Writer, Musician, and Promoter Josh Feola Talks Pangbianr Ahead of Aug 12 Farewell Show

While the glamorously dressed throngs were lining up at Beijing’s then equally dazzling Babyface nightclub, Josh Feola (pictured above, third from the left) and his pals found a haunt more suited to their tastes; one that couldn’t be more different, even though it was right next door.

“None of us could afford to go to a club, so one of our favorite places to meet was this little chuan'r stand that we always called 'Baby Face Pangbianr,'” Feola says. This silly Chinglish phrase, meaning “Beside Babyface,” which they used circa 2009 would eventually, though he didn't know it at the time, define much of the next decade of his life. From there, the Texas expat would go on to become a musician, gig promoter, and rock journalist – an eclectic career that can mostly be attributed to the underground arts platform that he and his chuan'r-chomping friends founded and called, fittingly enough, Pangbianr.

Together they went on to organize a number of underground events via Pangbianr, and its website became your favorite musician’s favorite music outlet, as Feola meticulously and avidly wrote profiles and articles about the scene and its key players. Those endeavors led to a professional writing career (currently he is the culture editor at Radii China), a stint as booking manager at venerable Haidian live house D-22 and manager of its successor, the more fringe hutong live venue XP, not to mention playing in the band, Subs.

This Sunday Feola, the remaining member and de facto head of Pangbianr, will put on a farewell gig for the platform (also serving as an eight-year anniversary party) at Fruityspace, before packing up and starting anew in Shanghai. The show will feature some of his closest accomplices to have performed, collaborated, or otherwise simply attended shows and guzzled street-side Yanjings in the wee hours again and again with Feola over the years.

Among this weekend’s performers is Simon Frank, who currently works at a gallery in 798 and has long been active in the capital’s experimental music scene. Feola recalls that the first ever gig he booked in Beijing was a CD-R release party for Simon Frank and his brother, who is also named Josh, under the alias Hot and Cold. Feola feels that it was the Frank brothers, and the other musicians and regulars who spent much of their time at D-22, along with other now-defunct venues like Raying Temple (小雷音) in Tongzhou and 2 Kolegas in Liangmaqiao, that drew him into the scene and inspired him to stay in Beijing through the years. “Simon has been my peer throughout the years here, and I’ve learned a lot from him,” Feola says. “Shows like that gave me a sense that there weren’t just bands here, but a scene and a sense of community. And that scene felt fresher than what I'd seen in the U.S., where there was a certain sense of worshiping the past. It was in Beijing that I really felt part of a living scene that was on the upswing,”

Simon Frank echoes much of that sentiment, telling the Beijinger: “Some of my fondest memories from that time were playing and going to shows at Raying Temple (小雷音) in Tongzhou, a venue attached to a fish farm/greenhouse and run by members of the Nojii collective of noise and experimental musicians. Getting there could be a bit of an adventure, and then everyone from this small community including Josh and other early Pangbianr contributors would be hanging out in the summer humidity, sipping beer and listening to the water tanks bubbling. It was a unique experience and I think created and strengthened a lot of friendships."

That period also stands out for Frank because he and his brother, along with the bands The Offset, Spectacles, and Soviet Pop, started a cassette label called Rose Mansion Analog. He says: “The idea was to document the music community and to engage with international networks in a sustainable, person-to-person way. To meet Josh, who was thinking along similar lines and already involved in similar projects at the time, was really encouraging. I really admire him for his passion and dedication for documenting the music scene in Beijing and China. I also appreciate how he often ties what he writes about to larger trends or critical theory, which you don’t usually see in English writing about Chinese music.”

Krish Raghav, media coordinator for China-based gig promoters Split Works, will also showcase his DJing skills at the Fruityspace Pangbianr farewell event. Like Frank, he’s a huge fan of Feola’s writing and credits it as, “My, and I'm sure many others, introduction to the 'Beijing underground.' He had this twin gift that made his work remarkable: letting the scene speak on its own terms, and yet gently connecting the dots with a larger, global audience. He captured the distinctiveness of the music better than anyone, and he constantly championed the folks working behind the scenes. His work challenged you to push your musical horizons out as far as they'll go.”

Feola says there a number of local acts that he enjoyed profiling on Pangbianr, from avant-garde rapper Dawei to boundary-pushing sound artist Yan Jun. And while plenty of happy memories abound from his time partaking in and covering the capital’s scene, he’s looking forward to starting a new chapter in Shanghai.

“The energy that drew me to Beijing is gone, and a significant amount of it has gone to Shanghai,” says Feola, before chuckling and admitting that he never could imagine making such a statement nearly a decade ago when he became enthralled with Beijing’s grit and avant-garde spirit. A few factors have lead to his decision to move there, from his wife wanting to be closer to her family in her hometown of Suzhou, to the number of fine arts institutions in Hangzhou and other nearby locales bolstering Shanghai’s gallery scene as of late. But of course, Feola is also keen to dive into the Pearl’s City’s music scene, explaining that: “There are a few artists that were a major part of the XP scene who are now equally active in Shanghai and doing things I find interesting.”

Among the most promising such acts in his eyes are experimental sound artist Dee (born Sheng Di and hailing from Hubei), and Aming, once a fixture of now-defunct Beijing hutong venue Zajia Lab. Aming currently has a band in Shanghai called Mirrors that Feola loves because of their straddling of experimentalism and good old fashioned rock. Feola says: “A lot of what drew me to D-22 was rock based, and a lot of the musicians from that scene have gone away from rock to something more experimental. And I get what they’re doing and respect it, but I still like a little bit of rock, which Mirrors blends well.”

Aside from enjoying acts like that, Feola has had opportunities to create his own memorable music moments in Shanghai. A major standout for his band Subs: a set with none other than Glen Matlock, bass guitarist in the original line-up of the Sex Pistols. That gig took place at the Power Station of Art, a renowned Shanghai gallery that hosted the legendary musician for an event sponsored by the famed fashion brand Agnes B.

Feola recalls how, “It was such a weird brand sponsored event where we played some Sex Pistols covers with Matlock. It was my first inkling that 'Ok, maybe all this weird fashion and finance stuff can also lead to cool things.' It was certainly a cool experience for me.”

Frank says he understands the appeal that Shanghai might hold for an arts and culture junkie like Feola, saying: “It’s easy, and probably true, to say that Beijing is completely different from what it was eight years ago. On paper, the music scene is perhaps healthier than it was then, but I do sometimes feel there’s a lack of energy or risk-taking. On the other hand, interesting currents from a few years back sometimes find their way to the surface again – for example, Wang Ziheng’s Nowhere Festival happening this weekend kind of continues the spirit of Raying Temple. No matter what, whether he’s in Shanghai or back in America, I’m sure Josh will still be connected to what’s happening here.”

And while Feola says Beijing's atmosphere feels much less open and accommodating to artists than when he got his start, he says, “I always look for nuance and I get annoyed when that’s lacking in reporting about what’s happening in Beijing. But as anyone who pays attention to the scene knows, there’s something happening here.”

“I don’t think there’s some angry guy in Zhongnanhai saying: ‘We need to get these bars out of here!’” Feola adds with a grin. “I just think there’s a lot of socio-economic processes and the net effect is to close off these culture streams. And to be honest we’re in a position of privilege to even be annoyed that our favorite bar closed, because the real target is migrants, and low-income families getting kicked out.”

“Shanghai is opening up in some ways, and it's a much more interesting place than it was five years ago to me,” Feola says, adding: “A lot of the things that gave Beijing its edge are being eroded.”

The Pangbianr farewell party will be held at Fruityspace on Aug 12 at 8pm. For more information, click here.

More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos: Courtesy of Josh Feola, Under the Wall, Live Beijing Music, Pangbianr