A Bloody Good Gig: Q&A With Shanghai Hardcore Band Spill Your Guts Ahead of Mar 24 School Bar Gig
Spill Your Guts live up to its name, belting out songs with enough force to leave you worried your innards might get ruptured by their brutal performance. The Shanghai hardcore troupe (slated to perform at School Bar on Mar 24) has released three EPs since forming in 2013, garnering fans like Jimmy Jack, the drummer for fellow Shanghai band Roundeye, who says “Spill Your Guts started around the same time as us and it's fantastic to see them touring the way they do and releasing such badass albums and videos. They are hard, fast and intense on stage and a bunch of sweet,lovable souls off stage. Great guys and a great band that do not stop and are always going FULL BLAST!” Among Spill Your Guts’ other devotees is Maybe Mars' Nevin Domer, who also happens to be the guitarist for Struggle Session, Spill Your Guts' support act come Saturday. Domer calls them "a great band playing modern melodic hardcore" and "one of the only bands in China playing that style." Now the five-piece – consisting of vocalist Dima Bir, bassist and backing vocalist Ian Benot, guitarists Larry Miller and Martin Aamodt, and drummer Tyler Bowa – are touring on the heels of their debut LP, Hungry Crows. Below, Benot tells us more about the band's ambitions and inspirations.
Tell us about why you are proud of your new LP Hungry Crows overall.
For starters, it’s our first full-length album. A complete DIY production, we handled the recording, design, promotion and everything in between. Almost a year in the making, we really pushed ourselves to write the best songs we could with the time we had, knowing we wanted to have an album released before our Russian tour. We’re pretty confident it’s in the top releases from China.
Who are Spill Your Guts’ biggest influences?
Anything with power that drives and makes kids want to go crazy. Bands like Cancer Bats, Every Time I Die, Turbonegro, and Punch are just some of the bands that influence us. That, and the environment we live in. Most of our lyrics and song titles relate to things that happen to us here in China, and we try to tell a story through our songs.
How did you guys get your start?
Pretty much like everyone else here. Visit Yuyintang to see a show, meet some musicians, and go from there. SYG was formed as a supergroup of Shanghai’s top musicians to bring good old violence back to live shows. Drummer Tyler, and vocalist Dima, are the only original members after close to seven years. We’ve seen 11 line-up changes, but are confident we’re better than ever before.
What’s next for Spill Your Guts?
2018 will be another big year for us. We are back in the practice room to write new songs for our second album. We are flirting with the idea to record it abroad with a producer and a studio that can capture our sound and energy. We also want to go play gigs around China and other Asians countries to test those new songs and develop our fan base.
Then, who knows? European tour, record label deal? To do music our life is our dream and we are working to make it happen.
Spill Your Guts will perform at School Bar on Mar 24 at 9pm. Tickets are RMB 80. For more information, click here. Also be sure to check out their Bandcamp here or their brand-new music video for their song "Get Impaled", which can be viewed here.
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Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos courtesy of Spill Your Guts
