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Matthews Band Anthology

D-22: The Mother of Beijing - and China - the independent music scene

By Eric de Fontenay

UNiXX rocks at D-22 in the final leg of his tour of seven deadly sins

Website: http://china.musicdish.com
A major goal in my recent trip to Beijing to connect with the main force behind thriving independent music scene in the city: D-22. All major ... and many non-and ... have played CBGB version of Beijing, and in the process, cutting edge China's vibrant indie music scene was born.

I was running late to meet Domenech Nevin, managing daily operations in D-22, largely due to total ignorance Beijing taxi drivers in the city that is supposed to drive you around. In my experience, it does not matter if you have that piece of paper with the address in Chinese characters or not, and will be lost anyway.

In order to reach a modest doorfront influence of club denies. D-22 is a warm blend of dark red wooden walls and brick that fits well with its low profile, easy going style. No flash or pretense here. And along the terrace are images of the bands that have become household names thanks to China's indie scene to D-22: hedgehog, Carsick Cars, White, PK-14, ...

Up-and-coming rock trio ourselves Next to me

His eyes quickly spotted 'Mike', the owner of D-22. You can not miss with his exuberant personality and love completely NY for music and young bands playing. Not only is the father of indie rock in Beijing, who plays, hugs and encouraging musicians around the club like the prodigal sons returned. The procedure to fix a 16 year old boy whose band predicts shake Beijing scene and tells me to keep an eye out for every girl band ourselves next to me. But my treatment would be that night UNiXX headlining a band of Hong Kong in the files of canvas I have been following since launching MusicDish * China (More Than two in a future article).

In fact, it is more likely to be the D-no more than 22 a few days ago. You see, D-22 is not just a club, is the heart of Beijing indie community. Bands tonight's performance often come during the day to practice - D-22 its doors are always open. And half of those who attended that night were members of various bands, supporting and learning from each other. So much so that I have rare pleasure of catching a veteran of the scene there from the beginning: ZO guitarist and vocalist Hedgehog (子健).

"In D-22, which are tied to each other and grow together, "he said of late 2006, the series of concerts at the club that propelled the band from obscurity." Many creative artists and new bands played there every week and we released our album "Noise Hit World" in 2007. That year, the Beijing scene surfaced. "As Personally, I think Hedgehog is one of the most exciting events in China and has become part of my daily musical diet.

In the center of that community is Mike (Michael Pettis), a NY expat finance banker who opened the club on May 1, 2006. As Matthew Niederhauser writes in the preface to his anthology of photographs of the scene Beijing indie "Sound Capital"

"The main priority of the new club was to find and develop new talent, regardless of musical style and commercial appeal. Demanded the original of musicians and was willing to go to great lengths to enjoy them. "

And that they did, literally the remodeling of the musical landscape of Beijing. Michael went on to launch the label Maybe Mars Yang Haisong PK-14 as a natural extension of the D-22 to support the scene he had created. Nevin Domenech, who gave me a tour of the club and presented the performance of acts that night, is one member of Fanzui Xiangfan (who MusicDish already presented in China * Sound Pod # 2) and works on both the club and label. And all the bands on the label list was developed and grown in D-22's embrace.

It is ironic that I would have to fly across the world to China to find a rare gem as D-22. The analogy to New York CBGB's is amazing. So as CBGB's did in the 80, D-22 has given birth to China's hardcore and punk rock scene. Like CBGB's, D-22 is more than a club: it's like a mother, feeding, care and education of each individual band in this movement. Ironically, many of the shirts in the crowd paid tribute to the bands of New York at the time that the CBGB's and The Cramps and Souxie and Banshees.

Now do not get me wrong, D-22 is not perfect. We definitely need to work on the sound. And although this is a serious but correctable error, what Michael has done to find and nurture the incredible talent that otherwise the option of going to C-Pop or simply do not collect to an instrument is immeasurable. None of this would have been possible without your personal and financial commitment to the cause. So, speaking for myself - that would otherwise not have much to write or play my podcasts - a big thanks to all the D-22 crew and the bands were over the party.

About the Author

A thoughtful & outspoken member of the new media revolution since the early nineties, he has been invited to speak at leading industry forums such as Euroforum, DDMI and CES and has had his works published in numerous trade publications.