to those who take the time to come and visit us in our own towns, cities and countries.

Depending on your theological beliefs after we pass from this mortal realm there is either, heaven, hell, reincarnation as something without opposable thumbs, or absolutely nothing. Regardless, what we do in the here and now won’t be transferred to the afterlife, so what gets you excited to continue doing projects if not eternal salvation?

For many years I would consider myself quite directionless, not quite sure how I could define myself. Running tenzenmen has helped me achieve that. It’s really just a personal thing. Of course I really appreciate the positive feedback I get from time to time and that sometimes helps me through when I wonder ‘why the fuck am I doing this!?’

The only thing we CAN do is here and now, so let’s do it. There really isn’t time to waste.

What’s 2014 going to be like for tenzenmen?

2014 will see tenzenmen wind down as a label as I have to utilize my money for other things. I’ll still work on projects that don’t involve and financial commitments so things will still tick along for a while, and I still have a few releases in the works. As my financial input decreases this actually increases my chances of making a profit this year so long as I keep selling things. Stock is low on quite a few releases now and it will be great to reclaim some space on my book shelves and in the garage! I have already sent out care packages of old distro stock and some releases to Indonesia and Myanmar — I’ll probably do that with anything that’s left. I have kept one copy of everything I released for my own personal collection and it will be nice to look over that legacy one day.

I have a book written that I need to sit down and edit sometime too. But I’ll probably just watch movies and play Xbox instead.

Any final words to share?

Support your local musicians any way you can. Don’t sit idle — do something. Anything.

Do yourself a favor and follow tenzenmen on facebook and tumblr. You can also hear his catalogue and purchase both physical and digital releases from his website and bandcamp.