Weng Weng: He Used To Be A Guitarist, You Know

You might recognize Weng Weng as the quiet one in the Acupuncture Records mob, most often seen sulking sternly behind resident pretty boy ELVIS.T. But don’t think of him as a supporting player. This is one of Beijing music’s elder statesmen, one whose passion keeps the scene going through thick and thin.

On childhood
“Beijing was quiet when I was a kid; the rhythm of life was slow. The city has changed a lot since then, but it still has its own distinctive feeling.”

On his rock past
“I was in a few bands. Hongshao Rou was a great one. When I listen to our album Extract (榨取) now, I can still feel fire in my blood. You can find it on the Internet if you’re interested.” “Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana , Boards of Canada, Underworld, Richie Hawtin … each of them has given me countless inspiration.”

On Beijing’s electronic music scene then …
“The electronic scene got started around 1996, when some international students started to throw electronic parties in a bar called Keep in Touch. A Swiss guy called Michael played a big part in that.”
“I started DJing in 1997. The song that left the strongest impression on me at the beginning was ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld. A lot of the people I knew from the rock scene at that time stopped making music, but I’m still following my dream.”

… and now
“Rock has developed a lot in recent years, but young people still don’t know much about the local electronic scene. We keep trying to create crossover, setting up electronic stages at rock festivals and doing remixes of rock tracks, in order to promote the development of both styles.”
“I’d agree that there’s a lack of new blood on the scene. Partly it’s due to a lack of charisma from established figures, partly the lack of a platform for performance and releases. That’s why we have Acupuncture Records, INTRO and Lantern.”
“Do any of the younger DJs impress me? None so far.”

On Acupuncture Records
“ I played parties before Acupuncture, but it got to a stage where there were fewer opportunities. When I met other people who liked electronic music, I felt that we could do more together, and so the team formed.”
“I’ll keep making my own music, but the label, club and INTRO festival take up a lot of time, so there’s less time left for music.”
“We want to do INTRO again in 2012, but we can’t promise that yet. Policies are too strict towards music festivals, so it’s tiring every year. But we’ll still try,”
“ When somebody writes the history of the Beijing music scene, all I’d like them to say about me is: ‘He persisted.’”

Weng Weng persists at Lantern throughout the month.