Subs Enjoy a Little Self Love

Subs may be one of Beijing's most beloved indie rock acts, but the cost of their success has often taken its toll on frontwoman Kang Mao. Below, she tells us about dealing with the pressure and depression that can come with the limelight, before detailing the perks have that helped her endure everything from Euro-country renditions of Subs songs, to the fawning fans that renewed her faith in herself.  

This weekend you'll perform at the official release party for Subs' new album You Are You. What inspired the LP's title?
We've been a band for quite a while now, and we've played some fantastic gigs, and written songs that I am really proud of. But recently, I felt a lot of pressure to take things further, to the next level, make our band bigger and more successful. And I felt like our band didn't have any support to make that happen from the music industry. It lead to a lot of anxiety and even depression. But we kept on writing, and once we finished some songs we decided to use a crowd funding website to get the money we needed to make the album. We made RMB 6,000 on the first day and it made me feel so happy. I realised then that our fans loved us for who we are, and that we didn't need to make some big change, or become bigger too quickly. That helped me believe in myself and love myself, so we called the album You Are You.

How is You Are You different from your previous works?
We've been a band for about ten years now, and for quite a while we played very straightforward rock songs. Our new album has a lot more styles of music on it. We wanted to try some new things and bring some new sounds to our audience. Before, we often just played with guitar, bass and drums. But one of the new album's songs, called "1000 Arrows", has a lot of keyboards and electronica on it. So it's quite different from what we've done before.

Speaking of different styles, there was also an album recently released called Nice to Meet You, Too!, comprised of Subs covers by Europeans bands. How did that happen, and how do their renditions differ from yours?
In 2004 we went to Europe for a music festival. A lot of the musicians on the bill said they loved our show and really respected us for coming so far. We've been back a few times since then, and have started to build a nice little following. But their versions of our songs are really different, we don't have anything in common with them, which is what I love about them. There are even some country versions! It's so great to know that we inspired something so interesting.

Lastly, what inspired your band's name?
We really like underwater vehicles! But the main reason why we like the name is that Subs, if you say it slowly, almost sounds like 'sha bu si' or 'never die' in Chinese. We thought that was funny, and that it really suited us. It has an even deeper meaning for me now, after all the highs and lows I've been through this year.

Subs will perform at Yugong Yishan on Saturday at 9pm. For more information, click here.

Photo: Courtesy of Yugong Yishan