Culture

Rock 'n' roll bands come together on innovative new album

By Han Bingbin (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-12 08:00

A milestone album named Generation Six, due to be released later this month, looks likely to define a new era of Chinese rock 'n' roll by gathering the sounds of four promising rock 'n' roll bands in Beijing: Rustic, Birdstriking, FLYX and Old Fashion.

While many of the songs have straightforward musical arrangements, it is the sense of passion that carries with strong drumbeats and youthful voices.

There is also an expected sense of vicissitudes conveyed through low base sounds, reflecting the musicians' rough and ready thoughts of the times and society.

The lyrics of one song, called Erzi - which is one of only two Chinese songs in the album - mentions two sons named "fear" and "tomorrow". As an unsettling melody is played, listeners get a sense of hope and worry felt by the pair.

Once used to describe a fresh generation of Chinese film directors, "generation six" refers to being pioneering and thought-provoking.

But for rock 'n' roll, which has less than six generations of history in China, the title comes across as a bit of an impossibility. The artists argue their point though and say there is solid substance that proves their plan to usher in a new era.

Emerging mostly in 2008 and 2009, these four young bands are striving to prove they are different from their predecessors.

With an absence of local rock bands to learn their trade from, the focus has been on foreign singers and bands, such as Johnny Thunders, the Sex Pistols and David Bowie, as well as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

From them, the bands say they were introduced to an array of pioneering musical forms such as street punk, disco punk and garage revival.

Instead of attempting to match existing styles exhibited by bands like Carsick Cars and Joyside, the bands are sticking to their own realism in this album - to combine what they enjoy about their predecessors with their own characteristics.

Generation Six might be proof of development, but success has already been achieved with some of the bands - The Rustic, for example, was the winner of the 2010 Global Battle of the Bands held in London earlier last year.