Cha-Cha-Changes: More Musical Losses Hitting Beijing

Cha-Cha-Changes: Beijing’s Music Scene Set for Two Musical Losses

Katie Coy | Jul 8, 2023 3:45 pm | Add a comment | 240 reads

Times are always a-changin’ in Beijing. With the constant ebb and flow of expats leaving and arriving and over the years the capital has seen many a great loss in the community. This is particularly true for the ‘Jing’s music scene, with numerous bands falling by the wayside, some recent casualties being Stevie Mac and the Mac Daddies and Backseat Bingo, as various members leave China.

Alas, we have more losses coming soon with Daniel Rothwell, a trombonist and prolific musician in Beijing who’s played in countless bands, and Luke Bowman, current bassist of Subdude, both set to leave the capital very soon. Rothwell and Bowman will be playing their last gigs this Monday (Jul 10), the former in SHA! and the latter in Subdude at School Bar. Ahead of their departures and final show, I reached out to them to find out more about their experiences here in the ‘Jing’s music scene.

Daniel Rothwell

How does it feel to be playing your last gig in Beijing?
Achingly bittersweet. Closure; departure, endings, farewells/goodbyes. Hesitant introspection, jovially (re)kindling loud memories, nostalgia overwhelming. Poignant quietness, recollecting sweet times, unforgettably vivid Xanadus yielding … zest.

How did you first get involved in music and in the Beijing music scene?
The day was Aug 27, 2013, and the band I was playing with at the time, The Goldmaster Allstars, were set to play the “Gaz Mayall’s Rockin’ Blues Stage” at Notting Hill Carnival. My flight to Beijing was also set to depart later that night. Here’s a pic [below] of a fresh-faced, full-of-youth Daniel Rothwell backstage with whom some of the Brits reading this might recognize as “the 1950s bin man” or “that guy from Never Mind The Buzzcocks” (who also joined us for a few tunes) and Trojan legend “Mr Fix It” Winston Francis.

So anyway, while warming up backstage, Vin Gordon (O.G. trombonist for The Wailers and The Skatalites) was hanging out; long story short, we ended up sharing my t-bone on stage for a bit of a bone-off. He won. I wasn’t planning on bringing my horn to China as I would only be here for six months…ha, yeah, right. After playing, he convinced me to bring it because I’d just played to 差不多 [around] 10,000 people, and it would be stupid not to. Fast forward a few thousand miles, I’ve just set my stuff down and headed to The Brick to meet my pal that got me the job, and someone at the bar quite literally shows me a video of myself playing a few thousand miles before. It went something like this:

“Weird question, but … is this you?”

“Weird question, yes, it is!"

Well, that was the whole “make new friends” thing out of the way; he said I needed to “check out that Four Corners band,” and that’s how I joined Tavey Lean and The Solid Gold Dream Machine … on stage … for the whole third set … the second time I’d seen them play. (There’s an epically long interview we did with TBJ alumni Tom Arnstein on here in the archives somewhere). That was the whole “get to know the spots” thing out of the way; I think I played four or five gigs with them before even attending a rehearsal because I broke my collarbone, but that’s another story for another question.

You’ve been in many bands over the years, what’s the grand total and which did you enjoy the most?
Back in the glory days of ’16-’18, I had a trombone that essentially lived at Temple Bar (R.I.P.), and Marshall had a tally of the number of bands I … for lack of a better term … “trom-bombed” and ended up going way over what anyone would deem acceptable. I can’t remember the exact number, but it's safe to say it’s an obnoxious amount of tromboning.

Have you or your band been affected by an uninvited trombonist blasting over your set? Comment below!

To reference the flow of question one, I’ll list the bands I *have* actively rehearsed and performed with in alphabetical order:

Backseat Bingo, Bass Ventura (Pitch Detective Collective), Black Chasm, Boss Cuts, Brain Mold, DFA1989, Giovanni and the Martinis, (The) Harridans, Hypnogasm, Joker’s Belief, Penis Envy, Rainbow Machine, SHA!, SunnE))), Su Zixu and The Paramecia, Taking Back Thursday, Tavey Lean and The Solid Gold Dream Machine, TFD, and Underdog

Regarding which one I enjoyed the most, that’s impossible to answer. Each and every one of these projects taught me something new about myself, those in the band, and why it’s important to stay hydrated.

Can you tell us a bit more about the band SHA! that you’ll be playing in on Monday?
SHA! is a psychedelic progressive rock band based in Beijing. Combining bits and bobs from this and that of Eastern and Western music, they use modality and polyrhythms to create a unique style that surprises both audience and band members alike. Utilizing unique orchestration across brass, woodwind, and occasional strings alongside the "traditional" rhythm section lineup, SHA! offer a diverse sound that has been quoted as "a bit like Jaga Jazzist” (twice), "kind of like The Dillinger Escape Plan meets Batman,” “The Dave Matthews Band’s wet dream,” and “woah, that's a lot of pedals.”

How long have you been together, and do you have any idea what the future holds for them with you leaving?
I joined the band in the summer of 2018, so I guess that’s when our relationship started. With regards to the future, according to Coelho, “it is written,” but Borges says what’s written is in an indecipherable book locked up somewhere, so who am I to know? If I was to speculate, however, I think they will go forward with exclusively new stuff. The drummer, Huihan, is also departing at some point, sometime soonish, so fingers crossed for everyone involved. It’s even more complicated than it is now. If this was a LoReLi post, I’d have already put in 55 Tim Robinson gifs, but as it’s not, imagine an exasperated face mouthing “WHAT?!”

Can you tell us a bit about the other bands that will be playing?
Instead of lazily quoting the band bios as I did with question four, I’ll create a haiku for each.

The Tides

First time I saw them,
It was a refreshing shock.
Yeah, these guys; so good.

UNK

Sounds like anime…
This is shamelessly fun stuff!
Stoked to see them live.

Subdude

Bit of this and that,
Vibey vibes, from “vibes” to “vibes."
… My favorite band.

Actually, I’m stoked to have had the chance to get to know the Subdudes over the last few months; their music is truly unique, and I have some insider info that there’s a “proper” release coming from them soon. In the meantime, I’m not sure if cross-platform promotion is allowed, but here’s an interview I did with them a few months ago that’s well worth listening to if you want to get to know their vibe a bit better…

Do you have any surprises in store for your final show?
It would be too clichéd to say “expect the unexpected,” but I’ve just added a Bananana “TARARIRA” arpeggiator and the infamously ridiculous Ibanez “Echo Shifter” to my pedalboard without a chance to actually test them in rehearsal, so I’ll probably be as surprised as the rest of School Bar!

Do you have any music-related plans for when you’re back in the UK?
I want to see if this banner [see picture below] from 2011 is still up, but aside from shameless plugging and reminiscing, me and the trumpeter pictured have a few things in the pipeline. I’m also going to ArcTanGent Festival with two of my Beijing besties, so while that’s perhaps misinterpreting the contextual meaning of the question, it is technically a music-related plan.

Lastly, any words of advice for any budding musicians out there in Beijing?
Be authentic, don’t copy what you think will make you look authentic. If you can’t be authentic, keep copying what you think will make you look authentic until some happy accident gets you out of that rut. Fortune favors the brave, but saying that, being brave could also get you arrested, so don’t be THAT authentic. If you don’t know what authenticity looks like, go to as many shows as possible and suss it out. Chances are, the kids that can barely string together four power chords are more authentic than the well-polished fashion shows selling out venues. If you like a band, tell them, they’ll appreciate it. Finally, probably the most important thing of all: NEVER directly ask for a spot on the guest list.

Luke Bowman

Firstly, can you give a brief introduction to Subdude?
We can’t even pin down a legitimately descriptive genre without going into prefixes and word blends, so Subdude is really a poor man’s no-one. Keys, bass, and drums, we’ve been likened to Emerson, Lake & Palmer by a qualified expert on the topic, but I’m not sure if I see it. We’re probably a bit weird for listeners expecting a more garden-variety sound, but we like to hit a solid lick at least once in every track.

How does it feel to be playing your last gig (at least for now) in Beijing?
It’s pretty wild to be playing what may or may not end up being my final gig in Beijing the night before I leave the country. Couldn’t think of a better send-off, but I’ll have to keep an eye on the boozing.

How did it feel to play your first gig in Beijing?
I was extremely nervous playing my first gig with Gurus in 2019, a since-discontinued band in Beijing, however, I was much more nervous with Subdude’s first show because I had to stand in the middle. This band was also something I was instrumental in creating and contributing to musically, so there was more on the line in terms of the songs actually being enjoyable for people staring right at me. Involuntary trembling is hard to reckon with but I’ve since got it almost completely under wraps.

How did you get involved in music and in the Beijing music scene?
Getting into music all started when a friend and neighbor lent me his bass, then he took it back, then my dad got one for me, then I got one for myself and started jamming with some much better musicians back in Toronto who liked my licks despite my theoretical weaknesses. In Beijing, it was Pete Garlington who reached out into the music scene and brought me along.

Do you have any surprises in store for your final show?
As for surprises during our last show, be prepared for a record-low number of fucks ups.

Lastly, any words of advice for any budding musicians out there in Beijing?
Advice for those seeking entry: I’m a great example of someone who has no formal training and started into music later in life, at 19, but still managed to get into some jams scenarios and eventually a few bands. Just keep up the practice at home and when you do finally hook up with a group, make sure you have interests that align so playing your own style will be appreciated rather than suppressed.

SHA! and Subdude will be playing their final gigs at School Bar Mon, Jul 10, starting from 9pm. Tickets are RMB 80 and can be purchased by scanning the QR code below.