Sunday morning, everybody was getting ready to play in Max Club in Hangzhou. With or without a baritone saxophone or double bass. According to our schedule we had to be there at 2 PM. Meeting in the hotel lobby at 1:30 PM. All packed and ready we called our agent to say we were about to leave. "It's too early, make it 4 PM". Okay, no problem. We can wait a little longer. Around 3:30 PM we got a text message saying we couldn't do a thing in Max Club before 5:30 PM. They would call us before that time with more information. Then the final phonecall... The owner of Max Club didn't have the permission to have a foreign band playing in his club during the national week of China. We could hardly believe this was the real reason, but fact is we didn't play that night. Another day off... The best way to forget this day was a good meal and a delighting massage.
The morning after a bus was waiting for us at the hotel to bring us to the airport. A domestic flight took us to Changsha, about 1000 kilometers from Hangzhou. No time for check-in at the hotel we were immediately dropped off at the festival. This 'festival' seemed to be the official opening of a drive-in cinema. The organiser proudly showed us the baritone saxophone. Once again, it seemed to be an alto saxophone... Grrr. And a double bass wasn't even mentioned anymore. Whatever, we came all this way to play. And so we did. It wasn't as comfortable as any other gig we ever had before, but we did what we could and the crowd seemed to like it. Before us a Chinese rockband from Beijing was playing. And yet another surprise... A Ukrainian jazz singer had to play as well. She was told that The Rhythm Junks could accompany her so she didn't have to bring her band. Only we didn't know about that... But we were so kind not to argue about it. So we played three songs with her before we started our own set. It was a day full of surprises, but the most important is that we performed once again.
dinsdag 30 september 2008
zondag 28 september 2008
zaterdag 27 september 2008
September 22-26 - Hangzhou
After a whole week off in Hangzhou everyone is getting very eager to play. But still, it's great to visit Hangzhou, eat all day long, have footmassages every day, etc...
Tomorrow we're playing in the Max Club, a very fancy bar where all the cool cats of Hangzhou meet up. Hopefully we will be cool enough for them... I guess we will blow them away with something they never heard before. Right now we are still looking for the right backline for tomorrow. Our booking agency took us to a local music store some days ago, but they only seemed to have traditional Chinese instruments. A baritone saxophone? "Doesn't exist in China." A double bass with a pickup? "Never seen it before." After some arguing, the manager of the music store invited Steven, Pieter and Jasper for lunch. We thought we would try to find a solution, but he just ignored the problem. His way of solving this was quite funny. He wanted to get us drunk by making us drink loads of beer bottoms up. As most Chinese beer only has 2% alcohol, we were quite confident he would collapse first. And so he did... But still no backline. Right now Pieter aka 'The Fixer' is looking for a solution.
maandag 22 september 2008
September 21 - Hangzhou
Early wake-up call from the lobby. "There is a tourbus waiting outside of the hotel and there is no space to park it". Getting packed up in a hurry, our tour really starts from here! Three hours of bumpy roads and incredible sights (the slums of Shanghai, the country side with rice fields, inventive architecture, ...) took us to Hangzhou. This is considered to be a small city, only 2 million citizens.
Taking a cab is a real adventure here. It somehow feels like a computer game where the driver wants to hit as many pedestrians as possible. In China the survival of the fittest still counts. We still have to find our first cab where none of the warning lights is flashing.
Taking a cab is a real adventure here. It somehow feels like a computer game where the driver wants to hit as many pedestrians as possible. In China the survival of the fittest still counts. We still have to find our first cab where none of the warning lights is flashing.
September 20 - Shanghai - first concert
After a good rest we were ready to play our first gig. At first it was very stressy, because the soundcheck was a complete disaster. Normally it was planned around noon, but it kept being postponed. In the meantime clouds packed up above our heads. After a while rain started pouring down, even on stage and in the mixing desk. Wind blew away the back of the stage. The rain was so intense we had to find shelter in a local bar. Suddenly we weren't sure anymore if we would actually be able to perform... Still, the audience didn't care at all. They just kept waiting for the first band to begin, covered up in plastic coats.
After a long delay we got the message that the festival had begun. Finally we went on stage and from the first notes and Steven's attempt to introduce the band in Chinese the crowd went wild. Goosebumps all over... We expected a rather reserved audience, but instead we got thousands of enthousiastic hands in the air making us feel like real popstars. Even though the people never heard our music before, they tried to sing along 'Panamajumbo' and 'Join The Bus'.
We spotted some Belgian faces in the crowd. "Buzze geve!" sounded a bit unexpected in Shanghai. After the show we met some of them. Tom Vandeweghe (VRT) explained us that this kind of response was not typical for a Chinese crowd. We kept on selling and signing CD's until they were sold out...
After the show Jan Vandenbergh, who sponsored part of our trip, took us to a very nice traditional restaurant. He wrote about us on his blog: http://tijdblogs.typepad.com/expatscorner/2008/09/the-belgische-r.html
During the afterparty in the JZ Club some of us joined a jam session with the musicians of Incognito. Many Tsing Tao's (local beer) later we went back to the hotel.
After a long delay we got the message that the festival had begun. Finally we went on stage and from the first notes and Steven's attempt to introduce the band in Chinese the crowd went wild. Goosebumps all over... We expected a rather reserved audience, but instead we got thousands of enthousiastic hands in the air making us feel like real popstars. Even though the people never heard our music before, they tried to sing along 'Panamajumbo' and 'Join The Bus'.
We spotted some Belgian faces in the crowd. "Buzze geve!" sounded a bit unexpected in Shanghai. After the show we met some of them. Tom Vandeweghe (VRT) explained us that this kind of response was not typical for a Chinese crowd. We kept on selling and signing CD's until they were sold out...
After the show Jan Vandenbergh, who sponsored part of our trip, took us to a very nice traditional restaurant. He wrote about us on his blog: http://tijdblogs.typepad.com/expatscorner/2008/09/the-belgische-r.html
During the afterparty in the JZ Club some of us joined a jam session with the musicians of Incognito. Many Tsing Tao's (local beer) later we went back to the hotel.
September 19 - Shanghai
All still in a haze because of a lack of sleep and a jetlag we arrived in the exit hall of Shanghai Pudong Airport. A friendly English-speaking young man was waiting for us with a mini-van. Just enough space for seven musicians and gear. Our first impression? Hot and sweaty! The air seems to weigh on our skin. A different heat than what we are used to.
We drove about an hour to get into the center of Shanghai. What a sight! Never seen such an impressive skyline... And you can't even see half of it because of the smog. It's true what they say about China. It's hot, but you won't see the sun. It's always hidden behind a veil of fog.
We were dropped off at Bailemen Hotel. Just about time to get lunch. In a fancy Balinese restaurant located in the park where we would be playing the day after, we were introduced to a number of dishes, most of them unknown to us.
In the park we met Mark, our contact from the festival. He gave us a warm welcome and a great tip for a superb local restaurant close to the JZ Club, called Charmant. Jellyfish, starfish, packshoy with red peppers, salted shrimps and Peter's gigantic milk ice dessert with peanuts...
Before going to sleep we checked out the atmosphere of the festival. We had a short meeting with Gilles Peterson and gave him our CD's. Due to Steven's looks he asked if we were a rockabilly band... Hopefully he listens to it and figures out himself that we're not.
We drove about an hour to get into the center of Shanghai. What a sight! Never seen such an impressive skyline... And you can't even see half of it because of the smog. It's true what they say about China. It's hot, but you won't see the sun. It's always hidden behind a veil of fog.
We were dropped off at Bailemen Hotel. Just about time to get lunch. In a fancy Balinese restaurant located in the park where we would be playing the day after, we were introduced to a number of dishes, most of them unknown to us.
In the park we met Mark, our contact from the festival. He gave us a warm welcome and a great tip for a superb local restaurant close to the JZ Club, called Charmant. Jellyfish, starfish, packshoy with red peppers, salted shrimps and Peter's gigantic milk ice dessert with peanuts...
Before going to sleep we checked out the atmosphere of the festival. We had a short meeting with Gilles Peterson and gave him our CD's. Due to Steven's looks he asked if we were a rockabilly band... Hopefully he listens to it and figures out himself that we're not.
zondag 21 september 2008
September 18 - take off
Thursday around noon we all met at Brussels Airport. All packed and ready to go. None of the problems we had foreseen for checking in occured. We were allowed to take all our instruments as handluggage and the few kilos that exceeded the limits were for free.
After a short flight to Frankfurt we had a connection to Shanghai. Ten hours on the plane were enough to practice our Chinese. Around 3 AM Brussels time we arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport. The day already started, since we skipped forward 6 hours. We got there without any problems, didn't we? Just one little problem we had to solve. Chinese customs wanted Steven to declare all his harmonica's and pay import taxes for them. It took him over half an hour to explain that he needed them all to play. After a long discussion Steven's boyish charm and a Rhythm Junks album did the trick.
After a short flight to Frankfurt we had a connection to Shanghai. Ten hours on the plane were enough to practice our Chinese. Around 3 AM Brussels time we arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport. The day already started, since we skipped forward 6 hours. We got there without any problems, didn't we? Just one little problem we had to solve. Chinese customs wanted Steven to declare all his harmonica's and pay import taxes for them. It took him over half an hour to explain that he needed them all to play. After a long discussion Steven's boyish charm and a Rhythm Junks album did the trick.
woensdag 17 september 2008
Chinese for dummies
Today Steven and Jasper followed a speed course Chinese (Mandarin) in Ghent. It was more like a singing course with all these different intonations... It all sounds quite similar, but raising your voice or lowering it can result in a totally different meaning. I guess we'll have to practice on the plane. Steven learned some basic words and sentences to adress the audience during our gigs. That might be useful to break the ice.
Tomorrow we're off... We'd better eat some good ol' Belgian food like stoemp or Brussels sprouts for the last time in three weeks. After tomorrow it will be all dogmeat and fried scorpions and snake-sate. Yummie!
dinsdag 16 september 2008
The final countdown
5, 4, 3, 2,... In two days we'll be heading for Shanghai! Despite all our communication struggle with the Chinese people we managed to arrange everything. You can't imagine what a relief it is.
Passports? Check! Visa? Check! Approvals from the Chinese government? Check! Clean underwear? Euhm... We still have to pack our luggage. And we can always buy some 'made in China'. Chique et pas cher...
Anyway, every now and then we will try to post our adventures on this blog. If we can find computers that speak other languages than Mandarin...
Passports? Check! Visa? Check! Approvals from the Chinese government? Check! Clean underwear? Euhm... We still have to pack our luggage. And we can always buy some 'made in China'. Chique et pas cher...
Anyway, every now and then we will try to post our adventures on this blog. If we can find computers that speak other languages than Mandarin...
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